A Report On E-C Translation Of Sinological Monograph Thinking Through China(Excerpt)

In recent years,the translation of overseas sinological works has been thriving.The works related to traditional Chinese ideology,culture,politics and culturally-specific phenomena written by overseas sinologists have been translated and introduced into China.In practice,the translators are often faced with problems.Compared with the translation of other genres,E-C translation of sinilogical works involves careful concerns with cultures and ideologies of two languages,hence the high demand on translator’s cultural accumulation and cultural awareness.Thinking through China,written by Jerusha McCormack and John G.Blair,analyzes the culturally-specific phenomena of China and compares them with those in the West,especially at ideological level.Theses analyses enable the foreign readers with little knowledge about China to see China from Chinese perspective,so that they could better understand Chinese ideas and ideologies.Thinking through China contains many ideological comparisons,culture-loaded words,Chinese classics,and Western mythologies.Accurate translation of culture-loaded words,annotation of cultural elements,and the translation of compound-complex sentences into coherent Chinese in line with Chinese linguistic traditions are three main difficulties faced by the translators.I have chosen the book’s first chapter as the source text for my translation practice.Illustrating my points with typical examples,I have employed some genre-related translation strategies during the process to analyze the issues concerning the above-mentioned difficulties.Through the analysis,it is found that: At the lexical level,functional equivalence is very suitable for the translation of culture-loaded words.Translators should find the corresponding source expressions.For the culture-loaded words without equivalents in the target language,translators should consult relevant data,translate these wordswith reference to idiomatic expressions in original culture to make the translated text as culturally-equivalent as the SL text.At syntactic level,communicative translation and domestication strategy fit the translation of compound-complex sentences.Translators should stay committed to the linguistic habit of TL,making the translation concise,expressive and fluent.Besides,it is necessary to add explanatory annotations to the cultural elements which the TL readers find unfamiliar and confused.The Chinese translation of overseas sinological works enables Chinese people to reflect upon Chinese cultural conventions and practices from the others’ perspectives,hence its important cultural and pragmatic values.Translators for the genre should draw rules and strategies from translation practices,which would contribute to sinology study in China,and the latter would benefit the translation as well.