A Report On The Translation Of The History Of China(Excerpt) From The View Of Newmark’s Translation Theory

The source text of this translation report is from the first chapter of Taiwan writer Li Dingyi’s book The History of China.It records the historical events of China from the Prehistorical Age to the times of the Republic of China,including the history of political system,evolution of culture and institutions.The reasons why the translator chooses this book as the translation materials are its accuracy in history descriptions and a special view from a Taiwanese scholar.Chinese people are familiar with Chinese history from the textbook,but other historical books might offer a broader perspective and a larger number of historical events.Therefore,the author chooses the first chapter of this book,which is about the Prehistorical Age and the earliest Xia,Yin,and Western Zhou Dynasties.This not only helps readers at home and abroad understand more Chinese history,but also promotes cultural exchanges.All texts can be classified into three types of text according to Peter Newmark’s text typology: expressive text,informative text,and vocative text.This book involves three kinds of text.As an informative text,the book contains a wealth of historical knowledge,as well as a large number of culture-loaded words related to political,economic,cultural factors etc.It also covers expressive texts or quoted materials such as classical Chinese and parallel prose,which make the content of the book more convincing.In addition,the source text also has many vocative texts with encouraging readers to think.Therefore,in order to restore more characteristics of the text and help readers better understand the source text,the translator chooses Newmark’s semantic and communicative translation as the theoretical guidance of this report.According to this theory,semantic translation focuses on expressive text and communicative translation works on informative and vocative texts.Based on the characteristics of the source text,this translation practice is divided into lexical level and syntactical level.The lexical level includes the translation of political systems,names,agricultural products,geographical names and Chinese characters.The translator mainly uses translation techniques such as annotation,literal translation,transliteration,and domestication.And the syntactical level includes the translation of classical Chinese and parallel prose.The techniques like amplification and adjusting are preferred in translation.Under the guidance of communicative and semantic translation,the translator adopts various methods to solve different translation difficulties,which conforms to the principle of dealing with expressive,informative and vocative texts.Besides,this translation practice helps the translator gain a deeper understanding of the features and functions of historical texts.As a result,the translator has accumulated relevant experience in the follow-up translation of historical texts with a deeper understanding of the corresponding political and cultural culture-loaded words of the Xia,Yin and Zhou Dynasties in China.