Study on the Development of Electric Power English

賀曉雯++苗亞男

【Abstract】 With the progress of Chinas internationalization at all industries， especially the electric power industry， one of Chinas energy industry giants， starts to go abroad， also becomes internationalization step by step. The basic guarantee that companies can go out of China is to understand and use of foreign languages. However， electric power English， like other specialty English， is very professional. So the translators need to improve themselves a lot， they not only will understand the professional terms in electric power English but also be familiar with the language features and translation skills of electric power English. Only in this way can they complete the excellent translation work， contribute to the communication about electric power technology among China and other foreign countries， and contribute to the vigorous development of electric industry.

【Key words】Electric Power English； Translation； Language EST； ESP

1. Introduction

It has been thirty years since the reform and opening-up， and Chinas economic development has entered a new historical period. In these 30 years， Chinas reform of the economic system had gained huge success that attracts worldwide attention. Especially， the entry into WTO will influence China greatly in its economic and social life and peoples ideology. At the governments suggestion to “go abroad”， many of Chinese enterprises go abroad to search for advanced technology to elevate enterprises technology standards. Also there are many foreign enterprises come to China to invest. Especially those enterprises in electric power industry is accelerating enterprises internationalization development， and the international business including overseas investment， management， engineering construction， technology consulting， and technical equipment introduction， etc. Therefore， the translation of electric power English is very important.

2. Brief introductions of ESP， EST and electric power English

2.1 Developing of ESP and EST

In recent years， the methodology of electric power English teaching has two trends of development. one of these has been an increased concern with English for Special Purposes （ESP）， in particular with English for Science and Technology （EST）.The other has been the recognition that the learner is not only required to discriminate between utterances which he has never heard， but he is also required to go beyond the sentence patterns which he has memorized and to vary the patterns and to competently create new sentences of his own. ESP is a wide concept， it has a lot of branches， and one of its branches is EST. The aim of ESP and EST is the acquisition of a language for communicative use. Both are closely related.

2.1.1 English for specific purposes （ESP）

A definition of ESP， which is widely accepted， is given by Munby（1978） at the beginning of his book Communication Syllabus Design. It runs as follows “ESP courses are those where the syllabus and materials are determined in all essentials by the prior analysis of the communication needs of the learner”. The ideas of looking closely at learners requirements is one that has been broached both in the teaching of foreign languages in Britain and Europe and in the teaching of English as the mother-tongue.

2.1.2 English for science and technology（EST）

With the quick development of science and technology， especially after the entry to WTO， China has globalization of science and technology. As a result， China has a great need of translation of English for Science and Technology. As a branch of the study of translation， the translation of English for Science and Technology （shortened as EST） came into being with the appearance of EST in the recent 20 years.

2.2 Electric power English

With the progress and update of scientific research ability and electric power technology， the communication of electric power industry is becoming more and more frequent among cities and even among countries. The introduction of a large number of foreign electric English literature makes electric power English translation work has more attention and recognition.

Current situation of electric power English

In recent years， the electric power industry of our country becomes more and more prosperous， and the communication of electric power with foreign countries is more frequent. Therefore， more and more electric companies are going out of China and going into the international market. However the basic guarantee of those companies can have more competitiveness is to understand and use English， especially electric power English， only if we know well about electric power English， can we have more competitive advantage， and learn a lot. It is also benefit to the development of our electric power industry and our economy.

Recently， the electric power industry of China is going into a new stage of development. But the translation of electric power English still need to improve. There are many professional words in electric power English， and there are not many experts to study electric English. Even the corpus is not completed. From the start， the development of electric power English has met a lot of difficulties. There are not many good translators and excellent translation works. However， the ability of translating electric power English is not so good in China. Electric power English translators need a lot of study and practice to improve their professional skills. The development of electric English has a long way to go.