Translation Project Report On Empress Orchid (chapter11-12)

This is a translation report on Empress Orchid by Anchee Min, of whichChapter11and12are the source text. The process of how a favored royal concubinesteps out the inner court and gets into the throne room along with the emperor is themain contents of the source text. The main contents of this report are divided into fourparts: Part One is the translation project description, including project background,objectives and significance. Part Two is the background of the source text, includingthe author introduction, main contents of the source text, linguistic features of thesource text, and evaluation and review of the source text. Part Three is abouttranslation difficulties and methods. The difficulties lie in the accurate translation ofthe Chinese names of numerous palaces, official titles and different tones between theroyals, the servants and court officers. The methods include: free translation, backtranslation, conversion and supplementation. Part Four concludes with the lessons,implication and unsolved problems in the translation project: maximizing the transferof the message in source text is the most important principle; to achieve goodtranslation needs a solid linguistic foundation. The translator must master thesimilarities and differences between two languages; being close to the source text ateach level and focusing on the transfer of equivalent effect are of great significance intranslation.