A Translation Report On Huawei Mediapad M3 User Guide From Chinese To English

This is a report based on the C-E translation of Huawei MediaPad M3 User Guide.This translation task was assigned to the author by the Huawei Technology Co.,Ltd.during my internship in the company.The manual contains three parts,introduction of product functions,safety precautions and legal statements,and the· total word number is 22,300.As a guide manual,it is centered on a specific introduction of product features,application methods and safety precautions.Because of its functions,the original text is a combination of pictures and simple words,with many short imperative sentences.Based on translation elements of user guide manuals and requirements of the task distributor,the translation must meet the following standards:firstly,accurately conveying the original meaning;secondly,translating the original text by using simple target language expressions;thirdly,adopting the proper words for term translation;fourth,staying in line with reading habits and language conventions of user guides in target language countries.Based on characteristics and requirements of the task material,the translation process is divided into three steps,which are pre-translation,translation and post-translation.The pre-translation stage includes analyzing the original text and the main characteristics of the original text,collecting translation resources,and doing research on target readers and culture.Through the analyses of the material,it is found that the thoughts of text typology and communicative translation put forward by Newmark(2001a)could provide a good theoretical guidance for the translation of the electronic product manuals.In the translation process,the focus lies in the lexical,syntactical and textual translation difficulties caused by differences between two languages,which includes translation of terms,the usage of personal pronouns,translation of imperative sentences,translation of implicit passive voice and the realization of text cohesion.To solve those problems,translation methods,such as literal translation,free translation,deletion and omission,are widely adopted.The final step of post-translation is composed of self-modification and proofreading.Through this process,some improperly adopted words and sentences are replaced with better ones,and the translation quality is improved.In the process of translation,the translator needs to maintain the function of the product manual while satisfying the translation requirements,thus the translator often needs to make a choice between two possibilities.Newmark's text typology and communicative translation theory can help translators with reasonable translation solutions,and well guide the translation of the electronic product manual.It is hoped that through some practical case studies in the report,.translators could get some references and help for future high-quality product manual translation.