A Report On E-C Translation Of The Academic Text Of Sinology

This practice report is based on the English-Chinese translation of an academic article written by American sinologist Benjamin A.Elman.The source text mainly discusses a lost version of The Analects of Confucius and two classical traditions generated in its transmission.As a sinology paper,it not only reflects overseas scholars’ cognition of traditional Chinese Confucian classics,but also provides fresh perspectives for domestic researchers,so it has certain value of academic reference.In the process of translation,Verschueren’s adaptation theory provides theoretical guidance for the translator.According to this theory,using language is a process of continuously making linguistic choices.In this sense,the process of translation as a type of language use is also a continuous process of making-choices,in which the translator chooses appropriate translation strategies and techniques to dynamically adapt to the contexts and structures of the source text and the target text.From the perspectives of the adaptation theory,this report aims to explore the choice-making process in translation and summarize related findings accordingly.At first,the report briefly introduces its outline and the background of the translation project,and presents the translation process in different stages.Then,the report sketches the main notions of the adaptation theory,mainly including its standpoint of language use as choice-making and its interrelated angles of pragmatic investigation,that is,contextual correlates,structural objects and dynamics of adaptability as well as the salience of the adaptation processes.Based on its application in translation,this report further analyzes the translator’s choice-making process with specific examples mainly from the two angles of contextual correlates and structural objects of adaptability.The former is mainly investigated in dimensions of communicative and linguistic contexts,while the latter is explored at three structural levels,namely,the lexical,syntactic and textural levels.Finally,the gains from the translation practice have been summarized,and the limitations of the report are also proposed specifically.