A Report On The Chinese-English Translation Of The History Of The Woman Emperor-Wu Zetian (Chapter One And Chapter Two)

The History of the Woman Emperor-Wu Zetian was written by Professor Zhao Wenrun,President of Research Institute of Wu Zetian in China and was published by Shaanxi People’s Publishing House in 2008 as the first edition.This material is provided by the translator’s supervisor and has not yet been translated into English.The translator selects the first two chapters as the translation materials,about 20,800 Chinese characters in total.As a kind of biographical text,The History of the Woman Emperor-Wu Zetian narrates the legendary life experience of the glamorous woman emperor from different characters of Wu Zetian.Against the background of Chinese culture’s "going global",the translation and introduction of biographical texts can not only promote the "going global" of Chinese historical figures,enhance target readers’understanding of Chinese ancient historical figures,but also can show them the charm of Chinese culture through historical figures.In the source text,the author of the source text holds an objective attitude with formal expressions,trying to present a real Wu Zetian to readers by quoting a large number of historical records.As a biographical text with literariness and historicity,the book involves a large number of historical figures,official positions,titles,related political systems,expressions and sentences that are quoted from some Chinese classics.All of these increase the difficulties of the translation.The translator chooses the first two chapters as the translation material which mainly record Wu Zetian’s life experience,spiritual outlook as a daughter and a wife and the related historical background.Under the guidance of Tytler’s Three Principles of Translation,the translator adopts the translation methods of paraphrase and transliteration with annotation in the process of translating ancient official posts and titles;in the process of translating sentences that are quoted from ancient Chinese classics and the author’s expressions in ancient Chinese,the translation method of literal translation and the translation skills of division and addition are used;in the translation of Chinese long sentences,the translation skills of combination,adjustments of sentence structures,conversion and division are adopted.This report consists of five chapters:Chapter One is a description about the translation practice which includes the overview of the translation practice,features of the translation practice,significance and objectives of the translation practice.Chapter Two is about the description of translation process which is carried out from the following three aspects:pre-translation preparation,the translation process and post-translation management.Chapter Three introduces Tytler’s Three Principles of Translation and discusses the application of it to this translation practice.As the main part of the translation report,Chapter Four is the analysis of the translation practice,in which the author of the report firstly discusses the difficulties of the translation practice and then talks about translation methods and skills adopted to solve the translation difficulties under the guidance of Three Principles of Translation by analyzing some translation cases.Chapter Five is about the summary and reflection of the gains and shortcomings of this translation practice.Through this translation practice,the translator’s understanding of relevant theories and the translation practice ability have got improved.The translator hopes that the translation report can provide some experience for the translation of biographical texts in dealing with similar translation difficulties.