A Report On The English-Chinese Translation Of The 5^th Chapter Of Ssu-ma Ch’ien:Grand Historian Of China

This is the report of a translation project, based on the translation of “The Thought of Ssu-ma Ch’ien”, Chapter Five from the book Ssu-ma Ch’ien: Grand Historian of China. It was a doctoral dissertation prepared and published in 1958 by Burton Watson, now a well-established professor at Columbia University in the Unites States.This book introduces this famous Chinese historian to the western world, making great contribution to the study of the Shih Chih and Ssu-ma Ch’ien. Chapter Five is composed of three parts: Ssu-ma Ch’ien’s theory of history, theory of literature and the style of the Shih Chih. It is well-accepted in the west. Together with Burton Watson’s translation version of the Shih Chih, it has been regarded as the most important material to study Ssu-ma Ch’ien and Shih Chih.This report presents an analysis and summary to the translation process. The theory adopted is the Skopos Theory, which was established by the German linguist Hans Vermeer and introduced the idea that a translation should always be conducted to fulfill the purpose of the target text in the target text’s situation. As to this project, its purpose is for academic study.Therefore, the translation should be serious, formal, and for the most part it should make sense to the readers. Then, various techniques should be used to achieve this purpose, such as negation,amplification and omission, dividing, combination and shifting. This report illustrates specifically these three techniques. It also analyzes the problems encountered in the process and their solution, and summarizes the problems that still have not been solved and what the translator has learned from this project.After translating this project, I realize the complexity of translation and understand that a qualified translator must be well equipped with the ability to master languages, including the source language and target language, as well as the cultures of the two languages. Besides,systematic translation theories also seem helpful for a proper translation project. The last part of the report deals with the problems to be solved and the experience I gained from this project.