A Critical Commentary On Selected E-C Translation Of Handbook To Higher Consciousness

Handbook to Higher Consciousness is a book on popular psychology which presents the Living Love system to higher consciousness.It is written by Ken Keyes,Jr.,an American personal growth expert,who proposes the Living Love Method,a self-help system.The commentary is a report based on the translation practice of Chapter 13 to17 of the book.Taking the Skopos theory proposed by Hans Vermeer as the theoretical guidance,the commentary discusses the guiding role of the theory in the translation of popular psychological texts from English to Chinese.Examples are analyzed in the commentary to illustrate the translation methods adopted at the word level and the sentence level under the guidance of the three rules of the Skopos theory.To follow the Skopos rule,conversion of parts of speech is applied at the word level.And different methods are applied at the sentence level to deal with the difference between the original and target language in complexity,length and mood.To follow the coherence rule,the translator may employ such methods as conversion or addition at the word level.Regarding the sentence level,the translator can make an explanation or adjust the sentence length and order.To follow the fidelity rule,the form of the original text may be retained with the application of such methods as representing the coherence and rhetorical devices.The commentary consists of four parts.Part One introduces the background and significance of the translation project.Part Two presents the theoretical guidance,namely,the Skopos theory.Part Three analyzes how the three rules of the Skopos theory are applied in the translation process.The last part is the conclusion of the project.It is hoped that the project could contribute to the field of translation on psychological texts.