The French Biography "Hou Mai Zhuan" Translation Practice Report

Translation being an transcultural activity of communication,its diffenrent stages are closely related to both cultural backgrounds which define the two languages.Since the cultural layouts of French and Chinese represent two vastly different civilisations of the occidental and the oriental world,French-Chinese translation is bound to present numerous difficulties due to differences in idiology,habits of expression,logic and ways of wording.As our world undergoes a rapid globalisation,translation reveals itself to be an indispensable tool while we attempt to overcome these differences and build a bridge for exchanges in order to allow lateral dialogue and therefore reach a win-win situation for both parties.This thesis is comprised of three chapiters,covering each aspect of this translation task,giving a summary of the difficulties in translation that issued from cultural differences and discussing how best to overcome them.The first chapiter sets out to introduce the task,explaining its nature and characteristics.The second chapiter is meant to present the process of the translation work,including preperations beforehand,choice of strategies,execution of the work,matters to attend to afterwards,etc.Following up is a chapiter dedicated to analyzing specific examples excerpted from the book while comparing the two languages from ideologic,phonetic and sentimental perspectives.In this chapter,we will discuss how cultural differences set obstacles for our translation work and how best to overcome these difficulties in order to achieve an ideal translation.Reserch results of respected experts will also be cited to help the analyses.The last chapiter contains a conclusion drawn from these analyses.And then we will look at some problems that the translator needs to tackle in future translation practices,and how future works and exercises will benefit from this experience.In the present thesis,we will try to compare these two languages from the perspectives of logic,phonetic and sentiments,so as to understand how their different cultural backgrounds influence the process of translation,in the hope of finding solutions to these obstacles and to reach the goal of an ideal translation.Firstly,based on the definition of culture given by Geert Hofstede,we try to understand what caused cultural differences and in what forms they're usually perceived.Take biography as an example:all biographies set out to present life stories of the main character,but biographies from western and easten countries tend to put their emphasis on different aspects.In order to introduce to the readers of the target language a new genre of biography that they're not familiar with,and furthurmore,to allow these readers a better understanding of the culture in which originated the source language,the translator must fully understand these differences before even starting the translation work.With regard to the procedure of language transition,as Antoine Berman wrote in Toward a Translation Criticism,the translator must complete a role transition from reader to writer.This implies two demands:firstly,as the translator is charged with the task of passing on the contents of a book,he cannot be considered as a simple reader like any other,he needs to have a thorough understanding of the background knowledge of the book,as well as much research and extended reading;secondly,the role of writer means that the translated work should be considered as a work by itself in the target language,no matter its relations with the original work.This is also an idea developped by Antoine Berman in Toward a Translation Criticism.When we accept this statement,a lot of problems in the task of translation seem almost naturally to have their solutions.It has been common practice to evaluate a translation work after its completion,however,it could also be the other round:pre-established ideas on the value of translation work can play a rather illuminating role in the process of translation.Which brings us to an analysis of how evaluation criteria influence the choice of translation strategies.When Professor Xu Jun gave his definition of translation,he said that translation takes semiotic transition as its form,that it has regeneration of signification as its result,but particularly that it sets cultural exchange as its goal.This can help us to better understand a topic which has caused heated discussions in the realm of translation and literature:whether translation is possible at all.Culture in itself is not a fixed notion,therefore we certainly do not need to set fixed boundaries when it comes to cultural communications.When we choose translation strategies,it is advisable to take into consideration the evolution that takes place either currently or potentially in the readership.Zhang Nanfeng has concluded that the type and nature of the targeted readership play an important role in the choice of translation strategies.The translator must always interpret correctly to which extent the readers are motivated to get to know the culture behind the source language.In conclusion,cultural differences not only cause difficulties in translation,but also highlight the significant value of translation.Precisely because we respect other cultures and hope to know more about them.We also wish to reach a better mutual understanding on the ground of equality and harmony.The notion of cultural difference is as flexible and changeable as that of culture:since culture is suject to constant evolution and developement,we should also take a flexible look when it comes to cultural differences.In this thesis,the translator attempts to give a report of her experience in completing the translation task,in the hope that it will help improve her skills and therefore lead to satisfactory translation practices in the future.