On The Translation Of Some Complex Sentences In Broken Angels (Excerpts)

The selected text Broken Angels,written by Gemma Liviero,unfolds itself through the narration of three characters,a Nazi doctor Willem,a Jewish rebel Elsi and a little girl Matilda.The story tells the happenings in German ghetto during the Nazi Regime.The three characters stand in the different positions,have different background and live in different environments,but they all have a common wish.Though they are trapped in an unbearable situation,they all try to fight for freedom.The source text,which consists of the first three chapters of Broken Angels,abounds with many complex sentences.The complex English sentence features the complicated structure,strict grammar and flexibly positioned modifiers.However,the English language features hypotaxis while the Chinese language features parataxis.That is,the English language puts emphasis on the structure and form,using forms of language to achieve the connection of the words and clauses.However,the Chinese language puts emphasis on the content and function,not depending on any forms of language to realize the connection of the words and clauses.Because of the great differences in syntactic structures between the two languages,the translation of the complex English sentences is a difficult part in this translation practice.In Nida's Functional Equivalence Theory,the target text should not be limited to the original form of the source text,but to obtain the functional equivalence so that the receptor of the target text are able to understand the translated text as essentially the same as the receptor of the source text.Guided by the Functional Equivalence Theory and with an understanding of the major differences in syntactic structures of the two languages,the author employs such methods as the linear translation,the backward translation,the splitting translation and the synthetic translation to make sure that the translation is both faithful and smooth.Through the translation of Broken Angels under the guidance of Nida's Functional Equivalence Theory,the thesis hopes to come up with some methods forthe translation of the complex English sentence.