Strategies For Proper English Translation Of Culture-Specific Information In Chinese Documentary Books From The Perspective Of Reader Awareness

This paper discusses,through a case study on the English translation of a Chinese documentary book,Evidence: 172 comfort stations in Shanghai,strategies for proper translation of culture-specific information from the perspective of reader awareness.The book discloses the military sex slavery system during World War II and the compensation claims of the survivors who served the Japanese troops as "comfort women",an issue that has caught wide public attention in Southeast Asian countries in recent decades.As only a few documentary books published in the victim countries have been translated into English and published in English speaking countries,people in the Western world know little about the detailed facts concerning the Japanese military sex slavery system in China,especially in Shanghai,during the 1930 s and 40 s.The English translation of Evidence: 172 Comfort Stations in Shanghai,a book originally written in Chinese by Su Zhiliang as a major project sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences(CASS),is aimed at providing English readers with facts on what has truly happened to Chinese comfort women enslaved by Japanese troops in China during World War II to support China's further disclosure of the war crimes committed by the Japanese militarism.However,the book contains much culture-specific information,including historical concepts,conventional descriptions,and linguistic expressions,that poses a big challenge in properly delivering an equivalent sense and awareness among English readers.As English translation of such information specific to Chinese culture requires a series of special strategies from the perspective of reader awareness to enable a better and easier acceptance by the English readership,this paper attempts to discuss and analyze what is involved in the challenge translators are faced with.Based on a case study on the translation project,the author,who was a member of the translation team of this book,proposes four possible strategies to ensure a proper delivery of such information in English.They are: 1)to verify the facts contained in the original text,and explicate the hidden logic by adding background information;2)to eliminate redundant information;3)to avoid expressions that may arouse ethnic psychological conflicts,and use cultural expressions easier to be understood and accepted by English readers;and 4)to clarify,in an appropriate degree,political correctness in the translation.This paper eventually aims to provide some reference for future English translation of similar Chinese documentary books.