A Report On The C-E Translation Of Mythological Research Literature

Domestic literature studies focus less on the topics combining mythology and film;thus,this is a relatively novel research perspective for both readers and translators.The literature on such topics can both stimulate readers’ interests and promote the exchange and mutual learning of Chinese and Western cultures.However,since the genre of Chinese mythological allusions is writings in classical style and contains rich cultural connotations,how to overcome the barriers of cultural differences effectively and facilitate the comprehension of readers have become urgent problems for researchers to solve.In this report,two academic papers on mythology are selected as the materials for the translation practice,namely From “Mythological Movies” to “Cinematic Mythology”—The Contemporary Transition of Chinese Mythological Movies by Taking Western Mythological Movies as an Example,and The Myth of Hou Yi Shooting the Sun and the War Between the Yi Tribe and the Ancestors of the Shang Dynasty.This report adopts the Skopos theory as the guiding theory for the translation practice and follows its three translation principles.To be specific,the skopos rule,coherence rule and fidelity rule are the guidelines of the specific translation process.This report mainly contains five chapters.The first chapter is the introduction,the background information of the translation task and research significance are introduced.The detailed analysis from the levels of lexical,syntactic and textual of the source text is elaborated in the second chapter.The linguistic features of professional and rich cultural elements in the source text are summarized.The third chapter is the specific records of the translation process.In pre-translation,the process of searching for background information,translation tools and parallel texts,and selecting the guiding theory and translation skills combing the requirements of the entrusting party and the characteristics of the source text are recorded.The translation plan and glossary are also made.While translation the proofreading process and quality control of the target text are attached of great significance.After translation,the evaluations from peers,the entrusting party and the translator are presented.The fourth chapter is case analysis,which focuses on how to solve translation difficulties inspired by Skopos theory and the three translation principles.This report employs translation skills such as explanation,addition,omission,division and restructuring to deal with the translation difficulties of classical Chinese,mythological allusions,long and complex sentences,to achieve a relevant ideal translation effect.The fifth chapter is the summary of the translation task,the author’s reflections and research results are illustrated to provide some practical help and references for the readers who are interested in mythology,movies and Chinese culture.