A Report On The Translation Of The Franco-Prussian War(Excerpt)

A text is,in its nature,a semantic unit tied together by cohesive devices.The use of those devices and the frequency with which they are used,however,vary considerably in English and Chinese,meaning that corresponding changes must be made in translating those devices between the two languages.With that in mind,this report sets out to examine,under the guidance of cohesion theory,the E-C translation of cohesive devices in a historical text excerpted from The Franco-Prussian War,hoping to identify some practical translation solutions to aid translators in the same field.It focuses on five major cohesive devices that feature prominently in the original text,including reference,substitution,ellipsis,reiteration,and collocation.The findings suggest that in translating a referential item,omission is usually the common way.But when the context fails to provide the referential relation,the conversion of reference into lexical repetition will be needed.In the areas of substitution and ellipsis,conversion of these two devices into lexical repetition is also recommended for the avoidance of ambiguities in translation.Further,the report finds that translators can decide on the meaning of a lexical item by reference to its collocational environment,and additionally,lexical repetition can be used in place of lexical reiteration in the translated text.