Translation Of Historical Text From The Perspective Of Context

This is a report based on English-Chinese translation project of the fifth chapter of China and the West to 1600: Empire,Philosophy,and the Paradox of Culture.The book is written by Steven Wallech,the senior professor of world history at Long Beach City College in the United States.As a historical monograph,the author discusses the process of modernization of both Chinese and Western civilization from the aspects of politics,economy,agriculture,religion,and philosophy.In the comparative study of Chinese and Western history that spans over 1600 years,the source text covers enormous historical and cultural elements.Thus,in the process of translation,the translator has encountered some specific words which need to be analyzed under the linguistic context in order to achieve a more accurate understanding.In the translation of some historical background,systems,religious beliefs,historical figures and proper nouns,the translator also tries to be more precise through analyzing the relevant historical and cultural contexts.Therefore,the author believes that in the process of historical text translation,context analysis is essential for ensuring the translator?s accurate understanding of the source text and so will be the receptor?s accurate grasp of the translated text.Translation is a process of understanding and expression.The translator should make it a priority to have an accurate understanding of the source text.In this process,context plays a great role in transferring the content of the source text,be it academic or very unique or complicated,to the target readers.In addition,the analysis of the nonlinguistic context is also helpful for making the expression of the translation more appropriate.Therefore,there is a very close relationship between context and translation.Context is an important factor that cannot be ignored in the process of translation.It plays a decisive role in understanding the discourse,determining the lexical meaning and the accurate expression of the translation.Based on the practice of the translation project,this paper aims to analyze the importance of context(including linguistic context and non-linguistic context)in the understanding of historical text and the expression of its translation as the writer solves the problems encountered in this translation practice.It is hoped that this thesis will provide relevant reference for the translation of historical texts.This translation practice report consists of five parts.The first part is description of translation task,including the background and significance of the translation task,text introduction,text characteristics and task requirements;the second part is the translation process,including preparations,translation,revision and final treatment;the third part is the guiding theory in the process of translation,including the theoretical framework,how context affects translation practices and the context classification used in this translation report;the fourth part is case study,including the linguistic context analysis and nonlinguistic context analysis;the fifth part summarizes the findings,gains and lessons in this translation practice.