A Report On English-Chinese Translation Of Cambridge Grammar Of English （Sections 338-376）

This report concerns itself with the translation of the selected sections from the book Cambridge Grammar of English,including the preparation before translation,the difficulties and methods,and so on.The study of grammar is unavoidable for English learners,so the translation of English grammar books is of great significance.Compared to regular grammar books,Cambridge Grammar of English provides a more comprehensive description of contemporary English from the perspectives of spoken as well as written forms.This book is a concise and illuminating,and it is very helpful to beginners of English grammar.The translation takes the sections from 338 to 376 in the selected book Cambridge Grammar of English,which has never been translated into Chinese before,as the source text.Those sections deal with the grammatical issues related to the present tense,the past tense,and the future tense in English.The preparation before translation includes the study of the English grammatical terms and some translation methods.Since the translation of the selected book requires a deep understanding of English grammar,reading plenty of works that are related to the source text is also of great necessity.The source text contains some words and sentences which pose obstacles in translation.The improper translation of some words,especially pronouns,articles,prepositions,would lead to unidiomatic expressions or redundancy.The improper translation of some sentences,including the complex sentences that contain subordinate clauses and the sentences that contain a passive voice,would be against the habits of Chinese expressions.To solve those problems,seven practical translation methods are adopted,and they are classified into two groups.At the lexical level,the translation methods include omission,amplification,and conversion.At the syntactic level,the methods include combination,division,restructuring,and voice conversion.The use of those methods helps refine the translation a lot.The method of omission makes the translation more concise,the method of voice conversion makes the translation more idiomatic,and so on.In this report,some examples are presented to illustrate the function of those methods respectively.In the end,the report summarizes the achievements and limitations of the translation.For example,the translation of the professional terminologies and phrases in this translation could be used for reference in the translation of some other similar English grammar books.The methods used in this translation can also shed a light on similar translation works in the future.Due to the translator’s lack of experience,there are some limitations in the translation report,including its shallowness and its failure to embrace all the difficulties and solutions involved.