Application of Functional Equivalence Theory in Civil Engineering Text Translation

Civil engineering English is more widely used and has become an indispensable part of professional fields with the rapid development of economy. Its texts and syntax features have attracted the attention of some experts. Based on the Functional Equivalence theory, this paper will provide a new method reference for relevant texts translation studies and summarize some translation strategies from words, sentences and chapters, including literal translation and sequential displacement to provide some references for professional text translation, reading and writing.


Introduction
As Chinese architecture gradually moves towards the world, civil engineering English translation has become a crucial bridge for technical exchanges at home and abroad. For example, China's Six Major Overseas Projects, such as China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, Algeria Expressway, Baltic Pearl Project, West Texas Wind Farm, Nigeria's Zanglu Hydropower Station. These projects have deepened the friendship and economic development of various countries, and also promoted better exchange of engineering technology between the two sides.
The combination of English and professional knowledge affects the translation quality of civil engineering texts. Functional translation theory has not been systematically used as the theoretical basis for civil engineering English translation. Therefore, functional translation theory will be of guiding significance to the research of civil engineering English translation, will certainly improve the translation quality of civil engineering English texts, broaden the thinking of civil engineering English teaching and research, and has certain reference value to the research of Chinese translation theory.
Meanwhile, Civil engineering English belongs to a branch of English for science and technology. It is highly specialized, widely read and relatively independent. In the translation of civil engineering English, the translator should accurately convey the meaning of the original text, that is, the translator should combine the characteristics of civil engineering specialty to realize the true meaning of technology and communication function.

Functional Equivalence Theory
Eugene Nida believes that "translation is to reproduce the information of the source language from meaning to style in the most appropriate, natural and equivalent language". Two forms of equivalence are reflected in its "functional equivalence" theory-formal equivalence and functional equivalence (Nida, 2004a).
Its essence is to make the source language equivalent in both meaning and form. This means that the translator should give more attention to the equivalence of form and style while expressing the source language information truly and accurately.

Linguistic Features of Civil Engineering
Civil Engineering, as a kind of Science English, is accurate in meaning, rigorous in diction, objective in expression and strict in logic. Especially, civil engineering has distinctive features in word, sentence and text, as shown in the following parts.
In scientific and technological texts, in order to ensure the professionalism, accuracy and scientific nature of the articles, a large number of professional words are widely used. The core element of English for civil engineering is precision. Therefore, the characteristic of large professional vocabulary is particularly prominent in English for civil engineering.

The Wide Use of Highly-Technical Words
Highly-technical Terms are involved in words and phrases with single meanings that can be simply used in one subject without any change in context or discipline. As a highly professional field, Civil Engineering generally has a set of fixed words and phrases that are exactly the core part of the learning (See Table 1, highly-technical terms).

The Wide Use of Semi-Technical Words
The semi-technical words are widely used in Civil Engineering English; semi-technical words will have different meanings in the different fields. Therefore, semi-technical words and phrases are usually context-dependent, textual Open Journal of Modern Linguistics  Table 2, semi-technical words).

The Wide Use of Non-Technical Words
The non-technical Words are usually in the Civil Engineering English, non-technical English is seldom used in technical English, and they are usually divided into ordinary English words. Unlike technical Words, the non-technical Words are difficult and ambiguous to understand. For example: 1) ST: After being laid, ring courses should be timely maintained to make mortars consistently moist. As the maintenance strength achieves design thickness, the support can be removed to point joints in ring courses.
Analysis: In example (1), "support" is a common English word with no specific meaning in Civil Engineering. "support" is commonly known as "支持, 援 助, 支撑, 拥护", however, according to the semantic relation of the original text, and the "support" in Chinese meaning is "支架" in Civil Engineering field.
2) ST: Foundations and pedestals are built by laying mortar rubbles. After foundation building, pedestals are built by the method of sample framework thread drawing to ensure compliable linearity and size. In addition, stones are built by bed mortar and extrusive mortar method without laying and grouting. Staggered and layered joints are proposed during laying with staggered interval not less than 10 cm. Concave joint of 2 cm wide is uniformly adopted. Settlement joints are arranged according to design details.
Analysis: In example (2), "laying" is commonly known as "放置, 产卵", the word "laying" is "铺设" in engineering field according to the Oxford English-Chinese Dictionary. if the word "laying" is literally translated as "放置" or "产卵", the meaning of the whole sentence is ambiguous, what's more, the word "settlement" is "沉降" in engineering field, if the word "settlement" is Open Journal of Modern Linguistics Hanger "挂钩" in common words "吊杆" in Transportation engineering, "悬挂器" in Energy science and technology.
Thus, these examples all embody lexical equivalence, not only in form but also in function. As can be seen from the above examples, only when words are correctly understood and sentences can be understood accurately.

Features of English Sentences for Civil Engineering
Civil engineering language is mainly scientific and technological language, which is used to describe the construction contract, process, principle and calculation formula. Therefore, civil engineering English is generally complete in meaning, tight in structure and concise in language.

The Wide Use of Passive Sentence
Civil engineering English generally uses a large number of passive sentences to keep the sentences structurally balanced. Analysis: In this paragraph, there are 9 places of passive voice. The passive voice is used to indicate active meaning, "is proposed" shows the object of "circular culvert", the passive structure "is paved, are poured, are laid, are concreted, are assembled, is filled, is shimmed" mainly indicates the integrity of the sentence and avoids the top-heavy structure of the sentence and they realize the cohesion and coherence of the text. Then, the passive sentence of "are forbidden" emphasizes the meaning, d which means the mandatory purpose of the passive sentence.
2) ST: Combination of excavator and self-dumping truck realizes foundation ditch excavation. The method of well point dewatering beside foundation ditch lowers groundwater level during foundation ditch excavation. In case of failure to mechanically excavate in stone foundations, small-scale explosion prevails.
After the ditch is completely excavated, foundation bearing capacity is firstly tested.
Analysis: In this example, the active voice is used in the front part of this paragraph and the passive voice is used in the back part. It is emphasized that the first step after foundation pit is completed is to carry out foundation bearing capacity test. The logical sequence of sentences is presented, which is conducive to clear and logical sentence structure. What's more, "is completely excavated, is firstly tested" reflects the consistency and the integrity of sentence structure. Analysis: In this example, more prepositions and phrases are widely used, such as "through, during, is necessary to, staggered with, comply with, from... to…" In this paragraph, a large number of prepositions and phrases are used, making the sentence structure cohesive.

The Translation Strategy
Sentences can be regarded as the most basic elements when expressing complete semantics, and also the smallest translation unit existing in actual translation.
Equivalence in sentence translation is embodied in three aspects: Surface Level, Rhetoric Level and Deep Level (Xu, 2009). Accordingly, the translation strategies are summarized as follows:

Literal Translation
According to the functional equivalence theory, if literal translation can realize the extension and connotation of the text, then domestication is not necessary (Nida, 2004b). Based on this theory, pragmatic equivalence and deep equivalence are realized at the same time as surface equivalence. For example: 1) ST: Highly weathered reef limestone macadam soil and highly weathered volcanic breccia can be used as roadbed filler, slightly weathered reef limestone is used as roadbed base stone; andesite is used as concrete coarse aggregate and asphalt surface layer macadam.
Analysis: In Example (1), Example (2), the literal translation of the sentence not only preserves the structure of the sentence, but also conveys the same information.

Sequential Displacement
The word order between English and Chinese is quite different, which requires the habitual expression of the receiver of the target language. 1) ST: The form of girder is variable-section pre-stressed concrete box girder.
The girder height at the girder midspan is 3 m, the girder height at the root is 5.8 m, and the bottom plate transmits smoothly with a shape of secondary parabola.
TT: 主梁采用变截面预应力混凝土箱梁形式。 主梁跨中梁高采用 3 m, 根部 Open Journal of Modern Linguistics 梁高采用 5.8 m, 底板采用二次抛物线平滑过渡. Analysis: In this example, in English, the attributive clause is placed after the central word "The form" and needs to be translated into Chinese in advance.

Conclusions
Professional English for civil engineering has unique characteristics, and functional equivalence theory is of guiding significance. The English and Chinese languages are constantly merging, so the language features are not isolated and the translation strategies cannot be absolute. Only extensive practice can keep improving.
In this paper, Nida's functional equivalence theory and related translation strategies are used to help civil engineering English translation get a more accurate and professional understanding.