Use Of Parallel Texts In The Translation Of The History Of China(Excerpts)

This report is based on the translation practice of an excerpted chapter from TheHistory of China published by Britannica Educational Publishing in association withRosen Educational Services. This book, being one of a series of books concerningChina, depicts chronologically the history of China and gives a comparatively detailedelaboration of the political, economic and cultural developments in each dynasty orhistorical period.The report first gives a brief introduction to the translation project, including thecontents of The History of China and the selected part. As a historical book, this bookis distinctive in diction and style, which makes it difficult for one without enoughhistorical knowledge to present a professional and precise translation. In this case, theauthor employs parallel texts in the translation process. Giving an account of paralleltext and intertextuality theory, the author points out that parallel texts are of greatimportance in translation. Then the author concentrates on how to use parallel texts tounderstand the original texts and to find a better expression by analyzing certainrepresentative examples in the aspects of translation of culture-loaded words andproper nouns, addition of historical facts and imitation of language style.Finally, the author concludes that the report may serve as a tentative explorationof the use of parallel texts in translation, hoping to provide some worthwhilereferences to other translators.