Definite Article “The”

The word “the” can be used as an article or an adverb. In this case, we will discuss its use as a definite article. It is been frequently used in sentences and its function is quite similar to pronouns, such as “that, this, those and these”.

It doesn’t represent any specific meaning, so translators often ignore it in the target text. In most cases, of course you can ignore it as long as it does not suggest any meaning.

Eg. The sky became suddenly covered with dark clouds.

天空突然变得乌云密布。

For the above sentence, “the sky” is translated as “天空” and the definite article is ignored.

Eg. In this demonstration I will import 3D AutoCAD and Rhino data directly into Inventor. To start, I will import an AutoCAD DWG by using the Import DWG option from the application menu.

在本演示中，我将 3D AutoCAD 和 Rhino 数据直接导入 Inventor。首先，使用应用程序菜单中的 Import DWG 选项导入 AutoCAD DWG。

Read Also: Small Suggestion on Translation (2)

For this example, “the application menu” is translated as “应用程序菜单”. This is not wrong, but put into the sentence, you will find the incoherency of the sentences.

We know that the “application” refers to the Inventor, but in the translation text, the reference was not properly represented to the readers. So I suggest to add a “该” before “应用程序菜单”, just giving a clearer indication. So the whole target text should be like this:

在本演示中，我将 3D AutoCAD 和 Rhino 数据直接导入 Inventor。首先，使用该应用程序菜单中的 Import DWG 选项导入 AutoCAD DWG。
Also, other words such as “此”, “本” can be used to indicate the reference if needed.