A Report On The English-Chinese Translation Of Nation,Language,and The Ethics Of Translation(Excerpt)

The report is based on the translation of Nation,Language,and the Ethics of Translation edited by Sandra Bermann and Michael Wood,published in Princeton University Press in 2005.The author chooses two papers in this volume as the translating materials under the guidance of my supervisor.One is A Touch of Translation: On Walter Benjamin’s “Task of the Translator” written by Samuel Weber.The other is Translating into English written by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak.Peter Newmark proposed semantic translation and communicative translation.Semantic translation attempts to render the contextual meaning of the original.Communicative translation puts empahsis on the understanding and response of the readers,in other words,the effect of information delivering.The report is under the guidance of Peter Newmark’s theory.To deliver information faithfully is one of the characteristics of semantic translation,and it guarantees the accuracy of the translation.On the other hand,communicative translation takes full account of the linguistic features and cultural habits in target language and endows the target text with a strong readability.The report consists of five chapters.The first chapter describes the task of translation mainly on the background information of the source text,significance of the project and the structure of the report.The second chapter sets forth the process oftranslation centering around the linguistic features of the source text,difficulties in translation and reference to parallel texts or other relevant documents.The third chapter introduces Peter Newmark’s theory and previous studies on the translation of academic researches.The fourth chapter is case analysis under the guidance of semantic and communicative translation with adoption of translation techniques such as linear translation,postposition,amplification,omission,division and reversing.The last chapter summarizes the experience of the project and the author makes a tentative attempt to propose the procedure of translation namely appreciation,analysis and adjustment.The author hopes that the report could provide references to scholars in related fields.