| The frequent exchanges between western and Chinese enterprises against the backdrop of deepening economic globalization have given rise to the increasing need of translating foreign business management texts.With Tom Peters’ latest work,The Excellence Dividend,as the research object,this translation practice report explores contextual and structural adaptation in the translation of business management texts from the perspective of Jef Verschueren’s adaptation theory.In this report,the guiding role of adaptation theory is demonstrated in the translation practice through contrastive analysis between the first draft and the final version of translation.The major findings of this report are as follows: First,adaptation theory is of guiding significance to translation.The nature of translation as a special process of making linguistic choices determines that it can be studied within the framework of adaptation theory.The three properties of language and four investigation angles of adaptation theory can interpret many translation phenomena and provide possibilities and basis for the selection of translation methods.Second,linguistic features of English and Chinese vary considerably,so do cultural backgrounds,cognitive models,aesthetic tastes,thinking modes and reading habits of English and Chinese people,which constitute the major hindrances to translation and create the need for translators to make linguistic choices.A series of choices must be made at all levels in every phase of the translation process.Third,adaptation is the ultimate goal of linguistic choices,which is a dynamic process.Dynamic adaptation can be seen as a translation strategy that translators must strictly follow in the translation process.The realization of adaptation requires comprehensive utilization of various translation methods and techniques.In order to make the effectiveness of the translated text as close to the source text as possible,this report explores contextual adaptation and structural adaptation in the translation practice.The former,including adaptation in linguistic context and communicative context,is analyzed in terms of cohesion,intertextuality,sequencing,mental world,social world and physical world.The latter is analyzed from lexical level and syntactic level.The author hopes that this report can provide a new perspective for the translation of business management texts with the purpose of promoting the dissemination of foreign advanced management ideas and providing managers of Chinese enterprises with inspiration for their future work,and more importantly,bringing some enlightenment to translators of similar texts. |
