A Report On English Translation Of Gender Equality Of The Zhuang(Section Ⅰ Of Chapter Ⅲ)

As a minority,the Zhuang boasts a long history,bearing strong female cultural features or gender equality tendency,which are pretty disparity in the traditional society where male discourse prevails.English translation of Zhuang gender culture is conducive to promoting gender equality.The translation practice report excerpts from Chapter 3,Section 1,The Evolution of Zhuang’s Economic Life and Gender Division of Labor,Gender Equality of the Zhuang(《壮族的性别平等》),edited by Professor Luo Zhifa in 2007.The excerpt,with 14,351 Chinese characters in total,mainly elaborates on the economic and folk customs development and gender culture of the Zhuang ethnic group during four different periods:the hunting and gathering period,the agricultural period,the industrial period,and the commercial period.Since the original work are supported by concise language,strong logic,clear structure and numerous illustrations,this material can arouse readers to consider and pay attention to gender equality.The difficulty of this translation practice lies in cultural-loaded words and the differences in language and culture between Chinese and English.Therefore,the author adopts Professor Huang Zhonglian’s Translation Variation Theory as a guide to deal with the difficulties in translation at three levels: words,sentences,and discourse.At the lexical level,for four-character words and cultural-loaded words,the method of narration and addition are used to achieve the purpose of cultural dissemination.At the syntactical level,for sentences with over-detailed information,run-on sentences,and sentences with misplaced information,the methods of condensation,addition,and edition are adopted to convey information from the perspective of readers and improve the readability of the translation.At the discourse level,for the cohesion of the text,the integration of information and the presentation of aesthetic effects,the techniques of adaptation and edition are adopted so as to enhance reading experience for target readers.In this translation practice,the translator tries to apply the Translation Variation Theory in translating texts with rich cultural information.At the same time,the translator finds that the flexible use of various translation variants can improve the translation effect,meet the needs of the target language readers,and thus better realize the cultural exchange and dissemination.