A Report On The Translation Of Born A Crime

With the frequent cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries,memoir has become a common subject of translation.In November 2016,Trevor Noah,a famous comedian and talk show host,published his memoir Born a Crime,which records his growing stories with the background of Apartheid in South Africa and his later free life.This practice report is based on the 15000-word translation of the first two chapters of Borna Crime.The translator had done some preparations before the translation to grasp the gist of the source text,and gather the information to help understand the apartheid system in South Africa.In this book,the author describes his difficult childhood under the apartheid system in South Africa,it is a sin to be born as a mixed-raced child in South Africa under the racial system.According to Newmark's text type theory,this memoir belongs to the expressive text,hence semantic translation is found suitable for practice.The source text also possesses informative function and vocative function,so communuicative translation is used to deal with some words and sentences.Under the guidance of semantic translation theory,the author mainly adopts literal translation,imitation and variation,so as to exhibit the original style of the source text.And under the guidance of communicative translation theory,the author uses interpreting,annotation and other skills to translate culture-loaded words,whose cultural connotations are fully embodied.Besides,the author uses free translation,amplification,omission,and other skills to translate dialogues.In this way,the translation becomes more understandable for target readers.This translation aims to help readers understand the South African racial system from the perspective of child,and make a slight contribution to the translation of English memoir.