An Analysis Of Translation Strategies Of Character Portrayal In Chinese Translation Of Swing Time

With China’s development,soft power plays an increasingly important role,especially in language and culture.Language is a significant part of culture,which is also closely related to culture.To some extent,cultural diversity limits translation.But the diversity in language and culture also makes translation a way to enrich language and promote cultural development,for in the translation process,we must inevitably emphasize the link between culture and language and the influence of culture on translation.The translator selects chapter one to nine of the first part in Swing Time as the source text of translation practice and finds that there are nearly one hundred places referring to character portrayal,which is the difficulties as well as the highlight during the translation.Thus,this thesis also chooses the translation strategies of character portrayal as the research point.Through deep thinking on various problems in the translation process,the thesis first discusses the main problems in the E-C translation of the depiction of characters in Swing Time at language level,such as “Don’t conform to the Chinese expression habits”,“The deep implied meaning is not expressed” and “Some words are easy to produce ambiguity”.Then,according to the specific problems,put forward the corresponding translation methods: 1)literal translation;2)free translation;3)annotated translation.Next,at cultural level,this thesis further explores the main difficulties in the E-C translation of character depiction in Swing Time,such as different ways of thinking and diversities from cultural backgrounds.And in view of these problems,the author proposes corresponding translation methods: 1)omitted Translation;2)combined translation;3)divided Translation.However,these translation methods mentioned above are often not adopted separately and in some situations inevitably require comprehensive and flexible use.On the whole,the thesis concludes that in the E-C translation of Swing Time,the author should not only consider the accuracy of the translation contents,but also make the translation acceptable and readable and closer to the target audience.The author hopes that this thesis can inspire the further research on Swing Time while also promoting the translation and introduction of western literary works.