Paratext Translation Quality Assessment: The Annals of Imperial Rome as a Case Study

Genette (1987) describes a paratext as the threshold between a reader and a text, which presents the text to the readers, and influences how the text is received. Based on Genette’s definition, this study makes further exploration of paratext translation and proposes that paratexts in translated works are constituted of the paratext in the original text and the additional parts from the translator and other participants. Mainly based on the translation assessment model proposed by Katharina Reiss, this essay suggests a three-principle model for the paratext translation quality assessment in historical text. Then mainly taking footnotes in The Annals as a case study, the essay explores the fundamental factors that influence the paratext translation quality in the historical text, and suggests taking the principles of completeness, preciseness, and conciseness into consideration.