A Report On Chinese-English Translation Of Zhongguo Yishu Pipingshi(Chapter 15) From The Perspective Of Thick Translation Theory

Zhongguo Yishu Pipingshi,(《中国艺术批评史》,translated as A History of Chinese Art Criticism),as the first academic monograph focusing on the history of Chinese art criticism,has been one of the books listed in the year 2019 Translation Project supported by the National Social Sciences Fund.This translation report focuses on the Chinese-English translation of Chapter 15,which involves the theory of art criticism related to painting and music in the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties.With many culture-loaded expressions with strong Chinese characteristics,it has posed a great challenge to the translator during the process of translation.This translation report begins with an introduction to the task background,the book with the original author and the specific translation content.Then,the difficulties in the translation process are analyzed,which include: a)difficulties in understanding the artistic expressions;b)difficulties in understanding proper nouns related to renowned personal name,particular historical periods and places;c)difficulties in translating titles.To resolve those translation difficulties,the theory of thick translation is adopted to guide the whole translation process,and specific translation methods are proposed in combination with some typical translation examples.To guarantee the translation quality,the author has picked out the terms that are difficult to understand and created a glossary of terminologies for references at the very beginning of the translation.Meanwhile,the author has read a large number of parallel texts in order to enhance the comprehension of the original text.Then,in the end,many revisions have been made to improve the quality of the translation.To better convey the cultural information of the original text,the author takes into full consideration of the cultural differences and undertakes the translation under the guidance of the thick translation theory,using methods such as annotation,addition,adding footnotes and appendix,in order to convey the rich cultural connotations of the original text as much as possible and help the target readers understand the Chinese culture and history of Chinese art criticism better.It is hoped that the translation project can promote the “going out” of the Chinese culture and let the voice of Chinese scholars being heard by the international community.