A Report On The Translation Of Elmer Gantry

The task of this translation is to translate Elmer Gantry, given by Foreign LanguageTeaching and Research Press. This novel is divided into34chapters and I am appointed totranslate the first four chapters which are comprised of about25,000words. The aim of thistranslation is to translate this novel sentence by sentence which will be uploaded online withthe Chinese-English version. Therefore, the English learner could understand and get thegeneral idea easily.Before the translation, I had made some preparations. For instance, I got acquaintancewith the author, Sinclair Lewis, his writing style, and the background of this novel. I searchedsome comments about this novel and prepare the necessary translation tool. The SkoposTheory was the theoretical direction through the whole process. I chose the appropriatetranslation methods and tactics in terms of the three rules of Skopos Theory: skopos rule,coherence rule, fidelity rule. During the translation, I summarized four kinds of translationmethods which are the ways of dividing long sentences, changing the original sentence orderduring translation, choosing the appropriate words and literally translating the words referringto the Bible story. I had also analyzed the tactics with cases appearing in these chapters. Aftertranslation, I revised the translation twice carefully and ensured that the accordance oftechnical terms, the correct usage of the punctuation and the fluency of the sentence, so as toreach the translation request proposed by Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.Through this task, I have a deep understanding with translation practices. It is importantto get some knowledge with the backdrop of the work, the time during the author lives, theauthor’s writing style and the comprehension of the full text, especially as encountering withthe literature work. It is also unnecessary to master the foreign culture and learn some Bible stories. The Bible has a great influence on the foreign literature which is far beyond ourimagination, which could be seen and felt permeating between lines. We should keep thetheoretical guidance in mind firmly, take a flexible strategy during translation and make acombination between the theory and the practice. We try our best to reach the "faithfulness"and "impressiveness", which are stepping stones to our ultimate goal，"elegance".