A Report On The Translation Of Every Day Is Extra (Excerpts)

Every Day is Extra is a memoir written by John Kerry,the 68 th US Secretary of State.The title of this work reveals that every day in life is hard won.The memoir is not only about his upbringing and historical facts,his determination and a sense of responsibility but also about the author?s attitude towards life.The author mentioned many diplomatic events in history in his memoir.In Chapter 16,there are many political and diplomatic terms,which are crucial to the translation practice.To understand these words,we must put them in the context of specific historical events,read a lot of background information,and fully consider the context as well as the status of the author.The political and diplomatic terms studied in this paper are widely used in American culture but not familiar to Chinese translators and readers.In this case,domestication and foreignization alone cannot guarantee the quality of the translation.Guided by the theory of context of situation,the translator discusses how to achieve the equivalence of situation in the translation of the memoir from three aspects: field,tenor and mode.According to context of co-text,the translator tries to employ appropriate translation strategies by analyzing the meaning and relationship of words and sentences in the text.What?s more,context of culture plays a vital role in transferring the cultural elements of the original text to the target readers.In this report,the typical examples the translator encountered in the process of translation are listed and analyzed.At the end of this report,the translator summarizes the experience and methods,and discusses the strategies of translating political terms into Chinese.