On the Translation Techniques of Computer English into Chinese 英语专业毕业论文.doc

on the translation techniques of computer english into chinesecontents1. introduction 12. literature review 23. translation techniques in computer english 53.1 translation techniques of words in computer english 53.1.1 characteristics of words in computer english 53.1.2 typical translation techniques of words in computer english 83.1.2.1 translation techniques of common words 83.1.2.2 translation techniques of specialized words 93.1.2.3 translation techniques of new words 103.2 translation techniques of sentences in computer english 113.2.1 characteristics of sentences in computer english 113.2.2 typical translation techniques of sentences in computer english 123.2.2.1 translation techniques of long sentences 133.2.2.2 translation techniques of passive sentences 143.2.2.3 translation techniques of fixed sentence structures 153.3 translation techniques of articles in computer english 163.3.1 characteristics of articles in computer english 163.3.2 typical translation techniques of articles in computer english 174. suggestions for translators of computer english 185. conclusion 195.1 summary of the study 195.2 implications of the research 205.3 limitations and directions for future research 20 references 1. introductionthe information technology has undergone rapid development in recent years. as a result, the computer and internet have been applied into our everyday life and are playing a much more important role. many people are attracted to learn about computer but only to find that it is so hard to become a high-level technician of computer because of the barrier of english. english is the mother language of the computer language since nowadays most of the advanced technology about computer is invented, mastered and controlled by the western countries, and almost all the material about the computer technology is published in english. coupled with the lack of english knowledge of many chinese technicians of computer, it is hard for the technicians of our country to understand and digest the newest technology, which definitely delays the development of computer in china. in order to catch up with the fast development of the developed countries in this field, it becomes much more important to translate the computer english into chinese in a quick and correct way. the computer users dictionary defines computer english as: a special register of english, used to describe the computer and its technologies, mainly distinguished from english for other purposes by its terminology.the translation of computer english, though seemingly special and different, also follows the basic principles of translation. most of the techniques that are applied in the translation of literature works and other kinds of materials are also applicable in the translation of the computer english. the basic requirement of the correct presentation of every detailed aspects of the resource language by the target language should be taken into consideration (wang and liu, 2007). however, because of the speciality of english used in computer, some adjustment of the techniques should be made in the translation of computer english.because of the importance and urgency of the study of computer english, many books on computer english have been published and there are also articles and materials on the translation of computer english. however, there has been little material making a detailed and comprehensive analysis of the translation techniques. since a better understanding of the translation techniques can help the process of translation, it is necessary and useful to analyze the techniques. and this paper makes a try on this subject.this paper consists of five chapters. chapter one serves as a general introduction, which describes the general situation of computer english translation present in order to show the urgency and importance of the analysis of this topic. in chapter two, translation techniques and principles are analyzed like the “three general rules of translation” by alexander fraser tytler, which will be applied in the analysis of the computer english translation in the following parts. chapter three makes an analysis of the characteristics of the computer english and explores the techniques of translation respectively in accordance with the characteristics of words, sentences and articles. chapter four makes suggestions on the qualities which the translators of computer english should fulfill. chapter five draws a conclusion of the study, explains the implications of the study, points out the limitations of the study and states suggestions for future studies. 2. literature reviewin order to analyze the translation of computer english, we need to explore the characteristics of computer english and the basic translation techniques and principles of translation. scholars have done much related work on the computer english and the analysis of its translation.the translation of computer english follows the basic principles of translation. most of the techniques that are applied in the translation of literature works or other kinds of materials are applicable in the translation of the computer english.alexander fraser tytler is the author of the present essay on translation. he puts forward the famous “three general rules of translation” in essay on the principle of translation. the merit of this essay lies in the establishment of those various subordinate rules and precepts which apply to the nicer parts and difficulties of the art of translation, in deducing those rules and precepts from the general principles which are of acknowledged truth, and in proving and illustrating them by examples. (tytler, 2007) though the principles in this essay are basically for poetic and literary translation, it can also be applied into translation of all other kinds of works like the translation of computer english.as tytler puts it, a good translation is, that, in which the merit of the original work is so completely transfused into another language, as to be as distinctly apprehended, and as strongly felt, by native of the country to which that language belongs, as it is by those who speak the language of the original work. according his understanding of a good translation, he puts forward the laws of translation as follows:first, a translation should form a complete transcript of the ideas of the original work; second, the style and manner of writing in a translation should be of the same character with that of the original; third, a translation should have all the ease of original composition.the three general rules of translation, which is put forward as early as 1971, is still of great importance in guiding the development of the translation theory and much practical in instructing the text translation. (tytler, 2007)the chinese scholar yan fu put forward the famous principles of translation of “faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance”. faithfulness requires that the translation express the same content of the original. expressiveness means the translation should be clear and flowing in order that the translation is easy to understand. elegance emphasizes on the beauty of the translation style.in est translation, zhao and zheng (2006) makes analysis of the application of yan fus theory. it is pointed out that the translation should first contain all the information of the original completely and correctly. no altering, distorting, missing or adding of information are allowed, which may lead to misunderstanding. besides, the translation should follow the norms of the target language. therefore, the translation can easily be understood and accepted.since the computer english falls in the est (english for science and technology) translation, the above principles of translation are also applicable in the translation of computer english.ye (2000) argues that the articles, the language of which should be standardized, are those on computer, finance, commerce, medicine and so on. the standardization of the language is necessary since people in these fields have to express exactly what they want to say. therefore the language should avoid ambiguity. the standardization of translation focuses on the specialized words and the translation should be in accordance with the standardized translation version.the above mentioned techniques and principles of translation are applicable in the computer english translation. besides, we could find many works on analyzing the computer english and the translation methods that may be applied. they are helpful for the technique analysis of the computer english.zhao and zheng (2006) give a brief introduction on the characteristics of the est and some general methods of translation. it is pointed out that one distinct characteristic is the high frequency of sentences without person. since the est mainly aims at stating scientific facts and discoveries, therefore the person is always omitted in order to make the information seems more objective. one result of the high frequency of the sentences without person is a large number of passive sentences. also, there are a lot of formal terms. since the est is for special fields, many words are only used in some certain fields and by certain technicians.some common methods of translation, which is usually applied in the translation of literature work, are also introduced. some sentences can be translated directly into chinese without changing the orders of words and the structure of the sentences. simple sentences can be combined into one sentence and long sentences can be separated into several short ones. these methods can also be applied into computer english, but the direct application is not proper and some changes must be made.wang (2007) points out that many terms of the computer english come from the daily vocabulary, which are given new meanings and uses. many derivatives and compounds exist in computer english. there are numerous non-finite verbs applied, which leads to the fact that the passive voice of the verbs also appears frequently.zhang (2008) analyzed some detailed translation techniques such as the techniques of the passive sentences. they also point out that the article is not the simple combination of words and the translation of the whole article should take the style into consideration. and they argue that a good master of grammar is of great importance in making good translation.the analysis above describes the computer english and translation techniques from different aspects and is very helpful for the exploration of this thesis. 3. translation techniques in computer englishin this chapter, the techniques that can be applied into translation will be analyzed in detail. some general methods of translation are applicable in computer english. but since they are well known to us, this paper will not make deep analysis on those ones. on the contrary, the paper mainly focuses on the typical techniques dealing with the speciality of computer english.3.1 translation techniques of words in computer englishthe importance of vocabulary can never be underestimated. with the rapid development of computer and network, there has been a considerable increase in computer english words. analysis of the characteristics of words is a requisite for the analysis of the techniques, therefore the characteristics come first.3.1.1 characteristics of words in computer englishfirst, there are many words which are borrowed from daily vocabulary but have transformed meanings. these words are also used by common people and can be found in our everyday life. however they bear different meanings when it comes to computer english.example 1:(wang, liu and yang, 2007)in example 1, all the words are commonlyused but refer to certain things in computer english, therefore they gain new meanings.second, there are many terminologies. terminology means the vocabulary of technical terms used in a particular field, subject, science or art. because of the speciality of computer english, there are many words that are only used in the computer field. the words in example 2 are of this kind. example 2:(wang, liu and yang, 2007)third, there are many derivatives. derivative means a word formed by derivation. the most common way of derivation is by adding prefixes and suffixes. example 3:micro- + computer microcomputer 微机 multi- + program multiprogramming 多程序 re- + fresh refresh 刷新 un- + zip unzip 解压semi- + compatible semi-compatible 半兼容的process + -or processor 处理器access + -able accessible 可以访问的 (wang, liu and yang, 2007)forth, there are many compounds. compounds are words that consist either of two or more elements that are independent words or of specially modified combining forms of words.example 4:data + processing data-processing 加工数据的custom + written custom-written 自定义写上的double + click double-click 双击daughter + board daughterboard 子板key + board keyboard键盘in + put input 输入plug + in plug-in 插件 (wang, liu and yang, 2007)fifth, there are many abbreviated words. abbreviated words are formed by abbreviation or shortening. there are four kinds of abbreviated and they are initialism, acronym, clipped words and blending words.example 5:initialism: cpu central processing unit 中央处理器ascii american standard code for information interchange 美国信息交换标准码dbms database management system 数据库管理系统 html hypertext markup language 超文本标记语言acronym: lcd liquid crystal display 液晶显示gui graphical user interface 图形用户界面ram random-access memory 随机存储器clipped words: information info 信息application app 应用程序blending words: binary + digit bit 二进制的， 比特modulator + demodulator modem 调制解调器network + etiquette netiquette 网络礼节(zhang and song, 2004)3.1.2 typical translation techniques of words in computer englishaccording to the characteristics of the computer english, there are different techniques that can be applied.3.1.2.1 translation techniques of common wordsmany words used in computer english are common words which can be found in daily life. these words have more than one meaning. during the process of translation, the correct choice of meaning is of great importance. besides, during the long time of translation practice, many common words used in computer english have been given a certain translation counterparts in chinese, which can be understood and accepted by the readers. and the translation of these words should not be changed.example 6:next, you want to look down the list of check boxes and radio buttons to find the one that says “show hidden files and folders.”接下来，你要往下浏览复选框和单选钮列表，找到“显示隐藏文件和文件夹”单选钮。(wang, liu and yang, 2007)analysis:in common sense, the radio buttons can be understood as “收音机按钮开关”. but since the sentence is about computer english, it refers to a certain item in computer english. therefore it can only be translated into “单选钮”, which makes the sentence reasonable and understandable. other translations will cause confusion or misunderstanding.example 7:i have to install with each new pc: office suite, including e-mail client 下面是每台新个人电脑我都必然安装的一些应用程序：office 套件，包括电子邮件客户端 (wang, liu and yang, 2007)in client/server computing, processing is distributed between two machines - the client machine and the server machine.在客户机/服务器计算中，处理工作分布在两台机器上运行- 客户机和服务器。(wang, liu and yang, 2007)analysis:in the first sentence, the client refers to a certain software and therefore it means “客户端”. and in the second sentence, the client appears with the server and therefore it represents the hardware, which is “客户机”.from example 6 and 7, we can see that words used in computer english often have different meanings in different contexts. therefore it is the context that finally determines the chinese meaning of words. and much attention should be paid to choosing the right chinese version of the words especially those borrowed from daily vocabulary, and the terminology should be given the fixed chinese version in order to avoid confusion.3.1.2.2 translation techniques of specialized wordsthere are also some specialized words, the meanings of which are so familiar to people that they can be understood even without being translated. therefore, it is no longer necessary to translate these words and their english versions can be applied directly.example 8:rom is similar to ram. it only cannot be altered and does not lose its contents when power is removed.rom 类似于ram。不过其中的数据不能改变，关机后也不丢失。(wang, liu and yang, 2007)analysis:rom and ram refer to 只读存储器 (read-only memory) and 随机存取存储器(random access memory). since they are so well-known for most people that they can be understood without being translated into the chinese version, there is no ne