Translation Report Of The American (Chapter21-22)

The translation task of the novel The American is part of the Bilingual Project jointlyorganized by College of Foreign Languages of Henan University and Foreign LanguageTeaching and Research Press. The whole task was done by five team members throughcooperation. As team leader of this task, I compiled the Proper Nouns List of the whole novel,and made preparations before translation, communicated with team members duringtranslation, and organized proofreading after translation. Through hard work of the wholeteam the task was finished successfully.The American is one of the early works of Henry James. It tells the miserable experienceof a promising American young man, who falls into the tricks of a corrupted old French noblefamily. The clues of the novel is clear, the story line is full of ups and downs, the charactersare described vividly, the psychological description is delicate, and the central idea isoutstanding. Henry James traveled a lot in Europe, and knew well about the upper-class life inboth America and Europe in the end of19thcentury. He often wrote about the communicationproblems between Americans and Europeans, and extolled moral values of U.S. bourgeoisiein his novels. The psychological description in his works is very delicate, and he is honored asthe pioneer of modern western psychological analysis novels. His works deeply reflect thesocial situation and people’s psychological states of America and Europe in late19thcenturyand early20thcentury, and have important literature research value and artistic appreciationvalue. The novel The American is worth translation, and its introduction is important forChinese readers to get to know the world literature and understand the European andAmerican cultures.The Translation Report has five parts. The first part is mainly about the source and requirements of the task, including a brief introduction of the writer and his works; the secondpart talks about the process of the whole translation; the third part discusses the difficultiesand problems I met during translation; the forth part explains the translation method I took inthis task, and its theoretical basis; the fifth part picks out some of the translation skills I usedin the task, and does some case analysis; the sixth part summarizes the lessons and reflectionsI got from this translation task.This translation task makes up an important part of my study for master’s degree, andprepares me for my future career as a translator. I benefited a lot from this experience whichnot only enhanced my translation skills as a translator, but also improved my professionalskills as a team leader.