A Report On The E-C Translation Of No Place For A Woman:The Struggle For Suffrage In The Wild West (Excerpts)

In recent years,there are more literature works about women,but there are few documentary works about women’s rights in elections.This translation report is based on the Chapter One and Two of the book No Place for A Woman: the Struggle for Suffrage in the Wild West,published in January 2020,which is a historical text written by Chris Enss,an American woman writer.The excerpt chapters focuses on the development of the women’s suffrage in Wyoming,Oregon,and Washington.The source text has distinctive features,with clear logic,rich historical knowledge and complex sentences.The author has done a great deal of historical research for the book,which contains plenty of objective descriptions with accurate diction.Apparently,the text has the characteristics of a historical text.However,it is hard for those who lack the relevant historical knowledge to read.Based on the features of the source text,the translator chooses Functional Equivalence Theory put forward by Eugene A.Nida to guide the translation practice.According to Nida,one of the ways to define functional equivalence in translation is to describe the term as “the closest natural equivalent to the source-language message”.In order to achieve functional equivalence,the target text should be complete in information,accurate in wording,and fluent in the target language.This report focuses on the different translation techniques used in the translation process to make the target text to reach these goals.Meanwhile,it is of great importance to handle the terminology,background information,and long sentences.Therefore,this report mainly analyzes the translation techniques under the guidance of Nida’s Functional Equivalence Theory through the methodology of case study.The skills,such as amplification,annotation,omission,repetition,conversion and division are employed to achieve the functional equivalence.Through this translation practice,the translator finds that translation techniques supported by Functional Equivalence is of vital importance in historical texts translation.It is hoped that the translation techniques of historical texts summarized in this report can provide representative insights for other translators.