A Report On The Translation Of A Geochemical Investigation Report

This material Geochemical investigation Report is about geochemistry, provided by atranslation company in Zhengzhou. This material is divided into eight parts and the author isasked to finished the third and the fourth part,12,000characters in total, within one month. Atext on geochemistry is a highly specialized technical text which includes chemistry, geologyand some related knowledge.The commissioner requires the translator to deliver the source information correctly,without omitting useful information or adding individual opinions. He also asks the translatorto pay attention to the stylistic features of the technical text and apply the strategies flexibly tothe text, in order to satisfy the western expression.During the translation practice, the author selects “Skopos Theory” as a guidance.“Skopos Theory” is derived from the1970s, the representative of which is Han Vermeer. Hebegins from the purpose of the commissioner, selects different translation strategies accordingto the typology and the requirement of readers or commissioners, that is, the purposedetermines the process, rather than the word-for-word equivalence, like most of the linguists.This theory creates a new perspective for technical translation.This translation report includes five sections: The first section is the task, which includesthe source of material, the requirement and the brief introduction of the text; The secondsection is the translation process, which is made up of two parts. The first part is the theory,containing the overview of the “Skopos Theory”, theoretical core, translation principle andstandards; The second part is the stylistic feature. The author demonstrates the stylistic featurefrom the perspective of syntax, which includes passive voice, nominalization, long andcomplex sentences, etc. These syntactic structures different from the common text contribute to the accuracy and objectivity of the technical text. Therefore, the translator should selectdifferent strategies in accordance with these features to make the text accurate and objective.The third section is the case analysis, that is the examples of translation strategy selection.Under the guidance of the “Skopos Theory”, together with the features of the technical text,this section illustrates how to select translation strategies according to the requirement of thecommissioners. The fourth section introduces what the author has learned from thistranslation practice, in which also demonstrates the qualities in three parts.In the course of this translation, the author deeply realizes that the translation oftechnical text emphasizes the transmission of information with a text as a unit rather the“word-for-word” translation or even “sentence-for-sentence” translation, even though thetechnical text put accuracy the top priority. The technical text pay great attention to thedifference between Chinese and English, deliver the information correctly so as to meet therequirement of the commissioners. Translation needs a constant practice under a proper theory,and translation of any text needs a deep understanding of the source text, which containsstylistic feature, writing background, commissioner’s requirement, and reader groups. Only todo so, can the translation realizes its value. A perfect application of theory to practice requiresbroad knowledge, theoretical quality and practice basis. Therefore, the author should collectmaterials of different fields, enhance theoretical study and practice, in order to accomplish abetter translation.