The Chinese Translation Of Proper Names In The Letters Of Samuel Beckett (Ⅰ)

A proper name,distinguished from a common name,is directly associated with an entity and primarily used to refer to that entity,such as a certain person,place or institution.It is necessary to consult reference books,learn the background knowledge,and flexibly apply appropriate translation methods in order to translate proper names in a way the Chinese reader could clearly understand what they refer to.The Letters of Samuel Beckett(I)includes letters written to friends,colleagues and publishers from 1929 to 1940,reflecting the voice and sensibility of Beckett and providing a personal view of Western Europe in the 1930 s.As a multi-linguist,he is good at literary creation and equipped with extensive knowledge of music and art.As a result there are a large number of proper names in his letters which pose a great challenge of translating.The report aims to find out how to produce standardized and unified translation by analyzing examples mainly in the letters from December1937 to April 1938.Under the principle of adopting the established translation and reproducing the original pronunciation,the author divides proper names into English and non-English proper names,and discusses six translation methods—adoption of the popular translation,abidance by standards,employment of parallel texts,reproduction of the original pronunciation,reproduction of the original meaning,and consultation of annotations—intending to provide a standard and some valuablesuggestions for those who will translate the next three volumes of the Letters of Samuel Beckett.