A Report On The Application Of Domestication Translation Strategy In Biographies Of Historical Characters In The Chinese Repository

In May 1832,The Chinese Repository was published by an American missionary named Elijah Coleman Bridgman in Guangzhou,which is the first English periodical in China.This periodical,recording Chinese politics,economy,history,culture,religion and social life before and after The First Opium War for nearly 20 years,provided authoritative and detailed descriptions for foreigners to learn about China's social conditions at that time.The Chinese Repository includes numerous biographies for Chinese historical characters,which are actually the translations and introductions to these Chinese historical characters with the purpose of helping foreigners to know about Chinese history behind these translations and introductions.In a bid to make sure the generality and representativeness of the source texts,the translator selects four biographies here as translated materials,which are composed of biographies of Chinese historical characters with different identities and two different ways of writing.Given that biographies in The Chinese Repository are actually the translations and introductions to Chinese historical characters,this report takes the translation strategy of domestication to direct the translation of these biographies,through which the translator tries making the translations suitable to reading habits of Chinese target readers,and adjusting the expressions in translated texts to make the translations be in line with the culture background of target readers,and then helps target readers to better understand translated texts.Through analyzing biographies in The Chinese Repository,the translator makes summaries to their Characteristics,and finds that most of these characteristics are also difficulties to the translation.Therefore,under the guidance of domestication translation strategy,the translator applies corresponding translation methods based on the analysis of characteristics,including back-translation,adjustments to the structure of sentences,correction of mistakes,the combination of back-translation with summary,as well as the combination of back-translation and annotation,through which offers references to the translation of texts with similar style,and the related studies and researches on foreign-language periodicals of China in the 19 th century.