A Translation Project Report Of Editor’s Introduction To On The Duty Of Man And Citizens According To Natural Law

This is a report on translation of James Tully’s work----Editor’sIntroductionto On the Duty of Man and Citizens According to Natural Law, a greatwork written by Samuel Pufendorf. The book is in the area of nature laws, and theintroduction exhibits to readers a general view of this book. The study object istherefore an informative text. And due to this categorization, the translator herehas applied a strategy based on “Functional Equivalence Theory”,“using the mostappropriate, natural and equivalent words to reflect on information of the sourcetext”(Eugene A. Nida). In the translation process, cultural backgrounds of both theauthor and target readers are taken into consideration, as well as the specializedknowledge. With such consideration and proper use of the “FunctionalEquivalence” strategy, the most effort is given to eliminating obstacles whichreaders may encounter during their reading, and thus to gain the most optimizedresult for transmitting source information to target readers.In this report, Editor’s Introduction to On the Duty of Man and CitizensAccording to Natural Law is taken as the study object, in the translation process ofwhich, problems have been found, and possible solutions based on “FunctionalEquivalence” have been raised. This report gives an evaluation of these solutionsand by further analysis it also provides reliable experiences and practical methodsin how to translate texts of its kind.The report can be divided into four parts:First part, introduction part; this part is a lead-in for the source text about itsstructure, background, demand for translation and target for translation.Second part, study background; this part introduces theory and strategy that the translator applied in the working process. In addition, a further analysis of thesource text and its author is also made.Third part, difficulties and solutions; this part lists some of the difficultiesdiscovered in the translation process and is added with my solutions.Forth part, conclusion; based upon above content, reliable experiences andpractical translating methods are concluded for future use.