A Report On The Translation Of The Second And Third Chapters Of Discovering The Dutch: On Culture And Society Of The Netherlands

This is a translation project report on the second and third chapters of the book entitled Discovering the Dutch：on Culture and Society of the Netherlands which was published in2010. The two chapters, written by Professor Jan Luiten van Zanden and Professor LexHeerma van Voss respectively, mainly focus on the development of Dutch economy and the construction of the welfare state. From the second chapter, we know that cultural traditions and the international environment play a significant role in the formation of the polder model besides the geographic conditions. In the third chapter, the author elaborates on the concept of the welfare state and he analyses the development, benefits and drawbacks, and upcoming challenges for the Dutch welfare state.This report analyses the background, objectives, significance of the translation of this type, introduces the authors,structure and main contents and further discusses the difficulties in translation and solutions. Considering the features of essays of this kind and the reading habits of target readers, the author advocates the application of skopos theory in the process and techniques such as repetition and division to fulfill the goals of translation. In the final part of the report, the author concludes the lessons earned from this translation experience and remaining problems the authors aims to resolve.