A Report On Translation Of The Atlantic Migration:1607-1860 (Chapter 3-5) From The Perspective Of Reception Aesthetics

This report selects Chapter 3-5 of The Atlantic Migration: 1607-1860 written by Marcus Lee Hansen as translation practice materials.The book focuses on the massive migration of white people on both sides of the Atlantic and depicts a pattern of old world emigration.The difficulties of this book can be reflected in the following two aspects: on the one hand,the complexities of language expression lie in a large number of long and difficult sentences,proper nouns,and so on;on the other hand,The Atlantic Migration: 1607-1860,a literary work of historical immigrants,has a huge and complex knowledge system,which refers to economy,policies,religion,language,culture and other fields.It is,therefore,not easy for readers to have a thorough understanding of the source text.Therefore,under the guidance of the theory of Reception Aesthetics,the translator tries to produce a target text in line with readers' reading habits.Before translation,the translator has an extensive reading on relevant literature materials,including references and books about Reception Aesthetics,remarks of the book by other historians,and documentaries related to immigration issues.Meanwhile,she analyzes and summarizes the language features and cultural connotations that are difficult for readers to understand in original text.In the process of translation,under the guidance of Reception Aesthetics,the translator,in order to cater to readers' reading habits,adopts such methods as changing part of speech,adjusting sentence order,splitting long and difficult sentences and changing voice,so as to make the sentences smoother and more idiomatic.In order to maintain the readers' interest,translation methods such as annotation to proper nouns and clarification of vague words are employed to help readers participate in the reconstruction of the text and promote the communication between readers and the source text.This report is expected to remain linguistic features of the source text to a large extent and promote readers' active communication with the text to reach fusion of expectation.It is expected to serve as a useful role for subsequent translators interested in historical literature.