E-C Translation Of Chapter 6 And 7 Of The Remarkable Chester Ronning:Proud Son Of China And A Critical Commentary

The Remarkable Chester Ronning:Proud Son of China,a book written by Prof.Brian L.Evans,former Vice President of the University of Alberta and a famous Canadian historian,is a biography about Ambassador Chester Ronning,a great Canadian diplomat and recognized founding father of the Canada-China bilateral relations.The book is about the legendary life of Ronning and his profound association with China.The translation work takes Chapter 6 and 7 as source text(ST).The selected Chapter 6 is about Ronning as Head of the Mission at the Canadian Embassy in Nanking(Nanjing)during the Chinese Civil War and what he had seen and been through,felt and thought during that period.In Chapter 7 there are two major parts:one is the situation in Nanking after the withdrawal of Kuomintang;the other is the twists and turns of Canadian Recognition of the People's Republic of China.These two chapters are so meaningful for Chinese readers in terms of getting familiar with Ronning,his association with China and his contribution to the Sino-Canadian relationship.During the translation process,Skopos theory is employed as the theoretical basis.The translation is guided by Skopos rules,the top-priority of the theory.And several translation approaches and strategies are taken to meet the standard of coherence,fidelity and the requirement of literariness and historical nature of biography as well.For being coherent and preventing translationese,complicated sentence structures are reinvented,some related words are added,four-character structure translation and"Chinese element" are adopted due to different language habits between English and Chinese.Concerning fidelity,linear translation is adopted in plots while transliteration and literal translation are used in terms of translating names,addresses and names of organizations.In so doing,inter-textual coherence between the source text and translation is thus achieved.Through the translation process and analysis of the translation,it comes to the conclusion that Skopos theory is generally suitable for biography translation.Under the guidance of Skopos rules,translators could be more independent in terms of the contradiction between literal and free translation and explore a new direction in translation field.Moreover,different translation strategies can be adopted to reach coherence and fidelity as a whole.Therefore,historical nature and literariness of biography is also guaranteed.And in this case,the dual role of translator,namely the narrator of history and creator of literature work,is balanced as well.