A Report On The Translation Of Short Stories By Leacock

Since China’s reform and opening up to the outside world, more cultures and literature works from different countries have been introduced to Chinese people and Canadian literature is one of them. Before that, there were some sparse translations, but they were not well known by Chinese readers. Translation bridges the gap between different cultures. As Canadian literature has a greater influence on world literature, undoubtedly, there will be more and more Chinese translations of Canadian literature.Canada is a bilingual country whose official languages are English and French. It was deeply influenced by English and American literature. Therefore, it had no advantages at the beginning. But its short stories were popular with readers around the world. The translations of humorous stories by Leacock will help more Chinese readers know more about Canada and Canadian literature.Stephen Butler Leacock is one of the most famous humor writers not only in Canada but also in the world. He was first known by Chinese readers through translations by Xiao Qian. As time goes by, letting modern Chinese people understand Leacock’s humorous stories written in the first half of the20th century is a challenge for the translators.Chinese and English belong to different language families. What is more, due to the cultural differences and lack of knowledge about Western history and culture, making Chinese people understand Western humor is not an easy job.In order to make the Chinese readers have the same feelings as the native readers, to keep the original style and display Leacock’s way of humor, adding and omitting words, selecting words, changing sentence patterns, adjusting sentences’ order and proper domestication and foreignization are necessary methods used in translating humorous stories of Leacock. Meanwhile, through this translation project, there is an obvious understanding that to make a translation successful, besides mastering two languages, it is also important to know the specific literary form, the writer’s style and the relevant history, geography, culture and so on.