Unit 2 Literal Translation and Free Translation 2.1 What is literal translation?直译 Literal translation strives to reproduce both the content and style of the entire work and retain as much as possible the figures of speech and sentence structures of the original. Unit 2 Literal Translation and Free Translation 2.1 What is literal translation?直译 Literal translation strives to reproduce both the content and style of the entire work and retain as much as possible the figures of speech and sentence structures of the original