On Translating Afro-american Slang In Novels

The material for this translation practice is taken from the excerpts of the original novel Her Sweetest Revenge written by the African American writer,Saundra Jones.There are in total forty-six chapters in this book.The author has translated the first eight chapters of the book.One feature is that there is a lot of Afro-American slang in the novel.As a form of informal language in a specific group,Afro-American slang with a strong local flavor has vivid features.How to process them for the purpose of showing language features and portraying characters in the novel becomes the challenge to the author in the translation practice.Therefore,functional equivalence is chosen as the basic theoretical framework and how to translate Afro-American slang is explained.Functional equivalence theory that Eugene A.Nida raised means that translators should not simply seek literal correspondence but functional equivalence of expressions between two languages.That is to say,the reaction of target receptors should be consistent with that of original receptors.In Her Sweetest Revenge,slang expressions with Afro-American features exist in characters’ language,showing characters’ images,personalities and emotions as a carrier.The author lists a range of typical examples in terms of lexical level and syntactic level.During the process,the author specifically elaborates how to translate Afro-American slang expressions mainly from two aspects of reproduction of language features and achievement of character portrayal effect.Moreover,due to the fact that the original language is African American English,the author explains the translation of some non-slang expressions for the purpose of making language consistent.Through the practice and thinking,the author believes that for the translation of Afro-American slang,translators need to fully understand the original meaningsbased on contexts and then choose equivalent or similar Chinese slang expressions as far as possible for the purpose of reproducing the original language features and portraying characters.Whether on lexical level or syntactic level,the translation of Afro-American slang needs the combination of two strategies so as to achieve better results.They should accurately convey the original meanings by literal translation or free translation and then choose equivalent or similar Chinese slang to substitute for the original slang expressions.Furthermore,for the translation of some non-slang expressions,translators need to choose appropriate Chinese slang by domestication as far as possible for the purpose of making language features consistent.Finally,the author hopes that the project can have some reference significance for other similar practices.