A Translation Practice Report On Caste:The Origins Of Our Discontent (Chapters Four To Six)

Caste system,as a remnant of feudal society,contains great social injustice and is incompatible with the spirit of equality advocated by modern society.Racial discrimination is also a long-standing problem in the United States.A series of violent incidents against African Americans in recent years show that race is still a social issue that cannot be ignored in the United States,and there is still a long way to go to eliminate racial discrimination.This is a report on the translation practice of an excerpt from Isabella Wilkerson’s book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent.This report selects the second part of the book(chapters four to six),in which the author narrates her views through some real stories.It describes the origin of racial hierarchy in the United States.The language of the book is characterized by abundant factual information,long and difficult sentences.From the perspective of translation,knowledge in the book is conducive to enhancing the translator’s professional knowledge and improving translation practice.The main difficulty encountered by the author of this report during the process of translation lies in the complexity of sentence structures,which need to be converted.It is also important to focus on translating long sentences,sorting out logic,and understanding the author’s true intentions and the impact of the caste system in the United States.To tackle these difficulties,the author of this report adopts the functional equivalence theory of Eugene Nida as the main basis,and a series of translate on strategies such as free translation,conversion,addition,and splitting.Through this translation practice,the author of this report come to the realization that good translation is the result of patience,repeated examination and polishing on the basis of solid language skills and background knowledge.