Translation Report On Equipment Instruction Manual Under The Guidance Of Functional Equivalence

With the great progress of science and technology and the rapid development ofglobalization and China’s economy, more and more companies in China tend toimport a variety of advanced equipment from developed countries to produce urgentlyneeded products in the market. As the essential attachment to the equipment,equipment instruction manual (EIM) refers to a written documentation giving adetailed introduction to safety instruction，each equipment part, as well as equipmentinstallation, operation, and maintenance instructions, etc. The main function of EIM isto guide users correctly and safely operate the machine. At present, as the import andexport of equipment grow rapidly, it appears an increasing demand for EIMtranslation both in quality and quantity. EIM belongs to the category of English forScience and Technology (EST), therefore, its translation follows the general principlesof EST translation, such as accuracy, conciseness and subjectivity, among whichaccuracy can be regarded as the paramount principle. Accuracy means that the targettext must truthfully transmit all the information of the source text. In terms of texttype, EIM can be classified into informative text focusing on the transmission ofinformation.At the end of1960s, famous American translation theorist Eugene Nida putforward the theory of functional equivalence advocating that the target text shouldtruthfully transmit the message of the source text and also achieve the equivalence ofreader’s response. Based on the text type of EIM and the accuracy principle of EIMtranslation, the author thinks that Nida’ functional equivalence theory is quiteapplicable for guiding EIM translation.This translation report is made on the basis of the author’s translation practice ofthe operation manual of a type of chocolate molding machine. Abundant use ofterminologies, nominalization and passive voice sentences is a distinctive feature ofthe source text, which causes great obstacle for translation. On the basis of a detailedanalysis of the text type and stylistic feature of the source text, this translation report, under the guidance of functional equivalence theory, summarizes the majordifficulties encountered in the translation practice and analyzes the main translationtechniques adopted in the target text through specific examples with an view toproviding some useful references for relevant translation studies and practices.