A Practice Report On English Translation Of Technical Terms In Beijing General Contracting Construction Contract

Technical terms are symbols which express or define professional concepts.Their meanings are difficult to understand for those who do not specialize in such a field.With the rapid development of modern science and technology,a large number of new technical terms have emerged.It is complicated and important to study how to translate these technical terms accurately and how to keep the translation unified and in line with standards.The content and writing of this translation report are based on the C-E translation of Beijing General Contracting Construction Contract.This engineering contract involves a large number of technical terms in the fields of architecture,civil engineering,business,etc.The difference between technical terms and common terns lies in the fact that the extensional meanings of technical terms are determined by signified meanings.It is difficult to find accurate meanings of all technical terms even in technical dictionaries.Therefore,the translation of technical terms becomes one of the the most difficult problems as well as the focus in the translating process of this engineering contract.This report analyzes the translation of technical terms in engineering contracts.It aims to promote the studies on the translation of technical terms in engineering contracts.After defining and determining the scope of technical terms and knowing the constitution and lexical meanings of technical terms,the writer of this report analyzes the examples of technical terms in translation.The findings are summarized as follows:(1)literal translation.This method is suitable for the lexical items whose meanings are understandable if English formal equivalents are presented;(2)liberal translation.This method is suitable for the lexis whose meanings can not be understood if English formal equivalents are presented,including short forms of certain expressions and the words or expressions whose connotational meanings are different in a special discipline from their surface meanings;(3)borrowed words.They are words borrowed from other languages which have been widely acknowledged and accepted by authorities or public.Such words are difficult to remember and redundant if they are translated liberally.Therefore,borrowed words can be directly used as the translation of such technical terms.