A Practice Report On E-C Patent Translation Under The Guidance Of Functional Equivalence Theory

With the rapid development of technology and the increasing frequency of information exchange between countries,more and more companies realize the importance of protecting intellectual property.Many companies have gradually applied for patents at home and abroad to protect their intellectual property,so the translation demands for patent documents have become increasingly prominent.Based on the author's four-month internship at EC Innovations(Chengdu),Inc.,this report analyzes and summarizes the translation practice under the guidance of Nida's functional equivalence theory.First of all,the author analyzes the textual features of patent documents respectively from the lexical,the syntactic and the discourse levels,and then summarizes the typical problems encountered in this translation practice,including: 1)on the lexical level: inaccurate translation of specialized words,mistranslation and omission of articles;2)on the syntactic level:inappropriate translation of passive sentences and complex sentences;3)on the discourse level: colloquial translation style and poor coherence of the context.Functional equivalence theory pursues reproducing in the target language the closest natural equivalent to the source-language message,first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style.Therefore,with the guidance of the functional equivalence theory and the reference of the characteristics of patent documents,the author puts forward some corresponding translation skills: 1)on the lexical level:selecting word meaning in specific context and adopting conventional expressions of articles;2)on the syntactic level: shifting sentence voice,splitting and reconstructing complex sentences;3)on the discourse level: referring to parallel texts and keeping logical consistency.It is hoped that this practice report could provide some reference and enlightenment for patent translators.