The English-Chinese Translation Report On The Mongols:A Very Short Introduction (Chapter 1-3)

This is an English-Chinese translation report on The Mongols:A Very Short Introduction, which is a text on history and published by the Oxford University Press. The author of the book is Morris Rossabi, a professor of the University of Columbia. The book tells the rise, development and fall of the Mongol Empire. The first three chapters are chosen as the translation text. Based on the translation, the translator understands the author’s style of writing, and concludes the difficult points and the corresponding translation methods.In translation introduction, the translator briefly summarizes the reasons and practical significance of choosing the text, and describes the structure of the report.In background information, the translator introduces the author, and analyzes the text from the context and language features, which lays the foundation for the following translation. The translator mainly explains the preparation for the translation, including getting the main idea through thorough reading and collecting background information from the relative literature.In the part of difficulties and translation methods, based on the actual translation, the translator makes an analysis of the following difficult points:Mongol and Central Asian names for people and places, translation of attributive clauses, and other sentences which need making some shifts when translated into Chinese. The translator also concludes some advisable translation methods:annotation and confirming the meanings of the words from their history backgrounds for words translation; translating attributive clauses into pre-modifiers, coordinate clauses with the main clauses, clauses with the antecedent as their subjects, and adverbial clauses; shift of part of speech or even translating words and expressions into sentences.In the end, the translator concludes this translation practice:from pre-preparation to actual translation phase finally to proofreading and summarizes the experience from this translation practice. The report also points out the shortcomings of this translation practice and gives some improvement suggestions.