C-E Translation Report Of Simplified Edition Of The Romance Of The Three Kingdoms

This report is based on the compiling and Chinese-English translation project of simplified version of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which is entrusted by the Sinolingua in Beijing. This project elaborately selects twenty classical stories, simplifies these stories based on the standard of HSK Level 5 (han yu shui ping kao shi,汉语水平考试) and then translates them into English. This project includes four major parts:firstly, the translators translate the ancient Chinese into modern Chinese. The second part is the simplification. The translators simplify the modern Chinese based on the difficulty of HSK Level 5 which includes 2500 words that are fit for the foreigners to learn Chinese. Thirdly, we translate the simplified version into English, and annotate the culture-loaded words to help the foreign Chinese learners comprehend the plot of the stories and understand the cultural connotation. Finally, we compile the after-class exercises. In view of the considerable workload, a group composed of 3 teachers and 6 postgraduates was set up. The author has taken charge of translation of approximately 11000 Chinese characters of the Selected Abridged Chinese-English Stories of The Romance of The Three Kingdoms.The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a classical Chinese masterpiece which contains profound cultural connotation. This translation task emphasizes translation of culture-loaded words, which is also the major task and translation difficulty. Reflecting on the whole translation process, much attention is attached to the preparations and pre-translation analysis. In the chapter of theoretical background, the definition of the culture-loaded words and the translation strategies of foreignization and domestication have been studied and analyzed. In the chapter of case study, the author attaches great attention to the process of confirming the expression of words in the target text, and conducts practice in the translation of culture-loaded words. By analyzing the typical examples in the translation project, the author has generalized that, during the translating process of culture-loaded words in the project, foreignization strategy should mainly guide translation project in order to spread Chinese culture and help foreign Chinese learners to comprehend Chinese language. Meanwhile, domestication strategy would serve as a supplement method to narrow cultural diversity, remedy semantic emptiness in the target language, and convey the meaning of culture-loaded words accurately. On the basis of the guiding strategies of foreignization and domestication, the main translation methods in the translation project include literal translation, free translation, transliteration, as well as cultural notes.In accordance with the thorough analysis of the translation project, the author has made reflections on the translation project and draws conclusions as follows:when translating the culture-loaded words in teaching materials, translation methods will be composed by:1) literal translation with cultural notes; 2) free translation with cultural notes; 3) transliteration with cultural notes. In order to deal with the inevitable problems and defects, the author must master both Chinese and English, know wide range of knowledge such as classical literature and culture.It is expected that this translation report would offer referential value for translation project of the similar type, and inspire the translators to improve personal quality.