A Report On Translation Of Excerpts From The Elements Of Eloquence

This is a report on a translation project.Ten chapters and the preface from the book,“The Elements of Eloquence: How to Turn the Perfect English Phrase”,a non-fiction book by Mark Forsyth first published in 2013 were selected to be the source text.The book explains selected figures of classical rhetoric,with each chapter dedicated to a particular rhetorical figure including famous examples of its use from literature,particularly the works of William Shakespeare.In this book Mark Forsyth outlines 38 rhetorical figures varying from hyperbole to catachresis by using examples from William Shakespeare,Lord Byron,John Lennon and Katy Perry to reveal "the secrets" behind memorable lines and phrases.Besides,Mark tries to explain some special grammar phenomena in English that is very difficult to learners of English but is easily mastered by native speakers in an unconscious way.For instance,“little green men on Mars” rather than “green little men”.Such examples will greatly help people understand the problems encountered in learning English.As English is his mother language,Mark's grammar ideal put forward by the book might fill in the gaps of domestic study in this area.With humor and rich information the source text selected is worth a reading for English students.The chapters I choose are both informative and entertaining,and the language is full of rhetorical skills and tricks posing big challenge for translation.During the translation process,I employed the Functional Equivalence Theory of Eugene Nida and various techniques like amplification,recreation,etc.to handle the practical problems.This paper consist of four parts: the first one is an introduction which covers significance and background.The second part is the translation process that consists of preparation work,theory elaboration and revision.The third part is cases studies where I will explain all the translation problems and details met.The forth part is a summary.