A Report On The Translation Of Records Of Streets And Alleys In Chengdu(Excerpt) From The Perspective Of George Steiner's Hermeneutic Theory

Records of Streets and Alleys in Chengdu written by Yuan Tingdong is divided into two volumes,in which rivers and bridges are used to show the streets and alleys culture of old Chengdu.It is a well-organized material that can be used to study the history and culture of Chengdu.Exploring and absorbing from the past history of Chengdu have a profound and practical significance.The translation of this book not only presents the culture of streets and alleys in Sichuan province for the western readers,but also bridges a further communication for each other.According to the task,the translator translates the first six streets in the chapter of azimuth and numbers in volume one.A number of words,expressions and long sentences related to Ba-shu culture are found here and there in the original which are the major difficulties encountered by the translator during the translation process.To successfully fulfill the Chinese-English language transfer,the translator needs to first completely understand the Chinese,and then,on this basis,apply suitable translation principles to the translation.Therefore,the translator follows the guide of George Steiner in the translation practice and clearly knows the role of the translator in each step.At the first step,the translator trusts the text,invades the text,analyzes the characteristics of the text and then adopts translation methods and techniques based upon domesticating and foreignization strategies.Finally,due to the differences between Chinese and English and the inevitable deficiency brought about by thetranslator's invasion of the original text,the translator also does the compensation to the source text in the process of translation.As the original text employs dialects only used in the past,and quotes poems,which the translator may have insufficient understanding,so the translation may need a further refinement.However,under the guide of George Steiner's translation theory,the translator has effectively solved the problems in the process of translation,which helps the translator obtain a more appropriate target text.There are four chapters in this essay.The first is the introduction to the translation task,and in the second chapter the writer describes the translation process.While the third chapter is spared for a brief presentation of George Steiner's Hermeneutic Theory and the fourfold of translation that are trust,aggression,incorporation and compensation.The preposition of translation is trust;aggression and incorporation are the language representation of translation operation;compensation is a kind of redemption after the translator operates the source text.The writer offers in the fourth chapter a case analysis of the application of Hermeneutic Theory.The translator adopts the strategies of foreignization and domestication and the techniques of literal translation,recreation,addition,omission,division,combination and shift,showing that it is effective and feasible.George Steiner's Hermeneutic Theory demonstrates the procedure of translation practice for the translator,which makes her know when and where to take measures to solve the key and difficult problems in the process of translation.In the translation practice,the translator found that “aggression” and “incorporation” are mutually inclusive and inseparable.The translator will pay much more attention to the translation of the text so as to get a more perfect and appropriate text.