A Report On The Translation Of A Century History Of Iwanami Shoten1 The Birth Of "General Education" From The Perspective Of Reception Theory

During my graduate study in translation-related courses,I have participated in the translation project of A century history of Iwanami Shoten chaired by Professor Wang Yihong,mainly responsible for the initial translation of the first volume the birth of “general education”.This translation project was selected as a Philosophy and Social Science Research Post-Funded Project of Ministry of Education in 2019,which fully demonstrates the significant academic value of the books.The book1 reviews the history of Iwanami Shoten from 1913 to the 1930 s,depicting its process of developing from a second-hand bookshop to a famous publishing house.The history of the development of Iwanami Shoten shows the literature,culture and social life of Japan before World War II.Translating this book is of great significance for readers to understand the publishing industry and the history of Japan.In this translation practice report,I select the first chapter as the target text.A century history of Iwanami Shoten is not a serious history book but closer to a popular book.But it's translation project belongs to the Philosophy and Social Science Research Post-Funded Project of the Ministry of Education,aiming at readers with a high level of education,especially academic researchers,which requires the translated text to be academic and professional,so it can be inferred that the target readers of the original book and the translation version are not completely the same.So,the translator needs to consider how to meet the expectations of the target reader of the translation based on respect for the original text.I divide the translation problems into three categories of language style,paragraph structure and information complementation,and analyze them from the perspective of expression horizon,cultural horizon and academic horizon based on the concept of reader's expectation horizon of Reception Theory.This translation practice report consists of the following three chapters:The first section of the first chapter introduces the content,characteristics and translation value of the book;the second section introduces the content,development process and applicable text types of Reception Theory;the third section analyzes whether Reception Theory could guide the translation of the book.The main content of the second chapter is to analyze the translation problems in this translation practice.The first section is about language style: For the language style of the whole text,the translator should choose Written and high-level vocabulary and expressions;for the translation of different types of ancient texts,the translator should first classify them and find the corresponding styles that fit them in ancient Chinese texts,then try to restore the original charm of the ancient texts by imitating the language style of the corresponding ancient Chinese texts.The second section is about the structure of paragraphs.According to the reader's need to extract information quickly,it is recommended that the paragraphs with complex content adopt the consecution of chiefpart & part-chief or highlight the important information by adjusting the order of the sentences.The third section is about the problem of information complementation.Based on the target reader's need to obtain comprehensive and accurate information,the translator should complete the missing information by the translation skill of amplification,and complete the footnotes and index.The third chapter discusses the misuse of Reception Theory: unduly free or overfree translation.I divide it into two categories: unreasonable amplification & omission and improper inversion,and analyzes them through examples of this translation practice.In summary,the following conclusions can be drawn: First,the target readers of the translation of A century history of Iwanami Shoten1 the birth of “general education” have obvious group characteristics,so Reception Theory is suitable for guiding this translation practice.To solve the problems encountered in the translation practice,based on the reader's expectation horizon of Reception Theory,the translator can consider readers needs from three perspectives of expression,culture,academics,and adjust the translation strategies based on target readers' needs.Secondly,we should pay attention to avoid the problem of unduly free or over-free translation like unreasonable amplification & omission and improper inversion when applying Reception Theory to translation practice.On the basis of previous research,this report put forward the problems that translators should pay attention to in translation practice of target readers with high cultural literacy and when the target readers of original text and translated text are different,and gave the answers based on Reception Theory.It supplements the corresponding research field of Japanese-Chinese translation and expands the application of Reception Theory in translation practice.