| This MTI translation project includes the translation of Chapter X and Chapter XXI of Book of Ages:The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin and a translation report. The original text is made up of12155words. The translation report focuses on analyzing strategies and techniques which the translator adopts in translating the two chapters in an attempt to find out how to achieve balance between authenticity and literariness in the translation and to fulfill the expressive and informative functions of the biography.Book of Ages:The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin, a notable book in the2013American National Book Award Finalist, is a biography of Benjamin Franklin’s youngest sister Jane Franklin written by Jill Lepore. Chapter X and Chapter XXI are selected for translation, since Chapter X explains why the book is named "Book of Ages" and Chapter XXI illustrates the second half of the title "The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin" which details the darkest days of Jane’s life and stands as the beginning when Jane expresses her opinions on politics.As an interdisciplinary text combining history and literature, the biography performs both the expressive and informative functions. Under the guidance of Peter Newmark’s translation theory, the translator uses semantic translation and communicative translation strategies to handle difficulties in the translation. Semantic translation deals with quotations, references, names and proper nouns in the source text. Communicative translation handles these difficulties:similar or equivalent expressions cannot be found in the target language; short and loose sentences produce redundancy; information hidden in the source text may cause comprehension barriers for target text readers. By analyzing typical examples in the translation, the report explores how semantic translation and communicative translation are applied to the translation of a biography, and how their related translation techniques are employed in handling specific difficulties. To conclude, both semantic translation and communicative translation exert an essential effect on translating a biography. |
