A Report On C-E Translation Of An Illustrated Introduction To Qi Culture (Excerpt) From The Perspective Of The Translation Variation Theory

The source text of the translation practice is excerpted from a popular social science book An Illustrated Introduction to Qi Culture,written by Professor Xuan Zhaoqi.The excerpted part mainly contains political,economic,and military content,etc.,which is well structured and linguistically objective.The translation helps English readers to read and understand the spiritual connotation of Qi culture and helps to better promote the fine traditional Chinese culture.This translation practice is guided by translation variation theory,in which the information in the source text is increased or decreased according to the specific needs of certain readers,in order to make the translation more readable and to better overcome the linguistic and cultural barriers in foreign communication.Through the practice and analysis,the translator summarizes four translation methods to solve the difficulties encountered in translation.For the semantic repetition in parallel clauses,selective translation method should be used to select the main part for translation to make the translation concise and fluent;for sentences with complex grammatical structures,edited translation method should be used to first combine or adjust the sentences according to their meaning,and then translate the sentences to emphasize the main information they convey;for information that is beyond the comprehension of the target language readers,adaptation translation method should be used to replace the information of the original text with similar information to remove the readers’ reading barriers;for the necessary information that is not reflected in the source text,explanatory translation method should be used to add explanations based on the translation to make the readers understand the meaning of the source text accurately.Through the study,the translator hopes to optimize translation quality by using appropriate translation variation methods,expand the application of translation variation theory,and provide some reference for future translations of popular social science books.