A Report On E-C Translation Of Daoist Identity(Excerpt)from The Perspective Of Register Theory

This is an English-Chinese translation report.The source text is excerpted from a collection of Daoist academic conference proceeding: Daoist Identity:History,Lineage,and Ritual(for short Daoist Identity).The book mainly presents overseas Daoist scholars‘ understanding of Chinese Daoism and their research on Daoism identity.Since the source text is excerpted from this proceeding,such as “Opening the Way” Exorcism,Travel,and Soteriology in Early Daoist Mortuary Practice and Its Antecedents written by Peter Nickerson,it is a typical academic text which is characterized by the highly frequent occurrence of academic terms,formal language style and strong logic between sentences.At lexical level,there are many academic terms and pronouns.At syntactical level,there exists a large proportion of passive sentences and long and complex sentences.This report is an analysis of the translating practice from the perspective of the register theory by M.A.K.Halliday.Register theory holds that language changes with its function and it is defined as the functional variant of language.The three variables of register--field,tenor,and mode--are the three major situational elements that determine language characteristics.The change of either of the register variables will lead to the change in semantics.Therefore,when applying register theory as a theoretical basis in translation practice,the register characteristics of the source text should be first analyzed at lexical and syntactical level,and then the information of the source text should be accurately conveyed in translation so as to reproduce the register characteristics of the source text in translation.Since the source text is an academic paper on Daoist culture,the field characteristic of the source text determines that more attention should be paid to reproducing the meaning of terms related to the Daoist culture during translation.For this reason,two approaches of explanatory and free translation are adopted to explain the specific meaning of Daoist terms.The target readers of the translation are domestic Daoist scholars or ordinary readers who are interested in and have knowledge of Daoist culture.The tenor of the source text requires that the reader‘s reading needs should be considered when dealing with long and difficult sentences and passive sentences.The methods of conversion,adjustment of word order and division are adopted to ensure the readability of the translation.From the mode perspective of the source text,the source text is characterized by containing plenty of pronouns and conjunctions.Those words help forming reasonable cohesion between sentences and paragraphs.It is necessary to interpret this mode feature successfully in translation.Thus,the means of omission,free translation and conversion are adopted to achieve logical clarity and convey the rigor of such an academic text.This report includes five parts: introduction,source text analysis,theoretical basis,case studies and conclusion.The introduction part summarizes the background and objectives of the translation task as well as the significance of this report.The analysis of the source text includes the main contents and features of the source text.The theoretical basis first gives an overview of register theory,and then the concept of three variables of register theory,the applications of register theory on translation study and the feasibilities of register theory to the translation practice.The fourth chapter is the case studies.After analyzing the features of the source text,how to achieve the register equivalence of vocabulary and syntax in the source text are discussed from the perspectives of field,tenor and mode.The last chapter summarizes some of the findings and limitations of this translation practice.As an attempt to apply Halliday‘s register theory to academic text translation,it is hoped that this translation report can offer some references for the translation practice of the similar texts.