A Report On The Translation Of American Sphinx: The Character Of Thomas Jefferson (Excerpts)

This is a translation project on American Sphinx:The Character of Thomas Jefferson,which introduces Thomas Jefferson's life and achievements.This report is based on Chapter 4,Washington,D.C.,1801-04.This chapter is mainly about Jefferson's politic views,events and achievements in his first presidential term,which are presented by descriptions and narrations.The main challenge in this translation is how to translate the original text into idiomatic Chinese and reserve its exact meaning and writing style.This report can be divided into four parts.The first part is a brief introduction to this project,including introductions to the author and the text.The second part talks about the typology of the source text and guiding principles of this project.This text is translated under the guidance of Peter Newmark's translation methods.In Approaches to Translation,he puts forward that texts should be divided into three types: expressive texts,informative texts,and vocative texts.Texts of different typologies should be translated under different translation methods.However,Newmark also admitted that there is not a distinct line between different text types.Functions are blended.Therefore,semantic translation and communicative translation can be seen in one text.The third part is case analysis,analyzing problems and solutions in the translation under the guidance of semantic translation and communicative translation.The forth part is the conclusion of this project,including experience and deficiencies of this project.