A Report On E-C Translation Of Excerpts From Understanding Art

Understanding Art,written by professor Lois Fichner-Rathus,is an introduction to art theory and art work.As an outline of art,it presents readers a magnificent art gallery from the perspective of design,painting,photography,sculpture,craft,architecture,art history and etc.In its 22 chapters,this book not only provides information about art appreciation,visual elements and etc.,but also explores the motives of creation with historical,social,political,and personal contexts.In light of the situation above,this report is based on the E-C translation of chapter 10 from Understanding Art.The excerpts focuses on photography,film,video and digital art.Its unique text is featured by the content-focused art knowledge and form-focused art work description,which respectively corresponds to informative text and expressive text in Text Typology Theory.Therefore,under the support of Text Typology Theory,the author first analyzes text features of scientificity,literariness and popularity in the source text and difficulties in translating terms,background information and abstract description.Then,the author conducts a case study of translation methods adopted in different text type,such as literal translation,annotation,addition in informative text and free translation,division and restructure in expressive text.The translation practice has built up author's accumulation in art subject.The report shows that translator should be well-prepared in background knowledge and utilize appropriate translation methods according to different text type,thus better serving for the target reader.