A Report On E-C Translation Of Science Technical Text Guided By Communicative Translation Theory

This report is based on a part of the translation project which I undertook during my summer internship last year in Angel Yeast Co.,Ltd,a listed high-tech yeast company in C hina.The original text is selected from Baking Update,a magazine issued by a foreign yeast compa ny which targets baking lovers.The text type of the source text belongs to science,whose language features conciseness and accuracy,with many baking terms and large quantities of flowcharts in it to illustra te various ways of processing.My work is focused on 9 issues(1,2,4-6,8,9,11,16)in the third volume of 2018,with each issue introducing readers to some pioneering technologies and producing method in the baking field.This report is an ana lysis and a summarization based on these nine issues under the guidance of communicative translation put forward by Peter Newmark.There are some difficulties in my translation,including terms,passive voice,complex sentences and format.According to Peter Newmark,a science technical text can be generally grouped into the informative text type,so co mmunicative translation is applied to the original text.Newmark holds that when translating informative text the translator is expected to put first the target language readers’ response and the communication of information so that the same effect of reading both the source and the target language text can be basically achieved.In my translation,different strategies are used to approach difficult problems in the original text.For example,annotation and imitation are employed to translate terms;passive voice in C hinese grammar and active voice are adopted to translate English passive voice;complex sentences are translated in three ways--following the order of the original sentence,translating against the original sentence order,breaking the original sentence into smaller parts;the original charts and formats emerge unchanged in my translation.All these strategies respond to the communicative translation theory.O n the one hand,the information of the original text stays unchanged in the translation;on the other hand,the pleasure of reading the translation is enhanced.In this report,the writer first makes an overall analysis of the features and difficult points of the original text,and then,under the guidance of communicative translation,discusses the translation of terms,passive voice and complex sentences,and the formatting.Adopting various translation strategies and skills,the writer aims to achieve the information agreement for readers of both source and target language text so that the communicative translation can be realized.Also,this paper can be presented as a reference,good or bad,for other translators in this field.