C-E Translation Of Huawei Technical Documents:A Practice Report Under The User-friendly Principle

Technical documents play an indispensable role for Chinese enterprises in their process of internationalization.A well-translated user-friendly product document is important not only for the promotion of the products,but for the image of the brand and the company.This practice report is based on the author’s translation of product documents for Huawei Gauss database.Based on an ontological study probing into the features of different text types,the Gauss product documents are further divided into the informative Product Description and vocative Operative Instruction.By analyzing the draft versions of translation,the author detects the following problems in the framework of the user-friendly principle:(1)inconsistency of terminology in Product Description;(2)lack of simplicity in Product Description;(3)focus shift and key action ambiguity in Operative Instruction;(4)lengthy procedures in Operative Instruction;(5)illogicality in Operative Instruction.Based on the study of the characteristics of English technical documents,the in-depth research of the user-friendliness principle,and the analysis of the functions and purposes of the Product Description and Operative Instruction,the author proposes tentative solutions to the problems above.