C-E Translation Report On Phoenix With Knives(Excerpt) From The Reception Theory

This report is based on the translation practice of an excerpt from Phoenix with Knives.It tells the story of Xu Fengnian,the protagonist,who studies martial arts all his life and becomes a hero finally,yet no English or other translation publications can be accessed in China’s market currently.The source text captures the reader’s interest through dialogues and conflicts of stories.The depiction of martial arts scenes and cultural heritage is informative.Based on the translation difficulties and characteristics of the source text,the translator chooses reception theory as the guiding theory to solve the problems encountered in translation.Reception theory mainly expounds the relationship among authors,works and readers.It emphasizes the significance of readers’ reception and understanding of the works.The target readers’ reception becomes the starting point and destination of translation activities.In the process of translation,the translator needs to take full account of the readers’ horizons of expectation and aesthetic needs.In this way,the translator thinks that reception theory is suitable for literary translation.Under the guidance of reception theory,the translator analyzes the text from three dimensions,namely “reader-centered”,“horizon of expectation” and “fusion of horizons”.This translation report comprises five parts.The first part is the task description,which introduces the background,purpose,translation process and significance of the task.The second part is the source text analysis,which analyzes and introduces text type,text features and difficulties encountered in the translation process.The third part introduces in detail the three specific theories used by the translator in the process of translation under the guidance of reception theory.The fourth part is the core part of this report.From the three dimensions of reception theory,namely “reader-centered”,“horizon of expectation” and “fusion of horizons”,the translator chooses specific translation methods and analyzes the existing problems.Each part gives the corresponding case studies from the theoretical point of view.The fifth part ends with the experiences and lessons gained by the translator and the problems to be solved in the process of translation.