A Translation Report Of When Breath Becomes Air(Excerpt)

This report is finished on the basis of translation of Paul Kalanithi's memoir When Breath Becomes Air.It tells his transition from an experienced doctor to a stage four cancer patient.The story continues in a very simple and plain way,representing Paul's fights against fate and his strong desire for life.In his last days,Paul still worked as doctor,spent the remaining days with family,nurtured a new life and tried to find out what really mattered to him.He passed away,but his spirit remains to encourage all similar patients and people who lose the goals of life.In introducing quality readings,reserving the purity of the target language to avoid translationese should also be addressed.However,owing to the drastic differences in cultural backgrounds and the ways of thinking,the Chinese and English will be extremely distinct in composition and diction,so that many translators would sometimes rigidly follow the original structure,resulting serious translationese in the target text.The core purpose of this project is to solve this problem.This report consists of four parts.The first part is Introduction,in which the translator gives a general introduction to the basic information and the significance of the report.The second part is Translation Process,which can be subdivided into six parts,including pre-translation preparation,text analysis,translation tools,proper nouns,the key and difficult points and proofreading.The third part is Case Analysis,in which the translator discusses the problems and difficulties related to translationese encountered in translating and offers solutions,such as structure rearranging,turning phases into clauses,shifting between positive and negative statement and omission to achieve a natural and fluent translation.The fourth part is Conclusion,where the translator summarizes the findings and limitations through this task to further prepare him for coping with the texts of similar types.