A Textual Analysis Approach To The Use Of Semicolons In E-C Translation

This essay is a report on the translation of Who Killed Alden Pyle?which is written by American scholar William Spanos,as a book review for Graham Greene’s novel,The Quiet American.I selected Chapters 1 to 3 of the book review for translation.The purpose of these three chapters is to help readers understand the novel,especially its historical background and the relationship between major characters.Based on the Text Analysis Theory proposed by Christiane Nord,I analyzed the use of semicolons during the translation process.Due to the different situations in Chinese and English where semicolons are used,their functions vary to a large extent.I analyzed the use of semicolons in the text from the perspective of functions of punctuation and sorted out three methods of dealing with semicolons:1)semicolons being kept as semicolons;2)semicolons being transformed into other punctuations;3)semicolons being transformed into other punctuations and additional words.Semicolons should be kept as semicolons if they show the same function in both source text and target text.If there is more than one subject in two sentences while the sentences have strong links with each other,then the semicolons should be transformed into other punctuations.The same solution is applied when there is a parenthesis in the sentence.When there is obvious logical links between the lines,the semicolons should be transformed into other punctuation marks and related words need to be added.After completion of this translation task,I obtained much experience,knowing how to rtransform semicolons in English texts into their counterparts in Chinese book reviews in the light of Text Analysis Theory.I also gained knowledge on choosing appropriate translation strategies.