E-C Translation Of Technical Texts From The Perspective Of Skopos Theory

Technical translation has long been regarded as the "ugly duckling" in the translation community and there exist several issues that constrain its development. First, often being neglected by the mainstream study, technical translation did not receive enough attention from the academic circle and the majorities of studies that have been done in this area are restricted to terminological and grammatical issues. Second, the traditional equivalence-based or source-text-featured translation theories focus too much on the reproduction of the source,making them less suitable and applicable for technical translation. Third, there exist many misconceptions about technical translation, among which include a belief that technical translation is merely a code switching activity.In fact, technical translation is a purposeful activity that aims to communicate technical information to readers and help them to solve problems.As a special form of translation activity, technical translation has unique features and is governed by different rules from literary translation. Therefore, the development of technical translation requires the finding of a proper theoretical framework that could best incorporate its professional reality.The development of the Skopos theory in the 1970s signifies a break from traditional equivalence-based approaches.With the Skopos or purpose of a translation activity as the core,it regards translation as a purposeful activity that aims to communicate information.Hence, this target-based model that takes a communicative approach to translation provides new perspectives for modern translation studies and becomes an effective tool to guide technical translation. This thesis gives a brief review of the development of German functionalism and takes Vermeer’s Skopostheorie and Nord’s Functional plus Loyalty model as the main theoretical framework.Beginning with a discussion on the characteristics of technical texts, the current research analyses the importance and aim of technical translation, challenged some misconceptions, and then pointed out factors that influence technical translation. Under the guidance of the Skopos model,author of this thesis takes DFH3 Concept Design Review as a sample text to explore the applicability of the Skopos theory to technical translation.The study finds out that translators should adopt a "top-down" approach towards technical translation.First, information on the target skopos and translation brief should be obtained, then analysis of the source text should be carry out so that technical translators can compare functions of the source and target in order to predict potential translation problems. With samples selected from the DFH3 Concept Design Review, this thesis then summarizes some strategies used when translating terminology, abbreviations, nominalization and complicated sentences.With this study, the author hopes to provide a new perspective towards technical translation studies and contribute to the improvement of this unique type of translation activity. The significant role of Skopos theory in technical translation deserves more and further studies by scholars.The author calls on more scholars to pay attention to the study of technical translation as well as to the wider application of the Skopos theory.