A Project Report On The E-C Translation Of Selected Chapters Of A History Of Chinese Literature

This is a project report on E-C translation.The source text originates from A History of Chinese Literature,a treatise by the British sinologist Herbert Allen Giles,where he sorts out the framework of Chinese literature with comments by Chinese native writers to reconstruct Chinese literature with modern western concepts.The book is of certain value in translation.The report selects some chapters of the Tang,Song and Yuan Dynasties in the book.The author starts with the Tang poems and then introduces the classical and general literature of the Tang Dynasty.In the chapter on the Song Dynasty,Giles begins to review the external factors affecting the development of literature,such as policy on the production mechanism of literary works,block-printing,etc.and introduces the development of poetry,classical and general literature,dictionaries,encyclopedia and medical jurisprudence.In the chapter on the Yuan Dynasty,there is no lack of the introduction of poetry and the drama as the dominating part.The translator analyzes the key and difficult points at the lexical,syntactic and discourse levels,which are mainly manifested by a)literary terminology,culture-loaded words and polysemy;b)attributives,adverbial modifiers,passive voice and citations;c)cohesion,coherence,and the holistic style respectively.Any understanding cannot be separated from the historical backdrop.The compromise and interrelations among the translator,the original text and even the author can help construct a harmonious and blended landscape where the limit of space and time can be surpassed.In the translation practice,flexible translation skills adopted for the above difficulties involve a)parallel texts can offer reference for terminology,annotations are added and translation techniques like word formation and four-character expressions are adopted to enhance readability;b)translation techniques,containing word-order change,voice conversion and use of authoritative translation of quotations are employed to ensure smoothness;c)cohesion and coherence of the translation is highlighted while also retaining the unique style of the source text.Ultimately,by reflecting on the experience accumulated through the translation process,the translator puts forward some translation comprehension about texts on history of literature.