Three-step Translation Strategy Of Proper Names

Based on the three principles of translating proper names “naming according to the owners of proper names”,“adopting the established popular translated names” and “complying with the norms”,as well as the practice of proper names translation in When We Were Young as a case,this dissertation concludes three steps of translating proper names: searching,translating as well as collating and reviewing.In the three steps,the author focuses on the use of electronic tools to search for translated names and required information,mentioning issues that merit attention when translating personal names,painting names and organization names,and generally introducing and comparing the functions of Office software and Computer-aided Translation(CAT)software on collating proper names and their translations.In addition,this thesis mentions three models of reviewing: multi-person,one-person and experts-involved.The three principles of translating proper names determine that searching comes first.In this step,translators may use paper tools,electronic dictionaries,search engines like Baidu,Google,encyclopedia websites like Wikipedia,professional websites like Duxiu academic search system and Wenjin search system.Through searching,it is possible for translators to gather relevant information related to proper names and ascertain whether some proper name has a established popular translated name in the target language.For a proper name having no established popular translated name,translators can proceed to the second step—translating.When translating personal names or place names,the methods of “split-recombination” and “transforming to its homophone(s)” prove effective;although most painting names are translated literally,still the painting itself should be paid much attention as verbal information;for organizations,the changes of their names should fit the time they exist.For large-scale translation projects or collaborative translation projects,the work of translating proper names ends but behind following the needs of collating and reviewing.In this step,translators may use Office software such as Word and Excel or the term bank of CAT software such as SDL Trados to sort out proper names and their translations.After collating comes the work of reviewing,which may be done in three ways—oneperson mode,multi-person mode or experts-involved mode.As these names imply,one-person mode means that reviewing work is done by one person,and multi-person mode by more than one person,experts-involved mode by experts.Considering that each mode has its advantages and disadvantages,translators may choose one between the former two,or combine two modes into one.Additionally,for intractable proper names,the third mode may be adopted.In the above three steps,the author introduces the purposes,tools,methods and techniques of searching,and issues that merit attention when translating personal names,painting names and organization names,as well as the collating methods and three modes of reviewing,hoping that these can help make proper names translation more effective,more accurate and standardized.