A Report On The Translation Of The Cambridge Companion To Modern British Culture(Chapter 6)

This paper is a report on the translation of the sixth chapter(Contemporary British Cinema) of the book-The Cambridge Companion to Modern British Culture. This book introduces and analyzes various aspects of modern British culture and in Chapter Six, four themes characterizing British cinema have been analyzed. The source text can be recognized as an informative text. Newmark believes that communicative translation is suitable for a text of informative function; therefore, the translator chooses communicative translation theory as the guiding theory. According to Newmark(2001), “communicative translation attempts to produce on its readers an effect as close as possible to that obtained on the readers of the original”(p. 39). It requires the translator to focus on target text(TT) readers' comprehension and reaction and ensure that “both content and language are readily acceptable and comprehensible to TT readers”(Newmark, 2001, p. 47). Therefore, the translator should make some adjustments to ensure the accuracy and fluency of the TT. This report explores the type and features of the source text, demonstrates the theory guiding the translation process and analyzes the translation techniques employed from the lexical, syntactic and textual level. The translator puts the translation theory into practice to improve translation competence, in the hope of laying a solid foundation for future translation practice.