An E-C Translation Report Of White Gold-The Commercialization Of The Rice Farming In The Lower Mekong Basin(Excerpts From Chapter 1)

This article is adapted from Chapter one of White Gold--the Commercialization of the Rice Farming in the Lower Mekong Basin.The book is the result of collaboration between agricultural economists working in four major lower Mekong countries——Thailand,Laos,Cambodia and Vietnam.It is about understanding the processes involved in this commercial transition,as well as the commercial opportunities and drawbacks of rice-based farming systems in the lower Mekong.The first chapter is an introduction to the main content of the book as well as a general introduction to the evolution of rice farming in the Lower Mekong.It serves as a foundation for specific research in subsequent chapters.As for the text type,the original text mainly belongs to informational text,whose main function is to convey information and emphasize the authenticity,accuracy and readability of the content(Newmark,1981).At the same time,it contains a large number of proper nouns and agricultural terminologies as well as long and complicated sentences.Therefore,to better convey the information of the original text and promote the communication between Chinese and foreign scholars on the commercial farming of rice,firstly,the translator mainly applies Peter Newmark’s communicative translation theory and uses semantic translation theory as a supplement.Communicative translation theory needs the target readers to be the center,the communication effect should be conveyed,and the advantages of the target language should be brought into play.The effect of the translation on the target readers of the target language is as close as possible to that of the original on the readers of the source language.However,Semantic translation theory requires the source text to be the center;reproduce the thought process of the author of the original text and retain the voice of the original text(Newmark,1981).Secondly,under the guidance of Peter Newmark’s translation theory,domestication and foreignization translation strategy are applied conjunctively.Then,mainly focusing on the lexical level and syntactic level,the translator selected proper translation methods such as Liberal translation,Literal translation,annotation,Meaning selection of a word for Lexical level and Linear,Reverse,Division and Combined translation for syntactic level.Finally,it summarizes the gains and shortcomings of translators in the process of translation practice in order to make greater progress in similar translation practices in the future.