A Report On The Translation Of The Colonial Period Of American History(Excerpts)

The source text of this report is Chapters Five and Seven of the third volume of The Colonial Period of American History.It is written by Charles Mc Lean Andrews and published between 1934 and 1938.It mainly talks about the rule of the British colonists over the New World and the development and changes of the thirteen states in the United States after the discovery of the New World.There are a large number of parentheses interspersed in the text that may impede translators and readers from a thorough understanding.Therefore,how to translate the parentheses faithfully and smoothly is taken as the issue to explore and the focus of this report.Parentheses in this material are rich in form,flexible in position,and varying in length.They are classified according to their specific performance into the following six types in terms of semantic function—parentheses for explanation,supplement,connection,emphasis,enumeration and expressing opinions respectively.Skopos theory serves as the guiding principle in the process of translation,which consists of three rules,namely,Skopos rule,coherence rule and fidelity rule.When translating,the translator should consider the reading habits of the target reader and the communicative needs of the target text based on the source text,then choose the best methods to achieve effective communication.Therefore,translation methods,such as synchronizing,converting,preposing,postposing,combination and synthesis,are adopted in conjunction with the rules and characteristics of Skopos theory to realize the fluency and readability of the translation.This translation report combines theory with practice,analyzes specific sentences,and solves the problems encountered in practice by applying appropriate translating strategies.Through the analysis of parenthesis translation,the author aims to explore how to transmit the complex information in a long sentence logically and smoothly and hopes to provide reference for other translators in dealing with the parentheses.Meanwhile,the accurate transmission of source text will help to convey the translator Andrews’ historiographical ideas,which is sure to promote the domestic study of American colonial history.