A Report On The Translation Of Feasibility Study Report Of Desalination Project

This translation practice report is based on the Chinese to English translation project of Feasibility Study Report of Desalination Project of Xianda Tianjin Nangang Industrial Zone with a Capacity of 300,000 t/d.The source text of this project is a feasibility study report on the implementation of seawater desalination project,which is a typical scientific and technical informative text.Guided by Eugene Nida’s functional equivalence theory,this report discusses the problems encountered in the translation of this sci-tech text and employs methods and techniques such as literal translation,free translation,amplification,omission and conversion,etc.to achieve equivalence on lexical,syntactic and textual levels,and convey the information of the source text accurately and objectively.On lexical level,technical terms and abbreviations should be translated based on the lexical features of sci-tech texts and the technical field.To translate names of places and enterprises,the translator should first consult authoritative websites before translating and follow the principle of “the owner deciding the name”.On the syntactic level,the translator may split a long sentence into short sentences or translate part of it into an attributive clause.To translate a non-subject sentence,the translator may render it,by adding a subject or by structural conversion,into a passive-voice sentence,a sentence with “it” as the formal subject,a “there be” sentence,an inverted sentence or an imperative sentence.On the textual level,amplification and free translation may be adopted to achieve good cohesion in the text;consistency in tense may be realized through analysis of the source text context.This report finally summarizes the author’s gains from and reflections on the project,clarifies the limitations of the report,and makes suggestions for similar translation projects and studies.This report may provide reference for the English translation of sci-tech texts,especially those concerning the field of seawater desalination.Meanwhile,the translation project may promote international exchange and cooperation in seawater desalination and accelerate seawater desalination technological progress in China.