The Influences Of Context On English-Chinese Translation

Context plays a significant role in translation. Only by taking context, including both intra-linguistic and extra-linguistic context, into account, can translators understand accurately and express properly. The present thesis is a report on the translation of The Spirit of the People:An Analysis of English Mind, written by Ford Madox Ford the English novelist and essayist. Published in 1906, the book is a panoramic examination of the national disposition of the English people from many perspectives, including the historical and political background, the religious faiths and social culture of the English people. This thesis investigates the influences of context on English-Chinese translation with instances from my own translation of Ford Madox Ford’s book The Spirit of the People.This translation report is divided into four parts. The first part is a description of the project in question. The second part showcases the process of the translation project, including the preparations, the translation process and the post-translation emendation. The third part is the main body of the thesis. In this part, the thesis begins with an investigation of the concept of context, following the theoretical classification of context into the categories of intra-linguistic and extra-linguistic context. Intra-linguistic context refers to the local linguistic environment in which a particular word or phrase or sentence occurs, whereas extra-linguistic means the situational and cultural setting of the text or discourse as a linguistic act. And then it examines the influences of both intra-linguistic context and extra-linguistic context on English-Chinese translation. At last, with instances from my translation of the last three chapters of Ford’s book, the thesis illustrates how the various factors of both intra-linguistic context and extra-linguistic context take part in the translator’s understanding of the original and his/her re-expression in the target language. The final part of the thesis is the conclusion.