A Translation Report On Inheritance(Excerpts)

During the translation practice, the translator selects a characteristic full-length novel named Inheritance(2004) by the well-known Chinese American writer Lan Samantha Chang. This novel is divided into five parts, of which the first two ones(Prologue & Marriage) are the translator’s focus. As a biographical novel,Inheritance puts emphasis on a historical and cultural perspective. Not only does the author vividly depict several characters such as Chanyi, Junan, Yinan and Li Ang, but also reveals the inheritance of cultural tradition of early Chinese Americans through their contacts and conflicts between each other. As the winner of PEN/Open Book Award in 2005, this novel is an important reference book for Chinese American literature.Based on the linguistic features of the selected text, the translator applies Peter Newmark’s communicative & semantic translation theory and makes a specific analysis on related issues during the translation process. This translation report consists of four chapters. The first chapter is about task description, which includes introduction to of the translation task(including the work and the author) as well as its research significance; the second chapter discusses procedure description including preparation, while-translating and proofreading; and the third chapter is involved with case study, which mainly contains Peter Newmark’s communicative & semantic translation theory into the practice and relevant case analysis; while in the last chapter,the author makes a brief conclusion which mainly covers personal reflections after the translation practice and some problems to be solved in the future.