Translating Chinese bureaucratese

A good friend of mine in China asked me yesterday to translate an abstract of his academic paper into English. I find that the Chinese wording and expression in this abstract is really interesting, especially for me who is from mainland China, throughly understands this kind of Chinese bureaucratese, but now reads English everyday.

Actually, I did use this kind formal language intensively in China, too.

Translating this kind of language into English should be a challenge. First because some expressions are only available in Chinese, the next some words do have different meanings in English, thirdly the relevant grammatical structures in Chinese and English are different.

I tried my best to convert the original meanings in the abstract into English. Here is the Chinese abstract and my translation in English.

政务门户网站设计概述

摘要
　　门户网站是政府运用现代信息技术向社会提供管理和服务的窗口。本文从政务门户网站设计所涉及的目标、原则、范畴和构成入手，阐明了政务门户设计要以服务为中心的观点，围绕信息公开、网上办事、公众监督和个性化服务等方面的具体内容，文章对以服务为中心的政务门户网站的设计进行了探讨。

关键字：电子政务 门户网站 设计

Overview of e-Government Portal Design

Abstract
e-Government Portal is a window for governmental organizations to provide public administration and social services by utilizing latest information technologies. This article begins with the essentials of e-Government Portal Design including the goal, principles, scope and its components, and presents the concept that e-government portal is necessary to be services-oriented. The article subsequently discusses how to design a services-oriented e-government portal regarding several practical aspects such as information publishing, online services, public scrutiny, and personalization services.

Keywords: e-Government, Portal, Design