A Report On E-C Translation Of Engineering Contracts From The Perspective Of Functional Equivalence

With the growth of economic globalization,a great many Chinese companies have established business relations with overseas companies in international engineering projects.Therefore,engineering contracts as a kind of formal law documents defining the rights and obligations of both parties on the voluntary basis are occupying an important place in international engineering projects.The translation of engineering contracts drives completion of projects and protects interests of both parties.Additionally,with the characteristics of large investment in bid,complicated contents and preciseness and restrictiveness in language,high-quality translation is badly needed in engineering contracts translation.This practical report is selected from ZESCO(Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation Limited)Engineering Contract NUMBER 088-VOLUME 2,covering the scope of work and supply of section one,the general specification of section two,and the electrical engineering technical specifications(excerpts)of section three to explore the translation methods of the Engineering Contract under the guidance of the functional equivalence theory.The Engineering Contract text is both legal text and technical text,the purpose of which is to convey information accurately.According to its characteristics,the author chose Nida’s functional equivalence theory as a guide and carried out the translation practice.In order to realize text equivalence,the author used functional equivalence in translation.Nida’s functional equivalence theory mainly includes formal equivalence and dynamic equivalence,which is the core of the theory.He defined dynamic equivalence as the reproduction in the original language of the information of the source text with the closest natural equivalence.In dynamic equivalence,―readers‘ responses‖ requires that the message of the original text should be transported into the receptor language that the response of the receptor is basically like that of the original receptors.The information function of the Engineering Contract text accounts for the most,and according to the functional equivalence theory,the translator’s main task is to convey the information of the original text truthfully and to achieve the goal;the translation must be correctly understood by target readers.Target readers of engineering contract are a specific group,so ―readers‘ responses‖ becomes the criterion of the translation adequacy.This report takes the translation materials from the Engineering Contract as case studies,and analyzes and summarizes specific methods of translating the Engineering Contract so as to achieve functional equivalence.This report is mainly divided into four parts.In the first part,it primarily introduces background,objectives and significance of the report.In the second part,it is about task description,including preparation for translation,process of translation and quality control.In the third part,it analyzes case studies from lexical,syntactic and textual levels under the guidance of functional equivalence theory.In the fourth part,it summarizes the whole report,including major findings,limitations and suggestions.This report has the following findings:(1)the Engineering Contract is a kind of information-oriented text with information function;Its focus is to transmit information;Its target reader is engineers with relevant professional knowledge.Employing Nida’s functional equivalence theory to guide the translation of the Engineering Contract can correctly transmit the original information,making translation faithful to the original text,and increase the readability of the translated text.Therefore,Nida’s functional equivalence theory can effectively guide the translation of the Engineering Contract;(2)due to the differences between English and Chinese,it is necessary to achieve the closest natural equivalent translation through the functional equivalence theory;(3)the Engineering Contract is characterized by wide ranges of fields,high terminology density,long and complex sentences.Thus it is of crucial significance to make full preparations for translation.At the same time,it is of great importance for translators to refer to a great number of books about relevant fields,and excel in utilizing the Internet to collect useful information.In conclusion,this report shows that Nida‘s functional equivalence theory can guide the translation of the Engineering Contract translation and its application in this translation practice.Although the report studies superficially and requires further modification and improvement,it can provide some references for domestic relevant researches and translators involved in translation of engineering contracts.