A Report On The E-C Translation Of Translation As Reparation:Writing And Translation In Postcolonial Africa(Chapter One)

Modern African literature was born in an environment of colonial domination by European and American countries,and developed gradually with the awakening of the national consciousness of the African people,and is an integral and important part of world literature.This report aims to help domestic readers gain a more comprehensive understanding of the linguistic forms and contents of postcolonial literature based on the case of Translation as Reparation: Writing and Translation in Postcolonial Africa(Chapter One),from the perspective of Chesterman’s Translation Norms.The first chapter of the book deals with the language policies of the colonial period and the language choices made by African writers when writing in the post-colonial era.After analyzing the textual features of the first chapter,the translator concludes that this work is an informative text that emphasizes the communication of the message of the original work.The translator is therefore guided by Chesterman’s translation norms,with the aim of accurately conveying the content and reproducing the inherent logical relations,so that the reader can accurately access the message that it is intended to convey.The translator analyses the difficulties in the translation process and the corresponding solutions at three levels: lexical,syntactic and textual.On the lexical level,the difficulties are mainly in the interpretation of abstract nouns and the choice of meanings of polysemous words.The accountability norm requires the translator to be responsible for the translation and to understand the source text from various aspects.For abstract nouns,the translator adopts the translation strategy of turning abstract into concrete.For polysemous words,the translator chooses the appropriate meaning based on the context and background knowledge.In terms of syntactic level,the difficulties are mainly the handling of passive sentences and the analysis of long and difficult sentences.The relation norm states that there should be similarity between the source text and the translation,and the degree of such similarity is grasped by the translator.Therefore,the translator deals with the translation flexibly and adopts the translation strategies of changing passive to active and breaking down and reorganizing long and difficult sentences.The difficulty at the textual level is how to ensure that the translation is consistent with the academic style of the source text without losing accuracy and logic.The essence of the communication norm is to maximize the communicative effect.With this principle in mind,the translator adopts the translation strategy of adding connecting words and translating hidden information to achieve cohesion and coherence in the translation.Through this translation practice,the translator believes that Chesterman’s translation norms can be of practical help to the translation of academic texts,and at the same time draws some translation experience,with a view to providing reference for the translation of such academic texts.