A Study Of Product Specification Translation From The Perspective Of Skopos Theory

As time goes on, the communication and cooperation between countries become more and more frequent, especially the communication of products. Products are sold all around the world. Furthermore, the production of a product involves many countries because its components and parts may come from different countries. In this case, the need of translation of the product specification increases, particularly Chinese-English and English-Chinese translation. This thesis analyzes the problems in translations of product specifications by applying skopos theory. And the translation methods employed in these analyses are concluded.Skopos theory develops through four stages, that is, Katharina Reiss’ translation criticism theory and text typology, Hans. J. Vermeer’s skopos theory, Justa Holz-Manttari’s theory of translational action and Christiane Nord’s function plus loyalty principle. Translation of the product specification has been developed since the1960’s. Many scholars have made their contributions to its development, for example the famous American translator Burton Watson. There are three rules in skopos theory, namely, skopos rule, coherence rule and fidelity rule. They are the rules applied to analyze the examples. Unde skopos rule, translation methods of the language of product specification as a whole are found. Under coherence rule and fidelity rule, mistakes in translations of product specifications are found and then corrected by the author. Finally, their translation methods are concluded.Skopos theory is very useful in guiding the research. Under its three rules, translations of product specifications are analyzed. According to Vermeer, the top-ranking rule for a translation should be skopos rule. Coherence rule and fidelity rule are both subordinate to it. They usually follow a hierarchical order, but they are all very important in analyzing the examples.