A Report On Translating Wu Xuan’s Novel The Black And White Into English

The five Go matches held in Seoul between "Alpha Go" program and Lee Sedol in March have gotten too much attention. As a result, Alpha Go beats Lee by a score of 4:1. However, it is confusing that some people translated "Alpha Go" into "阿尔法 狗 " (Alpha Dog). Considering this mistranslation, the author contends that it is necessary to let readers know more about Go terms and related English expressions.Wu Xuan’s novel The Black and White tells a story about the Go game. His demonstration of the spirit of Go game is desperately amazing. The Go culture reflects in fact the profound and thorough understanding of the way of life. The thesis intends to deal with the exact problem, that is, how the exquisite spirit of the Go game in Chinese could be conveyed completely in English.Originated in China and prevailed in East Asia, Go has now become a well-known game all over the world. This thesis intends to find proper ways to translate Go culture. In the practice of translation, the author encountered with two kinds of difficulties:one is the translation of Go terms which seem to be easy to translate; however, if you have a good understanding of Go terms and culture, you would find that it is also problematic and difficult in translating of the Go terms; and the other is the translation of the passages with a touch of Go culture which is of Chinese characteristics. As for translating Go terms, the author employs such ways as literal translation and free translation plus annotation; and as for translating Go culture, the author applies the methods of omission and adaption in translation.According to the translation practice, the author found that a good translation of Chinese Go novels should be based on the comprehensive analysis of the source text, and only a fully understanding of the Chinese text can the corresponding strategy and method be chosen. As for The Black and White, a novel mainly focused on the spirit of Go, the translator, apart from grasping the original text, should pay special attention to the description and interpretation of the Go culture, which is of great significance for the novel’s connotation. Thus, the translator should learn more about the Go terms and its culture in order to enhance the understanding of the original text and improve translation quality.