Exploring Autobiography Translation With The Guidance Of Semantic Translation Theory

As a plain narrative genre,autobiographies are popular among readers because they could enable them to feel empathetic and have imaginative communication with their writers.At present,most domestic autobiographies have become bestsellers and there is a dramatic rise in readers' demand for foreign autobiographies.To date,a great number of western autobiographies have been introduced to China and they have enriched the spiritual culture of Chinese readers.In the transmission of foreign autobiographies,translation plays an increasingly important role.As a kind of literary translation,autobiography translation requires the translator to properly reproduce the artistic image and style of the original work in another language,so that target readers can have the same inspiration and feelings as original readers,and this requirement is in consistency with Semantic Translation Theory proposed by Newmark(1981),who emphasizes that translators should keep the cultural features of the source language,focus on the thinking process of original writers and try to reserve the exact contextual meanings of original texts.In addition,Mundy(2001),on the basis of Newmark's arguments,points out that Semantic Translation Theory could provide theoretical guidance for the translation of such serious literature as autobiographies.Therefore,based upon the English-Chinese translation practice of the first three chapters of No One Tells You This: A Memoir,this thesis is devoted to an exploration of autobiography translation strategies with the guidance of this theory.As a whole,the thesis is divided into five chapters.Chapter One introduces Glynnis Mac Nicol and No One Tells You This: A Memoir,its research purposes and thesis structure.Chapter Two presents an overview of autobiographies and their translations.At its end,it proposes principles of autobiography translation.As the theoretical framework of the thesis,Chapter Three reviews the background,development and main arguments of Semantic Translation Theory.Towards its end,it makes a discussion of the applicability of this theory to autobiography translation.Chapter Four systematically analyzes the English-Chinese translation strategies of No One Tells You This: A Memoir with the guidance of Semantic Translation Theory respectively on the lexical,syntactic and rhetoric levels.The strategies on the lexical level are objective conveyance of original meanings and transliteration of proper nouns.The strategies on the syntactic level are reasonable division of sense groups and reservation of symbolic features.The strategies on the rhetoric level are reservation of original rhetorical devices.As the conclusion of the thesis,Chapter Five summaries the major findings and points out its limitations and directions for future research.