A Report On The Translation Of The First Three Chapters Of The Pearl That Broke Its Shell

This translation report summarizes the translation process of the first three chapters of The Pearl That Broke Its Shell and the specific translation work done by translator during this translation process. The report mainly introduces the preparation for the translation, translation process, difficulties in translation(including translation of proper nouns, word selecting, translation of long sentences and translation of passages), the application of translation techniques and the revision after translation, etc.The source text in the translation report is selected from the first three chapters of The Pearl That Broke Its Shell by Afghan-American writer Nadia Hashimi. This fiction was published by William Morrow and Company on May 6th, 2014. It tells the tales of two Afghan girls who live in different times but have similar experience. Both of the two girls have to dress as boys for surviving and for protecting themselves and their families. The tales reveal the oppression and discrimination against women in Afghan society and also show Afghan women’s unique characters of strong will and self-reliance. The fiction is thrilling. It reads smoothly and gains plenty of praise from well-known media and several famous book review websites. Moreover, two of New York Times bestselling authors, Khaled Hosseini and Shilpi Somaya Gowda, speak highly of this fiction.During the translation process, the translator uses the functional equivalence theory put forward by Eugene A. Nida as the guiding principle. On the basis of this theory, the translator applies various translation techniques in order to achieve the functional equivalence between the target text and the source text as much as possible, including conversion, separation and combination of sentences, adjustment of words order and conversion of passive voice to active voice.This report consists of five chapters. The first chapter is about the reason and significance for selecting The Pearl that Broke Its Shell as the source text. The second chapter gives a brief introduction of the author of the source text and her fiction The Pearl that Broke Its Shell, and makes necessary explanation of the specific text for translating. The third chapter expounds the translator’s preparation for practical translation, the functional equivalence theory, translation process, difficulties in translation and the revision of the target text. The fourth chapter analyzes typical cases seemed in the translation process and explains how to achieve the functional equivalence at the lexical level, the syntactic level and the passage level by using translation techniques. The fifth chapter summarizes the translator’s gains and experience during this translation process, and points out the aspects that need to be improved.