A Report On The Translation Of Chinaberry(Excerpt)

As one of the four major forms of literature,novels center on portraying characters and reflecting social life by telling a complete story.Novels boast a window for people to know the culture of other countries or regions in certain period of history.Thus,translation of novels plays a key role in cultural communication.This is a report on the translation of a novel,Chinaberry(excerpt),written by James Still who has been celebrated as the "Dean of Appalachian Literature".In Chinaberry,one of his greatest novels,he portrayed diverse characters,described subtle and rich emotions,and depicted the vast primitive landscape of west America with his simple and plain language.The translator shares with one partner the translation material of about 40,000 words.Based on the translation practice of the first four chapters of the novel Chinaberry,the author analyses the translation process,describes difficulties encountered in translating this novel,as well as corresponding solutions and concludes the principles,namely to guarantee the accuracy of meaning,to maintain the beauty of language,and to reproduce the style of the original text under the guidance of Skopos Theory.And the translator tries to improve the translation through further learning,consulting and thinking.The report mainly falls into four parts,i.e.,task description,process description,case study,difficulties and corresponding solutions and implications of the translation practice.Through the translation practice,the author aims to improve her competence both in translation practice and literature appreciation,which will be a great help in her further learning and practice.In the meantime,she hopes that literature lovers will get a better understanding of western American history and cowboy culture by reading this novel,and have their heart pleased by appreciating the distinct charm of James Still's works.