An E-C Translation Report Of LOOKING BACKWARD: Memoirs Of An Old Victorianist: A Semantic Translation And Communicative Translation Perspective

LOOKING BACKWARD: Memoirs of an Old Victorianist is an autobiographical memoir written by George Levin,a renowned American scholar of literature and science,which mainly explains the mental process of his study and career.The purpose of this report remains to introduce George Levin’s works to Chinese readers,promotes cultural exchanges between China and the West,and provides reference for biographical translation at home and abroad.According to the classification of text types by Peter Newmark,the source text belongs to expressive text with the features of authenticity,accuracy and vividness.In fact,the complex structures of long and difficult sentences,the lack of logical discourse markers and the extensive use of rhetorical devices in the original text are inconsistent with the logical thinking mode of the target readers,which brings difficulties to translation.Guided by Newmark’s semantic translation and communicative translation theory,the translator combines the difficulties with examples,analyzes and summarizes the corresponding translation skills and translation methods.First of all,this paper analyzes three types of long and difficult sentences: subordinate structure,parallel structure and inverted structure,and the subordinate structure can be translated by inversion,the parallel structure can be translated by division,and the inverted structure can be translated by inversion and synthesis with the theory of communicative translation,so that the translation can conform to the reading habits of the target readers.Secondly,the translator mainly analyzes the lack of obvious logical discourse markers from sentences and paragraphs with affirmation under the guidance of communicative translation theory,so that the target text is accord with the target reader’s logical thinking.Finally,on the rhetorical devices level,the translator mainly discusses simile and rhetorical question and believes that simile can be translated by literal translation and rhetorical question can be translated by negation with the semantic translation theory,so as to the original effect can be accurately conveyed to the target readers.Through the translation practice,the translator hopes that the true content of the source text can be restored highly,and provide valuable reference for the future translation of biographical literature.