On How To Tackle With Difficulty In Translation Of English Fiction With The Guide Of Reader Response Theory

Translation, the conversion of one language into another, bridges thecommunication of different cultures. Recently with the foreign trade andcommunication in fields like science and technology developing rapidly, an increasingnumber of people have paid attention to Non-literary Translation, while haveneglected the significance of Literary Translation. As is known from my translationpractice, compared with non-literary translation, literary translation becomes a biggerchallenge to translators which have higher requirements of bilingual ability, culturalsense and theoretical knowledge.Based on the case study of translation of Hopeless, a novel by Colleen Hoover,this thesis will display the analysis of the significance of reader response theory intranslation for English fictions, and with the theory how to tackle with the translationdifficulty. Hopeless has concise words, subtle description of the characters’psychology and abundant use of idioms and literary quotation. The main difficulty inthis translation practice is about the understanding of words or phrases, how to tacklewith the cultural connotation and description of the characters’ psychology. In order tomake the Chinese readers with little knowledge of English to acquire the same andmost similar reading experience with the native English readers, I take use of a varietyof translation strategies. First, I try my best to understand the real meaning within thecontext, I prefer to use literary Chinese words, borrow the expressions more familiarto Chinese readers when translating content without involving the cultural connotation.Second, I apply the method literal translation plus annotation when translating idiomsand literary quotation. Third, I use different translation strategies when dealing withdescription of the characters’ psychology according to concrete conditions. At last, Icome to a conclusion that it is first and most important to specify the target readers oftranslation text, who decide the formation of translation text and the strategies used bytranslators. Translator, as carrier of different cultures, should have his/her subjectivitywhich helps to choose appropriate strategy in respect of readers understanding andconvey the original content and idea faithfully and completely. It s my wish to letmore translators know about the difficulty and significance of literary translation and pay more attention to how to tackle the potential problems in their own translationpractice through this case study.