A Report On The Translation Of English Short Stories "Chaunt" And "Cattle Praise Song"

This translation practice report is based on the translation of two short stories“Chaunt” and “Cattle Praise Song” written by Joy Williams and Scholastique Mukasonga respectively,both chosen from The New Yorker and recommended by the translator’s supervisor.The theme of “Chaunt” is in relation to water resources protection,and “Cattle Praise Song” is set in the event of Rwandan Genocide with the theme of peace.Both themes are what people pay close attention to and are in connection with them in the modern society.Through the translation,it is hoped that people living in peaceful land will raise their awareness of cherishing their present peaceful life and water resources.While translating,the translator should not only accurately convey the original meaning,but also take the target language readers’ way of expression into consideration so as to make logical adjustments in context.Therefore,Peter Newmark’s theory and strategies of semantic translation and communicative translation are adopted as the theoretical framework in the process of translation.As for the difficulties and methods in translation,case analysis is made at four levels,namely lexical,syntactic,discourse and cultural levels.And the translation methods are employed such as selection of word meaning,transliteration,restructuring,personal reference and so on.Through this translation practice,the translator’s knowledge of translation theory has been further reinforced.Moreover,the translation practice,guided by translation theory,has been done in a systematic way.In addition,the translator comes to realize the importance of teamwork.