Linguistic Features Of Industrial Equipment Manuals And Its Translation Under Functional Equivalence Theory

With the rapid growth of China's economy, import and export now account for a large proportion of the national economy. More and more Chinese products find their way in international market, and the technical exchange between the west and China becomes increasingly frequent. As China is the second largest industrial manufacturing country in the world, the export of industrial equipment becomes more frequent than ever before. Therefore, the translation of industrial equipment manuals plays a more significant role in both Chinese and the world economy. The aims of this thesis are: (1) to find out the linguistic characteristics of industrial equipment manuals (IEM); (2) analyze the translation of IEM under Nida's functional equivalence theory.In this thesis, firstly, the author gives a literature review of Nida's functional equivalence theory. Secondly the author illustrates and concludes the linguistic features of IEM. IEM refers to a written statement attached to industrial equipment which explains the overview drawing, main parameter, usage, working principle, operation, maintenance, installation, troubleshooting and so on. IEM is within the scope of English for Science & Technology (EST) and it possesses the general lexical, syntactic and discourse features of EST, for example, simple words, strict structure, objective explanation, no over-embellishment, etc. IEM can be characterized at the lexical level by its frequent use of noun phrases, nominalizations, technical terms, abbreviations and elliptical structures; at the syntactic level by its imperative and simple sentences; and at the discourse level by a textual design that serves to ensure the accuracy and clarity of explanation and instruction. Thirdly, the author analyzes the translation of IEM in detail according to Nida's functional equivalence on the surface level, rhetoric level and deep level of language. The analysis is based on the linguistic features of IEM in terms of its lexical, syntax and discourse features. This thesis emphasizes the unique linguistic features of IEM, and the author pays most of her attention to the translation analysis of IEM under Nida's functional equivalence translation theory according to these linguistic features.