The Translation Report Of Flash And Bones

As a main embodiment of contemporary popular culture, novels play an important role in people’s daily life, among which the detective novel is a most popular one. Compared with other novels, the detective novel has its own characteristics. Firstly, the plot is full of adventure and mystery. One suspense comes after another. Secondly, it has novelty in both content and form, meeting readers’ psychological needs of entertainment and helping to broaden their vision as well. Last but not least, many of the artistic images shaped in the novel have become typical characters. Holmes is a typical household detective created by Conan Doyle. These three points are just the basic characteristics of detective novels. It’s needless to say that different types of detective novels have their unique characteristics. Take Flash and Bones for example, the unique characteristics of it are as follows:firstly, both the original author and the heroine in the novel are forensic anthropologists, which makes the story more professional and real. Secondly, the backdrop of this novel is NASCAR, which is real and popular. Thirdly, a lot of dialogues and action descriptions are short and simple, making the plot more compact. All of these features should get translators’ attention. With the development of global economy, a book may sell well in its own country, but things may be different in other countries with different cultures. How to solve this problem and make the novel be well accepted in other countries is an issue related with various aspects of translation. In this translation report, the common features of detective novels and unique characteristics of Flash and Bones are studied first. Then parts of my translation of the latter half of Flash and Bones are compared with the revised version done by the tutor. With the aid of typical translation examples, translation methods and strategies are discussed from three perspectives:language, culture and context. This report aims to provide some suggestions to improve the translation of such kind of detective novel.In the translation process, the major translation strategies adopted include combination of literal translation and free translation, domestication and foreignization, addition and annotation. It is hoped that these translating strategies could provide some enlightenments for translators so as to make target-language readers enjoy more excellent foreign detective novels via translation.