A Report On The Translation Of Studies In Battle Command

This report material extracts from a book named Studies in Battle Command, written bythe Faculty of Combat Studies Institute at the U.S. Army Command and General StaffCollege. This book consists of a series of essays analyzing various combat engagements andmilitary leaders throughout history, whose24chapters include the Thirty Years’ War in the17thcentury as well as the Vietnam War in the1960s, the most significant war for U. S afterWorld War II. Most cases are the battles of the Civil War of America, WWI and WWII, butthere is also some classic battles such as the Huai Hai campaign during the Chinese LiberationWar, the Korean War and the Dominican Intervention of1965-1966. There are examples ofbrilliant success and dismal failure in these essays, whose unifying theme was provided by thedirect or indirect application to each case of the five Battle Command “competencies”(i.e.Seeing the enemy, Seeing yourself, Seeing the terrain, Visualizing the battle and Seeing intothe future), offering today’s military professional perspective and insight into the essence oftheir calling: command and leadership.The text used in the dissertation extracts from chapter I to chapter VI and has nearly11,000words. The six authors made a vivid description and painstaking analysis of six battlesin three centuries and emphasized the significance of combat command competencies in livebattle field.During the translation of this military text, the translator follows the criteria of “fidelity,expressiveness and elegance", endeavoring to loyally express the thoughts and essence of theoriginal as well as to maintain its distinct military characteristics. Furthermore, the translatorweighs the choice of words over and again to ensure that the translation is easy to understandand fluent in style of translating, which attempts to make the translation more appealing, interesting and elegant as a textbook used only within a university. After the translationpractice of this military text, the translator improved translating techniques and experience inrelevant texts and material, fully understood that “the fundamental requirement of being atranslator is to have a good command of the source language and the target language” anddetermined to widen the knowledge of all aspects and cultivate the abilities of understanding,appreciation and analysis. And through this translation process, the translator also roused theinterests for further translation practice and theoretical studies.