A Translation Project Report Of The Sociology Of Literature (Chapter Five)

This is a translation project report on The Sociology of Literature (Chapter5“Popular Literature”) by John Hall, a professor of sociology at McGill University. Inthe source text, several points of popular literature including its features, contentunderstanding and genres are concerned from the perspective of sociology by theauthor who not only takes a positive view on popular literature, but also makes somerecommendations for thought.The significance of functional equivalence in social science translation isdiscussed with several representative examples by the translator based on her owntranslation practice. The source text is informative, characterized by frequent use ofspecific terms, abstract words, passive sentences, as well as long sentences. In view ofits stylistic features, functional equivalence is given much attention in the process ofthe translation so as to achieve natural expression in the target language. Consideringthat different strategies should be adopted in translating abstract words, passivesentences and long sentences, functional equivalence rather than formal equivalencein social science translation is proposed in the project.