A Report On The Translation Of Dancing On Ropes:Translators And The Balance Of History

The book,Dancing on Ropes:Translators and the Balance of History by Anna Aslanyan is based on interesting stories of professional translators and interpreters,featuring vivid descriptive language and distinctive characters.Without any doubt.this kind of detailed material is of great significance for diplomatic translation studies and practice.Therefore,the book is chosen as the translation material for this task.According to Reiss Katharina’s theory of text typology,historical texts are classified into"mixed forms",with informative and expressive textual functions.Thus,translators should employ comprehensive translation strategies that help not only convey original information accurately but also maintain the aesthetic value of language.In this translation practice,a method that combines the merits of literal and free translation is utilized to create an adequate translated version.From the characteristics of the text,three levels of translation strategies(lexical,sentential,and textual)are summarized,and the translation cases are analyzed in detail.First,at the lexical level,the translation strategies of proper nouns,loan words,nonce words,puns,and idioms are explored.The translator aims to understand the exact meaning of words within the context and to retain the cultural flavor as long as they can be understood by readers.Second,at the sentential level,the translation methods of emphatic and passive sentences,as well as attributive clauses are analyzed.The translator manages to convey the original mood and achieve the equivalence between the original text and translated text in both meaning and form.Last,at the textual level,the translator adjusts the arrangement of information,putting new information behind known information,so that cohesion and coherence can be realized in the target text.The translation of historical text should be of high quality.The translator,for whom excellent bilingual ability is a must,should treat relevant history with a serious attitude.The translator must adopt a reader-centered approach,add comments when it is necessary,and make sure that readers could understand the text easily.When translating puns,the translator should give full play to his/her talent,create the same or similar rhetoric as well as retain and recreate the humor of the source language.Besides,when translating loan words and idioms,the translator should understand their conceptual and contextual meanings and translate them in a reader-friendly way.For the translation of a passive sentence,the translator should consider the emotion behind the sentence and observe its focus to decide whether to adjust the sentence pattern.Generally,a text will be more coherent if it starts with known information to introduce new information and chooses cohesive devices appropriately.