A Report On The E-C Translation Of Soul In Seoul-African American Popular Music And K-pop(Excerpts)

In recent years,Korean pop culture has been breaking down racial barriers and pushing the limits to be a leader in national cultural export.As for Chinese readers,learning from this excellent cultural export example will enhance their cultural appreciation and innovation.This translation report takes chapters 3 and 4 of Soul in Seoul--African American Popular Music and K-pop as the source language text.By combining global fan commentary,this work analyzes the development and influence of Korean pop music from a professional perspective,such as the intertextuality of music.The author selects the text typology theory of Katharina Reiss,a German functionalist scholar,as the guiding theory of this translation practice,and analyzes the guiding role of the text typology theory in translation through research approaches such as literature review method,observation,comparison,etc.According to Reiss’ s theory,chapters 3 and 4 of Soul in Seoul--African American Popular Music and K-pop are informative texts,characterized by a large number of proper nouns,compound sentences,passive voice,as well as clear logic and strict exposition,etc.Therefore,the translation should accurately and faithfully convey the content of the original text,while maintaining the fluency of the translation to conform to the reading habits of Chinese readers.The author first analyzes the characteristics of the source text in detail from three perspectives: lexical,syntactical,and textual.And then she proposes applicable translation strategies,methods,or techniques accordingly under the guidance of the text typology theory.On the lexical level,there are three translation difficulties,namely proper nouns,abstract words,and polysemes;on the syntactic level,the challenges are compound sentences,passive sentences,and quotations;while on the textual level,this report discusses hidden logic,the use of idiomatic language,etc.This translation practice proves that,in order to maximize the guiding function of the text typology theory,it would be better to analyze the characteristics of the text before applying the theory,and during the translation process,the author should first adhere to the principle of faithfulness and accuracy and then be flexible to different kinds of translation difficulties,adopting translation methods such as free translation,zero translation,amplification,and translation strategies such as domestication to not only convey the content of the original text faithfully but also make it easy for the target readers to understand.