A Report On C-E Translation Practice Of Product Instructions—From The Perspective Of Nord’s Text Analysis Model

In recent years,the development of Internet technologies has greatly promoted the development and application of Internet finance.In the development process of the "Internet Plus",China’s rapidly rising cross-border e-commerce has become a new way of foreign trade.Since cross-border e-commerce involves two or even more different languages and cultures,translation plays a vital role in this process.In this context,most cross-border e-commerce platforms attach great importance to the English translation of their websites and product introductions on their websites,but little attention has been paid to the translation of product instructions.Machine translation is usually applied directly in the translation of product instructions,which has many disadvantages when compared with human translation despite the spectacular advancement it boasts.However,product instruction is one of the main channels for sellers to convey information to buyers,whose translation quality plays an extremely important role in helping consumers understand information about the product and get familiar with the usage of it.Therefore,the translation of instructions is also of great significance in promoting the development of China’s cross-border e-commerce.This report is based on the translation practice of instructions that the translator participated in during her internship in a cross-border e-commerce company in Nanjing.The products cover a variety of types,including electronic products,cosmetics,health care products,ornaments,toys,and so on.Guided by Nords’ text analysis model,the translator made an in-depth analysis of the text features of different product instructions based on the intratextual and extratextual factors proposed by Nord.Bearing in mind the linguistic characteristics of instructions,the translator also explained how she coped with some translation difficulties from lexical,syntactical and discourse dimensions.On the basis of understanding the function of the source text,the translator adopted the methods of amplification,transliteration plus annotation,applying rhetorical devices to make up for the phonological beauty of the original text,reference,repetition,and adding conjunctions to realize the full and accurate transmission of the meaning of the original text and maintain the stylistic features of the original text,so that the translated text could efficiently and accurately convey the informative function,appellative function and aesthetic function of the original text,thus improving the shopping experience of consumers.Through the translation practice and case analyses,the translator has found out that Nord’s text analysis model is applicable and instructive to the English translation of instructions.When translating Chinese instructions,translators need to choose appropriate translation strategies and methods based on the text features and functions of different instructions,so as to realize the translation purpose to the maximum extent.