A Report On The Translation Of An Account Of The Cultivation And Manufacture Of Tea In China(chapters Ⅲ-Ⅴ)

This is a practice report on the translator’s English-Chinese translation of Chapters III to V of An Account of the Cultivation and Manufacture of Tea in China,a book written by Samuel Ball,a British tea inspector in China during the Qing Dynasty.The source text mainly introduces Chinese traditional ways of tea planting and manufacturing from soil conditions,cultivation process to gathering time.The translation practice is aimed at enriching contemporary tea study and facilitating international exchange of Chinese tea culture.A source text about Chinese culture written in English is categorized as non-native language writing and its translation is termed textless back translation.The source text of this translation practice focuses on Chinese tea culture with abundant cultural terms and citations,which were translated from Chinese to English by the writer Samuel Ball.These contents are in accordance with the major concern of textless back translation theory.Therefore,this translation practice is a justifiable textless back translation of non-native language writing.By analyzing the source text,the translator deems it an informative text on Chinese culture with plentiful Chinese-based accounts and citations,which need to be translated with readability and in line with Chinese native expressions.After illustrating the translating process comprising pre-translation,while-translation and post-translation,this report,based on the features of the source text,explores textless back translation theory for its practicability in guiding this practice,and then summarizes feasible translation strategies as back-translation,reproduction and domestication.For further ascertainment,case analysis on the translation under the guidance of textless back translation theory is conducted,including back-translation of cultural terms like place names,tea names and other culture-loaded words,reproduction of citations from Kiun Fang Pu,Vu-ye Shan Chy and Pen Csao Kiang Moo,and domestication of the linguistic style at lexical,syntactic and textual levels with the aid of translation techniques such as addition,division and conversion.Presenting forceful guidance of textless back translation theory on non-native language writing,this report verifies those feasible translation strategies for textless back translation practice,aiming at providing valuable references for future research on and application of textless back translation theory.