An Empirical Study On Translation Strategies In The Translation Process

In the 1980s, there has been an increasing research in empirical study on translation process. However, much more importance is attached to the study of translation products rather than translation process. In this thesis, an empirical study is carried out to explore the translation strategies in the translation process.In this thesis, thirty-five Chinese students as the subjects are divided into two groups:group A (15 undergraduate students) and group B (20 MTI students). Think-aloud Protocol is used to collect data from the subjects’self-reports during their translation process. Then the TAPs data is coded and analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively to describe the frequency and distribution of translation strategies in the translation process.The study demonstrates:1) Most of the twenty translation strategies provided by Donald Charles Kilary have been employed by all the subjects. Seven strategies such as Read the Whole Source Text; Postpone Attempt; Read the Source Text Segment; Logical Deduction; Tentative Solution; Summarize; Self-correction are explored in this study.2) The subjects in Group A employ more strategies than those in Group B, which shows that the frequency and distribution of translation strategies are associated with the subject’s translation proficiency and experience.3) In the four phases of translation, the following strategies are employed more frequently "Identify Problems"; "Read the Source Text Segment" (preparation phase); "SL-TL Dictionary Search"’(incubation phase); "Accept Interim Solution"; "Make Intuitive Acceptability Judgment"; "Tentative Solution" (illumination phase); "Monitor for TL Accuracy"; "Uncertainty Regarding Acceptability";’"Self-correction" (evaluative phase). In addition, the subjects employ more strategies in the incubation and the illumination phases. In the preparation and the incubation phases, strategies used by the subjects in the two groups reach no significance, because the subjects have a better understanding of the original test and language. In the incubation and the evaluation phases, there exists significant difference, because the graduate students solve the translation problems and correct their translation products initiatively.4) According to post-translating questionnaire, it can be concluded that the choices of translation strategies are mainly influenced by the subjects’language competence, the text style, the shift from source language to target language and other factors.These results show that TAPs plays a significant role in discovering the nature of translation process, and contributes to the translation teaching.