A Report On The E-C Translation Of Off The Books(Excerpt)from The Perspective Of Translation Coordinance

This translation report is excerpted from Off the Books:The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor written by American sociologist Sudhir Venkatesh,which tells us the current situation and impact of the underground economy of the urban poor in Chicago,America,and presents the way of life in the ghetto community rarely known to the public.In this book,there are a large number of jargons,spoken language and culture-loaded words commonly used by the lower classes of people,which is associated with the book’s genre,i.e.,sociological surveys.Due to the variety of language characteristics for the source text,the present reporter chooses complex adaptive system theory and reception theory as her translation guidance,from which some translation principles are drawn,hoping to be helpful with the translation practice and meanwhile test the adaptability and application of these theories and principles.Complex adaptive system theory believes that all complex problems can be settled in systems formed by evolving agents.Similarly,translation activity is also a complex system with dynamic,uncertain and nonlinear characteristics.In such a complex system,the translator can be considered to be an adaptative agent with subjectivity,who may harmonize the system of translation.Besides,reception theory holds that the meaning of a text is open and readers’reception ability is varied,which deserves attention,especially in the translation.Associating complex adaptive system theory with reception theory,the reporter asserts that translation is a systematic work and she may achieve coordinance in the translation,especially the coordinance between translator’s fidelity and creativity,between translator’s subjectivity and target readers’ response,between the text and readers.In addition to the introduction to the source text and its author as well as the theoretical framework,this report presents the whole process of translation,i.e.,preparations before translation,difficulties solving while translation as well as proofreading and revision after translation.And the way to achieve translation coordinance among the source text,the translator,and the readers is discussed,too,mainly through the analysis of the translation at the lexical,syntactic,and stylistic levels.Besides,some typical cases are provided in this part,hoping to point out the importance of coordinance for the translation activities.Via such a translation practice,the reporter finds out that both complex adaptive system theory and reception theory actually correspond with each other in the translation activities,which not only tells us its systematic features of the translation,but also provides a guidance for the translator to deal with complex,systematic,organic,and dynamic translation activities.