A Report On The Translation Of A History Of Intellectual Property In 50 Objects (Excerpts)

The source text of this report is selected from A History of Intellectual Property in 50 Objects.This book introduces the development of intellectual property by illustrating the interplay between intellectual property and human society with 50 typical objects.This book is characterized by both technicality and readability.On the one hand,it is of great reference value for experts and scholars specializing in intellectual property.On the other hand,it helps facilitate general readers’ understanding of intellectual property,and raise their awareness of intellectual property in daily life.This report is guided by Adaptation Theory proposed by Jef Verschueren.This theory advocates that using language is a process of constantly making choices to adapt to communication needs at different levels of consciousness.It emphasizes the consistency of language choice alongside the communicative context,the communicative object,and the communicative purpose.Translation,as an intercultural communication act involving three parties,requires the translator to conform to the linguistic,cultural,social,and mental factors of both the authors and target readers.During the translation process,the translator makes choices based on the four dimensions provided by Adaptation Theory: contextual correlates of adaptability,structural objects of adaptability,the dynamics of adaptability,and the salience of the adaptation process.Contextual correlates of adaptability cover the communicative context and the linguistic context.In the communicative context,the mental world,the social world,and the physical world are taken into consideration to explore the implied meaning of the text and improve target readers’ acceptance of the translation.In the linguistic context,a proper adaptation to both the source language and target language should be achieved to ensure the consistency of the translation.From the perspective of structural objects,the translator analyzes how to adapt to language habits of target readers from lexical and syntactic levels.At the lexical level,the translator focuses on the typical words and terminologies.At the syntactic level,the translator deals with the passive voice and long and complex sentences combined with the theoretical knowledge of the comparison between English and Chinese.From the perspective of the dynamics of adaptability,the translator selects typical examples to elucidate the dynamic process of language choice—that is,the interadaptability of context correlates and structural objects.From the perspective of the salience of the adaptation process,the translator strives to improve the degree of consciousness.Adaptive language choices should be made on purpose with flexible adoption of translation skills and methods.This translation report consists of five parts.Chapter One introduces the translation task.Chapter Two describes the three stages in the translation process.Chapter Three sheds light on the framework of Adaptation Theory and its application in translation.Chapter Four serves as a case study.The translator makes adaptive choices based on the four dimensions provided by the theory.Chapter Five summarizes the reflections,limitations and suggestions for future translation research.