A Report On E-C Translation Of I Am A Girl From Africa

In this report,the translator chooses the first four chapters of Elizabeth Nyamayaro’s autobiography I Am a Girl from Africa as the case.The translator analyzes difficulties encountered in the process of carrying out this project and then proposes some possible solutions to solve these difficulties in light of functional equivalence theory.Functional equivalence is the core theory of Nida’s translation theory,exerting a profound influence on the translation field.Functional equivalence emphasizes the reader’s response.The key point is to achieve the closest natural equivalence of the source language message.This autobiography is characterized by the authenticity of the narration and its literariness.Therefore,the characteristics of this material require the translator to achieve the same effect as the functional equivalence defined in the process of translating.The translator categorized the difficulties in the source text and analyzed them from three levels.At the lexical level,the translator discusses how to translate these cultural terms,onomatopoeic expressions,and expressions with rhetorical features.At the syntactical level,impersonal sentences and attributive clauses bring difficulties to translation.Stylistically,the translator expounds how to translate tone and mood as well as rhetorical features so as to reproduce the aesthetic feeling in target readers.In the process of translating,the translator took methods of literal translation,transliteration,addition,conversion,substitution,and sometimes the combination of several methods to convey the message of the source text and to achieve a similar response in target readers.Based on several translation principles proposed by Nida,the translator assesses and improves the quality of the translation.This project carries out an analysis from the functional equivalence theory and concludes translation methods which can be adopted in the translation of autobiography.Moreover,it is expected to provide some valuable insights for further studies.