A Report On E-C Translation Of Things We Lost To The Water(Excerpts)

Things We Lost to the Water is the debut novel of Vietnamese American writer Eric Nguyen,which tells the story of a Vietnamese family immigrating to New Orleans after the Vietnam War.The source text of this translation practice is taken from the second chapter "Huorng 1978".Based on the "Comprehension,Expression,Adaptation"(CEA)Translation Report Writing Framework proposed by Li Changshuan in his How to Write A Translation Report:CEA Framework,Sample Essays&Comments,this report analyzes the translation problems,explores the causes of the problems and gives solutions.By analyzing cases,this report illustrates the difficulties the translator met and the reasons why the translator made mistakes during the translation process of comprehension,expression and adaptation,as well as gives solutions to each of them.For "Comprehension",due to the lack of knowledge of cultural historical background,misunderstanding of polysemy,sentences and paragraphs,the translator produced wrong translation at first,but with the help of online information and the supervisor,the translator was able to revise her translation.For "Expression",the translator made mistakes in the content of expression,such as distorting the original meaning,using wrong adjectives,and creating wrong collocations,and these mistakes were also corrected by inviting the supervisor and friends to give suggestions.In the form of expression,to ensure the smooth information flow,the translator resorted to Theme-Rheme Theory;to avoid westernized Chinese,the translator applied translation methods such as negation and transformation of active and passive voice;to properly deal with Vietnamese words,the translator applied methods such as omission,emphasis or retaining the Vietnamese words.For "Adaptation",the translator makes adaptations in the target text to achieve the translation purpose.By explaining,omitting,simplifying and replacing the source text information,the information in the target text is increased,decreased or replaced to produce a better Chinese version.