A Report On The Translation Of Reading Mo Yan(Chapter Six And Chapter Seven)

Reading Mo Yan,an academic monograph,written by Professor Zhang Zhizhong,makes an all-around and profound analysis on Mo Yan's creation in different periods,so it is honored as the model studying on Mo Yan.The translator takes responsibility to translate the sixth chapter "Red Sorghum,the Totem of Life" and the seventh chapter"Tragedy,the Form of the World".The two chapters mainly analyze Mo Yan's unique consciousness of life,in which the former reveals the symbolic meaning of the red sorghum spirit-the traditional heroic spirit of Northeast Gaomi Township,as well as the true portrayal of Mo Yan's peasant idealism,and the latter expresses Mo Yan'thought on tragedy-tragedy is the form of the world and the summit of art.They quote Mo Yan's works largely,and make subtle comments on them.This book is a literary criticism,whose language is characterized with literariness and commentary.This report is based on the English translation of the two chapters in Reading Mo Yan,and is guided by the theory "An Approach to Translation as Adaptation and Selection" proposed by Professor Hu Gengshen.The structure of the report can be divided into five chapters.The first chapter,as translation task description,mainly introduces the background of the task.It is taken from the project "The Study on the Translation,Transmission and Acceptance of Mo Yan's Novels in English-speaking Countries",and it is beneficial to Chinese academic translation.Chapter One also analyzes the language features of the source text at the lexical level,syntactical level and textual level,and presents the layout of the report in the last part.The second chapter gives an overall description about the whole process of the translation practice in three stages-before translating,during translating and after translating.The concrete preparation before translating includes the analysis of the source text and parallel texts,application of translation tools and formulation of feasible translation plan.The translation process can be divided into two steps,where the thorough comprehension is the first and translation is the second.Post-translation works comprise two parts:translation revision and readers' feedback.The third chapter introduces the theory from three aspects:its background,main ideas and significance,and also analyzes its applicability to the practice.Chapter Four,as the main body of the whole report,specifically states all problems encountered in the practice,like the translation of abnormal collocations,cultural-loaded words,long sentences and so on,through more than twenty cases,and correspondingly wields three-dimensional transformations and concrete skills,like analogical translation,amplification and something like that,to cope with those problems.Chapter Five,as the end of the report,summarizes some defects of the translation,as well as the experience acquired from the practice.At last,the author realizes that a qualified translator must be equipped with solid linguistic foundation,deep cultural knowledge and certain translation theories,so as to constantly improve professional level in translation.