Report On The Translation Of Ordinary Ethics In China(Excerpts)

The work of translation has become a bridge for the East-West academic communication.While the translation of academic texts is of momentous significance to the worldwide exchange of thoughts and culture,the quality of Chinese translations of foreign academic works has been mixed.In order to improve the situation,it is necessary to record,analyze and study the process of E-C academic translation activities.With authorization from Charles Stafford,the author of Ordinary Ethics in China,the translator used Chapter 1 of this book as the source text and went through a four-month translation process,of which the product and findings are presented in this report.The translation activity under analysis went through the following stages: Before the translation,the translator prepared herself with preliminary knowledge of relevant academic discourses and then tailored a dedicated translation standard based on text features and corresponding translation theories.During the translation,the translator directly confirmed with the author himself concerning the understanding and translation of key concepts;After the translation,the final Chinese translation went through four rounds of review and proofreading.With a hope to provide reference for Chinese academic translating activities and to help prompt the study of scholarly translation in China,this report demonstrates that,in translating academic text,especially in anthropology,the “contextualization” standard helps maintain the consistency and integrity within the translation product.Moreover,it validates the process of standard establishing prior to the translation and also emphasizes the necessity of academic knowledge preparation for the activity.