A Report On C-E Translation Of Tian Gong Kai Wu From The Perspective Of Variational Translation Theory

In recent years,more and more translators adopt Variational Translation Theory to guide the translation practice of various texts.Variational translation theory holds that translators should adopt alternative methods such as addition,subtraction,compilation,narration,omission,combination and modification of the original work according to the needs of special readers under specific conditions.During the afterclass practice of "Translation of Chinese Classics in Literature," we adopted Variational Translation Theory when translating the three chapters selected from ancient Chinese science and technology book Tian Gong Kai Wu(《天工开物》).In this way,both the accuracy and readability of the text are guaranteed.This report analyzes multiple cases in the retranslation of three chapters of Tian Gong Kai Wu by introducing the translation methods of addition,omission,compilation and subtraction under the guidance of Variational Translation Theory.The report summarizes the translation skills applied during the translation process,including:reorganizing sentence structure to make the the target text logically clearer by means of compilation,omitting Chinese synonyms since redundant repetition is always avoided in English,adding annotations to nouns by means of addition so as to reduce cultural differences,and making sentences shorter through the method of subtraction in order to save the space and make the target text more in line with the features of the Chinese classics.This report falls into five chapters.Chapter One introduces the background,the translation task,the objectives and the significance of this report.Chapter Two gives details about three translation steps,namely,pre-translation preparations,during translation and posttranslation proofreading.Chapter Three centers on the theoretical framework,mainly introducing Variational Translation Theory,various translation methods under Variational Translation Theory,previous studies on the C-E translation of Tian Gong Kai Wu and the application of Variational Translation Theory in translation practice.Chapter Four is case analysis,analyzing the application of addition,omission,compilation and subtraction under the guidance of Variational Translation Theory in multiple translation cases.Chapter Five summarizes the main findings,limitations and relevant suggestions of this paper.