A Translation Report Of Semantic Translation In The Icarus Deception-how High Will You Fly?

The thesis is based on The Icarus Deception: How High Will You Fly? by American famous writerSeth Godin.As a practical translation report, It reports the preparation before translation, the process andself-examination after translation, and discusses the necessity of semantic translation in a motivationalbook like The Icarus Deception: How High Will You Fly?, Examples are offered to attempt to prove thereasonability of semantic translation applied in this practical translation task.The core of the translation theory of Peter Newmark is semantic translation and communicativetranslation, and the semantic equivalence in translation is the focus that the scholars have been debating. Itis believed that it’s hard to achieve semantic equivalence completely. But the attempt to achieve thesemantic equivalence where it is necessary is a valuable exploration. Newmark categorizes all texts intoExpressive Function，Informative Function and Vocative Function. A motivational book usually has ahybrid text type combining all three function． Based on a translation practical project The IcarusDeception—How High Will You Fly? the thesis analyzes the source text and analyzes translation strategiessuch as domestication and foreignization to prove that it is possible to achieve the semantic equivalence intranslation. Semantic equivalence of translation lies in both word level and syntactical level, because of thedifferences between English and Chinese cultures and the ways of expressing and the rules of grammarsystems; it is more difficult to achieve the semantic equivalence at syntactical level than that at word level.To make the target language readers have the exact feeling as the source language readers do when readingthe translation, the translation should be done based on the accurate understanding of the original text andthe complete meaning of each sentence group, changing the order of words and part of speech,deliveringthe whole connotation of each sentence.Semantic equivalence of translation at syntactical level canhonestly shows the author’s new idea and concept which can bring TL readers what the author really thinkand express.The thesis consists of four chapters, the first serves as the introduction. Chapter two introduces thepractical project, the process of the translation, the information about the author and the book, analyzingthe features of the source text. In preparation before translation, it introduces the choice of the members ofthe translation team, allocation of the task, preparation and the choice of the basic translation tactics. In theprocess of translation, it introduces the test translation, the making of the time table and the translationstrategies that the writer uses. In chapter three, the writer analyzes that due to various reasons, the lost of the meaning in translation demands semantic equivalence of translation, examples are offered anddiscussed to prove the achievement of semantic equivalence of translation can be achieved at both wordlevel and syntactical level. And it analyzes the semantic translation of the theme words in this book,whichstring the main ideas together. Chapter four serves as the conclusion.