A Report On The Translation Of Empire Of Cotton

This thesis is a report based on the translation of the first two chapters from Empire of Cotton,a book on the global cotton history.The book tells the story of how the cotton stirs up the world. The author Sven Beckert offers readers a good history of more than 900 years of globalization by focusing on cotton becoming the world's most important industry in the 1900s. If the exclusive staple commodity is sugar in the 18th century and oil in the 20th century,cotton is definitely the most important commodity in the 19th century. In this radical,ambitious and disturbing survey, Beckert takes readers back to each stage of this global industry. This industry relies on millions of slaves, tenant farmers and factory workers, whose miserable work ensures the output. Beckert states that cotton industrialization is filled with violence and that this is part of the development of the modern world.The reason for choosing the first two chapters of the book is its distinctive language description. The translation for some proper nouns and terminology should be noted. At the same time, the translator also focuses on the translation of long difficult sentences. The translator should grasp language style characteristic of the text and use the corresponding translation skills and strategies.Report is mainly based on the English-Chinese translation materials in the appendices and this paper involves three parts: introduction, body and conclusion.The first part is introduction, mainly introducing the book, the author of the book,and a brief introduction to the translation project.The second part is the main body, mainly divided into three chapters:The first chapter is the translation task description, including the reason and the significance of the topic, the author and the book introduction.The second chapter is the translation process, elaborating the pre-preparation work before translation, some problems encountered in the translation process and review and proofreading after translation on the basis of the overall understanding of the text.The third chapter is the case analysis. The difficulties met in the course of translation have been put forward, mainly including vocabularies which are difficult to determine, complex sentences and local dialects. In this chapter, some translation strategies and translation skills have also been put forward by the translator. Besides,the translator puts forward different solutions to different problems.The last part is conclusion. The translator summarizes the translation problems that have failed to be solved and also illustrates the experience accumulated in the translation process and the references for the future work and study.Through this translation practice, the translator has not only learned a lot of knowledge related to the global history of cotton industry, but also has enhanced the level of her translation, which lays a solid foundation for the future work. In addition,the translator has a further understanding of the translation. By summarizing the lesson, the translator can accumulate the experience and constantly improve her translation ability, which will also provide reference for the translation of the same type. At the same time,the translator hopes that this can provide some references for other translators.