A Report Of The E-C Translation Of The Marriage Portrait (Excerpt) From Toury’s Theory Of Translation Norms

The Marriage Portrait is a historical women’s fiction by Maggie O’Farrell,which is longlisted for the 2023 Women’s Prize for Fiction.Set in Renaissance Italy,the novel is adapted from a true historical story,reproducing the state of women’s life at that time,depicting the strict attitude towards women in the Italian court under the patriarchal society.It tells the story about a young Duchess,who does not succumb to her fate,but struggles to survive in the crisis-ridden court and tries to pursue freedom.With the deepening of globalization,the initiative of “a community with a shared future for mankind” has brought closer exchanges and connections between our country and the world.And the translation market of various novels is also thriving.While Chinese culture and literature are actively “going out”,excellent foreign literary works are also constantly entering the vision of domestic readers.Translation is a kind of social practice,which is restricted by various norms.In the 1980 s,Gideon Toury,a famous Israeli translator,put forward the theory of translation norms on the basis of poly-system theory,including preliminary norms,initial norms and operational norms,which provided a new theoretical perspective for translation studies.Translation norms influence the selection of the source text,the overall orientation of the translator when translating,and the translation methods and strategies used in the specific translation process.Under the guidance of Toury’s theory of translation norms,and by adopting the case analysis method,this report summarizes the difficulties in the translation process and the translation norms to be followed,as well as the translator’s understanding of the difficulties and corresponding solutions.Accordingly,the author finds that Toury’s theory of translation norms has certain guiding significance for the translation of women’s fiction.The initial norm influences the whole translation process and determines the translator’s inclination towards the source language text or the target language text.The translator needs to strike a balance between acceptability and adequacy.At the cultural level,the translator follows the cultural norms of the source language and adopts the strategy of adequacy to convey Italian cultures.At the linguistic level,the translator tends to reflect the acceptability of the translation and the translation is aimed at a wide range of target language readers.In the specific translation process,the translator adopts a variety of strategies such as addition,omission,inversion,annotation and change of voices according to the operational norms to improve the translation quality and make the translated text better.