A Report On The E-C Translation Of Sand-Buried Ruins Of Khotan(Excerpt)

The paper is a translation practice report,based on the E-C translation of British archaeologist Stein's travelogue--Sand-Buried Ruins of Khotan.The third and fourth chapters were excerpted as translation materials,totaling more than 10,000 words.As a literary work after the first exploration of Central Asia,in the source text Stein described his legendary experience on the archeological road from the aspects of geography,history,customs and so on.Since there are many geographical concepts and exotic place names in the text,if translated literally,the translation text may be tedious and there would also be some difficulties for the readers.In order to better convey the cultural information in the source text and enhance the readers' interest in the source culture,the “thick translation”strategy proposed by American translation theorist Kwame Anthony Appiah was adopted in the process.He defined the concept as “A translator is trying to construct a translated text in a context with deep cultural meaning through translation and commentary.” In practice,the author holds that the translated text should provide the readers with relevant background knowledge information by means of explanatory means,such as footnotes,translation notes and explanations,so as to achieve a better reading effect.In terms of structure,the practice report consists of five parts: introduction,task description,translation process,case analysis as well as summary and reflection.The purpose of the translation practice is to make the translation more interesting and understandable under the guidance of “ thick translation”,in the meanwhile the charm and connotation of the source text will be more widely displayed.In this way,readers who are interested in Eurasian history and culture can have a further understanding of the source work,broaden the relevant research fields and tap its potential academic value.