Translation Of Nominalization In EST: From The Perspective Of Functional Equivalence

The paper presents an attempt to employ Nida's functionalequivalence in nominalization translation. As one of the most prominentfeatures of scientific and technical writings, the interpretation of itsformation and usage has aroused special concern of linguists, and as aresult, many famous scholars abroad and in China have made intensiveresearch on the topic. A review of the several approaches tonominalization at home and abroad reveals the limitations and most ofpresent EST translation is done practically, therefore, the thesis discussthe nominalization translation under the guideline of Nida's functionalequivalence.The theoretic basis of the thesis comes from two parts. The first oneis Nida's functional equivalence theory which requires to reproduce in thereceptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source languagemessage, first in terms of meaning and second in terms of style.Meanwhile this theory allows certain freedom and flexibility to theinterpreters in that adjustment is needed to achieve functional equivalence.The second one is the contrastive study of English and Chinese in respectof nominalization which is put forward to explain the differences in thatthe differences make it necessary to have adjustment in translation andthe greater the differences between the source and target languages, the greater the need for adjustments.In order to prove that this theory can be best applied tonominalization translation, we summarize the language features ofnominalization in EST from two perspectives, namely, the perspectiveof function and the perspective of style. In view of function, we thinknominalization in EST mainly has two functions, the informativefunction and the interpersonal function. In view of style, we thinknominalization in EST has the following features: "conciseness,formality, objectivity, and technicality, etc.On the basis of the above discussion, we have analyzed plenty oftranslation of nominal structures, achieving functional equivalence inboth meaning and style at the word level, the sentence level and the textlevel. During this process, literal translation is primarily chosen fornominalization translation to realize the functional equivalence inmeaning and style if surface and deep level equivalence are both achieved.However, if there exist linguistic and cultural differences between thesource text and the target text, adjustment is needed during translation, soin nominalization translation there are also cases in which functionalequivalence translation can't be achieved so easily by way of makingsimple conversions. Then, with a considerable amount of examples, thethesis discusses some specific techniques that are suitable and useful fornominalization translation. This result indicates that Nida's theory of functional equivalence canbe best applied in nominalization translation and functional equivalencecan be achieved in both meaning and style.