A Report On The C-E Translation Of Technical Service Contracts From The Perspective Of Register

Based on the translation practice of HXD1 AC Contactor Technical Service Contract and relevant repair service contracts, this thesis intends to explore the Chinese-English translation of technical service contracts by adopting the model of register proposed by Halliday. This thesis gives particular focus on the analysis of three variables of register(field, tenor and mode) in contract text, and explores the particularity of contracts translation and translation strategies with concrete case studies.The author first analyzes the field of the source texts, which is found to be characterized by the abundant use of legal vocabulary and technical terms. Besides, the author points out that common word may contain special meanings in contract texts. At tenor level, the author discusses the frequent use of formal words in terms of mood and modality systems, and elaborates that to emphasize the formal tenor relationship of both parties in technical contracts, juxtaposition of synonyms and passive voice are frequently used in contract translation. At mode level, technical service contracts are constructed by clauses and detailed regulations, with heavy adoption of long sentences and minor use of rhetorical devices. The author mainly discusses the application and translation strategies of adverbial clauses in technical contracts.According to the Register theory, the equivalence of the source and the target texts is not confined in form, namely the equivalence on lexical and grammatical level, nor in content, but that in all three meanings—conceptual meaning, interpersonal meaning and textual meaning. Therefore, under the principle of register equivalence, the author intends to explore ways to realize equivalence of the target and the source texts in all the above three meanings. By synthetic consideration of the field, tenor and mode of technical service contracts, as well as English expression features, the author raises viable methods to achieve fluent transformation between Chinese and English, which may contribute to better translation quality of technical service contracts.This thesis attempts to propose from a linguistic perspective that: the translator should make a deeper, more thorough and comprehensive register analysis of the original texts and pursue the register equivalence during translation to restore the register characteristics in the target text.