A Report On Translating "the Biographies Of Celebrities On Xiangxiang Government Portal Website"

Government portal websites, for many cities, are the windows to the world. With the increasing growth of international exchanges, some governments at provincial or municipal levels in China set up their own English portal websites one after another to enhance their foreign publicity, and the introduction of historical figures is an important part among the publicity materials. Therefore, using English to introduce those celebrities to foreigners is imperative for enriching and further promoting Chinese culture. Besides, it is a need for demonstrating the soft power of Chinese culture to the outside world. During the summer vacation of 2015, through recommendation of the teacher and classmates, the author got the opportunity to work as an intern in China Daily Hunan Office. And it is one of the translation tasks to help Xiangxiang government to set up its own English portal website, which was assigned by the China Daily Hunan Office during the author's internship. The author's assignment was to translate the fifteen-thousand-word biographies of Xiangxiang'celebrities into English. On the basis of this translation practice, the author writes this translation report in an attempt to figure out efficient approaches for this kind of translation practice.This report firstly gives a brief introduction of Xiangxiang City, the text typology applied in the translation task, and points out the motivation of the author to write this paper as well as the significance of this report. Then, the author describes the whole process of the translation practice in detail, which consists of three parts, the preparation, the translating process and the proofreading of translation. Next, the writer analyzes the source text from the perspectives of features, functions and text types, and proposes the corresponding translation strategies under the guidance of the text typology. Meanwhile, the author points out the difficulties and problems during her translation and offers specific solutions according to different text types. Finally, the author summarizes all the experiences and lessons she has obtained in the practice by combining the self-assessment with the assessment granted by China Daily.This translation practice is the introduction of historical figures, which has its own language and cultural features, so it has unique purposes and functions. This paper points out the feasibility of text typology in C-E translation through case analysis and its related translation strategies. And the author tries to avoid losing the source culture and makes the translation accommodate to the cultural psychology and reading habits of foreigners. Therefore, the translation should use accurate and standard English so that the cross-cultural communication can be successively achieved and the important role of the translation in spreading Chinese culture can be given in full expression.