A Report For The Chinese Translation Of EST

In this era of machine, electronics and computers, we must obtain a good knowledge of science to live and work successfully in modern society. With the development of science and technology, scientists and engineers try to exchange academic ideas and creative inventions, explain concepts and theories, comment on latest technical advances and report on study etc. A swift, economical, efficient, impersonal and international communication method is in great need. EST (English for Science and Technology) has shown increasing importance. Although there have appeared a number of textbooks that reflect the nature of language used by scientists and engineers, some people still ignore the existence of EST, while others even are indifferent to it, considering that EST is a simple combination of general grammatical rules and some technical words. But unfortunately, this judgment could not give a whole picture about the nature of EST. They do not seem to be aware that EST presents linguistic varieties with its own characteristics.Since scientists and engineers strive to be impersonal in narrating the natural phenomena and fact, their processes and properties, EST must be evidently concise, clear and restricted and include many mathematical equations, diagrams and tables etc. Scientists also prefer to use typical sentence patterns and a large number of technical and semi-technical words to make its translation sharply different from ordinary English. As it has its own distinctive characteristics in lexicon and syntax, or in expression, its translation requires information accuracy and logicality. EST covers all kinds of text dealing with knowledge and technologies in the domains of natural and social science. From the perspective of Skopostheorie, EST is mainly characterized with informativeness, any information of which should be conveyed in a correct, suitable, understandable and convenient manner. In order to achieve this desirable goal, the translator finds it necessary to adopt special methods and strategies in translation. This paper is a summary of the translation of EST texts based on the core theory of German Functional School, Skopostheorie.The translation material is scientific literature about ergonomics, which is excerpted from "fundamental of industrial hygiene" published by the US Security Agency. Due to weak awareness of environment, health and safety, many domestic enterprises only pursue production volume while ignoring occupational health and safety of workers and the pollution of air and water, leading to frequent occurrence of serious accidents and environmental pollution. In recent years, more attention has been paid to the management of this aspect, while relevant laws and regulations have been established. A great many systems, procedures, technical achievements and good practices need to be brought from abroad and adapted to the situation of domestic enterprises, therefore translation of these kinds of books is in large demand because of lack of Chinese versions in market. In addition, owning to deficiency of English skills, safety engineering and environmental engineering professionals cannot understand the text completely even if they are familiar with technical expertise, while English majors have no background of industrial hygiene so that translation is beset with difficulties. Translators of environmental health and safety-related texts are required to have a good knowledge of engineering besides strong English capability, so they must search out some technical document before translation to grasp its stylistic features and jargon. Therefore, the study of EST is a great necessity, a set of translation methods shall be summed up as a guidance to improve the translation quality of industrial hygiene.This report of EST is a summary of translation practice based on the book of industrial hygiene, in which translation theories and methods of EST are enriched. The author believes that by translating this chapter, one may get to know the features of EST vocabulary, sentence and discourse in a systematic way and to thereby summarize some specific translation methods under guidance of Skopos theory so as to enhance the translation quality and readability. This report is composed of four chapters:the 1st chapter is the introduction to the translation project, listing out its background, objective, significance and problems that need to be solved; the 2nd chapter is the description of the translation process, including the function and purpose of translation for the project, TT language positioning and translation process; the 3rd chapter is the case study on translation, deliberating on difficulties and approaches in translating proper nouns and terminologies, norminalization, passive sentences and long and complicated sentences; the 4th chapter draws a conclusion, emphasizing the qualifications a translator needs and experience of translation practice.