A Report On The Translation Of The Technical Documentation Of Suzhou Metro Tunnel Boring Machine (Huahai No.1)

This report is based on the English to Chinese translation practice of the technical document of Suzhou Metro line Tunnel Boring Machine (Huahai No.1 TBM), which is accomplished by the author. The source text contains 10234 English words, which should be finished within 15 days.This report explains the translation procedure first. Linguistic characteristics of the source text and the client’s requirements are analyzed before translation. The author elaborated the corresponding solutions to the practical difficulties, including selection of translation strategies, inputting and format conversion of the printed paper documents, terms’extraction and classification, acquirement of parallel text, advancing of searching methods, management of translation schedule, establishment of Quality Assurance Standard, unification of the target text style, as well as fast learning of professional knowledge.Then detailed case studies are conducted from three aspects, which are the translation of lexical items, syntactic structures and specific contents. Based on the case studies, the author comes up with ways to understand the meaning of terms, to translate typical syntactic structures in technical EST (English for Science and Technology), as well as to ensure the domestication and specialization of the target text. The report also shows deficiencies and problems the author had in the translation task, such as the lack of thorough project management methods and the absence of professional knowledge.Reviewing the whole translation task, the author realizes that:1) a better translation version can be accomplished by searching and referring to authoritative sources. Adequate preparation determines the quality of final target text; 2) mastering of relevant translation tools would improve translation efficiency substantially; 3) professional knowledge is the top priority in any translation of technical documents, which should be acquired precisely by the translator. This report is intended to provide reference for similar translation practices.