An Analysis Of Problems In C-E Translation Of China’s Museum Texts And Countermeasures

This thesis attempts to analyze the current typical C-E translation problems of museum texts and propose a series of corresponding countermeasures from the perspective of the register theory. Forty-four examples are selected from seven famous provincial or municipal level museums. They are analyzed in a working analytical framework which takes the three register parameters as the measurements. Broadly, there are six types of translation problems found in the current text type, they are:1) disunity of the titles of cultural relics;2) improper translation of professional terms in the dimension of field;3) improper use of words in translation;4) improper translation of cultural information in the dimension of tenor;5) reversed information in translation and6) poor cohesion in the dimension of mode.Most of the current C-E translation problems analyzed in this thesis are caused by translator’s neglect of the register features of museum texts. In terms of the equivalence in the dimension of field, tenor and mode between the source texts and the target texts, the author then puts forward the following countermeasures against those translation problems:1) unify the titles in line with the interpretive function;2) translate professional terms in line with the subject matter;3) borrow proper words by formality;4) use amplification by acceptability;5) reconstruct information in accordance with target language;6) add cohesive devices in accordance with source text structure.Briefly, a museum text has its own register features which distinguish itself from other text types. A proper and correct translation of this text type asks the translator not only to show fidelity to the source text but also to translate with the appropriate selected linguistic expressions in the target text. To better deal with the relation between the source text and the target text, it is of vital importance to translate with special reference to register.