On Achieving Linguistic Equivalence In Translation—A Translation Report On China Dolls

This MTI translation report focuses on analyzing approaches the translator adopts in the translation of four chapters of China Dolls in an attempt to discuss how to achieve linguistic equivalence in translation.China Dolls, from which Chapter 6 of Part One and Chapter 5, Chapter 9 and Chapter 13 of Part Two are taken as the source text, is a novel written by Lisa See, a Chinese American writer. The content of these four chapters contains Japanese Bushido spirit, Pearl Harbor Incident and the rising anti-Japanese sentiment in the United States, full of distinctive style and linguistic features. This novel includes linguistic-specific expressions, which makes it more difficult for the translator to achieve linguistic equivalence.By listing and analyzing typical examples in the translation, this MTI translation report compares approaches of foreignization and domestication and analyzes three strategies of domestication-omission, amplification based on free translation and free translation. It suggests that domestication, especially free translation, is more effective in achieving linguistic equivalence in translating these chapters.