A Cognitive Analysis Of Translation Obstacles

This translation practice report is written on the basis of the translation project—The Story of Naxos.The book describes how Klaus Heymann—the founder of Naxos guided the budget CD company from its humble beginnings and developed to become the world's largest classical music label with his hardwork and perseverance.The Story of Naxos includes eighteen chapters.I was responsible for the translation of chapters six,eleven,thirteen,fourteen and sixteen.The translation process covers three stages: pre-translation preparations,translation process and post-editing.In the first stage,I looked through the whole context and searched information relevant to classical music for making term bases.In addition,I read parallel texts and some articles related to cognitive linguistics as well as translation obstacles.During the translation process,I translated with the help of computer aided translation(CAT)tools and marked obstacles in comprehension and expression by inserting comments in Word documents.Then,these problems were classified,summarized and analyzed.In the final stage,I carried out self-proofreading after the translation of five chapters before discussing with team members and asking their help for correction and review.The final draft was revised by the supervisor.After the cognitive analysis of some examples,I found that a majority of translation obstacles in comprehension occur in language(terms and grammatical structures)and rhetoric,while obstacles in expression occur in the lack of clearness,accuracy and technicality.Reasons causing these problems are the lack of translation competence in language,logic,transformation and aesthetics.From the perspective of cognitive linguistics,this translation practice report aims at analyzing unforeseen translation obstacles in comprehension and expression on the basis of the translation project.I recorded the translation process by taking notes.On the whole,the study of typical obstacles is conducive to discovering problems and comprehending the original text by consulting information as well as background knowledge to achieve intralingual transfer.The analysis of obstacles also guides me to practice in language expression for achieving interlingual transfer and exhibiting qualified works of translation.Meanwhile,based on translation problems,I can practice and reflect specifically for the improvement of cognitive levels and strengthening of translation competence.The analysis of translation obstacles is expected to offer some reference for future translation practices and the contrastive study between English and Chinese.