Analysis On The Chinese-English Translation Of Terms In Introductory Texts On Historic Buildings

Historic buildings,as an important medium of local history and culture,play an essential role in promoting international communications and publicizing local cultures.Introductory texts on historic buildings usually involve not only the stories related to the histories and backgrounds of the buildings,but also the descriptions of the architectural beauty.Therefore,the translators should have a good knowledge of architecture so as to facilitate international communications and publicize local cultures efficiently.This paper is based on the Chinese-English translation of Memories and The City—Historic Buildings in Harbin.After analyzing the source text,the author(also the translator)finds that there are two major problems he needs to tackle: translating the names of the buildings and related persons;translating architectural terms.Based on thorough analyses of the above two problems and communications with the translation reviewer,the author accordingly proposes the following translation strategies: making good use of visual materials;referring to the translations offered by reliable sources and accordingly setting up reference lists.