Application Of Semantic And Communicative Translation To The E-C Translation Of Project Method Statements

With the acceleration of globalization as well as the deepening of Chinese Reform and Opening-up,transnational communication of China in various fields has been increasing,and exchanges between countries in construction and installation activities have also become more frequent.With this,translation of relevant documents comes into being.As a kind of indispensable material in construction and installation activities,project method statements cover many important aspects like purpose,procedure,material and warning.It is an essential indicator to measure whether a construction or installation project is absolutely safe or not.From this,we can say that translation of project method statements plays a very important role in the transnational interaction of construction and installation activities and that the translation quality has a very direct impact on the reading effect of the target readers and even on the normal process of construction and installation activities.Semantic translation and communicative translation are important translation concepts put forward by the famous British translation theorist Peter Newmark.Semantic translation focuses on the form and structure of the original text,attaching great importance to the reproduction of the author's intentions and ways of expression.Communicative translation puts more emphasis on the response of the target readers.When used in translation practice,they are not incompatible to each other;rather,they are complementary to each other.By using the author's translation of project method statements as a case study,this thesis explores the application of semantic and communicative translation to the E-C translation of project method statements with the methods of literature review and example analysis,proposing effective translation methods so that the translation can not only give an accurate rendering of the original information,but also provide acceptable readings to the target readers.Apart from an introduction and a conclusion,this thesis consists of three chapters.Chapter One introduces the concepts of semantic translation and communicative translation by making a comparison between them as well as a comparison between them and other translation theories or strategies.Then,it analyzes the adaptability of semantic and communicative translation to project method statements.Chapter Two expounds the features of English project method statements from lexical,syntactic and discourse levels.At lexical level,there are many terminologies,acronyms and derivatives.At syntactic level,English project method statements are featured with frequent use of passive sentences and imperative sentences.At discourse level,the method statements are often written with fixed structures,an objective tone and a rigorous writing style.These features all served the content.Therefore,translators should reproduce these features when translating English project method statements into Chinese.Chapter Three illustrates the application of semantic and communicative translation to the E-C translation of project method statements with examples and with the features in consideration.Meanwhile,it discusses and explores feasible translation methods for project method statements.The conclusion summarizes the main content and viewpoints of this thesis,and put forward some issues on this subject for further studies.The thesis holds that translators should combine semantic translation with communicative translation and use them appropriately in the translation of English project method statements by means of feasible translation methods and techniques.In this way,they can produce faithful,smooth,reliable and practical project method statements for the target readers.