A Tentative Study On The Translation Of Chinese Cultural Heritage Literature-Viewed From The Role Of The Translation Brief

With intercultural communication ever increasing, a large quantity of Chinese cultural heritage literature has been translated and published in recent years. However, lots of translated Chinese cultural heritage literature are far from being satisfactory. From the newly published series A Guide to China, a series of books on diverse Chinese cultures published by Shanghai Classics Publishing House for illustration, can be found numerous translation errors or problems, into which the author will do a probe. Thus it is of high significance to do some research on C-E translation of cultural heritage literature with a view to upgrading translation quality. The thesis, as such with the author's own translating experience and ideas, proposes the skopos model and identifies the translation brief as an efficient guide to the translation of cultural heritage literature.The thesis consists of eight chapters, with the main body ranging from Chapter Four to Chapter Six, in which the whole translation procedures are divided into three main stages, i.e. pre-translation, translating process and revision. Our Sweet Homes, a provincial top publication prize-winning book on ancient Chinese private residences is used as the data, and the role of the translation brief is analyzed in detail at each above-mentioned stage in a sequential order to demonstrate how the translation brief threads throughout the translation task. Besides, the thesis attempts to offer a model of translation procedures for a translation team to help improve translation efficiency.Translation is of a dynamic nature. It is meaningful to do research on the translation brief from the perspective of the dynamic translation process. Apart from some well-known translation theories from which the author has cited and benefited a great deal, all ideas offered are based on the author's own translating experience and all revised versions are the author's own work. The success of Our Sweet Homes shows that it is advisable to use the translation brief as a guide to the said translation. Yet, all these are only tentative, leaving much room for improvement. It is hoped thatregardless of the author's studies and practice more insights and bright ideas are being on the way.