A Reprot On The Translation Of God Save Texas:A Journey Into The Soul Of The Lone Star State(Excerpt From Chapter 8)

Lawrence Wright,a famous American writer,introduces to us what he has seen and heard about Texas,and also expresses his satirical attitude towards Texas and even American political culture and politicians in his book,God Save Texas:A Journey into the Soul of the Lone Star State.This book introduces and satirizes the political atmosphere of Texas and even the whole United States through the political means and relevant anecdotes of many Texas politicians,and the local humanities.Its content and language style are bold,spicy and humorous.Although there are many legal terms,the overall language is mainly popular and readable.The translated text is excerpted from its Chapter 8 “Sausage Makers”.It mainly deals with politicians and major events in Texas from 1853 to the present,including some interesting stories during and after governors’ election,as well as the political means adopted and the relevant legislation introduced by them.Instead of praising these politicians,the book satirizes the political climate in Texas by describing many of their funny behaviors.Bismarck’s “sausage theory” — if we explain to people how sausages are made,they are unlikely to eat them — is used as a metaphor for politicians in Texas.Ironically,the politicians manipulate Texas politics and people like sausage makers,and their processes and means are as difficult to show as sausage making.Through the careful study and analysis of the source text,the author decides to base her translation on English-Chinese Contrastive Study,and use some translation principles and techniques,such as Diction,Conversion,Addition,Inversion,and Division.During the translation process,we try to select the words and sentences that are most in line with the original meaning and can achieve the same effect as the original text.To meet the requirements,it should not only enable the target readers to understand the text content of the original text,but also to know the ideas and emotions that the original author wants to express.Finally,the author writes the report based on the problems encountered in the process of translation practice,corresponding solutions and translation experience.Through this English-Chinese translation report,the author has two deep feelings: first,a translator should master the source language and the target language,and understand their similarities and differences in terms of vocabulary,sentence structures and grammars;second,the cultures of these two languages are also the key to the translation.Carelessly translating without verification may lead to the wrong understanding of the original text.Of course,the author’s translation level is still deficient.And there are many insufficiencies,as well as many problems to be solved.The author hopes that she can keep on making efforts to improve her cultural literacy and translation level in the future.