A Report On The E-C Translation Of The Brutish Museums (Chapters 1-3)

The translation report is based on the English-to-Chinese translation of Chapter One,Chapter Two and Chapter Three of The Brutish Museums: The Benin Bronzes,Colonial Volenceandi Cultural Restitution.Thisbook is published toreveal the bloody history behind colonial museums.During colonial times,Western countries plundered Africa and displayed the looted objects in their museums in the name of “ethnology” or“ethnography”,glorying the colonial violence.The selected chapters contain part of the truth of the 1897 Punitive Expedition,and the elucidation of two profound concepts “theory of taking” and “necrography”.This translation practice is helpful in revealing the truth of Western museums and enabling the readers to understand their colonial essence.The Brutish Museums is an academic work,characterized by nominalization,passive voices and complicated sentences,containing words with rich connotations and terms which require the translator to have a deep understanding of the source text.Based on these textual features,the translator chooses to adopt Li Changshuan’s“Comprehension,Expression and Adaptation” Framework,and analyzes problems encountered in comprehension,expression and adaptation.In terms of comprehension,she explores the comprehension of polysemous words and terminology with the help of contexts and parallel texts.In terms of expression,she focuses on nominalization,passive voices and complicated sentences,enabling the translation more consistent with the conventions of the target language.In terms of adaptation,necessary shifts are made due to the influence of reader awareness and cultural factors.The translator has benefited a great deal from this translation practice,learning many translation skills which are useful for the translation of academic books.