A Translation Project Report On The Silent Patient(Chapters 1-8)

The original text of this translation project derives from The Silent Patient,a hitting book of Alex Michaelides.After working as a screenauthor in Hollywood over a decade,Michaelides published his first novel The Silent Patient.Focusing on pains and scars caused by original families as well as self-salvation,it tells a story of Theo,a psychotherapist and Alicia,a well-known painter who was accused of killing her husband and their silent war during the investigation of a seemingly simple murder case.As a psychological thriller,the book avoided direct suspension layout as its counterparts did.Instead,it made readers doubt about the narrator Theo and enlighten their thoughts towards self-cognition.The translation report is based on the contents from chapter 1 to chapter 8 of this work The Silent Patient,which can be classified as an expressive text.Key points and difficulties of this project not only appear in accuracy of translation,but also in faithful reproduce of writer's intention and emotion.More precisely,they epitomize in translation of psychological terminologies,culture-loaded words and short sentences.According to above reasons,the author uses Function plus Loyalty,a translation principle proposed by Christiane Nord,an outstanding scholar of German functional school.Function emphasizes that the translated version should play its designated effect in target language while loyalty focuses on relations between writer,sponsor,translator and target language readers.With translation skills such as amplification,omission,conversion and inversion,the author tackled difficulties in word translation and sentence translation.In light of this principle,the author is committed not only to the context and emotion of the original work,but also rigorous diction and meticulous structure thereof,thus presenting its maximal characteristics as a psychological thriller.Thanks to this project,the author understood that loyalty to the original is not limited between lines.It also involves perception of propriety when conveying emotion.The author should neither overwhelm intention of the writer,nor overstate key words which lead to upcoming part.The author should keep the same pace as the writer and carefully handle opaqueness to readers of rendered version due to differences between Chinese and English languages and cultures.A qualified translator should coordinate relations among the author,the sponsor,and readers of translated work and let the original work captivate more readers by its own charm.