A Report On Chinese Translation Of The Book Of Herbs (Excerpts)

This is a report on the translation of The Book of Herbs by Rosalind Northcote.The book is an encyclopedia of plants unfolding the variety,the cultivation,the medical effects of herbs,etc.The translator chose three chapters of the book and did the translation independently.Positioned as a popular science book,the translated text can be classified as an informative text in the light of Reiss’ s text typology and Newmark’s text-types.The focuses of informative text are factual information and the readership,which require communicative translation as suggested by Newmark.Accordingly,the translation should follow the principle of accuracy and fluency,in a way that both the content and style of the original text are acceptable and comprehensible to the target readers.To ensure the accuracy of the target text,the translator has paid much attention to the translation of terms and complicated words;while for the fluency of sentences,such specific techniques as addition,world order alteration and shift have been adopted flexibly.The report consists of five chapters.The first chapter is about task description,including introducing the book,the author,as well as clarifying the significance of the translation project.The second chapter is about process description,from preparations for translation,schedule,to quality control.Chapter Three is an analysis of the source text as an informative text,in which the theories related with text type and the features of the source text are briefed.In Chapter Four,the specific translation techniques used for achieving accuracy and fluency are presented with examples.The last chapter comes to conclude the whole translation project and some perceptions for future practices.