A Report Of Informative Text Translation Based On Skopos Theory

With the development of the globalization, China has been more and morefrequently connected with the world in economy and culture. As the link and bridge ofinternational exchanges, informative text has been playing an increasingly importantrole in this process as it features a great deal of information and practicability wherebyreaders can have a better understanding of a certain field. Therefore, the demand for itstranslation is on the rise, and the translation studies on this text type are becoming moreand more important. However, traditional studies on informative text by Newmark andReiss seem to have provided more macro-level directions of translating, such as themethod of communicative translation or semantic translation, and less investigation intothe micro-level methods.Under such circumstances, this report, based on Skopos theory, by analyzing a realtranslation project, the translation of Translation as a Profession endeavors to exploresome applicable strategies in translating informative text. Guided by Skopos theory, thisreport makes an analysis of the features of source text and the purpose of translationproject. As the source text contains lots of terms, long complex sentences and obscurelogic connections, this report generalizes some translation skills and strategies ofinformative text in the aspects of word, sentence and voice.After analysing the translated text, this report has achieved the following findings.(1) Under the guidance of skopos rule, translators must realize the purpose ofinformative text, i.e. to help people have a better understanding of a certain field. Thus,technical terms and acronyms of informative text must be translated precisely to ensurethe accuracy of information. In addition, omission sometimes can help target readers getthe information directly and clearly.(2) Under the guidance of coherence rule, on themeaning level, there are two ways to ensure that the translated text makes sense andcould be easily understood by the target readers: annotated translation and amplification;on the structure level, the translator should make some adjustments to passive sentences and long sentences as a way to meet the needs of the target readers. Additionally, usingfour-character idioms not only conveys the information accurately and briefly, but alsoincreases the literariness of the translated text so as to arouse the readers’ interest.(3)Under the guidance of the fidelity rule, the translated text must be faithful to the sourcetext. On the word level, the translators should pay special attention to sensitive wordsrelated to crucial fields; on the sentence level, the translator can maintain the structureof original sentence to ensure the translated text faithful to the source text in themeaning and structure.Based on Skopos theory, this report carries out a case study of translating theinformative text Translation as a Profession from the perspective of skopos rule,coherence rule and fidelity rule. By generalizing some translation strategies ofinformative text, this report will hopefully improve the quality of informative texttranslation.