Autobiography Translation From The Perspective Of Chesterman’s Models Of Translation Ethics

This is a translation report on the basis of the E-C translating practice of Finding Me:A Memoir,written by Viola Davis,the American actress and producer.This book tells readers the story of Viola,from a crumbling apartment in Central Falls,Rhode Island,to the stage in New York City and beyond.Finding Me:A Memoir,an autobiography,possesses distinctive features.As an autobiography,this book includes a large number of words and expressions related to the period when Viola was young,for example,a certain place,singer,war or event,something that needs careful check.Second,there are many motivational words in this book,some of which are abstract and general,so literal translation will certainly cause confuse among readers.In many cases such motivational sentences are long,which may compound the difficulty of understanding.Moreover,there are some daily dialogues between Viola and her family,who received lower degree of education,as well as some motivational words and sentences quoted from some famous writers.Such changes in the style of the source text requires translators to make a choice between formal and informal expressionsBased on Chesterman’ models of translation ethics,the translator applied case analysis to this report to check whether his models are suitable for autobiography translation.The translator found that the ethics of representation,service,communication,and commitment are a great help for such texts.It is obvious that the ethics of representation,as the main ethical principle in the translation,can serve as guide for translators to deal with the name of a certain place,singer,war,or event.This model can also let translators keep in mind of reproducing the style of original texts in target texts.The ethics of service attaches great importance to readers,that is,to enhance readability,so it can be used to guide the translation of sentences in passive voice and with descriptive expressions.The key of the ethics of communication,just as its name demonstrated,is the smoothy communication.Guided by this model,translators can add something to target texts to enable readers to understand abstract sentences and unfamiliar cultural backgrounds.The ethics of commitment can translators to make wiser decisions when they are faced with dilemmas.