A Report On The E-C Translation Of Preliminary Design Of The Main Project Of A Water Treatment Plant

This is a report on the translation project of Preliminary Design of the Main Project of a Water Treatment Plant,which is excerpted from the third section to the tenth of the third chapter in the design report for a water treatment plant co-built by China and Angolan government.The source text introduces in detail the design information about various parts in the main project of the plant,including the components needed,codes and standards applicable,and design criteria and methods.Design report as an important type of document in international engineering projects,its translation quality will affect the determination of its scheme and its subsequent construction.Besides,with the establishment of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative,China will be further engaged in this field.Accordingly,design reports in such international projects are becoming a common type in translation practice.This report,based on a translation project the author was engaged in and guided by the theoretical framework of Peter Newmark’s text typology,first makes an analysis on the text type and specific text features of the design report,then puts forward strategies to deal with the corresponding translation difficulties.According to Newmark’s text typology,the preliminary design report of this study is a typical informative text with distinct text features.At lexical level,it is characterized by formal use of lexicon,frequent use of professional terms in various fields such as civil engineering,electric engineering,water supply and sewerage engineering,and concise expressions such as noun strings and abbreviations.At syntactic level,long sentences and passive sentences are widely used.At text level,it is written in precise language style and characterized by logical and coherent discourse.In regard to the above-mentioned textual characteristics and the purpose of translating this design report,communicative translation is adopted as the main translation approach.Specifically,translation at lexical level should be professional and precise.Based on the source text,translators should choose the exact corresponding expressions in the target language with the help of reference books,parallel texts and other translation tools.In addition,“zero translation” can be used for the translation of abbreviations,which can help reduce information redundancy;Translation at syntactic level should be both logical and natural in Chinese.For this end,word order of long sentences is adjusted using strategies such as sequential translation,reverse translation and split translation.Meanwhile,passive sentences are converted into active sentences or non-subject sentences in accordance with the actual circumstances;Translation at discourse level follows the concise and precise language style of the design report and employs cohesive devices flexibly to make the discourse logical and coherent in the Chinese translation.