A Report On The Translation Of Railway Application Software Text

The rapid development of science and technology makes exchanges in various fields among countries increasingly frequent,resulting in a number of E-C translation works concerning popular science,and the translation of railway application software text is one of them.The translation of railway application software text belongs to translation of science and technology text.It is commonly accepted that the translation of science and technology text aims at conveying information as well as focusing on the content rather than the form,which is one of the criteria for translation of railway application software text.During the translation process,one language is changed into another,and conveying the meaning of the source text accurately is of utmost importance,which is also one of the criteria for the translation of science and technology text.Due to the differences between Chinese and English and their own language features,it is almost impossible to realize absolute equivalence between source text and target text,whether in terms of form or content.In other words,there are changes in form or content of target text.Thus,the author resorts to the translation shift theory when dealing with “departures” from the formal correspondence.The translation shift theory gives priority to the semantic equivalence at the expense of formal correspondence and meets the translation criteria of railway application software text to some degree.The translation shift theory includes two major categories: level shift and category shift,while category shift includes structure shift,class shift,unit shift and intrasystem shift.The adoption of translation shift theory helps to resolve the difficulties in the conversion from one language to another and facilitates translators in delivering the information of the source text with a concise,accurate and fluent target language.The report is a translation project report.The selected text for translation is excerpted from Railway Applications—Communication,Signaling and Processing Systems—Software for Railway Control and Protection Systems,a science and technology text,which aims at introducing a European standard concentrating on the methods which will be used for providing software that meets the demands for safety integrity.The two chapters selected for translation feature mainly the characteristics of words in text for railway application software.Besides,a number of terminologies and complicated sentences emerging from the selected chapters require the proper application of translation theory,and the translation shift theory is among the most commonly applied one.This translation project report consists of three chapters.Chapter One is the introduction,which includes the background and the significance of the translation task.Chapter Two is about the translation process,which includes the pre-translation preparation,in-progress translation and post-translation stage as well as the schedule for completing the translation.Chapter Three is the translation case analysis,which selects the typical cases from the source text to elaborate the translation shift theory.The conclusion is an experience summarization of this translation practice,and also an introspection of the deficiencies during the translation process from which the author expects to make a little contribution to improving the translation efficiency and quality of similar texts in the future.The author hopes to provide some references for those who wish to be engaged in translation of science and technology text.