A Report On The Translation Of Friends Forever

This is a translation report taking chapter1and Chapter2as the source text from thenovel Friends Forever by the American writer Danielle Steel. This translation taskbelongs to the category of literature translation, and the language of the source text tendsto be affluent and authentic. This part of source text is the opening and foreshadowingpart of the novel, and centers on introducing the characters and the environment they areliving in. It covers a lot of detail descriptions, paving the way for the development of thefollowing plot.This report introduces the process of the completion of this translation task, andsummarizes the experiences gained from the translation practice by studying andanalyzing the practical examples, as well as discussing some of the solutions applicableto such kind of translation. This report consists of an introduction, the main body and aconclusion. The main contents are as follows:The first part is introduction, which outlines the intention and significance of writing,as well as basic information of the project and the source text, and defines the type of thistranslation task—literature translation. The writer of this report also hopes that throughthis translation task, the author of the source text—Danielle Steel, the famous Americanwriter of romanticism, will be introduced to the readers in China, so as to make a modestcontribution to cultural exchanges between the two countries.The second part is the main body, which is made up of three chapters:Chapter Ⅰ is the description of translation task, including task background andcharacteristics of this novel’s language.Chapter Ⅱ gives an overall description of the translation process which includes thepreparation before translation, translation procedures and post-translation issues.Preparation contains reading the whole text, familiarizing the translation theory, andchoosing auxiliary tools. The translation process states the implementation of thetranslation process. Items after translation process are proofreading and polishing.Chapter Ⅲ is case study. In this part, the author of the report discusses the problemsand solutions in this translation task under the guidance of Eugene Nida’s functionalequivalence theory, and draws a conclusion that translation strategies like transplanting,borrowing, meaning extending, and four-character phrases are available in translating such texts.The last part is a conclusion, which summarizes the experience and lesson gainedduring the translation process. First, when dealing with the understanding of the text, thetranslator should read the source text repeatedly, and understand it comprehensivelycombining with the author’s writing style, as well as the writing background. Second,when expressing the meaning, the translator needs to make a flexible use of varioustranslation skills, and tries to evoke the same response between the source languagereaders of the source text and the target language readers of the translation text, which is“functional equivalence” according to Nida. Third, as for translators, a translator,especially a literature translator, should not only have solid bilingual ability, but alsograsp the cultural differences behind the two languages. In translation, translators shouldhave the professional spirit of being patient and meticulous, rather than being anxious forsuccess.