A Study On E-C Translation Strategy Of Military English Under The Guidance Of Functionalist Approaches

The functionalist approaches stress that we should take the function or purpose of the target text as the standard, comprehensively and accurately understand the original information, and combine the subjective initiative with translation strategies for accurate translation, free from equivalence, which will help achieve the purpose. In addition, military English, whose translation is significant to our national defense construction and army development, is the application of scientific and technological English to the military subjects. As a branch of ESP (English for Specific Purposes), military English is characterized by its definite intentionality, functionality and professionalism. The functionalist approaches are among the most suitable theories that have been used to guide applied translation. Guided by the functionalist approaches, the thesis first makes a summary of the characteristics of military English and reaches a conclusion about vocabularies and sentences. As for the vocabulary, the most frequently used are military terms and common vocabularies given military meanings, with breviaries used the most frequently among military terms. As for the sentence, long sentences or compound sentences are used frequently. According to the three major translating principles of the functionalist approaches, this thesis suggests that paraphrase, literal translation and transliteration should be used in the E-C translation of military vocabularies, with consideration to the complexities of their origins. Then the thesis researches on the translation strategies of long English sentences through examples, such as syntactic linearity, conversion and amplification, with a view to the logic and structure of the origin text. Based on my practice and study, the discussions and suggestions in this thesis aim at smoothing development of China’s military translation work.