A Report On The Translation Of James Hogg:A Life(Chapter One And Two)

This report is based on the English-to-Chinese translation of the first two chapters of James Hogg: A Life which is a part of a project hosted by the supervisor and supported by the National Social Science Fund of China.The book,written by a researcher of James Hogg,Gillian Hughes,tells the life experience and the literary career of James Hogg,a Scottish writer of the late Romantic period.The first two chapters related to the translation practice mainly describe the childhood experience,the economic trouble in the early career,and the acquaintance with William Scott.The rich background knowledge,numerous terminologies,and complex sentences pattern of the source text led to the problem of translationese in the translation process.Therefore,translationese is a relevantly prominent problem to be solved in the translation practice.Guided by the strategy of explicitation and implicitation,the report analyzes translationese with specific examples and concludes corresponding solutions.Based on the existing research,the translator classifies examples of translationese from the semantic,syntactic,and textual levels.The manifestation at the semantic level includes word mismatching,following the dictionary meaning,and abusing connectives;at the syntactic level covers transplanting the source text structure and adopting the source text expression;at the textual level involves a logic disorder,improper cohesion,and leaving the background unchecked.Given the problem mentioned above,under the guidance of explicitation and implicitation,the report provides several specific solutions by analyzing 22 examples: 1)At the semantic level,the morphology of the target text is made explicit with the help of translation techniques,such as diction and specification.2)At the syntactic level,skills like shift,division,and omission are applied to make the syntax of the target text explicit and make the self-evident information covert to ensure that the target text is more consistent with the regular usage of Chinese.3)At the textual level,adjusting the word order,addition,and explanatory translation are used to spell out the source text’s logic,coherence,and background information,so as to improve the target text’s readability based on being faithful to the source text.Based on specific translation practice,the report discusses the solution to translationese with the guidance of the two strategies,which may help solve the problem of translationese.