| Petroleum has become one of the world’s primary energy sources in recent years.As a result,there has been a progressive increase in the international exchange of the oil and gas pipeline transportation technology,which is an essential technology in the petroleum industry.The translator,i.e.,the writer of this paper,takes the first two chapters of the monograph entitled Oil and Gas Pipelines and Piping Systems as the source text for her translation task.The source text is of the genre of English for science and technology.The translation task is accomplished in the theoretical framework of Nord’s “functionality plus loyalty” principle,and the whole translation process is divided into three stages: pre-translation,whilst-translation,and post-translation.This paper reports on how the translation task is conducted at each stage,including looking up technical terms in specialized dictionaries,searching for comparable texts,identifying major problems and difficulties in the translation process,compiling the glossary of technical terms,and proofreading so to enhance translation quality.By using the research strategy of case study,the translator describes and analyzes the major problems and difficulties mentioned above and put forward the corresponding solutions,with reference to the translation of technical terms,passive voice sentences and compound complex sentences.Following the “functionality plus loyalty” principle,the translator illustrates how the following translation techniques are employed to address the difficulties encountered in the translation process: semantic extension,reinventing sentence structure,translating passive sentences into sentences without subjects,and so forth.The illustration of the relevant translation techniques used in translating the technical English texts in the field of petroleum engineering will help accumulate empirical evidence for technical translation research in general.In addition,these translation techniques will have implications for translation practice in similar subject matters. |
