A Report On The E-C Translation Of The Cultural Elements In Stingray Afternoons:A Memoir

In the context of the globalization,the exchange of biographical literature at home and abroad deepens further.As a kind of narrative style,the memoir belongs to biographical text.With documentary and literature,it definitely tells a personal experience of the author,dubbed as “the video of old days”.This translation project covers a total amount of10,000 words or so,selected from the introduction and the fifth chapter of Stingray Afternoons : A Memoir written by an American sportswriter Steve Rushin.This more recent book was published in July 2017 and there is no Chinese version yet.The memoir is primarily concerned with the pages of the author's life when he grew up in Bloomington,Minnesota,US between 3 and 13 as a child.The author mainly puts his focus on the pop culture of the1970 s,from which readers are given an overview of technological changes,cultural changes as well as the love among parents,brothers and sisters.Thus,the book has a strong sense of nostalgia and has an important reference value for intercultural communication.Moreover,a large number of unique cultural elements in English deserve to be called a huge challenge for us to translate.For this reason,the author not only takes a careful look at quite a lot of Chinese versions translated from biographical texts,reads relevant books and papers,but also is familiar with the linguistic features of biographical texts before translation.The original text is well targeted at “bring in”,for which the author selects Skopos theory as theoretical guidance and determines translation methodswithin the framework of three principles so that the cultural differences have a smaller influence on the translation of the biographical text.Under the guidance of Skopos theory,cultural elements shared by Chinese and English with different connotations are translated through literal translation with annotation and free translation;unique cultural elements of English are translated through literal translation with annotation,free translation with annotation,transliteration with annotation,literal translation plus transliteration with annotation and addition in ways that bridge the gap between the two languages for intercultural communication.The report aims to explore the methods of translating cultural elements of the source language,improving on the translation level and the ability to apply translation theories by translating an excellent foreign biography,and conveying the American culture to Chinese readers with the upkeep of cultural connotations in the original text as much as possible.Finally,valuable suggestions for those who will translate biographical texts of the same kind come after some experience and lessons.