Post-Editing Under The Guidance Of Skopos Theory

This report is based on the English-Chinese translation of the book The Epic of America,which was published in 2000.The book is written by American writer James Truslow Adams.I selected the thirteenth chapter of the book for translation and analysis,which is not be published to Chinese at present.In the field of machine translation and post-editing,the research on this kind of historical text is still weak.Therefore,I chose this works as the source of the project and took skopos theory as the guidance.Using appropriate translation strategies,I tried to break the traditional translation concepts in the process of translation.Instead of focusing on restoring the content of the source language completely,I tried to reflect the organic combination of the translation goal and the position of the reader in the translation.Guided by the three principles of skopos theory,this report fully describes the process of the translator's participation in postediting.There are four parts included in this translation report.Chapter one briefly introduces the source,content and characteristics of this project text and the significance of selecting it as the project source.In addition,the purpose of the translation practice research is expounded in detail,and the assistance and significance of the practice to the field of machine translation of historical texts and the improvement of translators' own translation ability.Chapter two describes the process of translation including pre-translation preparation for this translation practice.I should not only use Google online translation as a machine translation tool,but also read and accumulate the historical knowledge of the European and American countries.The problems encountered in the process of translation are analyzed.The whole practice process was carried out in constant communication with the tutor,and the translation texts was further polished timely and accurately under the guidance of the tutor.Chapter three firstly introduces the development of skopos theory and the definition of key terms in the post-editing.After that,the typical cases of translation are analyzed from four aspects: term modification,semantic error,rhetoric improvement and sentence structure.According to the skopos theory,discussed the proper use of translation strategies in post-editing,for example amplification,omission,free translation,restructuring.Chapter four is a summary of translation practice.I compared differences between machine translation and traditional manual word-for-word translation.On the premise that the machine is an efficient auxiliary translation tool,combining with manual postediting is an effective way to greatly improve the quality and output speed of the translation texts.I also summarized the ways and means to solve the difficulties encountered in translation and the feasible ways to improve my translation ability.And I have a deep understanding of the history of European and American culture through this practice.