Strategies For Translating Adverbial Clauses From English To Chinese

The author selects American Illuminations:Urban Lighting,1800-1920 written by David E.Nye for translation.It is a book about lighting and history,which introduces the social changes of the United States in the previous two centuries,and describes in detail the technological leap brought about by social and cultural development.A large number of adverbial clauses in the original text make it difficult to understand and translate.In the process of translation,the author finds out this most prominent difficulty,and summarizes the translation methods after in-depth study.The author hopes that the translation strategies of adverbial clauses she found can provide some reference for future translation practice.Adverbial clause refers to a sentence that acts as an adverb when it is used as an adverbial.Adverbial clauses are generally guided by conjunctions(subordinate conjunctions)and can also be caused by phrases.When a clause is at the beginning or in the middle of a sentence,it is usually separated from the main clause by a comma.The types of adverbial clauses are multiple and theirs position are free.Therefore,it is difficult to translate adverbial clause into Chinese.Case study is adopted to analyze the translation methods of adverbial clauses in the book and explain the reasons for using these methods.According to the translated text,the author will summarize different methods,and give corresponding examples for analysis under each method.In the analysis,the translator first points out the classification of adverbial clauses,and then explains the advantages of the given translation as well as why a certain translation method should be chosen.Through translation practice and case study,the author summarizes seven main methods:sequence,fronting,conversion,division,combination,amplification and omission.It is worth noting that one translation method may be applicable to many types of adverbial clauses,and more than one translation method can be used for a sentence.Translators need to judge according to the actual situation and adopt appropriate translation strategies.