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Comparative Studies

Comparison of Modes of Expression and Ways of Thinking between English and Chinese Language in Cultural Perspective 易欢 Yi Huan

Abstract

The English language and Chinese language,with their own characteristics, embody their own cultural heritage and manifest different modes of thinking. Conspicuously, among language, culture and mode of thinking, there exists a closely related interaction. The culture affects thought, conversely, thought can reflect the culture. While language, under the impact of the both, presents the thinking and cultural differences in a most direct way. Therefore, this paper, from the perspective of culture, takes the relationship beween language and thought as the entry point to make a comparative study of English and Chinese language and ways of thinking. It is quite significant for the development of translation in cross-cultural communication.

Key words

language form; mode of thinking; English and Chinese language; culture

摘要

英汉语言各具特色，蕴含各自历史文化底蕴，彰显不同的思维模式。显而易见，语言，文化与思维模式之间形成了某种紧密联系的互动关系。文化影响思维，反之，思维也会体现文化，而语言受两者的影响，亦是阐明思维与文化差异的最直接的方式。因此，本文将从文化视域下，以语言和思维关系为切入口，对比探究英汉语言形式与思维方式，这对于跨文化交际下翻译发展来说至关重要。

关键词

语言形式；思维模式；英汉语言；文化

1. Introduction

The relationship between language and thought is widely discussed among scholars at home and abroad. Karl Marx once remarks that language is a tool, carrier, shell, and a “dress” of thought. Language by nature is the embodiment of human thoughts and thoughts in turn is the mental reflection of the world around us. Language is therefore closely related to and supported by human thoughts. That is to say, without thought, language would be nothing sounds with no meaning or content. But thoughts, though accessible by various means, are best represented in language and can thus best fulfill its obligations to the speakers by such means. Also thought will further facilitate the development of language, Sapir once states, “ Thought processes set in, as a kind of psychic overflow, almost at the beginning of linguistic expression; further, that the concept once defined, necessarily reacted on the life of its linguistic symbols, encouraging further linguistic growth.”(1921: 12) At the same time, Language is part of culture. Such as Chinese language is a part of Chinese culture. Each country has its own language in a specific culture. However, their relationship is not just between part and whole. Language is the carrier and the representation of culture, while, as a mirror of culture, language is strongly influenced and shaped by culture. Moreover, the thought also is largely influenced by its culture. Human thinking mainly consists of such elements as knowledge, ideology, methodology, intelligence, emotion, willpower, language and habits. The inter-relationship and interaction of these elements from a dynamic complex system is known as the mode of thinking. It is the concentrated embodiment of all cultural and psychological properities and is shaped in a certain historical, social and geographical environment. In general, different culture leads to different mode of thinking which is demonstrated most in their own language. That is to say, the relationship among culture, mode of thinking and language is closely related to each other and they can be viewed as three parts of a whole. And in this paper, it is going to compare different mode of thinking and ways of expression between Chinese and English in cultural perspective, so as to better understand cross-culture communication.

2. The comparison of modes of thinking with the representation of ways of expression in English and Chinese

The language, thought and culture are independent but closely interrelated as we have discussed before. While in different countries, there exist vast differences in their thinking patterns, then this paper is going to illustrate four groups of opposite Chinese and Occidental thinking ways and present how these thinking patterns are reflected upon their language, and trace back to the cultural and historical foundations for these phenomena. While it just compares these modes of thought in a general way, and they are not simply manifested as opposite to each other, but intermingled to some extent with the exchange of culture and the common ground imparted in all human beings. All of the opposition between Chinese thinking and occidental thinking that I present is just a matter of degree, and we have to view it critically.

2.1 Holistic thinking vs Analytical thinking

Generally speaking, human thought can be divided into two types: analytical thinking and holistic thinking. To some extent, Chinese emphasizes synthesis and English tends to be analytical.

Holistic thinking puts emphasis on the integral concepts and the universal connection of objects. It regard man, nature and society as an unalienable organic whole. While analytical thinking will tend to focus more on labeling and analyzing different parts that eventually make up the whole. Actually, there must be some certain cultural background to the formation of western and Chinese mode of thinking. The formation of Chinese thinking mode can derive from Chinese people’s perspectives towards the nature. In Chinese classical philosophy, the conception of “One” better demonstrates the holistic view. According to Taoism, “All things obtained the One and became alive and kept growing.”(Tao Te Ching, chapter 36). Chuang Tzu promotes the concept of “One” to the state of the “unity of heaven and human”, and believes that the heaven and man, and the thing and self can all merge into one organically connected whole. Moreover, the essence that Chinese philosophy stresses the holistic view lies in the systematic evaluation and comprehensive grasp of all things, aiming to have a comprehensive and accurate understanding towards everything. After accumulated, condensed and sublimated through time, such philosophy facilitates Chinese people develop holistic thinking which is good at integrating, drawing up the guidelines and commanding the overall situation. While, in western culture, Plato firstly advocates “subject-object dichotomy” and then explain the world from a dualistic angle. In addition, the people can also be influenced by Aristotle’s syllogism, and always emphasize reasonable thinking in accordance with certain procedures, just like analysizing geometric problems in which one should derive the unknown, then demonstrate the process meticulously and finally draw a logic conclusion. It is exactly the characteristic of analytic thinking in which the object is divided into parts and one should investigate them respectively

Undeniably, thinking patterns can best be demonstrated in their language. In a word, Analytical thinking involves detachment of the object from its context, a tendency to focus on attributes of the object in order to assign it to categories, and a preface for using rules about the categories to explain and predict the object’s behavior. Holistic thinking involves an orientation to the context or field as a whole, including attention to relationship between a focal object and the field, and a preference for explaining and predicting events on the basis of such relationships. And parataxis and hypotaxis are exactly the concrete manifestations of holistic thinking and analytical thinking. In the field of linguistics and translation studies, parataxis, as opposed to hypotaxis , is the single most important feature distinguishing the Chinese language from English, with Chinese showing paratactic prominence and English hypotactic prominence. Nida once stated, “ So far as English and Chinese are concerned, the most important difference linguistically is the contrast between hypotaxis and parataxis.” (1982, 16) Liu Miqing believes that hypotaxis and parataxis can be viewed as the heterogeneous characteristics.(1992: 18). Zhang Li proposes that Chinese, in terms of grammar, belongs to parataxis, one of whose overall features lies in conciseness and economy. Hence, English uses many conjunctions, prepositions and other connective means to make links between phrases and words, because of which the language is more logical and better organized. on the other hand, in Chinese, the arranging of clauses is one after the other without connectives showing the relations between them. Hypotaxis can be viewed as the external logic forms of composing words into sentences, and parataxis the internal cognition of wording and phrasing. From the comparisons, we may see that the differences between hypotaxis and parataxis have resulted in the different sentence structures and language expression forms. Here are some examples:

(1) The thirty-two chapters of a novel — if we consider how to read a novel first —are an attempt to make something as formed and controlled as a building: but words are more impalpable than bricks; reading is a longer and more complicated process than seeing.(Virginal Woolf, How Should One Read a Book?) 我们先来讨论一下小说的读法。一部三十二章的小说，作者努力把它塑造成像建筑物一样有形态、受制约的东西。然而，字句之比于砖瓦，更加触摸不到；阅读比之于观看，是个更为长久而复杂的过程。(Selected from the Anthology of Chinese and English Prose)

（2）门铃一声响，来了客人。从不谢客，礼当接待。忙把袜子穿上，整冠而出。来客红光满面，一开口就知道是远客。（楼适夷，《夜间来客——“名人”被访实录》） Suddenly the doorbell rang，announcing the arrival of a visitor. As Mr. Huang had never refused any visitor before, this one should be received with courtesy too. Quickly putting his socks back on and smoothing his hair，he hurried to the door，and there he was encountered by a man with a fat glowing face. (Lou Shiyi, A Night Visitor— A True Story a ‘Celebrity’ Being Interviewed. Translated by Zhang Peiji)

From the two examples above，we can percept that English is of very hypotaxis. In the first example, one preminent feature is the aboundant conjunctions, like “if”, “how”, “but” and “than”. And the sentence structures are tightly knitted with distinct subject-predicate. While in the Chinese version, it is in lack of these overt conjunctive devices. In the second example, in the source language, it uses more than ten verbs in succession, and narrates chronologically. Although it is loosely organized, all of these verbs are arranged in order and present with a clear clue. Therefore, when translating, the translator must demonstrate the hidden logical structure. But it is not absolute to confine English to hypotaxis and Chinese to parataxis, they just differentiate each other in the degree. Actually in English, Julius Caesar also famously said, “I came, I saw, I conquer.” And in some of Chinese works, some writers also tend to use the logical and connective sentences. That is to say, it is just the matter of degree, there are also hypotaxis in Chinese and parataxis in English. Moreover, as the exchanges in the world extend, the Chinese and English thinking modes can also be influenced respectively.

2.2 subject-oriented thinking and object-targeted thinking

It is well know that Chinese culture and Occidental Culture are quite different, Chinese culture stress the subject, while Occidental people prefer the objective way of thinking. As China has confronted the sever natural and geographic condition, since the pre-Qin Dynasty, the governor would never think the outside world as the oppositt side of human beings. And Chinese people also advocate the harmony between men and nature, which has been retained till now. Moreover, Chinese Confucian school, Taoism and Buddhism all stress the subject. Lao Tsu said: “ Man models himself after the Earth; the Earth models itself after the Heaven; the Heaven models itself after Tao；Tao models itself after the Nature. ” Mencius also stated, “All things under heaven are being prepared for me.” Hence, since ancient times, the Chinese people have tended to consider all things from an anthropocentric standpoint. The outstanding scholar Qian Mu states that “In short, Chinese culture takes human and human affairs as a core. Human and human affairs refer to all reality and ideal when human are getting along with each other. The manifestation and achievement of Chinese culture is around the core. The reason why Chinese culture can be fused into a whole is that Chinese culture shows its value through its core-human and human affairs.” (1977: 331) Hence, Chinese culture is human-centered. It is, essentially, a kind of humanistic culture, under the deep influence of which the subjective thought-pattern has come into being. The subjective thought pattern refers to observing, analyzing, learning and studying objects anthropocentrically and view human beings as the part of a whole nature. On the contrary, the occidental objective thinking takes objects and nature as core, and pay more attention to the observation and research of the objects. The occidental culture originated in Greek peninsular and its coastal areas, where the sages in Ancient Greece has looked upon at the cosmos and nature, and always investigated the natural mystery. And based on the dichotomy and antithesis, gradually, the spirit of occidental culture is to separate subjective from objective and to conqure nature. Hence the occidental tradition takes nature as cognitive object. Unlike Chinese culture and tradition, the occidental rationalism adovacates objective attitudes. Francis Bacon once remarked, “Authority, habit, prejudice and exaggeration eration are barriers to truth. To seek truth, one should overcome these obstacles. ” Owing to English people’s objective thinking, they often use impersonal to account the events, and try to be objective. G. Leech and J. Svartvik point out: “Formal written language often goes with an impersonal style; i.e. one which the speaker does not refer directly to himself or readers, but avoids the pronouns I, you, we. Some of the common features of impersonal language are passives, sentences beginning with introductory it, and abstract nouns.”(1974:25) While Chinese people’s subjective thinking pattern demonstrates itself in Chinese in two notable ways: animate subjects and the majority used of active voice. Actually, according to Shen Xiaolong, the configuration of Chinese character demonstrates the subject-oriented thinking pattern. Based on the pictographs, the Chinese characters refer to the object and its ideographs are people-oriented. Hence in English-Chinese translation, the translator should transform from subjective thinking to objective thinking, for instance:

The sight of the big tree always reminds me of my childhood. (连淑能) 一看见那棵大树，我便想起了童年的情景。

A good idea suddenly occur on me. 我突然想出了一个好主意。

The two English sentences, with the abstract subjects: “The sight of the big tree” and “ A good idea” are quite natural to English readers, while in Chinese it is quite queer and none of Chinese people are accustomed to use them in such way. Hence, in Chinese version, it begins with the personal subject “我” and sounds quite smooth and comprehensible to the Chinese readers. 

Moreover, in English, the two expletive words (it and there) are frequently used show its objectivity in the text. At the same time, in Chinese, there are many no-subject sentences, like “下雪了” “该去学校啦” “太冷了”. While such kind of expression are not allowed in English, for it appears to be complete with a subject in English grammar. Hence, in English, they can be expressed in this way: “it snows”, “It is time to go to school” and “It is too cold”. And owing to English objective thinking, the English passive voice, especially the impersonal passive of “it” is used as the subject, such as “it is believed”, “it is said”, “it is reported”, etc., expresses the facts or ideas in an objective, indirect and roundabout way. It is obvious that the English passive sentences should be converted into the Chinese active sentences. Although the sentence structures are changed, the meanings still remain the same as the original sentences. Also in English “there” and “there be” pattern are impersonal expressions, But in Chinese translation, concrete persons and things are usually used instead. For instance:

(1) 公交车来了。 There comes the bus. (2) 我家有五口人。 There are 5 people in my family.

Clearly, the sentences above reveal that in Chinese there must be certain subjects supplanting the “there” or “there be” pattern. In general, with the influence of the respective modes of thinking, Chinese tends to be subjective and English prefers objection, but it is not necessarily absolute. In English, we can also find numerous personal subjects like “I think”, “I believe”. And in Chinese, it often use the passive tense in the writings in Classical Chinese, such as “受制于人” (be restricted by sb) “为人所骗” (be cheated by sb). Hence, it is also quite common to begin with personal subjects in English and use objective subject and passive tense in Chinese. Clearly, it is a matter of degree.

2.3 Concrete thinking and abstract thinking

Generally speaking, Chinese people prefer thinking in images and English people prefer thinking in notions. Conspicuously, there are some cultural and historical factors leading to the formation of different thinking patterns. Actually, the change and development of Chinese characters is the best illustration for the concrete thinking of Chinese people. Chinese language is vivid and full of images. As we all know that the Chinese character is characterized by pictographs, which express the meaning through the outer form. For example, the character “人” (man) is like the two legs of a person; and “从” (follow) looks like that one person is followed by another; the “山” (mountain) is the shape of a mountain. Therefore, from ancient times, Chinese people tend to borrow the images of outside world to form their own hieroglyphs. Following such kind of thought model, concrete thinking is established and reflected in Chinese language. As Nakamura remarks, “The Chinese people had a high regard for particulars, and presented content concretely in accordance with their way of thinking, naturally fond of complex multiplicity expressed in concrete form.” ( 1991, 217) While Occidental people prefer abstract thinking which takes concept, judgement and reasoning as form of thinking, and expresses ideas and emotions through logical sentences. Since the English letters are based on the Greek alphabet, and it is hard to form a pictograph to express the meaning of the word which can only come from the object description of the nature. Also in the process of learning and analyzing the objective world, the occidental aim at exploring the essence and origin of the world. By means of classification and analysis, they try to find the universals of the same kind of objects and combine them together to form a so-called “the World of form” or “the ideal world”. Moreover, they are fairly interested in the properties of things, and examine them carefully and thoroughly. Their explorations about mathematics, geometry and astronomy contribute to abstract thinking. In the aspect of linguistic expression, the English language tend to be more abstract or logical. Abstract language refers to the language that uses method of abstract diction to express the complex ideas which lie mainly in abstract nouns. G. M. Young once pointed that an excessive reliance on the noun at the expense of the verb will, in the end，detach the mind of the writer from the realities of here and now, from when and how and in what mood the thing was done. and insensibly induce a habit of abstraction, generalization and vagueness. While in Chinese language, the concrete, clear and picturesque words are widely used, just as R. Flesch states, “ Chinese dose more to you than just simplify your constructions… They formed the habit of expressing ideas by metaphors, similes, and all aegis, in short, by every known devices for making a thing plain by comparing it with something else.” ( 1946: 15-16)The two different kinds of thinking patterns also can be medonstrated in the artistic design of literary works. For instance, the poem《凉州词》written by Wang Han, and the poem《登高》 writer by Du Fu can fully examplify the concrete and picturesque Chinese language, and both of them are translated by Xu Yuanchong.

葡萄美酒夜光杯， 欲饮琵琶马上催。

 — 王翰《凉州词》

With wine of grapes the cups of jade would glow at night, Drinking to pipa songs, we are summoned to fight.

无边落木萧萧下， 不尽长江滚滚来。

 —杜甫《登高》

The boundless forest sheds its leaves shower by shower, The endless river rolls it’s waves hour after hour.

In the two poems above, the poets use several concrete images like “wine of grapes”, “cups of jade” “boundless forest” and “ endless river”. It is easy to visualize the certain situation that poets depict for us, when we read these lines. While in English there are more abstract nouns to replace the function of verb and express abstract meanings, which sometimes can cause puzzlement for Chinese people. For instance, in Benjamin Franklin’s The Autobiography:

“To help myself live without fault, I made a list of what I considered the 13 virtues. These virtues are: 1 Temperance, 2 Self-control, 3 Silence, 4 Order, 5 Firmness of mind, 6 Savings, 7 Industry, 8 Honesty, 9 Justice, 10 Cleanliness, 11, calmness, 12 Morality, 13 Humbleness.”

“为了使自己生活中不犯错误，特别列出我认为应该身体力行的 13 条守则。这些守则 是：1.节制饮食 2.自我克制 3. 沉默寡言 4. 有条不紊 5. 坚定信念 6.勤俭节约 7. 工作勤奋8. 忠诚老实 9. 办事公正 10. 衣着整洁 11.平心静气 12. 品行高尚 13.谦虚恭顺。”

There are 13 abstract words in English and they are translated into Chinese concretely with the verbs to gover the phrases. So that it would be vividly explained what do these abstract words convey in a specific way.

Wisdom prepares for the worst; but folly leaves the worst for the day it comes. 智者防范于未然，愚者临渴掘井。（陈文伯译）

In the sentence, “wisdom” and “folly” are two abstract nouns, but they actually refer to certain people. The expression in English is quite common and concise, while Chinese people are accustomed to the thinking in images, hence, in the translation, the concept of two abstract nouns is materialized as two people with certain properties. So that Chinese people can better understand the implicit meaning.

2.4 circular thinking and linear thinking

According to Robert Kaplan who analynizes different discourses and their different organization in different notions, students from different cultural backgrounds adopt different patterns of writing. The Chinese text, in contrast with the English text which is organized in a linear structure, is usually arranged in circular structure (1966:1-2). Circular thinking can also be known as inductive thinking in which we infer a conclusion on the basis of facts and draw a conclusion from particular to general. From ancient times, traditional Chinese medicine already sets a model for us. They follow the principles of “inspection”, “inquiry”, “listening” and “smelling” and can finally make a diagnosis. Later in Compendium of Materia Medica writen by Li Shizheng, it collect and summarize a vast of prescription based on his practical experiences and mothods. And underlying the observations, Chinese people will finally draw a conclusion and are not always accustomed to express their opinions directly. Actually, it can derive from the traditional Chinese culture where the Confucianism immensely governs people’s thought. Under the influence of “the doctrine of mean” and the underlined “mutual harmony” in traditional Chinese philosophy, which cultivate Chinese to avoid direct confrontation and conflicts and take a mean course while they are thinking. Hence such kind of circular thinking model can be reflected upon the Chinese language where ideas are often organized and linked in an overall framework, and does not state the topic directly in the opening lines but constantly lays out relevant or even irrelevant information to provide many-sided perspectives for judging. While, on the contrary, the occidental thinking pattern tends to be linear, or we can say it is a kind of deductive thinking model. It starts from general to particular, from abstract to concrete, and from outcome to reason. The occidental prefer to directly talk about the topic at the beginning without reservation. As a matter of fact, it is deeply influenced by the Greek philosophy. The way of thinking is inherited from the Greek philosophers, such as Plato and Aristotle, especially Aristotlian logical and reasonable thinking. Aristotle puts forward two thought patterns: “ deduction and induction”, while he himself view the deductive method superior to the inductive one. Just as Guo remarks, “ For over 2000 years, syllogism and deduction has been a mainstream for western culture and thought.” And also Aristotle generalizes the discourse into four parts: beginning, poising a question, analysis and expounding, conclusion, which can be viewed as an epitome of occidental linear thinking pattern. In general, English thought pattern is a straight pattern. And so a text is usually centered on a topic in the form of the topic sentence of topic paragraph and then it is developed in a deductive method, directly by many sentences in a sequence. So, the crucial part is usually put at the beginning of an English sentence, but at the end of a Chinese sentence. Here are some examples:

(1) Soccer is a difficult sport. A player must be able to run steadily without rest. Sometimes a player must hit the ball with his or her head. Players must be willing to bang into or be banged into by others. They must put up with aching feet and sore muscles.

足球运动员必须不停地奔跑，有时得用头顶球，撞别人或被别人撞，必须忍受双腿和肌肉的疼痛，所以说，足球是一项难度大的运动。

There is another example to view how Chinese people and American people express their own emotions. The two excerpts are from the Keynote Speech By H.E. Xi Jinping President of the people’s Republic of China At the Opening Ceremony of The third China International Import Expo and President Obama’ speech at Fu Dan University in Shanghai respectively.

(2) 各位来宾: 女士们，先生们，朋友们： Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Friends,

在各方共同努力下，第三届中国国际进口博览会开幕了！首先，我代表中国. 政府和中国人民，并以我个人的名义，向各位嘉宾，表示热烈的欢迎！对各位新老朋友，表示诚挚的问候！

With concerted efforts of all parties, the third China International Import Expo (CIIE) is now open. At the outset, let me extend, on behalf of the government and people of China as well as in my own name, a hearty welcome to all the distinguished guests. To the many old and new friends, I give you my warm greetings and best regards.

Good afternoon. It is a great honor for me to be here in Shanghai, and to have this opportunity to speak with all of you. 诸位下午好。 我感到很荣幸能够有机会到上海跟你们交谈。

Obviously, in the first example, in English versions, the topic sentence is presented first, then it begins to illustrate the topic in a logical way to convince us that soccer is a difficult sport. Then in the second example, we can see that the president Xi and American former President Obama show their delightment in quite different ways. We Chinese people tend to express our joy at the end of discourse, while American people are willing to show their emotions at the beginning, which also vividly presents the Chinese linear thinking and Occidental circular thinking.

Although the distinction between Chinese linear thinking and Occidental circular thinking is widely recognized at home and abroad, it is not categorically clear about the line between Chinese and English. Actually, many ancient writers in China are fond of coming straight to the point and hit the nail on the head in a precise way. Liang Qichao, an excellent ancient scholar in Qing Dynasty, proposes in his the Methodology of composition above middle school, that the most important thing is to make readers get the writer’s purpose at a glance when reading an article, so that it can touch and gain the reader’s interest. And also the “general discussion-sub discussion-conclusion model” is only one certain structure for English writing. Hence it is hard to say that English is Linear and Chinese is circular as Robert Kaplan defines, and we have to critically think about the differences between Chinese and English.

3. Conclusion

The discussions of the comparison between Chinese and Occidental thinking models have been carried out for a long time. In this paper, through the comparison on four opposite types of modes of thinking: Holistic thinking vs Analytical thinking, subject-oriented thinking vs object-targeted thinking, concrete thinking vs abstract thinking, and linear thinking vs circular thinking, and presenting how they reflect upon their language, it demonstrates that cultural diversity and different historical origin may dominate the formation of thinking patterns. Since in the sea of the Chinese and Occidental language and thought, the culture is like a mirror which reflects all-embracing phenomena. That is to say, language, thought and culture are essentially associated with each other. While there are also some other types of comparison among modes of thought like “static thinking vs dynamic thinking”, “fuzzy thinking vs accurate thinking” and so on. Moreover, we have to classify the writing style and genre of the articles, which would set up different principles in diction, so we can not lump together under one head and blindly follow that the Chinese and Occidental thinking models must be opposite in certain dimension. Hence this paper just tries to compare them in a general way, so that we can have a relatively overall view about the two language. Since the thought impacts a lot upon the language, we have to firstly understand how people from different nation think about the world and other objects around them, and then better understand why and how they tend to use such kind of ways of expression. Then it is greatly useful to learn a second language well and to better perform in the cross-cultural communication with the extent of cultural exchanges nowadays.

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Comparison of Functional Equivalence and Faithfulness, Expressiveness and Elegance 曾良 Zeng Liang 202070080578

Abstract

In the late 1960s, the famous American translator Eugene Nida proposed functional equivalence, which has an overwhelming significance in the development of translation theory. This theory is based on modern linguistics, social semiotics and information theory. Its equivalence is not confined to the corrrespondence in vocabulary and grammar between original language and target language. Meanwhile, the correspondence of response between the original readers and the target language readers is also paid attention. Nida points out that translation should accord with original text in meaning, rather than form, and he also pays much attention to the response of the target language readers. He thinks that expressing the target language properly and appropriately is the central task in translating, which has an important guiding significance for translators.

With the further effect of western translation theories on Chinese translation theories, translators of China also propose different translation theories. Based on Chinese classical aesthetics and literary criticism, Yan Fu, a famous translator of China, proposes the famous translation standard of faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance, which has a deep influence on China’s translation circle and provides an important translation theory for Chinese translators.

Nida’s functional equivalence and Yan Fu’s faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance all provide important translation standards for translators and have a pivotal role in the history of translation theories. At the same time, by analyzing the Chinese translation of Vanity Fair written by Thackery, the similarities and differences of thse two translation theories will be presented, which will promote the understanding of them.

===Key words:=== Functional equivalence; Faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance; similarities and differences; Vanity Fair.

摘要

20世纪60年代末。美国著名翻译家尤金·奈达提出了翻译理论发展史上具有里程碑意义的“功能对等”翻译理论，该理论以现代语言学、社会符号学以及信息论为理论基础，其对等并未局限于原语和目的语之间词汇和语法的转换，对原语读者的感受和目的语言读者的感受是否一致也同样关注。奈达提倡翻译并未形式的对等而是客观内容的对等，他还重视目的语接受者的反应，以合适、贴切的目的语表达视为翻译的中心任务，这对翻译工作者具有重要的指导意义。

随着西方翻译理论对中国翻译理论的影响日益加深，中国翻译家也逐渐提出了自己的翻译理论。中国著名翻译家严复基于中国传统美学和文学评论，提出了著名的“信达雅”翻译标准。这一翻译标准在中国翻译界影响深远，为翻译工作者提供了很重要的翻译理论。

奈达和严复的翻译理论都为翻译工作者提供了重要的翻译标准，在翻译理论史上都具有举足轻重的作用。同时，这两大理论具有许多相似之处和不同点。本文通过对萨克雷《名利场》的中文译本进行分析，并通过对信息文本的处理来对比分析两大理论，找到两者的异同点，希望能对两大翻译理论的理解有一定的促进作用。

===关键词===：功能对等；信达雅；异同；《名利场》

Introduction

Looking back on the history of Chinese and western translation, we can see that translation theories are rich and colorful. In the western translation field, Nida is recognized as an outstanding representative. His “ Functional equivalence” theory has broken through the traditional formal equivalence theory and has had a broad and far-reacching impact. In the Chinese translation circle, Yan Fu is the most influential one. He puts forward the “faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance” translation standard, which is a milestone in the history of Chinese translation theory and promotes the development of Chinese translation theory(Tan Kai 2011, 43). Although Nida and Yan Fu are in different social environment, and their translation standards are once questioned and denied, it is undeniable that these two translation standards are still the most authoritative and vital in Chinese and Western translation circles.

Introduction of Functional Equivalence

Eugene Nida is a well-known contemporary western linguistics, an expect that researches Bible as well as a translation theorist. His translation view, which is called functional equivalence, has set off a wave of enthusiasm in the translation field(Zhang Yimei 2020,180).

In 1964, Nida put forward “formal equivalence” and “dynamic equivalence” in the book Toward A Science of Translating(Nida 1964, 45). However, he did not give a clear definition of “dynamic equivalence” until 1969 in the book The Theory and Practice of Translation(Nida 1969, 34). In 1993, the expression “dynamic equivalence” was superseded by “functional equivalence” in his work From One Language to Another (Nida 1993, 67). Dynamic Equivalence is defined “in terms of the degree to which the receptors of the message in the receptor language respond to it is essentially the same manner as the receptors in the source language(Nida 1969, 24). Functional equivalence emphasizes the response of equivalence rather than the form of equivalence. In the process of evaluating the quality of a translation, one should not only see whether the form is consistent with the original text, or whether the content is fluent and smooth, but also check whether the response of the target language readers is consistent with the original readers or whether the effect produced by the target text is consistent with the original text. As we all know, it is impossible for a transltion to be faithful to the original to full extent. There are many reasons for this. For example, the language ability and knowledge background of translator can cause differences in translation. In Language, Culture and Translating, Nida divided functional equivalence into two levels: the minimal level and the maximal level(Nida 2001, 78). The minimal level of functional equivalence is defined as “The readers of a translated text should be able to comprehend it to the point that they can conceive of how the original readers of the text must have understood and appreciated it”. The maximal level is stated as “The readers of a translated text should be able to understand and appreciate it in essentially the same manner as the original readers did”(Nida 1993,118). The two definitions of equivalence reveal that the minimal level is realistic, whereas the maximal level ideal. For Nida, good translations always lie between the two levels (Nida,1995,224).

Introduction of Faithfulness, Expressiveness and Elegance

Yan Fu is a famous enlightenment thinker and educator in modern China, as well as an outstanding translation theorist. His three principles of translation—faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance, were widely accepted as essential criteria for understanding translations since the early 20th century. It appeared in Yan Fu’s preface to his translation of Huxley’s Evolution and Ethics (1898)（Zhang Xi 2014,1):

“Translation involves three requirements difficult to fulfill: faithfulness (Xin), expressiveness (da) and elegance (ya). Faithfulness is difficult enough to attain but a translation that is faithful but not expressive, or fluent, is no translation at all. Expressiveness is therefore of prime importance. Since China’s opening to foreign trade by sea, there has been no lack of interpreters and translators. But if you assign them any book to translate and tell them to meet these two requirements, few can do so(Yan Fu 2009, 202).”

Based on his understanding of ancient Buddhist Scriptures translation and translation practices, Yan Fu advanced “faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance”, which has a great contribution to the history of China’s translation and has become the fundamental tenets of the 20th century Chinese translation theory. According to Yan’s three principles, the translator should be faithful in conveying the message of the original text, fluent in the expression of the target language, and elegant in the writing style. “Faithfulness” emphasizes the fidelity to the original text. Yan pointed out that translator couldn’t begin his work until he has grasped the spirit and logic of the original text. “ Expressiveness” stresses the fluency and acceptability that the translation expresses. “Elegance” reflects that Yan pays much attention to readers’ thought. Yan said in the preface to his translation of Evolution and Ethics(Yan Fu 2009, 202): “Confucious said, ‘Diction should be expressive.’ He also said, ‘Diction without elegance cannot reach far.’ The three principles should be the basic elements of any writing, and the tenet for the translator. Apart from faithfulness and expressiveness, I seek elegance.(Yan Fu 2009, 202)”

Many people reagrd Yan’s translation standard as a golden rule, however, there are also some criticisms of it. Most criticisms come from the denial of standard “ elegance”. According to Yan Fu, elegance means using Chinese charcters of pre-Han dynasty to express original text. He is inclined to use classical style of writing in pursuing elegance because of two reasons: firstly, he believes that boring language cannot expand the influence of translated text; secondly, most of the readers of that time are knowledgeable people from the upper class and the translations are foreign philosophy and social science(Zhang Yimei 2020, 180). Therefore, the common readers cannot understand the real meaning of the original text. “Elegance” people mentioned now has been modified by later generations, which refers to rthat the translation should be literary and elegant. Although there are still some doubts about the standard “elegance”, the contribution and influence of Yan’s “faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance” are undeniable.

Theoretial Foundation

Theoretical Foundation of Nida’s Functional Equivalence

Modern Linguistic

Functional equivalence is based on modern linguistic and it has a close relationship with linguistics(Guo Dingju 2013, 15). Nida successfully applied the research of modern linguistics into translation theory. He used semantic theories, especially the method of semantic componential analysis to analyze referring meaning and associative meaning of vocabulary objectively and accurately(Guo Dingju 2013, 16). He transformed Chomsky’s core sentence theory, deep structure and surface structure, created a relatively complete process of interlingual conversion, and proposed a three-stage theory of the translation process. On Nida’s opinion, various language structures have many similarities and deep structure is more common than surface structure(Nida 1964, 68). Therefore, through the interlingual conversion of deep structure, the fidelity to the original text can be ensured to the greatest extent. At the same time, since the surface structure of the translated text is the free expression of the conversion of deep structure, the smoothness of the translated text can be ensured as much as possible. The faithful and smooth translations create conditions for the equivalence of readers’ reaction, which makes it possible to achieve functional equivalence(Nida 1964, 68).

Information Theory

Functional equivalence is also based on information theory. Nida believes that translation is an activity of transforming the information expressed in one language into another, that is to say, the information encoded in one code is transformed into another(Nida 1984, 34). The purpose of translating is to communicate by conveying information. Only when the target language readers obtain the same information as the original readers, the relationship between the target language readers and target information is basically the same as the relationship between original language readers and original information. Nida notices that the original readers’ ability to accept information is different from that of target language readers. Generally speaking, the information receptive ability of original language readers is better than target language readers, especially when the original language and target language belong to different language systems and cultures. Nida stresses that in order to let the target language readers obtain the same information as the original readers, translators can change appropriately the form of the original for the target readers to better understand the translation(Nida 1984, 34).

Social Semiotics

Functional equivalence is also based on social semiotics. Nida believes that translating is to translate the meaning of the original, and social semiotics is the most comprehensive system to analyze the meaning. In the book Language, Culture and Translation, Nida points out that using social semiotics, the science that researches all codes and symbols in human society, to study translation is the most comprehensive way, and the key that it is superior to any other translation methods to carry on interlingual translation is that social semiotics studies all codes in human society, and it focuses on studying language, the most comprehensive and complex semiotic systems used by human. Therefore, in terms of decoding and encoding, the translation method of social semiotics is more comprehensive than any other translation methods(Nida 1993, 67).

Theoretical Foundation of Yan Fu’s Faithfulness, Expressiveness and Elegance

Chinese Aesthetics

Aesthetics is at first a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of art, beauty and taste with creation and appreciation of beauty. It has a great impact on traditional Chinese translation theories and standards. In 1898, Yan Fu put forward the famous translation standard “faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance”, which has always been the central idea of Chinese translation theory and aesthetics(Yan Fu 2009, 202). Its influence is far-reaching and almost no one can match with it today. “Faithfulness” means the meaning of the target text should be faithful to the original text with accurate words and without arbitrary omission or deletion. “Expressiveness” means that the form of the target text is not constrained and the translation is smooth and clear. “Elegance” refers to that the words of translation should be appropriate and vivid, and the translation should be concise and elegant like the original. “Faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance” reveal the essence of translation. Compared with the long-winded theoretical explanation abroad, these three words cover almost all the content of translation aesthetics, and fully reflect the concise beauty of Chinese characters.

Chinese aesthetics mainly comes from the ancient asetheics, which is the theoretical foundation of Yan Fu’s translation theory of faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance.

Literary Criticism

Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods(Guo Dingju 2013, 19). 

On the whole, literary criticism can be divided into two categories. One is a body of study focused on ethics and human emotions. The other is a bulk of explorations centered round the craftmanship of literary works(Li Jianzhong 2009, 45). The core of Chinese literary criticism is the theory of literary creation. There are mainly three types of literary criticism in the early 20th century from the aspect of functions of criticism. The first type of literary criticism focuses on literary works proper. The critics of this type analyze literay works with their own experience and wisdom, which is called art-oriented criticism and Lu Xun is its representative. The second type is aimed at an independent cultural value. The critics try to dig out its philosophical, psychological, ethnic and linguistic significance of works. The third one is society-oriented criticism and it serves politics. It works well in the period of political struggels(Wang Yunxi 2007, 78).

Comparative Studies on Translation theories of Nida and Yan Fu

Introdution of Vanity Fair and Yang Bi’s Translation Versions

About Vanity Fair

Vanity Fair is Mr. Thackeray’s most important work. The novel takes place during the Napoleonic Wars and tells the lives of two contrasted girls: Amelia Sedley, the daughter of a wealthy merchant, a good natured, loveable though simple-minded young girl, and Rebecca (Becky) Sharp, an orphan who is a strong-willed and cunning young woman. These two girls met at Miss Pinkerton’s Academy for young ladies, the former driven by delicate heart and the latter by social ambition. At the begining, Becky lived in a rich life and her social state was promoted step by step relying on some ignoble means. But Amelia suffered great sorrow because of her father’s bankruptcy. However, several years later, their lives were totally changed. They seemed to go back to their origianl work. Becky gained nothing, and Amelia returned to happy life again(Thackeray 2006，178).

This novel gains great success and shapes the image of a bad woman, Becky. You may hate her, but you will never forget her once you read this wonderful novel. Although she is a charater lives in a different time and world, you can feel her presence in our world, even in any society. Vanity Fair is one of the greatest literary works describing society at that time written by William Makepeace Thackeray. The capitalists’ accumulation and the 19th society are all presented to readers through Thackeray’s description. This novel reflects the degradation and social hypocrisy and people at time time try every means to keep in contact with the upper class. The title of this novel reveal the theme: the treasures of vanity fair, that is money and position, are desirable but transient. Thackeray’s idea is that although one may live in vanity fair, one doesn’t need to be a slave to its values, which will eventually turn into emptiness(Thackeray 2006, 89).

Yang Bi’s Translation Version

There are many Chinese translation version of Vanity Fair. Among these versions, Yang Bi’s translation version ranks the first, which has been published for four times by different publications. Yang Bi’s version of Vanity Fair was firstly published by People’s Literature Publication in 1957. Then it was published in 1997 and 2000. The latest version was published in 2012 by The Commercial Press in 2012. Yang Bi’s translation version of Vanity Fair was praised and encouraged by many translators, such as Fu Lei(Guo Dingju 2013, 23). Yang Bi shows target language readers a sense of wholeness by smooth sentence structure amd takes related cultural background into consideration. Owing to her proficiency in Chinese, she can convey the meaning of original text appropriately to Chinese readers and Chinese readers can have a good understanding of western literary works(Guo Dingju 2013, 23).

An Analysis on Nida’s Functional Equivalence from Translation of Vanity Fair

Thackeray has a sharp eye on his literary works, especially in Vanity Fair, which requires an outstanding understanding and expressive ability of the translator. When comparing the English and Chinese version of Vanity Fair, it’s easy for us to find that Yang Bi’s translation is good at dealing with words, sentences, chapters, and rhetorical devices. Her translation is natural and smooth that the target language readers feel like reading the traditional novels(Zhang Yanmei 2019, 16). In this paper, two main aspects will be analyzed by the author.

At Lexical Level

In traditional grammar, one of the kernel parts is Part of Speech. Some regular rules are deeply rooted in our minds, such as adjectives modify nouns, adverbs modify verbs and adjectives, and conjunctions connect parts of sentences. People who learn foreign languages are familiar with these rules. However, the quality of translation will be influenced if these rules are brought into the translation. Under this circumstance, Nida suggests abandoning the traditional grammar and adopting new seven-part-of-speech system(Nida 1943，89), those are (1)entities, such as woman, desk, dictionary, and so on; (2) activities, such as walk, run, swim and so on; (3)states, such as dead, excited, happy and so on; (4)characteristics, such as tall, huge, fat and so on; (5)processes, such as shorten, grow, enlarge and so on; (6)links, such as when, during, below and so on; (7)deictics, such as that, there, this and so on. From the translation of Yang Bi’s Vanity Fair, we can find that the target text is flexible and functional equivalence of Nida is achieved at the lexical level. Free translation is the main translation method that she adopts. What’s more, she combines different translation techniques, such as combination, addition, and omission to reproduce the origianl meaning in the target language.

Exampe 1

ST1:...for what can be prettier than an image of Love on his knees before Beauty？(Thackeray 2006, 138) TT1:痴情男子向美貌佳人跪下求婚，还不是一幅最赏心悦目的画吗？(杨必 2013, 47)

In ST1, “Love” and “Beauty” are two entities according to Nida’s classification of words(Zhang Yanmei 2019, 19).. In the original text, Thackeray describes a scene in which Baron proposes to Rebecca. He uses abstract words “Love” and “Beauty” to represent Baron and Rebecca. In TT1, Yang Bi translates “Love” and “Beauty” into “痴情男子“and “美貌佳人”to reproduce the meaning of the original text. Although the words in ST1 are abstract and the words in TT1 are concrete, the meaning of the origianl text is greatly reproduced in the translation, and the translation is even more vivid than the original one. What’s more, the translation contains a humorous tone, and the target language readers can feel humorous and interesting(Zhang Yanmei 2019, 19). If we translate “Love” and “Beauty” into “爱情” and “美人”, the literal menaing and charm of original text are lost and the style of original text is not reproduced in the target language.

At Syntactical Level

A sentence is the basic unit of language. In the process of translating Englsih sentences into Chinese, the translator should comprehend the original writer’s intention and then express it in the target language. Thus, the arrangement of sentences should be considered. On the syntactical level, English has long compound sentences which belong to hypotactic sentence, while Chinese has more short sentences which belong to paratactic sentence. What’s more, there are many distinctions between English and Chinese sentences which requires the translator to make proper adjustments. In order to overcome the obstacles of long sentences in translation, Nida put forward a suggestion that one long difficult sentence can be divided into several core sentences (Nida, 1946). Nida uses the concept of core kernel sentence(Nida 1946, 55). He think there are seven types of kernel sentence in English:

(1)subject+predicate+adverbial, such as, John wrote slowly;

(2)subject+predicate+object, such as, John hit Bill;

(3)subject+predicate+object+object, such as, John gave Mary a gift;

(4)subject+be+subject complement, such as John is in the restaurant;

(5)subject+be+attributive, such as, John is kind;

(6)subject+be+indefinite article+noun, such as, John is a man.

(7)subject+be+pronoun+noun, such as, John is my friend.

The above seven sentences are understandable in human language. No matter what language you speak in communicating with others, the people you talk with can understand your meaning as long as you use simple sentences(Guo Dingju 2013, 32). Nida believes that experienced translators often break down complex sentences into simple sentences when translating the origianl text(Nida 1946, 56). The translator often needs to make proper adjustments and rebuild the sentence structure in the target text. Many examples in Yang Bi’s translation of Vanity Fair are discovered to simplify the sentences. From her translation, we also find out that functional equivalence is achieved at the syntactical level in Yang Bi’s translation.

Example 2:

ST2:His first marriage with the daughter of the noble Binkie had been made under the auspices of his parents; and as he often told Lady Crawley in her lifetime she was such a confounded quarrelsome high-bred jade that when she died he was hanged if he would ever take another of her sort, at her ladyship’s demise he kept his promise, and selected for a second wife Miss Rose Dawson, daughter of Mr.Johm Thomas Dawson, ironmonger, of Mudbury. (Thackeray2016,75)

TT2:他第一次结婚的时候，奉父母之命娶了一位贵族小姐，是平葛家里的女儿。克劳来夫人活着的时候，他就常常当面说她是个讨人嫌的婆子，礼数又足，嘴巴子又碎；并且说等她死了之后，死也不愿意再娶这么一个老婆了。他说到做到：妻子去世以后，他就挑了墨特白菜铁器商人约翰·汤姆士·道生的女儿露丝·道生做填房。 （Yang Bi 2013,76)

In ST2, there is a long and complex sentence and the word quantity of this sentence is eighty. According to Nida’s theory, this long sentence can be divided into several kernel sentences(Nida 1946,76). Yang Bi carefully simplified this long sentence into several short sentences.

(1)他第一次结婚的时候，奉父母之命娶了一位贵族小姐，是葛平家里的女儿。

His first marriage with the daughter of the noble had been undre the auspices of his parents.

(2)他经常跟克莱劳夫人说一些事。

He often told Lady Crawley in her lifetime.

(3)她是个讨人嫌的婆子，礼数又足，嘴巴子又卖力。

She was such a confounded quarrelsome high-bred jade.

(4)她死后，他许下承诺。

He was hanged after her death.

(5）他不会再娶这么一个老婆了。

He would never take another of her sort.

(6)妻子去世后，他遵守了自己的承诺。

At her ladyship’s demise he kept his promise.

(7)他挑了墨特白菜铁器商人约翰·汤姆士·道生的女儿露丝·道生做填房。

He selected for a second wife Miss Rose Dawson, daughter of Mr. John Thomas Dawson, ironmonger, of Mudbury.

In this example, the sentence structure is transformed from a long complex sentence into seven short simple sentences. Although the sentence structure is different, the meaning of the original is expressed completely in its translation and the target language readers can have a good understanding of the original meaning.

An Analysis on Yan Fu’s Faithfulness, Expressiveness and Elegance from Translation of Vanity Fair

The translation of Yang Bi’s Vanity Fair is a good example of combination of Yan Fu’s faithfulness, expressiveness, and elegence(Guo Dingju 2013, 23). We will analyze Yang Bi’s translation of Vanity Fair from lrxical and sentence level.

At Lexical level

Literary words demands that the translator has good comand of comprehensive and expressive abilities. Although many words are equivalence in English-Chinese dictionary, yet it is not easy to achieve faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance with mere literal meaning equivalence(Guo Dingju 2013, 25). Thackeray is very particular about the words, so it is not easy for the translator to express the original meaning. But Yang Bi grasps the original meaning and does quite well in his translation, which makes the translation vivid and interesting. Let’s look at how to achieve faithfulness, expressive and elegance in her translation.

Example 3:

ST3: ...for what can be prettier than an image of Love on his knees before Beauty?(Thackeray 2006, 138) TT3:痴情公子向美貌佳人跪下求婚，还不是一幅最赏心悦目的画吗？(杨必 2013, 47)

In ST3, there is a scene of Baron proposing marriage to Rebecca. Thackeray uses the abstract words “an image of Love” and “Beauty” to refer to Baron and Rebecca. What’s more, the original text contains a ridiculous tone, and readers can feel humorous from Thackeray’s words. Only when the translator translates the style and spirit of the original faithfully can faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance be achieved. If the words “prettier”, “an image of Love” and “Beauty” are translated into “更好看”“爱情形象”“美人” respectively, the style and charm of the original are lost and faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance are not achieved in the translation. In Yang Bi’s translaton ,she achieves faithfulness, expressiveness and elegence by her good mastering of language. In TT3, “痴情男子”“美貌佳人”and “赏心悦目” reproduce the further meaning of the original text, which achieves the standard of Yan Fu’s faithfulness. What’s more, expressiveness is also achieved in her translation because the translation is smooth. Meanwhile, these groups of words are elegant, which convey the style and charm of the original text and conform to the characteristcs of literary works. Thus, elegance is also achieved in Yang Bi’s translation(Zhang Yanmei 2019, 19).

At Sentence Level

English and Chinese are different in many aspects. For example, English sentences are tree-structure and there are many long complex sentences in English, while Chinese sentences are bamboo-structure and they are usually short. English sentences emphasize hypotaxis, while Chinese sentences stress parataxis(Guo Dingju 2013,40). Thus, it is impracticable to translate English into Chinese without changing sentence structures and it is difficult for the translator to achieve Yan Fu’s standard of faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance. There are many long sentences in Vanity Fair, so it is a challenging work for Yang Bi to translate them into Chinese. However, by researching Yang Bi’s translation, we will find out her good performance of faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance.

Example 4: ST4:The amiable behavior of Mr.Crawley, and Lady Jane’s kind reception of her, highly flattered Miss Briggs, who was enabled to speak a good word for the latter, after the cards of the Southdown family had been presented to Miss Crawley.(Thackeray 2006, 74)

TT4:布立葛丝小姐看看克劳莱先生的态度那么客气，吉恩小姐又待她热情，觉得受宠若惊，等到沙吴赛家里的名片送到克劳莱小姐面前，她就找机会给吉恩小姐说了些好话。(Yang Bi 1997, 6)

In the original sentence, the abstract words “behavior” and “reception” are the subject of the sentence, which shows the static feature of English. If translate it into “克劳莱先生的客气态度和吉恩小姐的热情接待使布立葛丝小姐受宠若惊……” without changing sentence structure, we will find that it doesn’t conform to the expression habits of Chinese. Although it seems to be faithful to the original form and meaning, it is stiff. On the contrary, Yang Bi changes its sentence structure and uses the object of the original as the subject in target language. With this adjustment, Yang Bi changes static language into dynamic one and faithfully reproduces the meaning of the original into target language. What’s more, her translation is smooth and full of beauty of literary works. In a word, the translation of this sentence conform to the standard of faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance.

A Comparative Study on Translation Theory of Nida and Yan Fu

The Similarities of Them

Nida’s functional equivalence and Yan Fu’s faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance are very popular in the translation field, which have been used as golden rules in the process of translating. In fact, there are many similarities between them. This paper will research two main similarities of them.

One similarity of them is that they both pay attention to readers’ response. In Nida’s opinion, one of important ways of evaluating translation works is the target text reader’s response to the information conveyed by the original author. Thus, when evaluating a translation work we should pay attention to target language readers. Meanwhile, we should compare the reaction of original readers with the reaction of target readers to see if they are consistent(Nida&Taber 1969, 22). Yan Fu also attaches great importance to readers.The purpose of his translation is to enlighten the ruling class, who are more proficient in classical Chinese. So Yan Fu advocates using the words and grammar of Han Dynasty. Therefore, Nida and Yan Fu both pay attention to readers.

The other similarity is that they both emphasize on conveying information. Nida believes that translation is communication. Translation works are useless if they cannot play the role of communicating. Therefore, the relationship between the target language recipient and the translation information should be the same as the relationship between the original language recipient and the original information(Nida 1969,30). But sometimes it is difficult to completely convey information in the original text into the target text. In this case, the translator must change the form of the target language to some extent. Yan Fu also stresses on conveying the original information. He points out that words and phrases can be reversed, added and deleted freely(Guo Dingju 2013,44). We need not care too much about the order of phrases without losing the original meaning. By comparing the similarities of Nida’s and Yan Fu’s translation theories, we can find out that they both pay attention to readers and emphasize on conveying information of the original text.

The Differences of Them

Although there are many similarities of them, they have several differences because of different cultural background, personal consciousness and other factors. Firstly, functional equivalence is more logic and scientific than faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance. The former is closely related to multiple disciplines, and it is more systematic, while the latter is merely based on literature and aesthetics(Zhang Yimei 2020, 180). Secondly, Nida gives detailed explanation of functional equivalence,which is clear and accurate, while the explanation of faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance given by Yan Fu is somewhat ambiguous(Zhang Yimei 2020, 181). There are a lot of arguments on the explanation of “elegance”. What’s more, the concrete explanation of “faithfulness” is not clear. Whether the target text should only be “faithful” to the content of the original text or the content and style of the original is not explicit to translators. Thirdly, in guiding sense, Nida’s functional equivalence mentions four aspects, that is, lexical equivalence, syntactical equivalence, textual equivalence and stylistic equivalence, and he gives six principles on how to achieve functional equivalence(Nida 1964, 67). However, Yan Fu doesn’t mention how to achieve faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance, so translators can only use them as translation standard.

Conclusion

With the further communication between Western and Chinese culture, it is vital to study literature as it is a bridge to connect different cultures and a good medium to know the colorful world. Vanity Fair is a literary work that gains a great popularity in the nineteenth century because it satirizes the hypocrisy of the upper class(Guo Dingju 2013, 22). However, it is difficult to translate it from English into Chinese because of differences of these two languages. By a coincidence, Nida’s functional equivalence and Yan Fu’s faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance can be used as a guidance in the process of translating. From comparison above, we know that there are some similarities and differences between them. I believe that these two translation theories play an important role in translating and they can guide us better understand different cultures. At the end of this paper, I will discuss the implements and limitations of this study.

Implements

Based on analysis above, we can see that Nida’s functional equivalence and Yan Fu’s faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance are conducive to our translating works and it is feasible to apply them into translation practice. By comparing Nida’s and Yan Fu’s translation theories, we know that there are many similarities and differences between them and we can find out that Nida’s functional equivalence is systematic and scientific, while the explanation of Yan Fu’s faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance is not very clear, and the specific ways to achieve faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance are not given(Zhang Yimei 2020, 181). What’s more, from the point of modern translation theories, both Nida’s and Yan Fu’s translation theories are very limited. Their theories are suitable in some fields, while in other fields they are not very proper(Guo Ding 2013, 48). All in all, we should learn from other’s strong points to make up one’s deficiencies to make our translation better and apply them into our translation practice.

Limitations

Translation of literary works is a very difficult and demanding thing, which requires a good command of both English and Chinese languages, and an excellent understanding of two cultures. Although the author have spared efforts to do the study, there still exist some limitations. Firstly, the examples of Vanity Fair used in the analysis is very limited, so its generalizability is far from adequate. Secondly, this study is restricted because it only takes one translation version of Vanity Fair as a case study instead of a comparative study between different translation versions.

References

Nida, Eugene Albert奈达.(1964).Toward a Science of Translating 《翻译的科学探索》. Leiden: Brill Archive博睿学术出版社.

Nida, Eugene Albert奈达, and Charles Russell Taber 泰伯, eds 著.(1969). The Theory and Practice of Translation《翻译理论与实践》. Leiden: Brill Archive博睿学术出版社.

Nida, Eugene Albert奈达, and Jan de Waard.(1986) From One Language to Another《从一种语言到另一种语言》. Nashville: Thomas Nelson托马斯·纳尔逊出版社.

Nida, Eugene Albert奈达.(1993). Language, Culture and Translating《语言、文化与翻译》.Shanghai:Shanghai Foreign Languages Education Press上海外语教育出版社.

Thackeray,William萨克雷.（2006）. Vanity Fair《名利场》.Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press外语教学与研究出版社.

Chen Minjie陈岷婕.(2013).浅谈严复的“信达雅”与奈达的“功能对等”[On Yan Fu’s “Faithfulness, Expressiveness and Elegance” and Nida’s “functional Equivalence”].科教文汇The Science Education Article Collects(236)94-97.

Guo Dingju郭丁菊.(2013).功能对等理论与信达雅翻译理论的比较研究[A Comparative Study on Functional Equivalence and Faithfulness Expressiveand Elegance from the Translation of Vanity Fair].Harbin:Northeast Forestry University东北农业大学.

Li Jianzhong李建中.(2009)中国文学批评史[History of Chinese Literary Criticism].Beijing:Peking University Press北京大学出版社.

Tan Kai谭凯.(2011)严复“信、达、雅”和奈达“功能对等”理论的比较研究[A Comparative Study on Yan Fu’s “Faithfulness Expressive and Elegance” and Nida’s “Functional Equivalence].青年作家Young Writers(1)43-44.

Wang Yunxi王运熙,Gu Yisheng顾易生.(2007).中国文学批评史新编[A New History of Chinese Literary Criticism].Shanghai:Shanghai Classics Publishing House上海古籍出版社.

Yan Fu严复(2009).《天演论》译例言[Preface to Evolution and Ethics].Beijing:The Commercial Press商务印书馆.

Yang Bi杨必.(2013)《名利场》[Vanity Fair].Beijing:People’s Literature Publishing House人民文学出版社.

Zhang Yanmei张妍梅.(2019).功能对等理论视角下《名利场》的翻译[A Study on The Translation of Vanity Fair from the Perspective of Functional Equivalence Theory].Lanzhou:Lanzhou Jiaotong University兰州交通大学.

Zhang Xi张曦.(2014).翻译硕士备考指南[A Guide Book to MTI].Shanghai:Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press上海交通大学出版社.

Zhang Yimei张忆美.(2020).对比“信达雅”与功能对等[A Comparison on :Faithfulness Expressiveness and Elegance].China Academic Journal Electronic Publishing House中国学术期刊电子出版社(2)180-181.

English Translation of 2019 Government Work Report from the Perspective of Eco-translatology 义子楚 Yi Zichu

===Abstract=== In recent years, with the deepening of the reform and opening up, the Government Work Report has become China's foreign political communication hub conducive to a better understanding by the international community of the work of the Chinese government. Therefore, how to effectively write the corresponding English version and how to fully convey the message of the government's work is one of the main problems for translators. Eco-translatology is an ecological paradigm and research field which defines that translation is adaptation and selection and highlights multi-dimension transformation. This thesis analyzes the English translation of the 2019 Government Work Report from three perspectives: linguistic, cultural and communicative dimensions. It is shown that eco-translatology help improve the quality of the English translation of 2019 Government Work Report .

===Key words=== eco-translatology; 2019 Government Work Report; multi-dimension transformation

===摘要===近年来，随着改革开放的不断深入，《政府工作报告》已变成中国对外政治交流的枢纽，有利于加深国际社会对中国政府工作的了解。因此，如何有效地编写《中国政府工作报告》对应的英文版本，从而全面清晰地解释政府工作的内容是政府对外翻译的主要问题之一。生态翻译理论从生态学视角对翻译进行综观的整体性研究，是一个‘翻译即适应与选择’的生态范式和研究领域。本文主要从生态翻译学的多维翻译理论着手，通过语言维、文化维和交际维三个角度对《2019政府工作报告》的英译版本进行分析。分析显示生态翻译理论较好地解决了政府工作报告中翻译难题，提高了英文翻译的质量。 关键词：生态翻译学，《政府工作报告》，多维转换理论

Introduction

The Government Work Report of the state council is a review of the work within a year, which the National People's Congress on the prime minister of state court reports to the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, including the task of deployment, and the transmission of the priority tasks. It reflects the national policy, culture, as an important text of national conditions. Over the past four decades and since reform and opening up, China's overall political, economic, cultural and military strength has grown steadily, and so has its voice in the world. On the one hand, China is recognized and supported by the international community in economic, political and cultural fields. On the other hand, countries hope to have a deeper understanding of China, strengthen ties with China and realize common development. Due to this, the translation of external publicity is particularly important. Let China know more about the world and let the world know more about China. As the latest work report of the year, the 2019 Government Work Report is not only a comprehensive summary of the work of the government in 2018, but also a plan for the work of the government in 2019. It covers the latest political, economic, cultural and diplomatic developments in China. Eco-translatology theory, which originated in China, provides a new and unique perspective for translation studies and has made great progress in the past two decades. Through the interpretation of the core concepts of eco-translatology, this paper interprets the report language from the perspectives of vocabulary and syntax, and proposes corresponding translation strategies based on language dimension, cultural dimension and communicative dimension, so as to provide reference for the translation of external publicity materials. In order to understand the Government Work Report accurately, we must be combined with the society and culture of China. So, the Chinese-English translation is of great significance. And in recent years, the domestic scholars attach great importance to the translation of political words. Therefore, it has important functions and research values to study on the Chinese-English translation of Government Work Report from the prospective of eco-translatology. Cheng Zhenqiu(2003）reposed that the translation of political articles should focus on politics. Huang Youyi(2004) proposed The Three Principles of External Publicity Translation. Tong Xiaohua (2014) explores the English translation of the Government Work Report from different perspectives. Wang Gangyi（2014）also pointed out that the former absolute loyalty to the translation of political texts can no longer satisfy the changing society and readers. Linguistics emphasizes the equivalence of texts from different aspects, which is of great guiding significance for texts like the Government Work Report that emphasizes fidelity. Under the guidance of Nida's functional equivalence theory, Zhou Ji studied the economic and political terms in the report at the lexical and textual levels. In 2001, Joan Pinkham (2000:1) published a book and it is The Translator’s Guide to Chinglish, in which it explores the Chinglish in political publicity from the angle of lexis and syntax. In her book, she suggested that translators should not only understand the subtle connotations of words and sentences clearly and use more idioms to express the meanings of the source text, but also pay special attention to the tone and short sentences of Chinese, and avoid the use of outdated, rigid terms, slang and colloquialisms. Compared with domestic studies, the number of relevant studies abroad is very small, and there are almost no relevant translation studies. Moreover, it is worth mentioning that foreign countries are more interested in the content of the report, that is, to describe the national policies, culture and social issues. This thesis focuses on translation of political publicity from the perspective of eco-translatology in order to proves that eco-translation is conductive and practical in the process of translating the Government Work Report and summarizes several useful strategies in translating political texts. Moreover, this thesis analyzes the features of Government Work Report, which provides a clear mind for translators in selecting the proper strategies in translation process of the Government Work Report. This thesis includes three chapters. The first part introduces the research background of the study and the significance of the study, and also illustrates the previous research on the translation of Government Work Report at home and abroad. Chapter two surrounds on the theoretical framework of eco-translatology including adaptation and selection principle and multi-dimensional translation principle. Chapter three, as one of the main chapter of the thesis, analyzes the translation of the 2019 Government Work Report from the perspective of eco-translatology.  

1.Introduction of Government Work Report

Government Work Report has the features of com prehension and objection, it using the data and truth to telling the achievements of all aspects and obey the practical and realistic rules to implementing the plan. Government Work Report emphasizes on the key point of works which has plain and innovative writing style. As a typical political text, Government Work Report manifests distinctive features. First, we need to understand the characteristics of the words, phrases, and sentences in the report so that we can translate them naturally and logically.

1.1 Lexical Level

For Government Work Report has its own features at m any levels, it often uses the formal and concise words, terminology and plain words at lexical level. And the new, popular words and words with Chinese characteristics are also employed. Therefore, it is very necessary to pay attention to the features at lexical level when analyzing the Government Work Report.

1.1.1Formal and Concise Words

The expressions like “认真贯彻”(fully implement), “坚定不移纠正”(take stern action against)are quite formal and not common in colloquial conversation. Some expressions like “砥砺奋进”(forged ahead), “攻坚克难”(overcame difficulties) are quite condensed so that the simplest word can explain more meanings. The Chinese four-word structure characteristic can fully satisfy the need of concision, therefore, there are many this kind of structure occurred in the Government Work Report.

1.1.2 Terms with Chinese Characteristics

As the Government Work Reports involve many professional fields like politics, economics, livelihood, medicine and technology. Therefore, terms in different fields are inevitable，such as “半拉子”工程 ( Make sure that projects financed by such debts are not stopped half way.); “河长制、湖长制”( river chiefs and lake chiefs ) ; “革命老区” ( old revolutionary base areas ); “民族地区”( areas with large ethnic minority populations ) ; “携号转网”( keep their numbers and switching carriers ); “厕所革命”( the Toilet Revolution ). These words are all unique terms for China ’s national conditions in recent years. If they are translated literally, it will inevitably lead to differences in the understanding of target language readers. In this case, translators must adapt to the ecological environment.

1.1.3 New and Popular Words

The new words here refer to the popular expressions of the year. They are widely known by people. The internet and other media are also frequently and widely used, such as “好差评”(government service evaluation system); “互联网+”(Internet Plus); “包干制”(the creation of ceilings in funding that enable the retention of unused funds)”僵尸企业”(zombie enterprises);”大病保险”(serious disease insurance ); “绿色发展”(green development). They are too popular on the Chinese social life to let even the government leaders use them and create new ones.

1.2 Syntactic Level

In Chinese, the grammatical subject is always absent in a sentence. In Government Work Report, there have lots of this kind of structure frequently. English is a metamorphic language which requires a large number of logical word clauses to build the integrity of language form and meaning. In English grammar, the subject is inevitable so that it can be a complete sentence. Eg: “困难不容低估，信心不可动摇，干劲不能松懈。” (The difficulties we face must not be underestimated, our confidence must not be weakened, and the energy we bring to our work must not be allowed to wane.) It is clear that there is no subject in these sentences. However, it adds “we face” and “we bring to work” as subjects to make foreign readers better understand.

1.3 Rhetorical Level

In terms of the rhetorical devices in Government Work Report, repetition, parataxis, metaphor and personification are the figures of speech most frequently used.

1.3.1 Repetition and Parataxis

Repetition and parataxis structure have the reinforcement effect which make the language of Government Work Report vivid and easy to be understood. Although in Chinese, repetition has both the emphasis and coherence effect, in the translation it is not just repeating one word but also keep the similar linguistic structure. Eg: “进一步稳就业、稳金融、稳外贸、稳外资、稳投资、稳预期”(take further steps to ensure stable employment, a stable financial sector, stable foreign trade, stable foreign investment, stable domestic investment, and stable expectations) [1] “获得感、幸福感、安全感”(enable people to feel more satisfied, happy, and secure) [1] “增进稳增长、促改革、调结构、惠民生、防风”(sustain healthy economic development and maintain social stability) [1]===== Metaphor and personification, which seem not fit the formal style of Government Work Report, are actually adopted for certain purpose. A metaphor as a figure of speech identifies something as being the same as some unrelated thing for rhetorical effect, thus highlighting the similarities between the two. Eg:“我国发展仍处于重要战略机遇期，拥有足够的韧性、巨大的潜力和不断迸发的创新活力” (China is still in an important period of strategic opportunity for development and has ample resilience, enormous potential, and great creativity to unleash. )[1] “在实际执行中，既要把好货币供给总闸门，不搞 “大水漫灌” (In implementation, we will ensure the valve on aggregate monetary supply is well controlled and refrain from using a deluge of stimulus policies)[1] “放水养鱼”(an accommodative effect)[1]

2.A Brief Introduction to Eco-translatology

Eco-translatology as a transdisciplinary approach to eco-translatology studies, it is a holistic study of translation using ecological rationality and an ecological perspective. It is considered an ecological paradigm of translation which is adaptation and selection. Translator-centered theory, adaptation and selection, and translation ecological environment are the three core concepts of the theory. The theory requires that the translator's subjective and active role be exerted, and continuous adaptation and choice be made in the translation process to meet the entire translation ecological environment, that is, the harmony between the translator and the original, target, and target language readers. Three-dimensional translation methods such as dimension and communicative dimension to get the original text with higher integration.

2.1 Evolution of Eco-translatology

Eco-translation was firstly generated in the beginning of 21st century. Before it was initiated by scholars in China, there was no such notion in theory. In this sense, it could be seen as a new school which “was built from ground” (Haggas, 2011). Eco-translation looks into translation from a brand new perspective. Therefore, many new terms and concepts are adopted in the relative studies. Both of confusion and contribution present themselves in the foundation of eco-translation. To better understand the theory, we need to figure out the basis on which it is formed

2.1.1 Previous Studies on Eco-translatology

As a translation theory originated in China, eco-translatology has been gradually improved in the past two decades. In 2001, professor Hu Gengshen laid the foundation for the theory of adaptation and selection of translation. Since then, the first decade has been the period of constructing and expanding the theoretical framework. In the second decade, with the holding of the international symposium on eco-translatology and the practice of the theory of eco-translatology of the professors of various universities, the eco-translatology system has gradually become mature. Liu Yafeng wrote adaptation and selection of translators -- a study on the translation process of external publicity, pointing out that translators should play their role of “selection” and “adaptation” as the center in the translation process of external publicity, so as to realize the harmony and unity of the whole translation ecological environment. For three-dimensional adaptation and selection principles, Zhou Li wrote the multi-dimensional integration principle under the care of the political party and government discourse translation to demonstrate the dimensions of language, culture, and communication in the perspective of the Chinese party guiding significance of discourse translation. It further enlightens the translator for the use of a multi-dimensional integration technique and set up a bridge of communication between the original language and target language.

2.1.2 Application of Eco-translatology

There are many types of text analysis related to eco-translatology. Specifically, it includes: first, the analysis of various classical translations, such as a dream of red mansions, etc. Scholars have analyzed the reasons for the success of these classic works from the perspective of the overall translation ecological environment and the principle of “three-dimensional” transformation, pointing out that translators can only translate good works if they adapt to the translation ecological environment. These analysis has been the focus of research, and can best prove the feasibility of the theory. Secondly, the text analysis of public signs points out the direction from a new perspective. Thirdly, the text analysis of film title and subtitle. Fourthly, the text analysis of news translation. Scholars have analyzed the phenomenon of news text translation from different perspectives of eco-translatology and provided theoretical guidance.

2.2 Focuses of Eco-translatology

2.2.1 Adaption and Selection

The relationship between “adaptation” and “selection” has rarely been discussed before the emergence of “translation adaptation and selection theory”, a basic research of eco-translatology, let alone a special topic, systematic description and explanation. According to the theory of adaptation and selection, translators should make both adaptation and selection. There are choices in adaptation, namely adaptive selection; There is adaptation, or selective adaptation. The specific characteristics of such selective adaptation and adaptive selection are as follows: first, “adaptation” -- translators' adaptation to the ecological environment of translation; The second is “selection” -- the translator carries out the selection of the target text with the “identity” of the translation ecological environment. Translation is described as an alternate cycle of adaptation and selection. The internal relations of this cycle are as follows: “the purpose of adaptation is survival and effectiveness, and the means of adaptation is optimization; and the method of choice is “tide weak stay strong”. The criterion of translation criticism is also expressed from the perspective of “adaptation/selection”[2]. The best choice is adaptive; The best translation is the one with the highest degree of integration, adaptation and selection.[2]

2.2.2 Multi-dimension Transformation

Language dimension adaptive selection conversion refers to the translator's emphasis on language level, including word use, language structure, language form and other aspects of translation. “Translators should have a deep understanding of the expression habits and methods of the original language, and choose language forms from different dimensions and perspectives, so as to adapt to the ecological environment of the original language” (Hu Gengshen,2013:57). Translators should avoid word-for-word translation for the formal level of language, and should further combine the target language with the imaginary language ecosystem. In this way, it is helpful to further realize the balance between the ecology of the source language and the ecology of the target language of translation, and provide the readers with a harmonious and thought-provoking translation. Cultural dimension adaptive selection transformation is an important translation method for translators to improve the quality of translation and realize the multi-dimensional transformation from different levels. The expression of different languages symbolizes different cultures. Of course there are big differences between the original and the target language culture. In the process of translation, to avoid misunderstanding of the original readers fully, conversion of the translator should try to reproduce the original language cultural ecology system, fully implement the original language ecological balance of ecosystem, and the target language to reproduce the original culture, thought and emotion and so on various aspects of the elements, the correct translation methods dealing with the unique cultural connotation, rich in every country to achieve successful communication and exchanges. Translators should understand the value orientation of the original language and culture and focus on the transformation of cultural connotation to achieve the best translation. Adaptive selection of communicative dimension focuses on whether the communicative intention in the original text is successfully realized in translation. If the communicative intention of the original information is not realized, the information processed by the translation will have no meaning at all. Translators should pay attention to many aspects and levels, including the transformation of language information and cultural connotation, and at the same time, should pay attention to whether the communicative purpose is successfully achieved in the transformation. By all means, it is forbidden to translate the original text faithfully and ignore the deep connotation of the original text. In a word, the focus of the multi-dimensional transformation in ecological translation theory is to carry out adaptive selection and transformation from three aspects of language, culture and communication. Although the selection and transformation of translators is not limited to these three dimensions in the process of translation practice, multi-dimension transformation is the most important way in the translation process. In addition, the more dimensions the translator pays attention to in the process of translation, the stronger the degree of adaptation and selection of the translation, and the higher the quality of the translation will be.

3.E-C Translation of 2019 Government Work Report from an Eco-translatology Perspective

From the perspective of the eco-translatology theory, the multi-dimensional transformation which includes the linguistics dimensional transformation, culture dimensional transformation and communication dimensional can help translator understand and translate effectively.

3.1 Linguistic Dimension

The transformation of linguistic dimension refers to the transformation of linguistic form and structure during the practice of translation so as to adapt to the ecological environment of the target language. English is a hypotaxis language, which focuses on the integrity of sentence structure while Chinese is a paratonic language, whose language form is simple, but often the deep meaning needs the reader to dig. Highly condensed Chinese expressions are often used in government reports Example 1 我们坚持不搞“大水漫灌”式强刺激(We were firm in choosing not to adopt a deluge of strong stimulus policies.) [1] “大水灌溉” is an irrigation method commonly used in Chinese agricultural production which water is poured directly into the ground. Not only does it waste water, but it is also prone to secondary salinization under drought conditions. This term is used to refer to a simple and broad way of working in the process of economic reform. In the Chinese ecological environment, it is not difficult for Chinese readers to understand the meaning of metaphors and related words, so a cognitive model for English readers is needed. In order to adapt to the ecological environment, the translator did not translate the metaphor of “flooding”, but chose to translate the economic structural reform model it represents. This not only adapts to the impact of cognitive context on the English language ecology, but also reduces the difficulty in understanding English readers. Example 2 “增强人民群众获得感、幸福感、 安全感”(Enable people to feel more satisfied, happy and secure.) [1] In the Government Work Report, “sense of gain, sense of happiness and sense of security” is people's expectation for a better life, and has become a familiar word in the original language. However, in the process of English translation, the translator does not repeat the word “sense”, but turns these three words into three adjectives, which are concise and clear Example 3 “绿色发展人人有责，贵在行动、 成在坚持”(Promoting green development is down to every last one of us; its success hinges on action and commitment.) [1] The translator doesn’t translate “贵在行动、成在坚持” into”its value lies in action and its success hinges on commitment”word by word while take the way of integrating. It is a model that targets economic growth and social development as efficient, harmonious and sustainable. In today's world, green development has become an important trend. Many countries regard green development as an industry and also an important measure to promote economic restructuring, and it is also a highlight. Green development means safety, environmental protection and sustainable development. “Green” often appears on topics related to life, such as “Green Peace” and green food. In traditional Chinese culture, “green” represents wealth, honor or prosperity, which reflects people's hope for a better life. From a linguistic perspective, translators translate “green development” to “green,” which conveys the concept of healthy development in China. It can also be accepted by readers.

3.2 Cultural Dimension

The transformation of cultural dimension means that the translator should pay attention to the transmission and interpretation of cultural connotation in the process of translation, taking into account the cultural differences of the source language. The Government Work Report is a summary of the work of the Chinese government in various fields in the past year. The purpose of the report is to let foreign audiences know the content of the report. In particular, the report covers a large number of vocabularies with Chinese characteristics and cultural form. Example 4”双随机，一公开”(Oversight conducted through the random selection of both inspectors and inspection targets and the prompt release of results was implemented nationwide.)[1] It means, during the supervision process, the inspection objects are randomly selected, law enforcement inspectors are randomly selected, and the inspection results and investigation results are made public to the society in a timely manner. If the literal translation is only superficial, the readers of the target language will be confused. In order to solve this cultural difference, the translator added the complete connotation of each phrase to realize the intention of conveying cultural connotation. Example 5 “思危方能居安”(Only alertness to danger will ensure safety.)[1] In Chinese, it means”居安思危，思则有备，有备无患”, which means that even though you are in a peaceful environment, you are aware of the possibility of danger. To be mentally prepared for unexpected events. When translating, the translator takes full account of this difference in thinking and understands it as a literal translation after modern Chinese. Example 6 “是广大干部群众筚路蓝缕、千辛万苦干出来的” (...have been made by our officials and people through perseverance and hard work.)[1] “筚路蓝缕” refers that people drive a simple car, wearing ragged clothes to split the mountains. The use of great hardships in the original text fully reflects the hard-won achievements and presents a very vivid image in front of people. However, for the target language readers, this cultural connotation is missing, therefore, the translator chooses to omit the specific image of “enduring hardships” and directly translate its persistence and diligence, which is more understood and accepted by the target language readers

3.3 Communicative Dimension

From the perspective of the essence of translation, the ultimate purpose of translation is to meet the needs of communication between people and achieve smooth communication. The communicative dimension mainly reflects the communication between different languages, with different factors such as the way of expression and the way of construction, etc. Chinese expression cannot find the corresponding words or sentences in English expression. Therefore, the theory of adaptive selection is particularly important in translation practice. Example 7”大班额”问题 (“The problem of oversized classes”) For western countries, due to different economic development levels and different education systems, the problem of “large class size” is relatively strange to western countries. Therefore, it is necessary to explain the concept of “large class size” in order to achieve the purpose of communication. Example 8”继续推进保障性住房建设和城镇棚户区改造”(We will continue to build government subsidized housing and rebuild rundown urban areas.) “保障性住房”is a fixed standard, price or rent housing provided by the government to families with low and middle-income housing difficulties. “Shantytown renovation” is a livelihood project launched by the Chinese government to renovate dilapidated old houses in cities and towns and improve housing conditions for poor families. These are the unique policies of the Chinese government to achieve the comprehensive implementation of poverty alleviation, translators need to adapt to the target language readers to understand the transformation. Example 9 “加大”破、立、降”力度” (We strengthened work to cut ineffective supply, foster new growth drivers, and reduce costs in the real economy.)[1] In the sentence, there are only three simple and clear words—”破、立、降”，which is usually seen in the Chinese. It lacks the objects, as we have discussed before, English sentence must be complete. If it is literally translated, the foreign readers will be confused and different meanings will be produced. So due to the purpose of communication, the translator adds the specific objects to be better understood. In short, the emphasis of three-dimensional translation in eco-translatology theory is to carry out adaptive selection and transformation of translation from three aspects: language, culture, and communication. Although in the process of translation practice the translator is not limited to multi-dimensional transformation. In addition, the more dimensions the translator pays attention to in the process of translation, the stronger the degree of adaptation and selection of the translation, the better the translation will be.

Conclusion

During the process of translation, many factors should be taken into consideration in order to fit with the actual situations and catch public’s attention quickly. Different languages have their language systems and certain features in expression. As the most important carrier of culture, language can also be regarded as an extremely complex linguistic system. Translation is the process of transforming different cultures. Therefore, both source language and target language’s culture should be considered carefully. As a result, every translator is supposed to think about all the aspects before translating and select the most suitable words and sentence patterns. Because of its important political status and function, the Government Work Report has its unique linguistic features, such as the use of formal words, four-character words and Chinese characteristic words. The mastery of its language features lays a foundation for the application and analysis of multi-dimensional translation strategies. Aiming at repeated words in sentences and information, the translator mainly uses the province translation skills. Aiming at the same word in different parts of the sentence translation, the translator should choose according to the sentences and words in the context. Due to the differences between Chinese and English, translators mainly adopt the translation techniques of free translation or joint translation to deal with the translation of parallel structures. In cultural adaptation in the process of translation, or from the historical allusion and the Chinese characteristic vocabulary and culture, the analysis can be concluded that the Government Work Report in English translation does not affect the ecological balance and harmonious between the original language and target language, the translator mainly uses the province translation or free translation skills to deal with allusions. For some corresponding expression in target language vocabulary, they can be directly applied with those unable to find corresponding expression in target language. There is no established translation, the translator mainly adopts province translation, free translation, literal translation and annotation methods for translation, which is committed to preserving the original and the translation of balance and harmony, and achieve effective transformation of culture level. Finally, translators can use these skills to achieve communicative intention. First of all, we have explained the significance and background of the essay. The preview studies of political texts are also included. In the first chapter, we analyze the characteristics of 2019 Chinese Government Work Report from three levels and also give specific examples to further explain. In the second chapter, We introduce the concept of eco-translatology and mainly explain the two core theoretical principles of eco-transtology to build the foundation of the essay . In the third chapter, we have discussed the Government Work Report translation from the perspective of eco-translatology with multi-dimension theory and in this way, we have summarized that eco-translatology can be applied to Government Work Report translation. However, this study still has its limitations. Firstly, the eco-translatology is a new theory which is not systematic and it is a new perspective to the translation of political text, which may not be convincing in the global range of translation areas. Meanwhile, as the Government Work Report is a special political document, the readership is not very wide, so it is difficult to conduct an in-depth investigation on the readers' acceptance, so as to make an in-depth analysis on the shortcomings of the English translation of the Government Work Report.

Bibliography

Ayto, J. Bloomsbury Dictionary of World Origins[M]. London: Bloomsbury, 1991. Bliss, A.J. A Dictionary of Foreign Words and Phrases in Current English[M]. New York: Dutton Press, 1966. Baker M.Corpus. Linguistics and Translation Studies: Implications and Applications[M]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing,1993. Hermans, T. Translation in Systems: Descriptive and Systemoriented Approaches Explained[M]. Manchester: St. Jerome Publishing, 1999. Hu, Gengshen. Translation as Adaptation and Selection [J]. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology, 2003 (4): 283-291. Joan Pinkham. The Translator’s Guide to Chinglish [M]. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2000. 程镇球. 政治文章的翻译要讲政治[J]. 中国翻译, 2003(3): 18-22. 方梦之. 从核心术语看生态翻译学的建构[P]. 首届国际生态翻译学研讨会，2010, 澳门. 胡庚申. 初探翻译适应选择论[P]. 国际译联第三届亚洲翻译家论坛，2001, 香港. 胡庚申．生态翻译学的研究焦点与理论视角[J]．中国翻译,2011 (2) : 5－9． 黄友义. 坚持”外宣三贴近”原则，处理好外宣翻译中的难点问题[J]. 中国翻译,2004(6):27-28. 胡庚申．生态翻译学解读[J]．中国翻译,2008 (6) : 11－15． 刘润清. 西方语言学流派[M]. 北京:外语教学与研究出版社, 2002. 童孝华.翻译的主体意识——2014年政府工作报告翻译心得[J]. 中国翻译,2014(4):92-97. 王刚毅.政治文件翻译的几点思考和建议[J]. 中国翻译, 2014(3):8 王英. 功能对等视角下汉英翻译中的冗余研究—以2012年政府工作报告为例[D]. 广东外语外贸大学, 2013. 周吉.《政府工作报告》中有中国特色政经用语的对等翻译[J]. 广西大学学报,2006(28):167-169. 周丽. 多维整合原则关照下的时政党政话语翻译[J]. 上海翻译.2015(3):42-44. 杨广,吉鑫悦. 生态视角下的政府工作报告英译解读[J]. 海外英语,2017(13):108-109 中国外交部. 2019年中国政府工作报告[R], 2019.

 

A Simple Comparison between Nida and Catford’s Translation Theory of Equivalence - 欧阳玲 Ouyang Ling, 202070080603 专业 is missing--Mo Ling (talk) 08:38, 14 December 2020 (UTC)Mo Ling

欧阳玲 Ouyang Ling

Abstract

Abstract: Nida and Catford shared the same period of translation studies but carried on their studies from different perspective. Nida put forward two types of equivalence and accordingly some methods to achieve his ideal equivalent response of receptors(Munday, 2008: 42). His equivalence theory was built on his ideas about nature of translation, which was the process of reproducing in the receptor language the message of source language(Nida, 1964: 12). So Nida tends to provide a new direction which is oriented by the receptors. The nature and task of translation in Nida’s opinion formed a theoretical basis to set the equivalence theory in a comprehensive and systematic way. Catford, in another way, held a idea that any theory of translation must draw upon a general linguistic theory and therefore presented the equivalence at different linguistic levels between source language and target language(Catford, 1965: 1). In his opinion, the equivalence exists between the categories and the conditions to examine the equivalence lie on the relatable extent with the features of substance. Therefore, Catford’s theories seem to be more of abstract. The paper intends to develop a comparative study upon Nida and Catford’s theory of equivalence and my thoughts on their application in translation practices.

Key words

Nida; Cartford; equivalence theory; linguistic theories

题目

《论翻译对等理论——奈达与卡特福特比较研究》

摘要

奈达和卡特福德在翻译学研究中处于同一时期，但二人开展的研究却是基于于不同的角度。奈达提出了两种对等类型，并提出了相应的策略以达到他理想的对等状态，即使译文接受者获得与原文接受者相同的反应（芒迪, 2008: 42）。他的对等理论建立在他关于翻译本质的观点之上，即在接受语中再现源语信息的过程（奈达, 1964: 12）。因此奈达提供了一种以译文接受者为导向的新研究方向，并基于对翻译的性质和任务的界定构成了对等理论的理论基础。另一方面，卡特福德认为任何翻译理论都必须借鉴一般语言学理论，因此提出了源语言和目的语在不同语言层面上的对等（卡特福德, 1965: 1）。他认为对等是通过范畴表现出来，而判断对等的条件就是原文和译文中各个范畴特性的相关性，因此卡特福特的理论似乎更具抽象性。本文旨在对奈达和卡特福德的对等理论进行比较研究，并对二者在翻译实践中的应用进行思考。

关键词

奈达；卡特福德；对等理论；语言学理论

1.Introduction

1.1.Nida’s Theory of Equivalence

Nida’s translation theories were formed along with the process of his translating the Bible. Through the reflection upon these translation practices, he defined the nature of translation and pointed the task of translators. Afterwards, he discarded the old term such as “literal”, “free” and “faithful” translation by putting forward the theory of equivalence(Munday, 2008: 42) . The equivalence in Nida’s theory can be achieved at two levels: formal equivalence and dynamic equivalence and he saw the two approaches to realize his ideal translation that equivalent effect between source language receptors and target language receptors. By bringing the two concepts up, Nida provided two directions when working on a translation work as well as standards of evaluating the work after it was done. Specifically, formal equivalence in Nida’s definition is the status of translation being equivalent with the source text in both contents and forms. To achieve this status, translators should be oriented towards the source text’s message and structure(Munday, 2008: 42). And dynamic, or functional equivalence, turned further to a new focus on the response of receptor. If the target language receptors react to the translation in the same way as source language receptors do to the source text, the success of a translation is then achieved in Nida’s functional equivalence theory. His theory put forward a new trend of translation studies at that time. Nida’s equivalence theory directed people to evaluate a translation by judging and comparing the response of receptors in stead of considering the correctness and accuracy of translation or comparing the formal and stylistic features between source language and target language. In a comprehensive and systematic way, Nida’s equivalence theory elaborated the approaches and the ideal status of translation based on his understanding on the nature of translation, and this equivalence theory has always been praised as his greatest achievement in translation studies.

1.2.Cartford’s Theory of Equivalence

Catford’s translation theories were built on the discipline of linguistics, and his equivalence theory was included of course. Catford stated in his book A Linguistic Theory of Translation the theory of translation is concerned with a certain type of relation between languages and is consequently a branch of Comparative Linguistics(Catford, 1965: 20). His theory of equivalence was also originated his definition of the nature of translation, which is the replacement of textual material in one language by equivalent textual material in another language( Catford, 1965: 20). His definition, in other words, portrayed the task for translators. In his opinion, in the process of translation, translators are supposed to replace every grammatical and lexical items in the source language with equivalents in the target language. So in this way, the equivalence in Catford’s theory can be graded into different levels according to the extent of the replacement, and then he put forward the distinction of full translation and partial translation. Moreover, he raised another pair of concepts: textual equivalence and formal corresponding, and it may give a clearer picture for us to understand his theory. If the target language text can be judged by bilinguals or linguists equivalent with the source language text in any given discourse or occasion, the textual equivalence is achieved. As regards the formal corresponding, Catford defined it as an approximate status when any target language category occupies, as nearly as possible, in the same place in the structure of the target language as the given source language category occupies in the source language. This pair of concepts presented two different degrees of equivalence and have become a valuable source in translation studies.

2.Similarities and Differences

2.1.The Similarities between the Two Theories

As representatives of the linguistic school of western translation theory, Nida and John Catford's translation theories try to analyze and describe translation more objectively, accurately and scientifically from the linguistic level. The influence of linguistic was exerted in both of their equivalence theory. Also, some translation methods were put forward based on the linguistic level by them. Besides, the approach to achieve the equivalence upheld by Nida and Catford was similar. They tended to depart from the previous word-for-word or literal translation methods and promoted a natural closeness of target text with the source text. Since they held a similar idea that absolute equivalence in translating is never possible(Nida, 1984: 14), the approach in their view to achieve the equivalence turned out be moderate and flexible.

2.1.1.The Influence of Linguistics in Both Theories

Nida was considered as a representative of communicative theory school, and therefore, he built his equivalence theory based on the communicative purpose. Basically, in the view of Nida, translation can be seen as a communicative activity and the transformation of linguistic form is necessary. From this the influence of Chomsky's linguistics, especially his transformational-generative grammar (Munday, 2008: 40) . Nida believes that Chomsky's transformational-generative view of on language is of great importance to the process of translation. Specifically, the transformational-generative was used for Nida to describe the process of translation, which includes the grammar analysis, transferring and restructuring and the reproducing the information of source text. (Munday, 2008: 40) Chomsky’s generative–transformational model was incorporated in the description of translation process by Nida and, at the same time, it provides the basis of his building of dynamic equivalence, as a component of “the science of translation” in his eyes.

Similarly, the influence of Chomsky’s linguistic theories can also be found in Catford’s theory in the following aspects. Firstly, as is defined by Catford, translation is the replacement of textual material in one language by equivalent textual material in another language(Catford, 1965: 20), and here the definition claims that there is sometimes no entire translation but a simple replacement by textual material at one or more levels of language(Catford, 1965: 20). To be specific, the replacement between source language and target language may be at grammar or lexis levels. Secondly, through his classifications of translation in terms of the extent, levels and ranks, Catford actually gives some standards to discuss the nature of translation equivalence, and these concepts are presented based on the linguistic knowledge. For example, the distinction between full and partial is related to the extent of source text which is submitted to the translation process(Catford, 1965: 20), and the extent may involve linguistic elements, such as lexical items. The same case occurs in the definitions of total and restricted translation, in which phonology, graphology, grammar and lexis are all considered as the elements when estimating the replacement.

2.1.2.The Approach to Achieving Equivalence

The key role played by Nida is to point the road away from strict word-for-word equivalence.His introduction of the concepts of formal and dynamic equivalence was crucial in introducing a receptor-based orientation to translation theory(Munday, 2008: 40). He also divided meaning into linguistic meaning, referential meaning and emotive meaning. Furthermore, several techniques such as hierarchical structuring, componential analysis and semantic structure analysis were presented to analyse the structure of words and differentiating similar words in related lexical fields. The classification of the three meanings and aided translation techniques serve as crucial elements in the mechanism of back-transformation presented by Nida. By the application of back-transformation, the surface structure of the source text is analyzed into the basic elements of the deep structure; these elements are transferred in the translation process into the deep structure of the receptor language and then restructured semantically and stylistically into the surface structure of the target text(Munday, 2008: 40).

The similar approach pointed out by Catford is translation shift, which consists of two major types: level shifts and category shifts. Catford made a distinction in his book A Linguistic Theory of Translation between textual equivalence and formal correspondence. Furthermore, textual equivalence refers to the specific relationship of the source text and translated text while formal correspondence is presented and defined based on the systematic concepts of both source and receptor languages. Since the differences between the two concepts are obvious, the occurrence of translation shift is inevitable. Therefore, by presenting the translation shifts, Catford meant to depart from formal correspondence in the process of going from source language to target language(Catford, 1965: 73), which means, in a sense, he want to achieve the status of equivalence through the approach. In other words, level shifts and categories are presented as some techniques in the process of translation, which can be regarded as similarity when compared to Nida’s theory described above.

2.2.The Differences between the Two Theories

Before comparing the two theories in terms of the following points, we should make it clear that the development of the two equivalence theories were started with the views of translation nature. Nida and Catford put forward their understandings toward the nature of translation, and, consequently, the central problem of translation practice and the central task of translators were proposed. In Nida’s view, translation is to reproduce information of the original text and exert the same feeling of the receptors with the source language readers(Munday, 2008: 42). Based on this receptors-oriented and text-centered principle, his equivalence theory turns to be more dynamic because the readers’ response, which is the essential factors to examine, occurs only in the process of the transferring of information. In other words, the behavior of encoding and decoding is a must once the equivalence is achieved. The equivalence in Catford’s view, by contrast, which lies in the internal structure of linguistics, turns out to be more static. The nature of translation given by Catford is the replacement of equivalent textual material between two languages(Catford, 1965: 20). By saying textual material, he held the idea that equivalence only occurs within the language and through its categories. The context of language and the components of linguistics including phonology, graphology, grammar and lexis are considered as elements to examine the equivalence(Catford, 1965: 22). And in this case, the equivalence between the source text and target text is to be realized by the equivalence of contextual features of both the source and target languages. Catford’s theory of equivalence, in this sense, differed from Nida’s theory by research methods.

2.2.1.Different Conditions of Equivalence

Functional equivalence described by Nida put a great emphasis on communicative effect of translation. He believed if the communication can be created between the source text and its receptors, the equivalent effect should be made when the translated text was presented before its receptors. Therefore, the comparison of receptors’ response between source language and target language would be necessary when it comes to the conditions of Nida’s equivalence theory. Besides, the meaning and style of the both texts should also be analyzed in a comparative way because this two factors are very influential in the formulating of receptors’ response. Firstly, by the division of formal equivalence and functional equivalence by Nida, he tried to generalize the two types of equivalence that which focused respectively on the faithfulness and closeness of the receptor language with the source language in both from and the equivalent response. Thus, the conditions to achieve formal equivalence may include accuracy and correctness of translation, which is determined by the approximation to source text structure. Furthermore, Nida put forward “four basic requirements of a translation” as the conditions to examine the achieving of equivalent response, which are making sense, conveying the spirit and manner of the original, having a natural and easy form of expression, producing a similar response(Munday, 2008: 42). These requirements were generalized to be the conditions of a success of translation.

Since Catford defines translation equivalence as the empirical phenomenon, he discussed the conditions of translation equivalence by specific points within the context of sentences. First, the equivalence from his view is between categories including grammar, lexis, phonology and contextual meanings. From this we can know the same meaning at a linguistic level is hard to achieved between source language and target language. In this case, he describe a condition by pointing out a concept of total translation, in which the texts or items in source language and target language are interchangeable in a given situation(Catford, 1965: 49). In this way, he presented a new condition to evaluate equivalence. Based on this, he further his discussion on total translation by examining the overlapping contextual meanings in the items of source language and target language. He claimed contextual meanings include relationship to certain situational features, a more abstract and broad way to discuss equivalence. Therefore, another condition of equivalence was described as the overlapping extent of situational features common to the contextual meanings(Catford, 1965: 49). To conclude, Catford classified the conditions of equivalence on different scopes of translation. In the process of evaluating the equivalence in total translation, phonological translation or graphological translation, the examining of the relatable features between source text and target text should be made.

2.2.2.Different Classifications of Equivalence

Since Nida and Catford held different views on the conditions required to achieve the equivalence, they classified translations from different perspective. Nida raised a classification of two types of equivalence: formal equivalence and functional equivalence(Munday, 2008: 42). These two types actually reflect Nida's research on structure of language from shallow to deep. Nida believed that different languages should have the same deep structure and the same functions between languages lead to equivalence in translation. In his view, the functional equivalence occurs when the response of target language receptors is as same as possible the response of source language receptors. In describing equivalence, Nida pointed out that the correspondence between the original form and the target form should not be excessively pursued in translation. Instead, attention should be focused on accurately conveying the meaning of the original text in a natural way. By this dynamic equivalence theory Nida paved a road away from the static mode of focusing on the comparison of texts. He believed that only when the target receptors understand the translation thoroughly, the same response can be achieved, and this is the main task of translation(Munday, 2008: 43). Therefore, Nida’s classification was based on the specific situation in which the receptors communicate with the texts.

In Catford’s view, translation is the replacement of textual material. From this definition, he actually drew a line between source language and target language because by textual material he meant to point out that there would be no entire translation of meaning. In his words, at one or more levels of language there may be simple replacement by non-equivalent target language material(Catford, 1965: 20). Based on this, Catford classified translation into categories in terms of the extent, levels and ranks. Full translation and partial translation are divided by the extent of parts replaced in the process of translation. This two concepts are maybe the basic components of his later presenting of formal correspondence. In his view, formal correspondence is an approximate status in which categories cannot be replaced totally in another language. And by dividing total translation and restricted translation, he intended to involve the replacement of grammar and lexis and consequential replacement of phonology and graphology in his definition. All of these classification provide certain perspective to evaluate the translation and help to create a structure when analyzing the language. In a word, the classifications by Catford was built in the internal language.

2.2.3.Different Research Approach

To some extent, the research method employed by Nida and Catford was shaped under the guidance of different linguistic theories. Guided by the transformational-generative grammar by Chomsky, Nida analyzed the structure of language and put forward the back-transformation theory that entails the transferring of surface structure to deep structure between source language and target language(Munday, 2008: 38). So the research methods adopted by Nida turns to be more flexible and have a focus on dynamic factor when discussing equivalence. Since Nida's translation theories were built up consciously to serve the research on the translation of Bible, his theories may have distinctive features in guiding the translation practices(Munday, 2008: 38). In another aspect, Nida held a view that "meaning is universal" and emphasized the common ground between languages, which reflect in his equivalence theory, information conveyed by meaning is the focus To be specific, the equivalence can only be examined during the communication of these information between texts and receptors. Oriented by this communicative principle, Nida therefore took the reader's response as the standard to evaluate the translation. In a word, Nida described the equivalence and its mechanism in a developing process, during which the texts, context and receptors are performing their dynamic role. In a word, Nida’s carried out its study by the method of dynamic comparison, and through his discussion of receptor-oriented principle, his theories greatly contribute to the later translation practices.

By contrast, in the process of Catford’s research on equivalence, the system-functional linguistics by Halliday was incorporated. The substance, form and context Language, which are the three basic levels in Halliday’s theory (Halliday, 2004: 16), constitute the categories of Catford’s equivalence theory. Moreover, language was define by Catford as a patterned behavior and this behavior is casually related to various other features of the situation in which it occurs(Catford, 1965: 2). Therefore, in terms of research methods, Catford carried out his comparative study mostly from the static and fixed perspective of language. Most of the examples he took are words, phrases and sentences, which are the units of language. He pay little attention to the dynamic context and receptors’ reaction. In describing the formal correspondence, he also held a view that categories of every language is defined in terms of relations holding within the language (Catford, 1965: 27). In this way, his research methods seem to be more static and fixed in the internal structure of language. Due to the static traits, Catford’s theories may be properly used for reference in academic study on languages because his theories exactly provide a macro framework.

3.My Thoughts on the Two Theories

3.1.My Thoughts on Nida’s Theory

3.1.1Strengths and Contributions of Nida’s Translation Equivalence Theory

In my view, there are many strengths and contributions of Nida’s translation equivalence theory. Firstly, Nida’s research integrated multiple disciplines, which means he set up his theory on a strong basis and it has convincing examples and explanations from various perspective. The development of Nida’s translation theory can be generally divided into three stages: the stage of descriptive linguistics, the stage of communicative theory and the stage of social semiotics(Tan, 2017: 132). I think Nida also developed its equivalence theory from formal equivalence, dynamic equivalence to functional equivalence along with the three stages. Secondly, Nida’s equivalence theory is of significance in training translators, guiding translation practice and more importantly, his functional equivalence offers approaches to studying the communication between the cultures of source language and target language. Nida emphasized the importance of translator's initiative in the translation process because he put forward a principle of equivalent effect(Nida, 1964: 159). This effect cannot be formulated within the language or items of a text, but through the subjective activities of translators. Therefore, Nida's functional equivalence and dynamic equivalence offers a guidance to the translators to consider the needs of the target receptors, and to convey the message of source language into the expression that conforms to the habits of the target language. Thirdly, Also, the equivalence theory described by Nida is concrete and practical for people to understand and adopt for it is oriented by receptors’ response that can be easily examined and analyzed.

3.1.2.Deficiency of Nida’s Translation Equivalence Theory

Nida’s functional equivalence was mainly applied to the translation of the Bible , and the criterion of the Bible translation in his view is to convey the will of God faithfully(Munday, 2008: 38). Therefore, the translation theory may tend to emphasize on the content rather than the form. For this reason, the range of its application may be limited. For example, when it comes to the translation of poetry that has its own aesthetic value in its form, people cannot simply discuss and analyze it according to Nida’s equivalence theory. What’s more, in Nida’s theory, equivalence is oriented by the response of receptors(Munday, 2008: 42). However, sometimes, the equivalent effect between source language readers and target language readers is hard to achieve because receptors of different cultures may have different responses. And translation is actually a cross-cultural communication through the translators, who may have their own translation purpose, preference and expressions, so the equivalent effect is also restricted by the difference of translators.

3.2.My Thoughts on Catford’s Theory

3.2.1.Strengths and Contributions of Catford’s Translation Equivalence Theory

Catford developed his equivalence by going deep into internal system of language. In my opinion, the most important strength of his theory is that he built the equivalence theory in a complete set of linguistic model, which provides a scientific and systematic theory. By introducing broad types of translation respectively according to extent, levels and ranks, he present new categories to discuss the nature of translation and the task of translators. By describing the translation shifts, he made a distinction of formal correspondence and translation equivalence and explained the conditions when equivalence occurs. Furthermore, since Catford believed there is no “total” translation in a strict way for the replacement by all equivalents at all levels can never be achieved(Caford, 1965:22), he sought to avoid the rigid trend toward the absolute equivalence and developed his theory in a more scientific and mature way.

3.2.2.Deficiency of Catford’s Translation Equivalence Theory

Firstly, Catford carried out his research on the structural transformation of the source language and target language simply from the perspective of linguistics. The equivalence in his view is between textual materials, and this equivalence can be achieved at one or more categories in the materials(Wang, 2008: 166). Therefore, his theory is also limited and underestimates the influence of subjective activities of translators. Secondly, Catford did not pay enough attention to the cross-cultural factors in translation. On his discussion on the limits of translatability, he even pointed out that it may be not necessary to distinct linguistic and cultural untranslatability for the cultural untranslatability may be just caused by the impossibility of finding a equivalent collocation in the target language(Catford, 1965: 101). This shows he explained the cultural within a linguistic category. I think the translation involves more than language itself or the substituting of lexical terms and grammars, but also cultural elements. Therefore, the research method of Carford’s theory is rather incomplete.

4.Conclusion

In conclusion, the two theories are developed based on two types of equivalence. Nida presented formal equivalence and dynamic equivalence while Catford put forward formal correspondence and textual equivalence(Munday, 2008: 42; Catford, 1965: 27). The two theories share some points in their theoretical basis and approach to achieving equivalence. Besides, Nida and Catford also have their own understanding on the nature of translation and the main task for translators, so they had a distinctive research method in building up their theories especially in the classification of equivalence and the description of conditions. Supported by various theories from other disciplines, the two theories were set up in a systematic way possess many strengths in such aspects as innovative perspective and scientific research method. However, it need to be emphasized that the two kinds of translation theory should be discussed and evaluated in a critical way and the analysis should be made on the scope of their application.

References

Catford, John Cunnison 卡特福德 (1965). A Linguistic Theory of Translation 《翻译的语言学理论》. London: Oxford University Press 伦敦：牛津大学出版社.

Halliday, M. A. K. 韩礼德, and C. Matthiessen 马蒂恩森 (2004). An Introduction to Functional Grammar《功能语法导论》. London: Edward Arnold 伦敦：爱德华·阿诺德出版社.

Li, Yang 李杨 (2014). 《纵观翻译等值——卡特福德、奈达比较研究》 A Comparative Study on Translation Equivalence of J.C. Catford and Eugene A. Nida. 天津商务职业学院学报Journal of Tianjin College of Commerce, 第2卷第1期 Vol. 2, No. 1 , 93-95.

Li, Zhidan 李志丹 (2014). 《卡特福德和奈达“对等”翻译理论思辨》 Comparing Catford and Nida's Translation Theory of “Equivalence Theory” 哈尔滨学院学报 Journal of Harbin University, 第35卷第6期 Vol. 35 No. 6, 93-95.

Munday, Jeremy芒迪 (2008). Introducing Translation Studies: Theories and Applications 《翻译学导论：理论与实践》. London ; New York : Routledge 伦敦；纽约：劳特利奇出版社.

Nida, Eugene Albert 奈达, and Charles Russell Taber 泰伯, eds 著(2004). The Theory and Practice of Translation 翻译理论与实践. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press 上海：上海外语教育出版社.

Nida, Eugene Albert 奈达 (1964). Toward a Science of Translating 《翻译的科学探索》. Leiden: Brill Archive 莱顿：博睿学术出版社.

Nida, Eugene Albert 奈达. (1984). Approaches to Translating in the Western World 《西方世界的翻译方法》, 《外语教学与研究》 Foreign Language Teaching and Research, 1984年第2期, 9-15.

Tan, Zaixi 谭载喜 (2017). Translation Studies 翻译学. Shnghai: Fudan University Press. 上海：复旦大学出版社.

Wang, Ning 汪宁 (2008). 《论翻译中的等值——卡特福德、奈达和巴斯耐特比较研究》 A Comparative Study on Translation Equivalence of J.C. Catford, E.A Nida and Susan Bassnett. 科技信息 Science & Technology Information, 2008年第三期, 2008(3), 166.

Comparision between the traslation systems proposed by Tan Zaixi and Yi Jing 石海瑶 Shi Haiyao 202070080605

石海瑶 Shi Haiyao

Abstract

The structure of a discipline can not only enhance people's overall understandings to the discipline, but also plays a guiding role in its development. Since the 21st century, the study of translatology in China has entered a new stage of development and the construction of the system of translatology has received extensive attention. In September 2005, A Series of Translation Studies in China was written by Professor Tan Zaixi, which theoretically constructed the internal and external structure of translatology. Later in October 2009, Dr. Yi Jing constructed a relatively macro structure of translatology in his PhD dissertation, On the Construction of the System of Translatology. This paper first gives a brief overview of these two systems of translatology and then makes a comparative analysis of their similarities and differences from multiple perspectives. Finally, the author puts forward its own thoughts on this two systems of translatology.

Key words

Tan Zaixi; Yi Jing; systems of translatology; comparative analysis

摘要

一个学科的体系构建不仅能够促进人们对学科的全方位了解，还能引领该学科的发展。21世纪以来,我国译学研究进入新的发展时期，译学体系构建广受关注。2005年9月，谭载喜教授著《翻译学》，从理论上构建了翻译学的内部和外部框架。2009年10月，易经博士在其毕业论文《试论翻译学体系的构建》中构建了一个较为宏观的翻译学体系框架。本文首先对这两大翻译学体系进行简要概述，之后从多个角度对二者的相似点和不同之处作出对比分析。最后，作者提出本人对这两大翻译学体系的思考和认识。

关键词

谭载喜；易经；翻译体系；对比分析

Introduction

Tan Zaixi’s Translation System

In his book A Series of Translation Studies in China, Tan Zaixi put forward his views on the internal structure of translatology. He deemed that translatology can be divided into three parts: general translatoloty, special translatology and applied translatology. In a more specific sense, translatology should not only include a macroscopic discussion of translation, it should also cover a specialized study of bilingual translation as translation (interlingual translation) is the conversion from one language to another (Tan Zaixi, 2005:19). The former of which has theoretical value and helps people understand the essence of translation; the latter has practical value and contributes to guiding translation practice.

Specifically, the research content of general translatology contains the following four aspects: Firstly, the study of human language, culture and the general rules of translation; Secondly, study the general process of translation and the status of translation in the whole scientific system as well as the relationship between translation and other disciplines; Thirdly, discuss the nature, function and standard of translation as well as the general responsibilities and conditions of translators from a macro perspective; Fourthly, investigate the history of translation from the perspective of synchronic and diachronic translation studies (including not only the national and regional history of translation, but also the world history of translation). Differing from general translation, the study of special translation includes three aspects: Firstly, study the specific problem of mutual translation between two languages; Secondly, make a comparison between the two languages and cultures; Thirdly, put forward theories that can guide translation between two specific languages. Moreover, applied translatology is directly related to translation practice, which covers two aspects: On the one hand, it studies how to apply theories of general translatology and special translatology to translation practice, translation teaching, translation criticism, compilation of translation reference books and machine translation; On the other hand, it aims to explain the purposes, functions, standards procedures and methods of translation as well as their interrelations on a micro level.

In fact, the above three parts of translatology are closely linked and inseparable, knowledge of special translatology and applied transltology are the foundation of studying general translatology, in turn, the knowledge of general translatology can also guide the study of special translatology. Thus, we can see both general translatology and special translatology need to conduct further research into applied translatology and obtain feedback information from the practical application of the theories so as to continuously develop and improve the theories. (Tan Zaixi, 2005:21-22)

From the above explanation, the diagram of Tan Zaixi's system of translatology can be drawn as following:

Yi Jing’s Translation System

According to Yi Jing’s thoughts, the system of translatology should include: introduction of translatology (IT), theory of translation’s history (TTH), theory of translation itself (TTI), theory of translation practice (TTP) and meta-theory of translatology (MTT). These five parts constitute the organic system of translatology. IT helps people to form a relatively basic and comprehensive understandings of the macro system of translatology, it is the foreshadowing and general outline of the system of translatology, taking the concrete question research as the main body. In terms of the TTH, TTI, TTP and MTT, their relationship is complementary, mutual influence and mutual support, which together constitute the organic wholeness of the macro system of translatology.

The IT can be divided into the following five aspects: Firstly, the foundation of translatology. By reviewing the development of Chinese and foreign translation practice and theory, the necessity of the construction of translatology are explained. Since there is no consensus on the independent status of translatology, this part needs to be included in the IT. If the independent discipline status of translatology is widely recognized in the future, this part can be omitted. Secondly, the value of translation, that is, the role of translation at different levels. Generally speaking, the value of translation involves the individual value, social value, ideological and cultural value, literary value and language value of translation. Thirdly, translation practice as well as the nature, definition and position of translatology. In addition, the object, basic task, purpose, research method and research status of translatology, and the basic structure of translation system are also introduced accordingly. The core research object of translatology is the practice of bilingual conversion. The main task is to explore the development of translation practice and translation theory, and to reveal the historical context of translation development. The purpose of translatology research is to sum up history, study the present, promote the translation research and practical work at present and in the future, and to a certain extent, promote the spiritual and cultural construction of human beings. The basic research method of translatology is based on empirical description and combined with principle. The research status of translatology mainly includes the development of translation practice and translation studies in various periods of history, the schools of translation studies and the representative figures and theories of various schools, the main or popular topics in translatology and the development direction of translation studies. At last, the basic characteristics of translatology. Eg. stability and openness, comprehensive integrity and discipline independence. Generally speaking, the IT is a comprehensive and general description of translatology, and an introduction to the whole system of translatology.

The TTH mainly focuses on the development of translation practice and translation theory, and also discusses the development of translation history theory itself. There are five important branches of TTH: introduction of TTH, history of translation practice, history of translation theory, thematic history and meta-theory of TTH. The introduction is a general descriptive branch of TTH, which generally describes translation history theory; the study of history of translation practice covers the study of general history and dynastic history; the exploration of the history of translation theory and the collation of the formation of translatology are very necessary for people to understand the development of translation theory and translatology itself, and play an instructive role in today's translation research; the thematic history involves the study of translators, translation works, history of translatology, translation history and culture, translation institution history, translation teaching history and so on; the meta-theory of TTH studies translation history theory itself, that is, the development and research situation of TTH itself.

The TTI consists of the general theory and the specific theory. The general theory refers to the fundamental viewpoint of translation practice, it is a theoretical branch of studying the fundamental principles of translation practice as well as the understanding of the most universal, general and basic principles of translation practice. The specific theory involves a series of basic problems derived from the general theory, it covers a wide range of aspects, including transltion’s meaning, translation’s standard, methodology, process, style, subject, types and so forth.

The TTP refers to the applied research of translation theory, which is the concrete application and confirmatory research of translation theory in practical activities. It is mainly divided into three aspects: practical analysis, translation criticism and translation teaching. Practical analysis is to prove the correctness of the existing theory with examples, and to illustrate the applicability of the theory, it can produce three kinds of results, that is, complete application, partial application and complete inadaptability. The main task of translation criticism is to evaluate the translation process and its translated works. The third branch is the teaching of translation, it discusses how to apply the basic knowledge of translation to translation teaching and language teaching, so as to cultivate students' language ability, translation practical ability and translation theory level.

The MTT is a theory formed by studying the discipline of translatology itself. Its research object is the theoretical system and discipline group of translatology, which should include at least the following eight branches: (1) the regularity, rationality and validity of the description of translation, including terms, concepts, propositions, etc; (2) the research object, function, nature and status of discipline, theoretical structure, logical category, progressive standard and the research method of translatology itself; (3) the way of forming the theory of translatology and the different research paradigms, which reveal the deep-seated structure, internal contradiction and development rule of the translatology hidden from the theory of translation; (4) The principles that should be followed in the construction of the theory of translatology; (5) The role of social and cultural conditions in the emergence and development of translation theories and methods in a certain historical context; (6) The study of the community of translatology, the identification of various academic groups, the analysis of the influence of these groups and their connections on translation theory; (7) Applying basic meta-theory categories to identify and summarize the current situation of translation theory, and to reveal the major theoretical problems in translation studies; (8) Other issues concerning the examination of translatology itself(Yi Jing, 2009:197-287).

From the above explanation, the diagram of Yi jing’s system of translatology can be drawn as following:

The translations of the above terms are as following:

Similarities and Differences

The Similarities between the Two systems

Both deem translatology as an independent discipline

In 1951, Dong Qiusi published On the Construction of Translation Theory , which clearly put forward the idea of establishing translatology. In 1987, the first national seminar on translation theory was held, which unfolded a new era of the construction of translatology in China. Tan Zaixi came up with the slogan of establishing translatology in his paper Translatology must be established, which triggered extraordinary response. Whether translation can become an independent discipline has been heated discussed in translation circles.

From the above descriptions, we can see that both Tan Zaixi and Yi Jing have a strong consciousness and a clear orientation of discipline towards translatology. Tan Zaixi holds the view that translatology is a science to study translation, which is an essential communicative activity of human beings. It has its own rules, which can be categorized, summarized and described by scientific methods, and can serve the communicative activities of human beings. According to Yi Jing, the formation of the independent discipline status of translatology is the inevitable result of the historical accumulation of translation practice and translation theory as well as an urgent requirement for the development of the whole translation field to modern and contemporary times.

It is based on the consensus that translatology is an independent discipline that Tan Zaixi and Yi Jing put forward their own views on the construction of the system of translatology. Therefore, both Tan Zaixi and Yi Jing agree that translation is an independent discipline, which is the first similarity of their system of translatology.

Both define bilingual conversion as object of translation

In the 1950s, from the perspective of semiotics, Jakobson divided translation into three categories according to different language signs: intralingual translation, interlingual translation and intersemiotic translation. Intralingual translation refers to that to explain other verbal symbols using original language symbols in the same language field. Interlingual translation refers to the translation between two different languages, and Intersemiotic translation refers to the translation that to explain verbal symbols by using non-verbal symbols.

For this theory, Tan Zaixi pointed out in his translation system that translation (specifically refers to intralingual translation) is a plural and theoretical perspective of switching from one language to another(Tan Zaixi, 2005:19). It indicates that Tan Zaixi's views on object of translation practice is bilingual conversion. Yi Jing also suggested that the specific research object of translatology is bilingual conversion and some phenomena related to bilingualism(Yi Jing, 2009:132).

Therefore, it is obvious that the two systems insist that the object of translatology is bilingual conversion.

Both identify comprehensive faithfulness as standard of translation

The discussion about standards of translation has always been a hot spot in the translation circles, which is the core problem and key task of translation theory. Tan Zaixi and Yi Jing reach an agreement that the standard of translation should be based on sufficient translation practice. Tan Zaixi proposed that the general standard of translation is that "all translations must be faithful to the original text". Taking this abstract standard as the premise, a series of specific standards can be produced, such as "faithful to the original content ", " faithful to the original form ", " faithful to the original effect ", " faithful to the original function" and so on, which serve different purposes(Tan Zaixi, 2005:38). And Yi Jing believed that "comprehensive faithfulness to content, form and style" is the highest standard of translation and the most ideal condition of translation(Yi Jing, 2009:239).

As mentioned above, both Tan Zaixi and Yi Jing agree that the standard of translation is comprehensive faithfulness. To elaborate it, they also list different aspects of faithfulness, which can be adjusted to specific requirements according to different text types, whereas there is consensus on the core idea of faithfulness. Next, I will explore the differences between the two translation systems.

The differences between the Two Translation Systems

Different structures of translation system

From the above diagram of Tan Zaixi and Yi Jing’s system of translatology, we can know that Tan Zaixi’s system of transltology merely includes three parts, that is general translatology, special translatology and applied translatology. The research contents of each part are not clearly distinguished and classified, especially the definition of general translation and special translation is vague, which should be further discussed. In contrast to the system of Yi Jing, he divided it into five parts, that is introduction of the translatology (IT), theory of translation’s history (TTH), theory of translation itself (TTI), theory of translation practice (TTP) and meta-theory of translatology (MTT). For these five parts, Yi Jing clearly illustrated the branches of each part, and its division is rigorous, each branch forms a logical and well-connected system, leaving people a refreshing impression. Moreover, this system exploratory and open, Yi Jing suggested that he holds a welcoming attitude to other systems of translatology, and it can not be assumed arbitrarily that the system is more comprehensive and profound than others.

Thus, we get to know that Tan Zaixi’s system of translatology is more general and rough, while Yi Jing’s is more systematic and inclusive.

Different views on the study of translation history

Tan Zaixi and Yi Jing put forward different views on the study of translation history. In Tan Zaixi's translation system, the general translation refers to the history of translation, that is, to study the history of translation from the perspective of diachronic and synchronic translatology, which includes not only the national and regional history of translation, but also the world history of translation(Tan Zaixi, 2005:21). While in Yi Jing’s system of translatology, one of the five branches of TTH mentioned: the study of translation history can be multi-angle and multilevel. From the time span of the study, translation can either be general or dynastic; it can study the translation history of translators and different text genres, or discipline translation history, such as literary translation history, scientific translation history and religious translation history(Yi Jing, 2009:211).

we can know that Tan Zaixi's study of translation history is more macroscopic, which based on different countries, different regions and different historical periods, while the study of translation history of Yi Jing is more specific and detailed, taking translators and various literary genres into account, in addition, he proposed that vertical comparison and horizontal comparison can be used in these factors, reaching almost every aspect of the issue.

Different views on translation process

For the process of translation, Tan Zaixi and Yi Jing presented their views. Tan divided the process of translation into two types, namely, psychological process and practical operation process. Psychological process is the embodiment of human brain receiving and transforming information, but Tan did not put forward specific steps for practical operation process, which is still open to question. In Yi Jing’s system of translatology, the translation process theory is mentioned in the second branch of the TTI. Yi Jing thought that the translation process can be divided into broad sense and narrow sense. The process of translation in a broad sense includes the selection of the original text, the preparation before translation, the specific translation process, the refinement of the translation and the process of testing and evaluating the translation; the narrow sense refers to the process from reading and understanding the original text to finalizing the translation(Yi Jing, 2009:253).

From the above descriptions, we can see that they define the translation process from different angles. Tan Zaixi divides the translation process into two aspects: psychology and practical operation, while the study of translation process proposed by Yi Jing is more multi-angle, and its broad translation process is not only confined to the process itself, but more comprehensive.

My Thoughts on the Two Systems

My Thoughts on Tan Zaixi’s Translation System

Contributions of Tan’s Translation System

First of all, Tan Zaixi's construction of translation system has laid solid foundation on some basic pioneering works of translatology. The establishment of basic concepts and categories is the basic work of discipline construction. Before the publication of A Series of Translation Studies in China, the art theory and science theory of translation and whether translation can become a science were the focus of scholars in the translation circles, but the polysemous word "translatology" is not defined. Thus, two different concepts were confused, that is translation and translatology, they discusses two different levels of problems, and emphasizes on personal reasons in a one-side way, resulting in two incompatible theories of translatology between art school and science school. In this book, Tan Zaixi clearly defined the concept of translation and translatology, clarified some vague understandings, and promoted the development of translatology.

Secondly, Tan Zaixi's translation system has a strong sense and a clear orientation of discipline. The significance of the definition that "translatology is an independent discipline" is not merely its theoretical value, but it involves many important issues about the theoretical development and how to construct the discipline. With a clear sense of independent discipline, Tan Zaixi discussed some constructive and guiding problems such as the research object and field of translatology, the discipline framework of translatology, and the research approach. His unique translation system is a valuable exploration and attempt in Chinese translation circles.

Moreover, in Mr. Tan's view, translatology is not merely a discipline with Chinese characteristics. Because it involves different languages and cultures, Translatology should be constructed from four dimensions: past and present, at home and abroad. In this regard, he believes that a comparative study of Chinese and Western translation theories should be carried out with the open mind of "harmony in diversity", which is undoubtedly of great value. Construction of translatology needs to integrate Chinese and Western theoretical resources as well as learn widely from other’s strong points. Based on this, Tan Zaixi's construction of translatology fully reflects his broad mind.

Deficiencies of Tan’s Translation System

As is known to us, Tan Zaixi has made great contribution on the construction of the system of translatology, but there is no perfect system in the world. Here, I list two points remain to be discussed.

Firstly, the definition of general translation and special translation is not clear enough. In the actual translation process and translation research, general and special are contradictory and unified. Tan Zaixi's view on special translation includes the study of the specific translation of two languages, and the general principles of translatology needs to find out the common law by studying the translation of different languages. Therefore, the general rules of translatology must also be included in the research object of special translation, but this does not appear in its translation system, so its integrity is still open to question.

Secondly, Tan Zaixi discusses the construction of the system of translatology in A Series of Translation Studies in China, but the branches of its translation system are not fully explained in this book, such as the responsibilities of translators in general translation and for the contents of applied translation, it has only put forward the idea, but has not made the detailed explanation. In addition, the structure of the book is not organized according to its translation system, this is indeed a great pity.

My Perspective towards Tan’s Translation System

The great influence and contribution of Tan’s translation system on the whole translation field is obvious to all, but it is not universal. According to the advantages and disadvantages of this system, we should treat in a dialectical way. Tan’s translation system has made foundation on the establishment of translatology and played a pioneering role in the development of translatology, but some deficiencies are avoidless. Therefore, we should treat Tan Zaimxi’s translation system in a comprehensive view. On the whole, Tan’s translation system can be regarded as a great progress and precious treasure in translation circles.

My Thoughts on Yi Jing’s Translation System

Contributions of Yi’s Translation System

First of all, the construction of the system of translatology proposed by Yi Jing based on a large number of theoretical research and historical data analysis. Yi Jing collated many kinds of materials in the field of translation, analyzed the views of many scholars and came to his own understandings, so that the system of translatology is coherent and smooth in writing. He selectively analyzed the views expressed by important scholars at home and abroad in the construction of translatology and made a comprehensive comparison of the proposed translation system model. Drawing on the essence of others' thoughts, he put forward his unique system of translatology, and strove to deepen the research on the construction of the system of translatology. In addition, the framework of Yi’s translation system is clear and rational. He comprehensively introduced the Chinese and foreign translation theory research, each part is closely related, making the reader know at a glance. Yi Jing abandoned the conceptual knowledge infusion and rigid theoretical instruction, and focused more attention on tracing back to the source. He regarded the role of Chinese and foreign translation in the development process in a dialectical way with an open mind. At the same time, the dynamical development of translation system is manifested in the construction of complex translation system. He explained deeply that the establishment of translatology is the necessity of social development and the inevitable result of the academic development, all of these have played a positive role in guiding readers to view the current Chinese translation system from a correct perspective.

Deficiencies of Yi’s Translation System

However, nothing is perfect, Yi Jing’s translation system is no exception without doubt.

Firstly, in the construction of the system of translatology, there are some viewpoints need to be further analyzed. The construction of translation system is a grand subject, which can not be completely completed in such a PhD dissertation, thus it leads to not comprehensive enough. For example, Yi Jing put forward the theory of translation history and clarified its new structure, but the analysis is not detailed enough, and it mainly focused on describing the research methods of translation history and attention points during the process.

Moreover, the traditional translation history research is divided into two branches: the history of translation practice and the history of translation theory. The author thinks that the division is too simple in terms of the importance and reality requires of the theory of translation’s history. Therefore, apart from the above two branches, the theory of translation’s history should cover another three branches: introduction of TTH, thematic history and meta-theory. In this section, the author focuses on the disadvantages of the traditional division. But he doesn't make a thorough analysis of his new division. What is the necessity of such a division of the theory of translation history? what are the advantages of such a division? Can this division completely avoid the flaws of the traditional division? Actually, the author did not give a strong illustration of these substantive problems, nor did he explain them in detail, which directly leads to a sense of relative superficiality.

My perspective towards Yi’s Translation System

Although there are more or less shortcomings in the analysis of viewpoint argumentation, this dissertation provides a new perspective and path for the discipline of translatology, and to some extent, makes up for the deficiency of the traditional construction of translation system. According to Yi Jing’s summary and organization of a variety of materials in the field of translation at home and abroad, he is not only reproduce the history of translation but make history. Generally speaking, the author believes that the contribution of Yi Jing’s translation system to the development of translatology is far greater than its deficiencies.

Conclusion

This paper first gives a brief introduction of the two translation systems, based on it, drawing corresponding diagrams for the two translation systems, and then compares the similarities and differences between the two systems in detail. At last, the author puts forward her own thoughts on this two translation systems in a dialectical way. Through the above comparison, we can find that both Tan Zaixi’s translation system and Yi Jing’s translation system have their own advantages and disadvantages, but their virtues far outweigh faults and differences are greater than similarities. Both of them have made great contributions to the construction of translation system with their own unique strengths.

Refrences

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Comparison of translation theories by Eugene nida and Susan Bassnett 胡慧芳 Hu Huifang

摘要

尤金·奈达与苏珊·巴斯奈特都是西方翻译史上著名的大翻译理论家和翻译家。奈达提出了“动态对等”的翻译理论，而巴斯奈特提出了“文化等值”的概念。奈达和巴斯奈特虽然在各自的翻译理论中都强调了“对等”或“等值”的概念，但理论内容却大相径庭。本文从两人翻译理论产生的背景和对各自翻译观的解读入手，来对两人的翻译理论的不同点和相通性进行初步对比分析处理，从而达到对两人翻译理论更深理解。

关键词

尤金·奈达；苏珊·巴斯奈特；功能对等；文化等值

Abstract

Eugene Nida and Susan Bassnett are both famous translation theorists and translators in the history of Western translation. Nida proposed the translation theory of "dynamic equivalence", and Bassnett proposed the concept of "cultural equivalence". Although Nida and Bassnett emphasized the concept of "equivalence" or "equivalence" in their respective translation theories, the theoretical content is quite different. This article starts with the background of the two people's translation theories and the interpretation of their respective translation concepts, to make a preliminary comparative analysis of the differences and similarities between the two people's translation theories, so as to achieve a deeper understanding of the two people's translation theories.

Key Words

Eugene Nida ;Susan Bassnett; dynamic equivalence; cultural equivalence

1.Introduction

Eugene Nida is a well-known American translator, translation theorist, and PhD in linguistics. He was born in Oklahoma City in the south-central United States. In 1936, he studied at the University of California, and later received a master's degree in Greek "Bible New Testament" studies from the University of Southern California. In 1943, he received a PhD in linguistics under the guidance of Bloomfield and others. He served as the executive secretary of the translation department of the American Bible Association for a long time, and in 1968 he was the president of the American Linguistic Society. In addition to translation theory, Nida has engaged in research in linguistics, semantics, anthropology, and communication engineering. He has also been engaged in Bible translation work for a long time, and has investigated a large number of languages, especially minor languages in Africa and Latin America. . Nida is engaged in translation studies and has written many books. From 1945 to 1986, he published nearly 200 articles and more than 30 books (including co-authored and co-edited works), including 16 monographs on translation and linguistics, the most important of which is "Toward a Science of Translation" "The Theory and Practice of translation" etc. His "dynamic equivalence" translation theory and "reader's response theory" translation standards not only have considerable influence in the western translation circles, but also promote the transformation of Chinese translation theory circles. Dr. Nida broke the research paradigm that emphasized static analysis in traditional Chinese translation theory research, and put forward a new idea of open translation theory research, which has brought enlightenment for the establishment of a new translation theory model in my country's translation theory community. Susan Bassnett is a professor, translator, writer and messenger at the Graduate School of Comparative Literature Theory and Translation, Warwick University, UK. As a leading figure in the school of translation culture, her concept of "cultural equivalence" and related translation theories have had a huge impact on contemporary translation studies. Nida's "dynamic equivalence" and Bassnett's "cultural equivalence" theory have certain similarities, but there are also many differences. This article starts with the "similarities" and "differences" of the two, to gain a more comprehensive understanding and understanding of the two translation theorists and translators and their translation theories, so as to achieve a deeper understanding and Understand the purpose of their translation theory.

2.The background of the two translation theories

Before the birth of cultural translation school, linguistic school, functional school and structuralist school were the main schools in the field of western translation theory research. Representatives of the linguistic school, Jacob Button, Catford, and Nida, put more emphasis on equivalence in translation issues. They believe that translation is to replace one language material with an equivalent language material; functional school The representative figures Les, Nord and Mantari believe that the focus of translation studies should be the target text, not the original text. Their theoretical sources are mainly communication theory, action theory, information theory and reception aesthetics. But whether it is the linguistic school, the functional school or the structuralist school, in their research process, they are more or less trying to achieve language equivalence from all levels of text content and form. Translation researchers] hope to find a scientific and effective method to solve the various problems faced by translation, but cultural diversity determines the diversity of text cultural connotations. Therefore, these researchers have encountered great troubles when they encounter a context that is quite different from their own cultural background. The cultural translation school was born to better solve these problems. Before the 1970s, translation theorists mainly studied various translation problems from linguistics. After the 1970s and 1980s, the acceleration of globalization, the acceleration of information dissemination, and the diversification of communication methods have made the relationship between language and culture closer. In information dissemination, language differences have become more prominent, and the status and role of translation activities have also changed. Therefore, with the acceleration of globalization and the popularization of multicultural views and values, translation theory researchers who conform to the trend of the times pay more and more attention to the diverse cultural values ​​embodied in translated texts.

2.1 The background of Eugene Nida’s cultural equivalence theory

Nida's "dynamic equivalence" translation theory was deeply influenced by his time. At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, linguistic studies in the United States really started. It was not until the beginning of the 20th century that American linguists who studied in Europe and were influenced by Europe began to study American linguistics. They developed American descriptive linguistics and structural linguistics. Beginning in the 1940s, American linguistics began to have a huge impact on world linguistics research. During this period, the representative figures in American linguistics were Boas, Sapir and Bloomfield. Although their theories are not exactly the same, they are basically structuralism and descriptive linguistics (Liu Runqing, 2002). Nida learned and grew up during this period. In 1943, he obtained a doctorate in linguistics under the guidance of two famous masters, Bloomfield and Fries. Therefore, his thinking is deeply influenced by Bloomfield, an American structuralist, and Sapir, a human linguist, and he emphasizes the collection and analysis of language materials in language research. In the 1950s, since Nida served as the executive secretary of the translation department of the American Bible Society for several years, Nida has proposed and started to use dynamic equivalence theory to guide the actual work of "Bible" translation. Since the 1950s, translators have generally followed the dynamic equivalent translation theory in translation projects organized by the American Bible Society (Tan Zaixi, 1991).

2.2 The background of Bassnett’s cultural equivalence theory

As one of the most representative figures of the cultural translation school, Susan Bassnet's translation concept with cultural translation theory as the core has had a significant impact on contemporary translation studies. In the introduction to "Translation, History and Culure" (Translation, History and Culure), Andre, Lefevere and Susan Basnett proposed that "Culural lurn" (culural lurn)-the term, this is the concept that was first proposed from here. Bassnett believes that the linguistic school of translation faces the following problems: The method of machine translation is an effective method, but it is not suitable for literary translation. In response to this situation, Bassnett pointed out that the research method of translation should undergo an cultural turn (eulturalturn). She believes that translators must perform translation activities in a specific cultural context, and translators must not conduct translation activities in cultural isolation under the influence of their own cultural background. In short, Bassnett’s cultural translation view is that translation is not a purely linguistic activity, it is rooted in and influenced by the culture of the language.

3.1 Nida' s“dynamic equivalence" Theory

“Dynamic equivalence” is the core conception of Nida ’s translation theories. the essence of it is a receptor-centered theory of translation that aims at achieving a“dynamic”equivalence between the effect obtained from respective readers of the originaltext and the translated version, which requires that translators view from the angle of the sense and spirit of the original instead of rigidly adhering to language structures of it. That is, not rigidly adheringto formal equivalence. The theory of“dynamic equivalence" is the most well- known and the most frequently discussed theory, and the focus of discussions on it may attribute to different interpretations of the term "equivalence".

3.1.1The nature of "equivalence" “Equivalence" is an important proposition in translation for it involves some key problems such as nature of translation, translation norms as well as quality and evaluation of translation. As a mathematic term, the word “ equivalence" refers to an absolutely symmetrical and equal relationship, but in many English dictionaries, it gets obscure meanings that things possess similarities or areessentially identical. Then, is the concept“equivalence in translation theories derived from its absolute mathematics reference orborrowed from its indistinct meanings as a word of general linguistices? According to many translation theorists (including Nida), it may mean more of the latter than the former. " Equivalence" is a scientific descriptive notion that is more objective that "loyalty" or "faith", for the concept of "loyalty"or "faith" refers to attitudes of translators while "faithful translation" indicates the quality of translation. But "equivalence" involves no translator' s attitudes, and thus let us get a more explicit conception. The "equivalence” needed in translation is a comprehensive impact, not mechanically synthesizing equivalence of linguistics,semantics and pragmatics, but taking into account factors in different levels all around with artistical views and accomplishments of different cultures and languages. The historic contribution of Nida's" dynamic equivalence" is that it provides a convincing solution to the dispute of literal translation and free translation held by many western translation theorists for about 2000 years. Literal translation emphasizes equivalence in language forms and the effect oftranslation is overlooked while free translation focuses much more on “beauty” of translation effect with litle regard to equivalence.Nida' s "dynamic equivalence". however, puts emphasis on equivalence of both effects and then solves this contradiction.

3.1.2 Views on Nida s theory of " dynamic equivalence” It has been mentioned above that Nida s "dynamic equivalence" theory is the most influential as well as the most frequently criticized and reproached due to dfferent interpretations of the theory. And here, a ittle more comments are given to be shared. 3.1.2.1Apprehension of the theory What Nida's values a lot in dynamic equivalence" is that receptors of the two languages ( SL and TL) have approximately similar response and get basically equivalent ffect( 杨柳， 2006). The great contribution Nida made was to shift the focus from the comparison of the source- language and the target- language texts to acomparison of the two communication processes involved." (金隄,1998:231) Thus, Nida's dynamic equivalence " focuses mainly onthe relative side of " equivalence " rather than absolutizes the term,which may imply that the equivalence theory in translation does originally mean something relative, obscure and indistinct. As a relative conception, the goal " dynamic equivalence" pursues is that the readers of the translation can obtain basically similar message smoothly from the translated text as the readers of theoriginal do from the original text, including their perception of the main essence, specific facts and artistic conception, although the two texts may vary greatly or entirely in forms. This goal can be applied to almost all types of translation. For all of these viewpoints,Nida and his theory have encountered constant criticism and reproaching. In sum, those who are against the theory argue that effect of equivalence can never be possible in translation because translation involves at least two different languages, cultures etc.which are rather hard to the non-native, while those who are in favor hold that equivalence can be achieved not only in senses and styles, but in effect as well. Nida has made it very clear that "the response can never be identical' , but "a high degree of equivalenceof response" is required and possible. And for "functional equivalence",Nida elaborates that no translation can be completely equivalent. Actually, different translations represent varying degrees of equivalence, That is, "equivalence" doesn't mean identity as its mathematical meaning. (Nida, 2001:87) In order to stress the conception of function and meanwhile avoid misunderstanding, Nida holds that the expression“functional equivalence" is much more satisfactory in describing the degrees of adequacy of a translation（Nida, 2001:91). So, Nida, as he puts it explicitly in his works, doesn' t prescribe something " identical" or total equivalence between the original and the translated texts, but expects high degrees of closeness" to ine ongmal and reproducing nearest translated message to the originai message. He advocates that translators work hard to pursue equivaiencerather than identity". Professor Jin Di may have standpoint identical to Nida' s, he holds that the term " equivalence" in Nida ' s theory indicates a linguistic notion that is different from "identity", and " equivalence"is a rela- tive conception, which requires no totally identical effect, but striving for the closest impact produced by the translation within a possible range as what is produced to readers of the original text by the ST (金隄, 1998:44).

3.1.3 Theoretical Practice of "Functional Equivalence" in China-A Comment on the Translation of "A Madman's Diary" Here are three examples to analyze the theory of "functional equivalence" used in the "Madman's Diary" in the translation of "The Call" by Yang Xianyi and his wife.

（1）“我同赵贵翁有什么仇.....把古久先生的陈年流水簿子，踹了一脚....”(鲁迅，2019: 08)

“what grudge Mr. Zhao has against me...Itrod on Mr. Gu Jiu's old ledgers.." (杨宪益、戴乃迭，2000: 23)

If this example is literally translated "赵贵翁", it may be translated as "Zhao Guiweng" in many cases, so that the translation person seems rigid and the translation traces are too obvious. Yang Xianyi and his wife directly translated "Mr. Zhao" in the translation, which conforms to the native language habits of foreigners and avoids the appearance of translation accent. This translation achieves functional equivalence for the translation of personal words in the original text (Chen Weijia, 2009). The "old-year running book" here is a characteristic term of China's old society period, which means "old account book". If literally translated as "aged jour-nal", obviously there is no "old ledgers" which is more suitable for the time. Time backgroud. The Yangs’ translation handled the translation of characteristic nouns well and reached the result of information equivalent translation.

(2)“陈老五赶上前，硬把我拖回家中了。”(鲁迅，2019: 09)

“Old Chen hurried forward and draggedme home." (杨宪益、戴乃迭，2000: 25)

The personal pronoun "陈老五", if translated literally, might be translated as "Chen Laowu". Yang Xianyi translated "Old Chen", which is more authentic. "Chen Lao Wu" may be the habitual name of this person by the locals, rather than the name Chen Lao Wu. The Yangs' translation as "Lao Chen" here conforms to the Chinese people's habit of addressing acquaintances and conforms to the original cultural background (金瑞, 邵华, 2018).

(3)“狼子村的佃户来告荒....”(鲁迅，2019: 09)

“a tenant of ours from Wolf Cub Villagecame to report the failure of the crop..." ( 杨宪益、戴乃迭，2000: 25)

"狼子村" is a place noun. If it is simply translated as "The Wolf Child Village", it is obviously inappropriate. Such translated names are not only not beautiful enough, but also cannot express the charm of Chinese place names. Here, the expression of "Cub" in "Wolf Cub Village" of the Young couple is quite vivid and accurate. "Cub" means "cub" and it is used here in line with the original meaning. Yang Xianyi has certain accomplishments in the translation of Chinese-specific place nouns, and conveys the Chinese-specific culture well in the translation process.

3.2 Bassnett's "cultural equivalence" theory

Bassnett believes that the goal of translation should be changed from the text commonly accepted by people to culture, which is the so-called cultural shift. If we compare culture to the human body, then language is the human heart. Only when people's heart, language and body are coordinated with each other, can people maintain vigor and vitality. When performing heart surgery on a patient, the surgeon must take into account the overall physical condition of the patient. The same is true for translation practice. In the process of translating the target language into the target language, members of parliament must take into account the double standards of language accuracy and cultural adaptability, and must not strip away culture and treat translation in isolation.

3.2.1 Translation methods and strategies Regarding translation methods, Bassnett believes that language and text materials in different cultural contexts should have different translation requirements, and therefore different translation methods. For example, for original texts that are descriptive, or contain certain cultural beliefs, or are technological in nature, the translator should try to literally translate from a cultural perspective when translating. If the original text does not belong to the above three types of texts, then the translator can play relatively freely when translating, use more translation skills, and less consider the limitations of the original text culture on translation activities. It can be said that the degree of freedom of such translation activities is relatively high. Regarding translation strategy, Bassnett believes that the translator's translation activity is a process of information transmission. In this process, the translator should first find the cultural factors in the original text that are different from the target language, and then understand these factors in depth, and try to retain these factors on this basis. Such a strategy helps readers of other countries to better understand the connotation expressed in the original text, and enable them to have a more accurate understanding of the cultural context of the original text.

3.2.2 Content and form of translation As far as the content and form of the translation are concerned, Bassnett regards cultural exchange as the focus of translation, and she believes that the original flavor of the original language text should be kept as much as possible. At the same time, she also pointed out that literary translation must not lose its form. Taking poetry as an example, the translation of poetry is not simply a translation of the original poem content, but a new understanding and creation in translation. The translator must use his own translation skills and literary quality to create new content. But at the same time, the form and content of the poem are unified. The length of the syllables and the distribution of rhymes in the form are also conveying the content. The information of the times is all revealed behind it. Therefore, if the original form of the poem is discarded in the translation, Then it cannot fully reflect the content of the original poem. Take Chinese rhyme poems as an example. When its prosperity turned from its peak to its decline in the Tang Dynasty, the strict flat correspondence and cohesion were not only for making people melodious and catchy, but its pursuit of form revealed that The literati in the era remembered the dead Tang Dynasty and their strong unsatisfied political demands.

3.2.3 "Intelligibility" of the translation Before the rise of the cultural translation school, translation researchers sometimes translated the literary language in the original text into plain and simple language in order for the translation to be better understood by readers, deleting literary metaphors and associations. In this way, the translation will indeed become easy to understand, but the literary nature of the work has been reduced, and the interest and depth will not reach the effect of the original text. Therefore, Bassnett believes that the "understandability" of the translation cannot be based on abandoning the original style and artistry, but should try to maintain the original flavor of the original.

3.2.4 Evaluation Criteria of Translation For the evaluation criteria of translations, Bassnett believes that the evaluation criteria of translations are not unique. The standards for translating academic articles and applied and literary articles are different. When checking and evaluating the standard of translation, we should start from the target of translation, and judge the translation based on whether the translation can meet the needs of the target. In short, the translation should meet the needs of readers in different cultural contexts as a starting point, and use a suitable translated language that can meet this demand.

3.2.5 Examples of Bassnett's Cultural Translation Theory-Taking 《道德经》‘s Arthur Willy's Translation and Gu Zhengkun's Translation as Examples

原文:

“六亲不和，有孝慈(孝子)。”(章十八)

辜译: "Filiality and benevolence come along with the family feud,"

韦利译:“It was when the six near ones were no longer at peace that there was talkof dutiful sons." (Waley, 1999:37 )

"六亲" in modern Chinese generally refer to all family members and relatives, but in ancient Chinese there are specific references to father and son, brothers, and couples. Gu Zhengkun knows that family ethical relations are not as complicated in the West as in China, so he adopted the approach of being close to Western readers and translated it as "the family; while Wiley used the method of alienation in order to get close to the original work, calling it "sixnear ons" , And supplemented by the notes at the end of the chapter to further explain the specific meaning of "six relatives". (the six near ones: father, son, elder brother, younger brother, husband and wife.). Both translators have realized the function of the language opposite to them. The equivalence of the above. That is to realize the equivalence of cultural functions, but also convey the meaning of cultural connotation.

原文:“虽有拱璧以先驷马” (章六十二)

辜译:It would be better to present to the emperor Tao than jade disks followed by ateam of four horses." ( 辜正坤，1995: 251 )

韦利译:“Rather than send a team of four horses, preceded by a disc ofjade.e.."(Waley,1999:131 )

Both translators translated "驷马" into "four horses", which is correct. In ancient China, the number of horses pulling carts was used to reflect the rank of status, such as driving two horses as a parallel, three horses as a stallion, and four horses as a parcel. Usually the emperor drives six, princes drive five, Qing drives four, doctors three, scholars two, and common people one. There are also horse-drawn chariots in wars, usually one carriage with four horses and three passengers. If the translator can comment on this, it will better help the target readers to understand the ancient Chinese horse culture.

4.The difference between the two translation thoughts

Nida's translation thoughts are mainly influenced by language structuralist translators, which are manifested in his use of the syntactic structure analysis method, semantic component analysis method popular in the United States in the 1940s and 1950s, and the core similar to Chomsky's deep structure Syntactic analysis is a structural analysis of language expression forms and translation procedures from the perspective of language translation, that is, interlingual translation. However, the essence of Nida's translation thought lies in far more than its language structuralist translation view, but more of him In "translation is science", "translation and communication", "translation must emphasize readers' reflection" and many other propositions. Moreover, Nida's contribution in translation theory, especially in the translation theory of the Bible, and his position in contemporary American and Western translation studies are very important and widely recognized. (Tan Zaixi, 1991) But Bassnett's "cultural translation view" focuses on cultural exchanges, with culture first, and information second. Through translation to introduce the unique culture of each nation, explain the similarities and differences between each other, so as to promote the comparative study of two languages ​​and cultures. Bassnett also pointed out that culture puts forward various requirements for translation, and these requirements are closely related to the nature of the original text. In the process of translation, the translator should demonstrate the unique charm of different cultures through translation, so that people of different cultural backgrounds can communicate and communicate in a true cultural sense.

5.The similarity of the two translation ideas

Nida believes that the service object of translation is the recipient. It is necessary to evaluate and judge the quality of the translation. It is not only necessary to compare the language form of the translation and the original text, but also to see how the recipient reflects the translation. Only when the translated works are easy to understand and in proper form can they be widely accepted by the public. Bassnett’s cultural translation view also emphasizes that translation should meet the requirements of different objects in a certain culture. In order to meet the requirements of different specific groups, the translator must find a suitable translated language functionally. It can be seen that both translation theorists believe that translation works should focus on the demands of recipients of translation at different levels. Nida believes that when there is a contradiction between form and content in the translation process, form should give way to content. Bassnett also believes that in the process of functional equivalence, the translator can not be restricted by the literary image. It can be seen that the two translation theorists pay more attention to the content and form of the translation. Nida pointed out that the languages ​​and cultures of the world have 90% similarities and only 10% differences. Bassnett also believes that the translator should perform functional equivalence in the target language culture based on the target language; the reading object and the original language's function in the original language culture. It can be seen that both translation theorists believe that the source language and the target language can communicate and communicate in terms of culture. Although there is a cultural loss in the translation process, there are more similarities between different languages. Similarities or similarities (ie cultural common core).

6. Conclusion

Both Nida and Bassnett are great translation theorists and translators in the history of Western translation. Their theoretical research ideas and academic vision are broad, and their insights are unique, which give people deep inspiration. In the process of translation research, the two masters placed translation in the multi-dimensional space of the original text and the target text, investigated from different angles to reveal the essence of translation, and achieved fruitful results. The two translations: principles and methods. There are both common points and their own characteristics. We should work hard to understand the characteristics and development trajectories of the two major translation theories, and find out the contributions and shortcomings of the two major translation theories. In order to find things that Chinese translation theories can learn from, to promote the development of Chinese translation studies.

References

[1]Nida, Eugene and Charles Taber. The Theory of Translation[M]. Leiden:E. J Brill,1969.

[2]Liao Qiyi.(2000).廖七一.当代西方翻译理论探索.[Exploration of Contemporary Western Translation Theory].译林出版社[Yilin Publishing House]

[3] Liu Runqing.(2002).刘润清.西方语言学流派[Schools of Western Linguistics].外语教学与研究出版社[Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press]

[4]Lu Gang. (2006). 陆刚. 巴斯奈特理论与翻译中文化等值的不确定性[Bassnett's theory and the uncertainty of cultural equivalence in translation].中国比较文化[Chinese Comparative Culture]

[5]Tan Zaixi. (1991). 谭载喜. 西方翻译简史. [Western Translator Business History]. 商务印书馆[The Commercial Press ]

[6]Duan Feng. 段峰.(2006). 苏珊·巴斯奈特文学翻译思想述评. [A Review of Susan Bassnett's Literary Translation Thoughts]. 四川大学学报[Journal of Sichuan University]

[7]Lu Gang. (2010). 陆刚. 巴斯奈特理论与翻译中文化等值的不确定性[Bassnett's theory and the uncertainty of cultural equivalence in translation]. 扬州大学学报[Journal of Yangzhou University]

[8]Deng Ju, Qin Zhongshu.(2007). 邓巨，秦中书.苏珊·巴斯奈特翻译思想述评[A Review of Susan Bassnett's Translation Thoughts. 四川文理学院学报[Journal of Sichuan University of Arts and Science]

[9]Luo Chengli. 罗承丽.(2010). 操纵与构建：苏珊·巴斯奈特“文化翻译中”思想研究. [Manipulation and Construction: Susan Bassnett's "Cultural Translation" Thought Research].北京语言大学[Beijing Language and Culture University]

[10]Waley,Arthur.The Way and Its Power:A study of the Tao Te Ching and its Place in Chinese Thought.London:Allen and Unwin，1934.

[11]Lu Xun. 鲁迅.(2010). 呐喊. [The Call].江西教育出版社[Jiangxi Education Press]

[12]Lu Xun. 鲁迅.(2010). 呐喊. [The Call]. 杨宪益，戴乃迭，译.北京外文出版社[Beijing Foreign Languages Publishing House]

[13]Gu Zhengkun. 辜正坤.(2008). 老子道德经[ Tao Te Ching].北京大学出版社[Peking University Press]

--Wu Yilu (talk) 13:34, 13 December 2020 (UTC)

A Comparative Study Between the Skopos Theory and Yan Fu’s Theory

吴一露 Wu Yilu 202070080610

Abstract

Skopos theory and the theory put forward by Yan Fu, that is “ Faithfulness, Expressiveness and Elegance” are one of the most representative translation theories respectively in the history of Chinese and Western translation theories. And these two theories have a profound impact to Chinese and Western translation theories and practices. This paper will compare the similarities and differences between these two theories as well as their historical contributions and limitations. It aims to get a deeper understanding of Skopos theory and Yan Fu’s theory and a better application of theories in practice. In the meantime, the collision and comparative analysis of Chinese and Western theories will also promote the study of translation theories and provide a reference for guiding translation practice.

Key words

Skopos Theory; Faithfulness, Expressiveness and Elegance; Hans Vermeer; Yan Fu

摘要

目的论和严复提出的翻译理论即 “信达雅”分别是中西方翻译理论史上最具代表性的翻译理论之一。并且这两种翻译理论对中西方翻译理论和实践产生了深刻的影响。本文将对比研究目的论以及严复理论的同异，结合比较这两种理论的历史贡献及局限,旨在加深对目的论和“信达雅”理解，并将理论更好地运用到翻译实践中。同时中西方理论的碰撞和对比分析，也会促进翻译理论研究和为指导翻译实践提供依据。

关键词

目的论；信达雅；汉斯·弗米尔；严复

1. Introduction

Skopos is the Greek word for “aim” or “purpose” and was introduced into translation theory in the 1970s by the German linguists Hans J. Vermeer as a technical term for the purpose of a translation and developed in Germany in the late 1970s. The creation of Skopos theory is a significant achievement of western translation theories, providing a new perspective for translation study. In 1897, Yan Fu set down the triple translation criteria of “Faithfulness, Expressiveness and Elegance,” (Xin Da Ya), which influenced the development of translation practice and theory for almost half a century after it came into being and it still exerts great influence on contemporary TS. As now the scope of integration and exchanges between China and Western world are expanding to various fields, this paper will reexamine these influential theories by comparing their commonalities, differences and influences, so as to broaden our vision of translation theory study.

2. Introduction of Skopos Theory and Yan Fu’s Theory

2.1 Skopos Theory

“Skopos theory comprises the idea that translating and interpreting means to produce a target text in a target setting for a target purpose and target addressees in target circumstances” .(Vermeer, Hans J.1987a, 26). The purpose decides everything, from the translation strategy and translation method, to the choice of the form and content of the original work, to the production of the target text. All these take the purpose as the reference.

2.1.2 The Development of Skopos Theory

The creation of Skopos theory in not going to happen overnight; it is a gradual process that can the skopos theory become the core of functionalist approach, which is initially proposed by Hans Vermeer. Its formation and development experienced mostly three periods.

(1) Katharina Reiss’s research

The book Possibilities and Limits of Translation Criticism, written by Katharina Reiss in 1971, marked the appearance of German translation theories and was the first time raised the idea that text function could be listed as a standard of translation criticism and came up with thoughts of functional translation theory. The core of her translation theory is text typology, including informative text (content-focused), expressive text (form-focused), operative text (appeal-focused) and the auto-medial text, which laid a foundation of Skopos theory.

(2) Hans J. Vermeer: Skopos theories and beyond

Vermeer, Reiss’s student, casting off the chains of Translation Equivalence, thought: translation is not a mechanical language interpretation, but an activity with an aim or purpose. According to Action Theory, human action is a kind of purposeful behavior in a given situation. In his opinion, translation also is such a kind of action with purpose on the foundation of a source text. Hence, Vermeer names his theory Skopos theory, a theory of purposeful action. Hans J. Vermeer believed that the purpose of a text determines the translation strategies. The most important ingredients determining the purpose of translation is readers. So translators should better to consider integrally both the purpose of translation and special circumstances of target-text readers before interpreting.（Zhou Mengzhen 2007, 154）

(3) Justa Holz-Manttari and Christiane Nord: the theory of translational action and Function plus Loyalty Principle

Manttari differentiated “translation” and “translation action”. She thought that “translation” is simply transformative action while “translation action” is more intricate behavior designed to transfer message overcoming culture and language barriers. In Christiane Nord’s Translating as a Purposeful Activity-Functionalist Approaches Explained, she defines the Skopos theory as the prime principle determining any translation process. But Nord also found there were some drawbacks of Skopos theory, so she putted forward the “loyalty principle”: the responsibility of translators towards to their partners in translational interaction. (Christiane Nord, 1997)

2.1.3 Rules of Skopos Theory

There are three rules of Skopos theory, including skopos rule, coherence rule and fidelity rule.

The top-ranking rule for any translation is thus the ‘skopos rule’, which means that a translation action is determined by its skopos; in other words, that is “ the end justifies the means” (Reiss Katharina & Vermeer Hans J. 1984). As defined by Vermeer and translated by Nord, the Skopos rule states: “Each text is produced for a given purpose and should serve this purpose. The Skopos rule thus reads as follows: translate/interpret/speak/write in a way that enables your text/translation to function in the situation it is used and with the people who want to use it and precisely in the way they want it to function.” (Christiane Nord, 1997) Whether the function of the source text or passages in the source text can be preserved or have to be modified or even changed all decided by the purpose of translation. The skopos is divided into three forms: translator purpose, communicative purpose of the translated text and the purpose of using some kind of translation strategies. Coherence rule talks about that the target text must be coherent with the source text, given target text receivers circumstances and knowledge (Pochhacker, Franz 1995, 32). Translators should pick out what is meaningful in the receivers’ condition. The last rule, fidelity rule, concerns the intertexual coherence between target text and source text---the target text is determined by its skopos. In accordance to this, the form of the target text would be determined by both translator’s interpretation of the source text and the translation’s purpose.

These three rules connect with each other. Coherence rule and fidelity rule are subject to skopos rule. From above three rules, we come to a conclusion that the evaluation criterion of translation is “adequacy”—dynamic standard-- rather than “equivalence”. Therefore, translator should not be literalists who rigidly adhere to the words of the source text.

2.2 Yan Fu’s Theory

Yan Fu (1854-1921) was an outstanding Chinese Scholar and translator who had studied abroad from 1877 to 1879 in Britain. In this period, he was interested in western politics and started to learn academic theories of capitalist politics. His solid foundation of language as well as rich reserves of theories made adequate preparations for his future translation work. Because realizing that it was important for old China to catch up western countries in fields of politics, economy, culture, ideology and institutions, this famous Chinese translator devoted his life to importing western ideas and theories by translating various foreign works, including Evolution and Ethics, Yuan Fu (the Chinese version of The Wealth of Nations), The Spirit of Laws and other essays. It is these translated works and his translation theories --- “faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance” that impressed large numbers of Chinese scholars profoundly, which also contributed to his everlasting name in the history of Chinese translation theory study.(Chen Fukang 2000, 105）

2.2.1 The Development of Yan Fu’s Theory

(1)The proposal of “Faithfulness, Expressiveness and Elegance”

The idea of “faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance” （Xin, Da, Ya) was firstly seen in The Dhammapada sequence （《法句经序》）written by Zhi Qian , a venerable monk and a translator of Buddhist scriptures in the Three Kingdoms Period. But as a translation theory, it is known to the public and handed down because of Yan Fu. (Chen Fukang 2000, 106) In 1898, Yan Fu made a conclusion of all the debates related to translation since Han dynasty and Tang dynasty after research. Then he put forward “the three difficulties for translating” in the preface of the translation of T.H. Huxley’s book Evolution and Ethics and Other Essays more than one hundred years ago. The first draft of Evolution and Ethics was finished in 1895. As this was the first book he translated, he met many difficulties in translating and got a lot of thoughts. Then he put his thoughts into Yiliyan （《译例言》）: “ Translation involves three requirements difficult to fulfill: faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance. ” (Yan Fu, 1987) However, there are still some people holding the opinion that these translation thoughts of Yan Fu took their ideas from the three principles of famous British translator Tytler.

(2)The evolution of “Faithfulness, Expressiveness and Elegance”

Since this translation theory was put forward, it have inspired continuous debates for nearly one hundred years and the interpretation of the later scholars cannot be ignored. There are four main directions of this evolution. The May Fourth New Culture Movement ushered in a new epoch vernacular literature and translation, which changed the status of Classical Chinese and Vernacular Chinese. So Yan Fu’s interpretation of “Elegance”, which refers to application of Classical Chinese before Han dynasty, became out of step with the Times. Attempting to prove the rationality of “Elegance”, many translators made new interpretations of it. While there are also some made adjustments on the basis of Yan Fu’s theory. Qu Qiubai suggested using Vernacular Chinese instead of classical one; Lin Yutang, Liu Zhongdei and Zhu Wenzhen proposed to change “Elegance” into “Beauty”, “Closeness” and “Appropriate” respectively. Among which “ Faithfulness, Expressiveness and Closeness” not only inherits rational thoughts, but also overcomes limitations of “Elegance”. So this principle is a remarkable symbol presenting that China’s translation theories are becoming mature.(Liu Qijia 2000, 97)

Besides, Lu Xun simplified this three-character standard, turning it into a two-character one--- “faithfulness and smoothness” (Xin Shun Shuo). From “Faithfulness, Expressiveness and Elegance” to “Faithfulness, Smoothness and Beauty”, from “Similarity in Spirit” to “Sublimation”, we can see that the translation spirit of Yan Fu is carried forward and how profound an impact this theory made.

2.2.2 Main Contents of Yan Fu’s Theory

Whenever the criteria of translation is discussed in China, the principle of translation proposed by Yan Fu would be mentioned, namely: “ Faithfulness, Expressiveness and Elegance”. From the perspective of Yan Fu, “Faithfulness” referred to the meaning of the target text should be close to that of the original one, that was, being faithful to the original meaning, as well as its sentimental color, style and flavor. There are two aspects of “Faithfulness”: being faithful to the original work and to target readers. “Expressiveness” meant the target text should be coherent and clear, there being no need to follow the exact order of words and sentences structure of the original language but reorganize and elaborate to respect the rules of target language. And “Elegance” indicated that the target text should be of refinement in language, namely, the use of ancient Chinese before Han dynasty so as to meet the expectation of target readers who were well-educated in China. He claimed that “where language has no refinement, its effects will not extend far”(言之无文，行之不远). (Chen Fukang 2000, 108）

In Yan Fu’s point of view, “Faithfulness” is the core while “Expressiveness” and “Elegance” are two measures, which can be noticed from the order of these three characters. That means “Faithfulness” is the premise and basis of translation and the other two are the aim of translation. So these three standards are integrated.

3. Similiarities and Differences

3.1 The Similarities betweeen these Two Theories

Although Skopos theory and Yan Fu’s theory originated in two different countries and cultural environments, and there are hundreds of years between the times when they were put forward, these two theories have many similarities.

3.1.1 Fidelity Rule and Faithfulness

The Fidelity rule in Skopos theory is similar to “Faithfulness” in Yan Fu’s theory. Comparing the two theories of translation, we find that both theories have a criterion based on the original text and pursue the principle of fidelity, which is only expressed in different words. Fidelity rule in Skopos theory holds that translator should respect both the original author and readers in the translation process. Translation is to try to reach an agreement with the original work's intention and translator is responsible not only to readers but also to the original author, reconciling the purpose of the translation with the author's intention and mediating between the two. In Nord’s opinion , the faithfulness principle gives translator the right to make changes to the original text according to the purpose of translation, showing an open, tolerant and dynamic view of translation; on the other hand, it requires translator to be responsible for all parties involved in the translation, to explain or interpret his or her translation strategy, and to reach an understanding and consensus among all parties.(Christiane Nord, 1997)

This coincides with Yan Fu's "Faithfulness", which emphasizes not to deviate from the original text. And "Faithfulness" is the premise and foundation of translation. In the process of translation, translator is required to correctly understand the original text and then reproduce it in another language. If the ideas, expressions, and emotions in the translation are not consistent with the original work, then it violates the requirement of "Faithfulness", as well as the requirement of the fidelity rule in Skopos theory. Thus, we can find that both theories emphasize the importance of faithfulness to the original text.

3.1.2 Coherence Rule and Expressiveness

The coherence principle in Skopos theory is similar to the “Expressiveness” in the Yan Fu’s theory. In short, they both emphasize the fluency and smoothness of the translation from the point of view of readers’ receptivity and comprehension, so that receiver can accept and understand the translation smoothly. The coherence principle refers that translation should be readable and acceptable, so as to achieve interlingual coherence and to be consistent with the communicative situation of the target readers. As elaborated by Nord, a communicative interaction can only be regarded as successful if the receivers interpret it as being sufficiently coherent with their situation. (Christiane Nord 1997, 32) Under this rule, the receivers of the target text, their cultural background, social circumstances, expectations, values and norms should all be taken into consideration as major factors to produce meaningful translations. In translation, translator should reproduce the content and form of the original text as much as possible, and such translations usually require extensive annotation so that readers can have a better understanding of the translation.

This point is consistent with Yan Fu's viewpoint in his translation work, Evolution and Ethics · Yiyanli : “ 顾信矣，不达，虽译，犹不译也(A translation is faithful but not expressive, then it is not a qualified translation)。” (Yan Fu, 1987) According to Yan, “Expressiveness” means to reproduce the meaning of the original text in a way that is consistent with the terminological conventions of the target language, which also emphasizes the understandability of the translation. That is to say, translator should focus on conveying the content of the original text and conveying the meaning and gist of the original text, rather than sticking to the order of the words and sentences in the original text. At the same time, Yan also points out that the sentence structure in English is very different from that in Chinese. If one mechanically translates long sentences from English, the Chinese translation will certainly be unintelligible. Therefore, a translator must first understand the main idea of the original text clearly before he can translate it without compromising the original meaning. It can be seen that both Skopos theory and Yan Fu's theory emphasize expressing the main idea of the original text in a way that can be understood by the target readers.

3.1.3 Skopos Rule and Elegance

The Skopos rule in the Skopos theory is similar to “Elegance” in Yan Fu’s theory to some extent. The Skopos rule states that the purpose of translation determines the entire act of translation at the macro level. In the meantime, translator must decide what methods and strategies to use in translation based on the function of the translation in the target culture. Vermeer regards the recipient of the translation as an important part of the translation requirements and "one of the most important factors in determining the purpose of the translation". Translation is "the text produced in the target language environment for the purpose of translation and for the target readers.”.(Christiane Nord 1997, 12)

While in Yan Fu’s theory, “Elegance” is more specific, as it is based on the specific era and target readers at that time he lived. Because in the 19th century, the books Yan Fu translated were not for the general public, but for old literati and intellectuals who had the right to speak at that time. And most of them respected the old and discriminated against the new, advocating the ancient language while opposing the promotion of the vernacular language. There was no way to introduce Western ideas and knowledge to the scholarly class in China without taking into account their feelings. It is clear that he was thinking from the perspective of target readers, then this theory was put forward. (Chen Fukang 2000, 109) So, in essence, both theories share the same reader-centered viewpoint.

3.2 The Differences between these Two Theories

Although there are many similarities between these two translation theories, big differences in the theoretical system, translation standards and translators' status still exist. These differences are not only caused by the different traditions of Chinese and Western theories, but also by the differences in cultural background and personal theoretical knowledge.

3.2.1 Different Theoretical Systems

Skopos theory is closely integrated with other disciplines. This theory was born out of the behavioral theory. Vermeer places Skopos theory in the framework of cross-cultural communication. He denies that translation is a purely linguistic transformation, and pays more attention to communication and culture.It makes the translation theory more logical, scientific and systematic. Thus, it breaks the text-centered translation research tradition, providing a new perspective for translation study. A theoretical system with diversified translation standards was formed. Skopos theory clearly puts forward some translation concepts, such as the three rules, and there is a clear hierarchy among the three rules, with both Fidelity rule and Coherence rule being subordinate to the Skopos rule. It makes clear to translator the standards and principles that they should follow.In addition, it also made a distinction between intertextual coherence and intratextual coherence, adequate translation and equivalent translation, and translation and translation action.(Zhou Mengzhen 2007, 156)

But Yan Fu’s theory is relatively abstract and vague. Although it concludes the translation requirements, it is not as clear as Skopos theory. Different translators have different interpretations of these three translation criteria. Some think that "Faithfulness" refers to the faithfulness to the original work's ideological content, while others think it is faithful to the content and linguistic style of the original work, which leads to differences in content and form. Zhu Guang Qian and Tang Ren even advocated condensing “Faithfulness, Expressiveness and Elegance” into “Faithfulness”; people’s understanding of “Elegance” was even more diverse. Besides, Yan Fu's theory is not closely integrated with other disciplines and focuses more on content and aesthetics.(Chen Fukang 2000, 348）

Therefore, Yan Fu's theory is not clearly demonstrated and scientifically summarized, which easily cause ambiguity. It is not as theoretical and systematic as Skopos theory, and tends to be more of an empirical theory.

3.2.2 Different Translation Standards

Before the emergence of Skopos theory, the mainstream translation standard was functional equivalence. The emergence of the Skopos theory broke through the constraint of equivalence，replacing the "faithfulness principle" as the first principle with the Skopos rule. The success of a translation depends on whether the intended purpose of translation is achieved. "Skopos" usually refers to the communicative purpose of the translation, that is, "the communicative function of the translation in the target socio-cultural context for the target readers". Therefore, the Skopos theory pays more attention to the translation requirements, the target readers, the target language’s environment and culture. It has a broader scope of application, increasing the number of alternative translation strategies, which opened the shackles of translators.（Vermeer, Hans J. 1989, 186)

In contrast, Yan Fu's translation theory, which can also be regarded as a translation standard, puts forward requirements for translations in three directions of “Faithfulness, Expressiveness and Elegance”. Although “Faithfulness” is the first among the three, Yan Fu also emphasized the importance of “Expressiveness” and “Elegance”. In Yan Fu's view, these three standards are integrated. Even he himself didn’t explain it clearly. In this way, “Faithfulness, Expressiveness and Elegance” are only three abstract translation criteria, rather than a systematic translation theory. And it has different requirements to different types of text. The requirements are highest for literary works, lower for philosophical and social science works, and even lower for science and technology related works, official documents and the like.(Chen Fukang 2000, 108)

3.2.3 Different Translator Status

For a long time in the past, the role and subject status of translators have not received enough attention and research. Traditional translation theories holds that translators should be subordinate to the original text in the translation process. However, Skopos theory emphasizes the subjectivity of translator and frees translators from the prison of the faithfulness standard of translation theory. According to Vermeer, the purpose determines translation action. And the intended purpose is determined by many factors: (1) translator's basic purpose (e.g. to earn a living), (2) the communicative purpose of the translation (e.g. to enlighten readers), and (3) the purpose to be achieved by using a special translation method (e.g. adopting literal translation to illustrate the grammatical structure of a language). (He Xiaoling 2012, 46)So translators has more freedom and rights. They can have their own judgment and understanding in the translation process. They can adopt different translation strategies, like omission or addition, according to different translation purposes. Therefore, under Skopos theory, translator is the medium of communication between the author and readers, original text and translated text. He plays a creative role in the translation process, instead of just converting two different languages mechanically. At the same time, translator acts as a central role in the translation process who is responsible for the results of the whole translation activity.

However, in Yan Fu's theory, the content of the translation cannot deviate from the original work. The role of translator is more to convey the meaning of the original work to readers after understanding the ideological basis of the original author. He should strive for the consistency or similarity between the translated text and the original, without compromising the readability and acceptability of the translated text. Therefore, under this theory, translator is more of a bridge between the original work and the translated text. This would still be original text-centered, and translator would not be able to exercise much initiative. As we can see, “Faithfulness, Expressiveness and Faithfulness” still advocates the primacy of the original text. Compared with the subjective initiative of translator in Skopos theory, translator's act is largely passive .

4. A Comparative Study of the Contribution and Limitation of these Two Theories

Skopos theory proposed by Vermeer and the theory proposed by Yan Fu play an important role in Chinese and Western translation theories respectively. Then what are the similarities and differences between the two theories in terms of their contributions and shortcomings? Through the analysis in this chapter, we can glimpse the development trend and characteristics of translation theory in the world of Chinese and Western translation.

4.1 Contributions of these Two Theories

When the linguistic dominance in translation studies was questioned before the birth of Skopos theory, translation studies gradually shifted to a cultural orientation, Vermeer placed translation in the framework of cross-cultural communication, which freed translation from the shackles of Nida's equivalence theory, and liberated translation studies from the constraints of source-text-oriented approach . In Skopos theory, the status of the source text is not as important as that of the target text. Vermeer regards the original text only as a "source of information", which provides only the information needed for the translation commission, and is no longer the only or the highest criterion for evaluating the translation ( Hans J. Vermeer 1982, 98.) Taking the purpose of translation as the starting point and foundation of translation has greatly changed our original concept of translation. Skopos theory also provides a good explanation for the controversy over domestication and foreignization in the history of Chinese and Western translation, as well as the widely discussed form equivalence and dynamic equivalence in the translation industry in the past two or three decades. Whether to adopt domestication or foreignization in translation depends on the purpose of translation. More emphasis is placed on the purpose of translation, the goal of translator and the effect of the translation on readers. The social and communicative effects of translation, as well as that of readers and translation are also of great importance , thus a multifaceted and integrated translation standard was formed. Therefore, the creation of Skopos theory has finally freed translation research from the confinement brought about by “equivalence” and provided a new direction for translation study.

Skopos theory has played a subversive role in the history of Western translation, while Yan Fu's theory is to a greater extent a summary and refinement of the previous theories of Chinese translation schools. But it has played a pivotal role in the history of Chinese translation and has long been valued by translation scholars. The contribution of this theory to translation lies not only in proposing a far-reaching translation standard, but also in its rich vitality. This is because this translation standard summarizes the main characteristics of translation work to a great extent and shows the requirements of translation work. Secondly, because of its inclusive nature, after several generations of scholars' discussions, the meaning of “Faithfulness, Expressiveness and Elegance” has already exceeded the definition given by Yan Fu. In particular, there are various new interpretations of "Elegance" in literary translation, no longer sticking to the use of ancient Chinese before the Han Dynasty, but focusing on the use of literary style, writing style, and rhetoric. Over the past 100 years, Yan Fu's theory has aroused translators’ long-term thinking and exploration of translation theory, then its academic connotation has been unceasingly explored, which, in return, has been continuously developed and perfected, and has become the classic of Chinese translation thought. In the words of Shen Suru, “Faithfulness, Expressiveness and Elegance” is “still the most well-known and influential translation principle and standard, and no other principle or standard can replace it”(Shen Suru 2001,7).

4.2 Limitations of these Two Theories

Although Skopos theory has made a great breakthrough to translation theory, it has some shortcomings of its own. Firstly, it overemphasizes the purpose of translation and translator, while neglecting rich meaning and multifunctionality of the original text, which undermines the ontological meaning of translation, and is not suitable for some text types. Skopos theory contains a certain degree of idealism, focusing on analysis and refinement, and sometimes it tends to neglect the integrity. As a result, sometimes the stylistic and semantic features of the original text are lost in order to achieve the translation goal. Many scholars have also criticized Skopos theory. Among them, Pym argues that it is a matter of common sense that translation has a purpose, and there is no need to make a fuss over the theory (Pym Anthony, 1996). Besides, Newmark claims that the “purpose-oriented” view is overkill. He strongly resents the approach of Skopos theory which eliminates the authority of texts and is oriented to translator's culture. Secondly, the possibility of realizing the purpose of translation depends on the conditions of the target culture rather than the culture of the source language, so fidelity to the original text is only a possibility. Thus we can see that the coherence rule and fidelity rule are not universally applicable.

Obviously, there are also limitations to Yan Fu’s theory. Compared with Skopos theory, Yan Fu's theory gives sufficient attention to the original text, but, as we mentioned earlier, it is an abstract and general theory, which is more theoretical rather than expository. The lack of analysis and discussion of specific issues keeps the theory at an abstract level, making it difficult for translator to grasp the degree: what degree can be called “Faithfulness”, what degree can be called “Expressiveness”, and what degree can be called “Elegance”?(Zhou Mengzhen 2007, 157) It is this ambiguity that makes this theory less scientific and accurate than Skopos theory. Thus its guiding role in practice is greatly reduced. In addition, as a product of the times, Yan Fu’s theory is deeply influenced by the background of the time, and cannot be scientifically combined with other disciplines, which once again limits the application of this theory.

5. Conclusion

There are many similarities between the theory of purpose and Yan Fu's translation theory, “Faithfulness, Expressiveness and Elegance”, in terms of pursuing fidelity and consistency, and observing reader adaptation, while there are also many differences in the theoretical systems, translation standards, and translator status. Although both theories have certain limitations, it is undeniable that they both provide important guidance for translation practice.

Through a comparative study of these two typical Chinese and Western translation theories, we can find that the Western translation theory pays more attention to scientific argumentation method. It attempts to combine with many other disciplines, and takes them as the theoretical support. Thus, the translation theory model is constantly proposed and improved, and the translation research perspective is expanded. Similarly, Yan Fu's theory is constantly being carried forward, and its influence is far-reaching.

Nowadays, as the world is in the period of fast development, dramatic change and great integration, Chinese and Western thoughts and cultures are deeply interwoven. We should adhere to the essence of Chinese translation theory while learning Western theory, so as to better master the essence of both, grasp the development trend of translation theory, and more actively guide our translation practice.

Reference

Christiane Nord. (1997). Translating as a Purposeful Activity. Kinderhook: St. Jerome Publishing.

Reiss Katharina & Vermeer Hans J. (1984). Groundwork for a general theory of translation. Tubingen: Niemeyer.

Pochhacker Franz. (1995). Simultaneous interrupting: a functionalist perspective. Hermes: Journal of linguistics, (14): 31-53.

Pym, Anthony. (1996). Material Text Transfer as a Key to the Purpose of Translation. Kent, Ohio: Institute of Applied Linguistics.

Vermeer Hans J. (1982a). Translation als informationsangebot. Lebende sprachen, 27(3)97-101.

Vermeer Hans J. (1987a). What does it mean to translate. Indian journal of applied linguistic, 13(2):25-33.

Vermeer Hans J. (1989a). Skopos and Commission in Translational Action. Chersterman: Translation Theory, 173-187.

Chen Fukang 陈福康. (2000). 中国译学理论史稿 [A History of Translation Theory in China]. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press 上海外语教育出版社.

He Xiaoling 閤小玲. (2012). 浅析目的论视角下的译者主体性 [An Analysis of Translator Subjectivity in the Perspective of Purpose Theory]. Journal of Liuzhou Teachers College 柳州师专学报. (4):45-47.

Liu Qijia 刘期家. (2000). 论信达雅的历史发展轨迹 [On the historical development trajectory of Faithfulness, Expressiveness and Elegance]. Journal of Sichuan International Studies University 四川外语学院学报. (2):96-101.

Shen Suru 沈苏儒.(2001). 翻译的最高境界——信达雅漫谈 [The Highest Level of Translation - A Compendium of Faithfulness, Expressiveness and Elegance]. Beijing: China Translation and Publishing Corporation 中国对外翻译出版公司.

Tan Zaixi 谭载喜. (2004). 西方翻译简史 [ A Short History of Translation in the West]. Beijing: The Commercial Press 商务印书馆.

Yan Fu严复. (1897). 天演论·译例言 [Evolution and Ethics· Yiliyan]. News Collection 国闻汇编.

Zhou Mengzhen 周锰珍. (2007). “目的论”与“信达雅”——中西方两种译论的比较 ['Skopos Theory' and 'Faithfulness, Expressiveness and Elegance': A Comparison of Two Translation Theories in China and the West. Academic Forum 学术论坛. (8):154-158.

--Wu Yilu (talk) 13:33, 13 December 2020 (UTC)

Comparison of Eileen Chang’s Self-Translation and Conventional Translation from the Perspective of Gender 纪甜甜 Ji Tiantian

纪甜甜 Ji Tiantian

Abstract

As a representative figure of Chinese feminist literature, Eileen Chang’s feminist thoughts and gender consciousness have been fully reflected in her creation process. Besides, she is not only a writer, but also a translator. Studying her translation strategies in self-translation and conventional translation and exploring the gender consciousness reflected in her process of translation can help to the further development of translation studies of Chang, make up for the lack of translation evaluation of Chinese women and it also conducive to the further development of gender study in the context of China.

Key words

Eileen Chang, gender, self-translation, conventional translation

题目

性别视角下张爱玲自译与他译对比研究

摘要

张爱玲作为中国女性主义文学的代表人物，在她的创作过程中，女性主义思想、性别意识得到了充分的体现。张爱玲本人除了是一个作家外，也身兼译者的身份，从性别视角研究其自译与他译文本中所采取的翻译策略及其体现出来的性别意识，有助于张爱玲翻译研究的进一步发展，弥补中国翻译史中女性翻译史的欠缺，也有利于性别研究在中国语境下的进一步发展。

关键词

张爱玲，性别，自译，他译

1. Introduction

Eileen Chang, as a Chinese well-known female writer in the 20th century, her novels and prose have attracted much attention, so that many scholars focus on her literary creation achievement but ignore her translation. Numerous books aiming to introduce the Chinese translation history make no mention of Eileen Chang's identity as a translator. In fact, Eileen Chang should be reckoned with in the translation field in that she has also made significant contributions in translation. Mao Dun has pointed out that “ The person who can translate literature books must be someone has talent in creation”（Luo Xinzhang & Chen Yingnian，2009：413）, and looking through the Chinese history, we can find that there are not so much Chinese writers who can also translate, but Eileen Chang is one of them. She, with her powerful creative talent and bilingual skills, has translated diverse works, including a variety of novels, prose and poems, at the same time, she has also made her contributions in compiling movie scripts. Here, the translations will be talked about are her self-translation of Jinsuo Ji (The Golden Cangue) and conventional translation of The Old Man and the Sea.

Eileen Chang, as a leader of feminist literature in China, the feminism thought profoundly embodied in her literary creation and translation, however, speaking up for women has not limited her exploration of male identity,in the process of depicting the typical characters with different genders, Eileen Chang, as the author or the translator, represents different gender identities.

2. Gender and Translation

Since the rise of feminism in the western continent in the 20th century, the topic of gender has always been placed at the core of its theoretical development. Feminist translation theory thought that between women and translation there was some kind of similarity - both of them were placed in the inferior position. So they combined feminism and translation, advocating from the feminist standpoint, using language to create positive intervention to change women' s weak position in translation, so that it can criticize the traditional translation theories which degrade women and translation to the bottom of the society or literature phenomenon. During this period, the research on the relationship between gender and translation has seen the influence of gender identity on translation, which is a big development. However, the over-emphasis on the opposition between the two sexes has its limitations.

As Sherry Simon has pointed out, “...Another interesting area of investigation would be the way gender identities have been disguised through translation” (Sherry 2005:159), that is, gender identity can be disguised during translation, or the identity represented by the translator is not a single fixed one.With the development and innovation of various theories, translation studies from the perspective of gender, when developed into the 1980s, under the influence of post-structuralism theory, its focus has shifted from the over-emphasis on the opposition between men and women to the exploration of meaning and gender fluidity.

This chapter, facing such a change of gender translation studies, aims to study Eileen Chang' s translations from the perspective of gender liquidity. To some extent, this chapter breaks the status quo that the study on Eileen Chang is onefold about feminism and explores her gender identity transformation in translation to dig out the influences different gender identities make to the translation.

3. The Gender Identities in Eileen Chang' s Self-translation -- Jinsuo Ji

As one of the most representative works of Eileen Chang, Jinsuo Ji was once honored as “the greatest novella in the history of Chinese literature”(Hsia 1999: 398) by Hsia, while Fu Lei(whose early pseudonym is Xun Yu) also gave a high evaluation of this work, and he said that it was “one of the most great achievements in our literary world”(Xun 1994: 121). In order to perfectly present the culture and thought of the original work, Eileen Chang chose to translate it herself. It takes her nearly 10 years to rewrite or self-translate Jinsuo Ji, including four different versions: Pink Tears, The Rouge of The North, Yuan Nv and The Golden Cangue. However, due to the cultural differences between English and Chinese contexts, the English version is far less successful than the Chinese version especially the first two English versions do not receive much attention. It was not until 1971 that her fourth English version was produced and chosen into Twentieth - Century Chinese Stories(1921).

Finished in 1943，Jinsuo Ji mainly depicts how Ch’ i-ch’ iao, an ordinary girl from a vendor' s family, gradually changes her mental state because of the oppression of the feudal family. Being forced to marry a crippled person, she depresses her love towards Chiang Chi-tse, her brother-in-law, and idles thirty years in Chiang family like insanity. Under such circumstance, Ch’ i-ch’ iao’ s personality is finally distorted under her desperate desire for sex and money. On one hand, she destroys her son' s marriage and tortures her daughter-in-law to death. On the other hand, her daughter' s marriage is put an end to by her.

Eileen Chang' s works overturns the traditional patriarchal discourse, turning to the female as the center of her literature creation, and in her works, the main objects are those ordinary women who live a tragic life. These works fully show her sympathy to the fate of these women, and reflect her intense gender consciousness which is also reflected in her translation.

3.1 The Performace of Translator' s Female Identity

In Jinsuo Ji, Ch’ i-ch’ iao is definitely a beautiful and healthy girl. However, due to the economic reasons and family pressure, she has to marry a disabled husband with an ugly appearance. In the face of such a marriage, Ch’ i-ch’ iao’ s sorrow is obvious, and hoping for love, she turns her eyes to Chiang Chi-tse. However, the reality proves to her that Chiang Chi-tse' s so-called emotion is just a use. Eileen Chang, as a female translator, is full of sympathy for Ch’ i-ch’ iao’ s situation, and this sympathy is fully reflected in her translation.

ST： （七巧的手直打颤，扇柄上的杏黄须子在她额上苏苏摩擦着......）七巧低着头，沐浴在光辉里，细细的音乐，细细的喜悦.....这些年了，她跟他捉迷藏似的，只是近不得身，原来还有今天！(Eileen Chang, 1992: 108)

TT： ( Ch’ i-ch’ iao’ s hands trembled until the yellow tassel on the fan handle rustled against her forehead...) Ch’ i-ch’ iao bowed her head, basking in glory, in the soft music of his voice and the delicate pleasure of this occasion. So many years now, she had been playing hide-and-seek with him and never could get close, and there had still been a day like this in store for her. (Eileen Chang, 1971: 163)

Comparing the source text with the target text, it can be found that Eileen Chang makes three main additions here: “of his voice”, “of this occasion” and “in store” to explicate the implied information in the source text, which more powerfully reveal Ch’ i-ch’ iao’ s strong feelings of love and uneasiness for Jiang Jize all the time. From then on, it can be seen that Ch' i-ch' iao once placed her hope in Jiang Jize for love. However, from the description in the following text, we can find that for Chiang Chi-tse, the affection with Ch' i-ch' iao is just for regulating his life. Eileen Chang clarifies Ch' i-ch' iao' s emotion in the translation and reveals Chiang Chi-tse' s so-called emotion in the later text, which can show the tragic color of Ch’ i-ch’ iao to express the translator’ s sympathy for the character.

3.2 The Performace of Translator' s Male Identity

In Jinsuo Ji, the author uses a large number of metaphors and suggestive words to describe the traditional women' s survival condition. In order to more intuitively present such a state to the readers, Eileen Chang tries her best to translate from the male identity, which to a certain extent derogates the female consciousness of the text, to show the passive and helpless of female characters under a specific era background.

ST： 娟姑娘扶了正，做了芝寿的替身。(Eileen Chang, 1992: 130)

TT： Miss Chuan was made a wife and became Chih-shou' s substitute. (Eileen Chang, 1971: 191)

The source text describes that after the death of Ch' i-ch’ iao' s daughter-in-law Chih-shou, Chuan, as a concubine of Ch' ang - pai, was supported as his wife. The expression of “扶了正” is full of metaphorical color, “正” is a metaphor for the official wife, and “扶” indicates that Chuan is a passive object controlled by the feudal family. In the translation, Eileen Chang uses the passive voice to translate “扶了正” into “was made a wife” to convey the manipulated situation implied in the source text. In addition, here Chang uses the article “a” instead of “the”, just as there will be others to take the place of Chih-shou after her death, the position of the official wife is also low in the feudal family.

Another typical example in which the translator expresses herself as a male to show the passive position of the female is reflected in the translation of Ch' ang-an and Ch’ ang - pai’ s separation scene:

ST： 长安和长白分了家搬出来住。(Eileen Chang, 1992: 130)

TT： Ch’ ang-an got her share of property from Ch' ang - pai and moved out of the house. (Eileen Chang, 1971: 191)

The original describes the scene in which Ch' ang-an and Ch’ ang - pai split up after Ch' i-ch' iao' s death. Here “分家” is a phrase with metaphorical color, instead of translating it directly into “divide the property”, Eileen Chang, from the perspective of male identity, conceals the hidden information of the original in the translation. She translates the sentence “长安和长白分了家” into “Ch' ang-an got her share of property from Ch' ang-pai”, which reveals the fact that in the feudal family of China, men had the right to inherit the family while women were subordinated.

3.3 The Disappearance of Translator' s Gender Identity

In the process of translation, Eileen Chang not only uses the identity of male or female to flexibly express the meaning of the original text, but also appropriately conceals her gender identity in some situations to reveal the reality of all characters including both sexes.

ST： （去年她戴了丈夫的孝，今年婆婆又过世了。）现在正式挽了叔公九老太爷出来为他们分家。(Eileen Chang, 1992: 104)

TT： （Last year, she wore mournings for her husband and this year, her mother - in - law had passed away.）Now her husband’ s uncle, Ninth Old Master, was formerly invited to come and divide the property among the survivors. (Eileen Chang, 1971: 157)

The source text shows us that after the death of the old woman in power of Chiang Mansion, a group of men and women gathered to separate their families. In the translation of the text, Eileen Chang does not make too many adjustments, but only abstracts the word “他们” which indicates “them” into “survivors”, a word with multiple meanings. Firstly, the survivors are indeed “alive” relative to the old woman who died, so the “survivors” can convey the meaning of the original text. Secondly, to some extent, in Eileen Chang' s eyes, both men and women are struggling in the mud in this turbulent era shrouded by feudal ideology, and everyone is a survivor of suffering. Therefore, she uses the word “survivors” to reveal the abuses of the era and sigh over life.

Due to the work itself has strong female consciousness, therefore, as a translator, Eileen Chang inevitably translates from female perspective most of the time, but this does not mean that female translators do not have the male consciousness, from the second case, we can see that the identity of the translator can be transformed. In addition, the fluidity of the translator's gender identity is not only reflected in Eileen Chang's translation of female texts, but also reflected in her translation of male texts.

4. The Gender Identities in Eileen Chang’ s Conventional Translation -- The Old Man and the Sea

The Old Man and the Sea is an outstanding masterpiece of the famous American writer Ernest Miller Hemingway. It was published in 1952 and won the Pulitzer Prize in the second year. In 1954, Hemingway won the Nobel Prize of Literature by virtue of this work. Eileen Chang left Shanghai and arrived in Hong Kong in 1952, just after the publication of The Old Man and the Sea. Invited by the press office of the U.S. Consulate General in Hong Kong, Eileen Chang began to participate in a large-scale Chinese-translation project of American literary works, including The Old Man and the Sea.

The Old Man and the Sea is a masterpiece after Hemingway' s being silent for ten years. And once the work was published, it attracted wide attention from all walks of life. During that period, even priests and preachers began to quote Hemingway’ s philosophical and thought-provoking quotes in The Old Man and the Sea. Hemingway once said, “I only know that this is the best work I can write in my whole life, compared with other excellent and mature works.” This book is translated into dozens of languages and published all over the world, with high praise from critics and readers. The first person in China who gets this great work into well translated is Eileen Chang.

The Old Man and the Sea tells the story of a special fishing experience of an old fisherman named Santiago. After eighty-four days without getting a fish, he was lucky enough to catch a huge marlin. However the marlin dragged the old man and the boat along for two days and nights. In these two days and nights the old man had gone through the most difficult trials he had ever gone through. With strong will, he finally killed the big marlin and tied it to the bow. However, unfortunately, a group of big sharks came after smelling the smell of blood and the old man fought with them to the death. At last, the old man’ s life was saved, but the sharks had eaten up the great marlin, and what the old man dragged back was a bare skeleton.

When it comes to The Old Man and the Sea, in the prologue of its Chinese version, Eileen Chang expresses her affection of this work many times and different from the self-translation in which she has taken a bold rewriting, in the translation of The Old Man and the Sea, Eileen Chang is more faithful to the original, and only presents her subjectivity in the choice of the gender identity. Eileen Chang expresses her understanding of the gender of the source text in the prologue, and then creatively translates the gender-loaded words in the text accordingly.

4.1 The Performace of Translator' s Female Identity

It is undeniable that female translators depict emotions more deeply and delicately than male translators. Therefore, in the process of translating The Old Man and the Sea, Eileen Chang, as a female herself, is particularly adept in showing the emotional characteristics of Sandiego. “...In her translations, she uses rephrasing, color words and onomatopoeia words which are full of feminine characteristics. Those words hint about her feminist thoughts and subtly reveal her identity as a female translator.” (Mao Pingping, 2018)

ST： “Come on.” the old man said aloud. “Make another turn. Just smell them. Aren’ t they lovely? Eat them good now and there is the tuna. Hard and cold and lovely.” (Hemingway 1985: 39)

TT： “再兜一个圈子。你闻闻看。这沙丁鱼可爱不可爱? 好好地吃它们吧，不时还可以吃吃那鳍鱼。硬硬的，冷的，可爱的。”(Eileen Chang 1979: 29)

Here Eileen Chang uses a number of reduplicated words “闻闻”, “可爱不可爱”, “好好地”, “吃吃” and “硬硬的” to translate the dialogue between the old man and the fish, or in other words, the old man’ s self-talk to soften the whole image of Sandiac and also show his loneliness.

4.2 The Disappearance of Translator' s Gender Identity

As a work of men power, the word “man” can be found throughout the whole novel, and translation of this word has mainly two kinds of different ways, one is to follow the novel emotional qualitative, translating it into “男子汉” or some words having the similar meaning, and this way is often taken by many male translators. The second way is to expand the scope of objects, translating it into “人” or “人类” which includes both men and women. To some extent, the latter way blurs gender identity or conceals gender identity to achieve gender balance in the meaning. Eileen Chang mainly adopts the second method in her translation:

ST: It is what a man must do．

TT: 男子汉就应该这样。(by Hai Guan)

男子汉就该这么干。(by WuLao)

活总是要干的。(by Eileen Chang)

Wu Lao and Hai Guan both translate “man” into the concept of “male”, while Eileen Chang avoids using such words in translation. Here she translates the original text into a sentence pattern without subject, omits the subject with gender description, and in fact blurs the gender boundary of the words, thus breaking the arbitrary power of male discourse.

4.3 The Performance of Translator' s Male Identity

For the translation of “man”, Eileen Chang has also adopted another translation method:

ST： “But man is not made for defeat,” he said. “A man can be destroyed but not defeated.”

TT： “但是人不是为失败而生的，”他说。“一个男子汉可以被消灭，但是不能被打败。”（by Eileen Chang）

“可是一个人并不是生来要给打败的，”他说。“你尽可把他消灭掉，可就是打不败他。”（by Hai Guan）

“不过人不是为失败而生的，”他说。“一个人可以被毁灭，但不能给打败。”（by Wu Lao）

Here, contrary to the previous example, Hai Guan and Wu Lao translate “man” into “人”, while Eileen Chang translates “man” into “男子汉”which means male, pointing out that “a male can be destroyed”. Compared with Hai' s and Wu' s translation, Chang’ s translation, though excluding the female crowd, emphasizes the limitation of male power. Eileen Chang's translation is very characteristic. By taking advantage of different gender identities to give play to her translator's subjectivity, Eileen Chang transformed the image of Santiago, a tough man who fought bravely against nature created by Ernest Hemingway in the original text, into the image of a fisherman, a symbol of gender equality and a representative of all mankind.

Through the self-translation and conventional translation of Eileen Chang, we can see that the gender identity of the translator is not unchangeable, either in the feminist text (Jinsuo Ji) or in the text expressing the male discourse power (The Old Man and the Sea). The translator can adjust his/her gender identity to represent different genders and thus achieve his/her translation purpose.

5. Reasons for the Transformation of Gender Identity

5.1 Cultural Context

Malinowski, a Polish anthropologist, first put forward the concept of “context” and he divides context into cultural context and situational context. Here I mainly expound the influence of the cultural context on the transformation of the translator’ s gender identity in the two literary works Jinsuo Ji and The Old Man and the Sea. “The literary creation of any country or region cannot be separated from the rendering of the corresponding cultural context...A good translation cannot be achieved without a profound understanding of the context of the text.” (Xi Peihua 2017, 121)

The creation context of Jinsuo ji is different from that of The Old Man and the Sea, and the social background of the readers of the target language and the source language is also different, which all affect the choice of the translator’ s gender identity. For example, Eileen Chang' s work Jinsuo Ji reflects the difficult survival of Chinese women in the feudal family under the background of the 20th century. The original text uses many metaphors and suggestive words to describe the traditional women' s survival, and it’ s not difficult for the source language readers who are in the same social background to understand the indicating meaning of those words, however, when the text is taken into a different context while the text content is presented in the same way, it is not easy for the target language readers to understand, just as the expression “分家” in the sentence “长安和长白分了家搬出来住” has not only the surface meaning of “separation” but the implied cultural meaning that “Ch' ang-an got her share of property from Ch' ang-pai” which is the hidden information the target language readers won' t get if the translator did not take appropriate measures to make up for the difference of context. Therefore, in her translation process, Eileen Chang clarifies the cultural characteristics of the source language through the transformation of gender identity.

5.2 The Gender of the Translator and the Purpose of Translation

As a female translator, Eileen Chang' s female thought is inevitably reflected in her process of translation. And in addition to some potential unconscious female thinking, it is believed that Eileen Chang' s adoption of different gender identities is more consciously chosen according to her translation purpose. For example, in the translation of Jinsuo Ji, Eileen Chang translates from the perspective either of her own or the gender identity or of the opposite sex, the ultimate purpose is to express the struggle and survival of the female characters in the patriarchal society and expressing her lament for that era.

On the other hand, in The Old Man and the Sea, Eileen Chang expresses her different understanding of this work in her translation preface: “The old fisherman shows astonishing perseverance in his struggle with the sea -- not superhuman, but a kind of grace and spirit due to all human beings.” Therefore, Eileen Chang, based on her understanding of the work, attempts to abstract the image of “old fisherman” into all mankind through her translation, and either from a female identity perspective, from a male perspective or conceal her gender identity in her translation the purpose is to soft the male discourse in the original text.

6. Conclusion

Through this comparative study on Eileen Chang' s self-translation and conventional translation, we can see that Eileen Chang, as a female translator, can not only translate feminine literature from a female perspective, but translate male literature from heterosexual gender perspective. On the other hand, in the same literary work’s translation, her gender identity is not fixed, for example, in translating the female literary, in order to better achieve the purpose of translation, the translator can translate from a male perspective. In a word, this chapter provides the corresponding empirical evidence for the fluidity of translator' s gender identity, breaking the current situation that the research on Eileen Chang' s translation mainly focuses on her feminism.

References

Chang Eileen, trans. (1971). The Golden Cangue. Twentieth-century Chinese Stories[M]. NY: Columbia University Press.

Eileen Chang 张爱玲. (1955). 金锁记[M]. [The Gold Cangue]. 上海印书馆. [Shanghai Press].

Ernest Hemingway 欧内斯特· 海明威. (1979). 老人与海[M]. [The Old Man and the Sea]. 张爱玲译, 香港: 香港今日世界出版社. [Hong Kong: Hong Kong Today World Press].

Luo Xinzhang, Chen Yingnian 罗新璋，陈应年. (2009). 翻译论集[C].[Translation Theory Collection]. 北京: 商务印书馆. [Beijing: The Commercial Press].

Ma Yue, Mu Lei 马悦, 穆雷. (2010). 译者性别身份流动性 :女性主义翻译研究的新视角[J]. [Translator’s Gender Identity Mobility: a New Perspective on Feminist Translation Studies]. 解放军外国语学院学报. [Journal of PLA University of Foreign Languages]. 66-70.

Mao Pingping 毛萍萍. (2018). 张爱玲《老人与海》译作中女性主义的东方色彩[J]. [Oriental Feminism in Eileen Chang' s Translation of The Old Man and the Sea]. 大众文艺. [Popular Literature]. 171-173.

Simon, Sherry. (1996). Gender in Translation: Cultural Identity and the Politics of Transmission[M]. London: Routledge.

Wang Jing 王璟. (2011). 性别意识与文学翻译——张爱玲翻译个案研究[J]. [Gender Awareness and Literary Translation: A Case Study of Eileen Chang' s Translation]. 中国外语. [Chinese Foreign Language]. 102-106.

Wang Xiaoying 王晓莺. (2015). 离散译者张爱玲的中英翻译——一个后殖民女性主义的解读[M]. [Diaspora Translator Eileen Chang’s Chinese-English Translation——A Postcolonial Feminist Interpretation]. 广州:中山大学出版社. [Guangzhou: Sun Yat-sen University Press].

Xi Peihua 席培华. (2017). 浅谈语境文化对英美文学翻译的影响[J]. [On the Influence of Context Culture on the Translation of English and American Literature]. 黑龙江教育学院学报. [Journal of Heilongjiang Institute of Education]. 121-123.

Art of Translation

A Comparative Study of Two English Versions of Bian Cheng from the Perspective of Translation Ethics 桂一枝 Gui Yizhi

Abstract

Translation is a kind of cultural communication. As long as trans-cultural contacts between different nations and countries occur, problems in ethics would inevitably arise. The nature of translation determines that translation and its researches need the study of ethics as their guidance. The Chinese outstanding contemporary literary works Frontier City has been translated into many different languages, which now enjoys a high reputation among the world. Many researchers have studied its English version from different translation theoretic perspective. This thesis intends to compare two English version of Bian Cheng translated by Gladys Yang and Jeffrey C. Kinkley respectively within the frame work of Chesterman’s five models of translation ethics, and examine the presentation of translation ethics in these two version.

Key Words

Translation ethics, Bian Cheng, Chesterman

摘要

翻译是一项跨文化交流活动。只要不同国家，民族间发生的跨文化行为就不可避免地产生伦理问题。翻译的本质属性决定了翻译活动和翻译研究需要伦理学的指导。《边城》作为我国当代的优秀文学作品曾被翻译成多国文字，在世界文坛上饱享盛誉，很多学者从不同的翻译理论角度对此英译本做过分析研究，本文拟从翻译伦理角度，以切斯特曼的五大翻译伦理模式为理论框架，对《边城》的两个英译本——金介甫和戴乃迭的译本进行比较评析，探讨翻译伦理在两译本中的体现。

关键词

翻译伦理；边城；切斯特曼

1. Research background

Since the late 1970s when the study of translation was proposed to be established as a discipline, it has been developing significantly, going far beyond traditional translation studies. Ideas about translation have sprung up like mushrooms. From the popularity of functionalism to the emergence of poly-system theory and norm theory in the 1970s and 1980s, scholarship on translation had converted from traditional study focusing mainly on textual matters, more often than not within a linguistic or a literary framework to the study of cultural, commercial, social, historical and political factors related to the texts. Thus, it largely broadened scholars' horizon and enriched the research scope to make translation as a reformulated subject of lively, interdisciplinary debate, paving way to the cultural turn". With the acceleration of globalization redefining national and cultural boundaries, the cultural turn" in translation studies in the 1990s further introduced many newer theoretical perspectives. Cultural, national, postcolonial, ideological and gender studies, etc. began hitting the field. Translation was never purely regarded as the process of the transfer between languages but also the transfer between cultures. Regarding translation as an intercultural activity now, the translator as a "cultural mediator" has to handle the relations between Self and the Other to coordinate diversified cultural relationships and resolve cultural conflict to promote understanding and communication among nations. Since ethics as a discipline focuses on moral principles guiding human behavior in social relations, translation as a particular kind of activity involving a series of relations can naturally fall into the field of the study of ethics.

It was under such circumstances that the ethics of translation entered the field of the translation study, and became a hot topic in the late 1990s. Just as Pym (2001: 129-138) claims in his article: "ethics has become a cross-cultural concern as it has in translation studies. Consequently, the study of translation ethics has been appealing to some scholars and should be given much more emphasis by the whole translation circle." It's now widely accepted that translation study has returned to the questions of ethics.

2. Literature review

2.1 Studies on Translation Ethics aboard

After the cultural turn in 1970s, a trend of investigating translation studies from the perspective of ethics begins in translation theorists. The development of translation ethics and the major influential scholars’ viewpoints are clarified in the following section. It was in the 1980s that the ethics-oriented approaches began emerging in translation studies abroad. Antoine Berman, a French translator and philosopher, is considered the initiator of the study of translation ethics. Early in 1984, Berman first put forward the concept of '"translation ethics" in an international seminar on philosophy based on the fierce critics of the western translation tradition of only focusing on "transmitting sense" and advocated that translation ethics should be regarded as one branch of translation studies.

Influenced and enlightened by Berman, Lawrence Venuti, a translation theorist of American deconstructionist, also expresses his concerns on translation ethics by advocating "an ethics of difference". He invents the two words "domestication” and “resistancy" to define the different ethical attitudes and practice of translators. Venuti pays more attention to the social and political factors in translation by advocating the translation strategy of foreignization to resist the cultural hegemony in contemporary Anglo-American culture. Therefore, his thoughts about translation ethics with a basic character of "resistancy" seem more realistic and profound.

As the initiator of "the return to ethics" in The Translator in 2001, the French translation theorist Anthony Pym has also made great contributions to the study of translation ethics. Unlike Venuti, who is greatly influenced by Berman, he is not totally in favor of Berman’s theory of translation ethics, which he regards as too rigid, pedantic and abstract, for he thinks the debate about “how to translate" over the centuries is always confined to the dichotomy of domestication and foreignization, with Berman's no exception. Pym’s basic idea is that translators should be more loyal to their profession than to the source and target organ. The reason lies in that the whole accountability of professional translators is grounded in the profession itself. Translators check each other’s work, drawing on past translations for guidance. They derive their norms from the existing professional context. Just as international scientific community, translators are a community that survives via its own system of checks and balances (ibid). For Pym, the true loyalty is neither to the source culture nor to the target culture, but to the others inhabiting this space, that is, to other intercultural mediators, to the translating profession as a whole (Chesterman, 1997a). Like Pym’s words, “Translators’ prime loyalty must be to their profession as an intercultural space” (Pym, 1992).

In 1990s, Chesterman, an influential Finish scholar, makes a great contribution to the completeness of translation ethics. He puts forward a quite different view on translation ethics, focusing on the values instead of rights and obligations of the translators. Chesterman (1997a) considers values to be the primary notion. In his opinion, there are four values — truth, trust, clarity and understanding, all of which form a fairly comprehensive notion of translation ethics. Later in 2001, Chesterman went on to propose a Hieronymic Oath for translators and interpreters worldwide by publishing a paper "Proposal for a Hieronymic Oath” in a special issue of the journal The Translator, entitled "the return to Ethics”，edited by Pym, in which 16 scholars presented their own thoughts on translation ethics. In his paper, he firstly put forward four models of translation ethics: the ethics of representation, the ethics of service, the ethics of communication and the norm-based ethics. Another model named ethics of commitment was added later so as to essentially regularize the translator's ethical behavior. His proposal of five models of translation ethics has caused a big stir in the academic field, which is considered objective, descriptive and systematic. This classification provides us with a multi-dimensional method of assessing translation practice, for it has assimilated many research results from existing translation theories such as functionalist, norm theory, etc.

2.2 Studies on Translation Ethics at home

With the development of the studies on translation ethics in the west, some of Chinese translation scholars have also begun to turn their attention to this issue on translation studies. Professor Lu Jun is the first person to propose "translation ethics" based on the theories of Jurgen Harbermas, communicative ethics in his book Span Cultural Barriers — Reconstruction of the Tower of Babel written in 2001. In this book, He regards translation activity as "a kind of dialogue and communication between different cultures that requires people to conform to some principles and norms for such intercultural communications will involve more complicated issues..., to be more specific, translation activity itself needs the guidance of ethics". Generally speaking, from Professor Lu Jun's view, the theoretical principle of translation ethics is to pursue equality and justice, to oppose linguistic and cultural hegemony and to seek mutual respect and benefits in different cultures. His research on translation ethics has widened the scopes of translation ethics and has contributed a lot to the study of translation ethics.

With more and more foreign theories of translation ethics translated and introduced in China, some of the researchers begin to apply these research achievements into translation practice. Professor Sun Zhili (2007: 14-18) creatively identifies five responsibilities for the translator to take based on Chesterman5s five models of translation ethics in combination with a consideration of Chinese translation context, namely, the responsibility of representing the original, of fulfilling one's client's requirements, of conforming to the socio-cultural norms of the receiving country, of satisfying the demands of the TL reader, and finally of abiding by one's professional ethics and becomes the first person to interprets the translator's responsibilities from the perspective of translation ethics.

Professor Xu Jun makes a tentative discussion of the ethical problems in translation in his article "essay on three levels of translation activities” in 1998. In his opinion, every responsible translator should seriously consider and treat questions presented by "willingness", “reality", and "morality", he proposes that "the establishment of translation standards and the adoption of translation strategies are bound by moral ties...if given careful observation, activities from the choosing of the texts to be translated, the adopting of the translation strategies to the rewriting and editing of the translated texts are all constrained and influenced by various ethical problems... Therefore, translators should consider from both the aesthetic level and the moral level”.

2.3. the Translation of Bian Cheng

The thesis adopts the classic modern novel Frontier City owing to its distinguished language and unique style of writing. Set in the border town Chatong and the nearby rural areas in West Human of 30's, Bian Cheng tells a tragic love story between the beautiful young girl Cuicui and the young man Nuosong. It is the representative work of Shen Congwen who has a high reputation in the Chinese literature circle. He is regarded as “one of the half-dozen great authors of modern Chinese literature” (Kinkley, 1987). He has even been nominated for the “Nobel Literature Prize” in 1987. Therefore, this novel is worth appreciating and analyzing.

There are four English version of Biancheng. As early as 1936, the English magazine issued in China with the aim of promoting the exchange between the Chinese and western cultures named T'ien Hsia Monthly began to serialize the English version of Bianchen titled Green Jade and Green Jade translated by Xing Molei( the pen name of Shao Xunmei) and his girl friend Emily Hahn. It was not until another English version titled The Frontier City contained in The Chinese Earth: Stories By Shen Tsung-wen translated by Ching Ti & Robert Payne and published by George Allen & Unwin Ltd. in 1936 came into being that Biancheng became very popular in the western countries and also evoked much interest in the author himself. And this version was reprinted by Columbia University Press in 1982. In the 1980's, Yang Xianxi, the top-rank translator and Forerunner, inspired by the success of Penguin Books in the UK, called for the publishing of a series of books called “Panda Books” to introduce Chinese representative literary works to the world. This series of books included The Border Town and Other Stories translated by Yang Xianyi's wife Gladys Yang, The fourth version was translated by American Sinologist and translator Jeffrey Kinkley, which was published in 2009 by HarperCollins Publishers. These four English translations span 73 years and have witnessed the history of the English translation of modern Chinese literature.

Based on the previous studies, this thesis will choose these two English versions of Biancheng translated by Jeffrey Kinkley and Gladys Yang, and make a comparative study of them from the perspective of translation ethics.

3.Chesterman’s Five Models of Translation Ethics

Chesterman’s five models of translation ethics are the ethics of representation, the ethics of service, the ethics of communication, the norm-based ethics and ethics of commitment.

Ethics of representation is closely concerned with faithfulness, which has been discussed for years in the translation circle. This model requires that translators should reproduce with full loyalty to the original text, the original author, the original language, and the original culture. In Chesterman’s words, “the ethical imperative is to represent the source text, or the source author’s intention, accurately, without adding, omitting or changing anything”. Ethics of representation means that the translation can substitute or represent the source text.

The ethics of service requires the translator to "act ethically if his translation complies with the instructions set by the client and fulfills the purpose of the translation as set by the client and accepted or negotiated by the translator”, and the translator should be “loyal above all to the client, but also to the target readers and to the original writer”.

The ethics of communication sees translation as "an interlingual and cross-cultural communication, the emphasis of which is not on representing the Other but on communicating with Others in the cross-cultural communication" and asks the translator to be "a mediator working to achieve cross-cultural understanding”.

Norm-based Ethics is the fourth model of translation ethics Chesterman proposes, which belongs to the branch of “descriptive translation studies”. Toury (1995) gives a definition of norm like “the general values of ideas shared by a community as to what is right or wrong, adequate or inadequate into performance instruction appropriate for and applicable to particular situations”. That is to say, norms are what the majority expects what translation should be like. Translators should not challenge the current norms in translation circle.

The ethics of commitment is further raised by Chesterman, which rests on a practical evaluation of translation activity: "I take commitment to be the glue that binds practitioners to the value of the practice. It is thus also a virtue, supporting the striving for excellence, the wanting to be a good translator". He proposes nine points for the comprehension of the professional ethics of translators: commitment, loyalty to the profession, understanding, truth, clarity, trustworthiness, truthfulness, justice, striving for excellence.

4. A Comparison of the Two English Versions of Biancheng

4.1 the version of Gladys Yang

One of the most distinctive features of Biancheng lies in its unity of objective scene and subjective emotion to successfully create the beauty of aesthetic prospect. Gladys Yang has done much jobs in representing the aesthetic prospect and makes her version as impressive as the original to make the target readers able to better enjoy the aesthetic beauty below the superficial scenery, mostly because of her full understanding of the aesthetic style of the original and of high translation proficiency. Here is an example:

[Example 1]

[ST1]由四川过湖南去，靠东有一条官路。这条官路将近湘西边境到了一个名为“茶崛” 的小山城时，有一小溪，溪边有座白色小塔，塔下住了一户单独的人家。这人家只有一个老人，一个女孩，一只黄狗。(沈从文)

[TT-1] The highway running east from Sichuan to Hunan comes, just west of the border, to Chatong, a small town in the hills. Near by a stream flows past a small pagoda, at the foot of which lives a solitary household: an old man, a girl and a dog. (Gladys)

This is the beginning paragraph of Biancheng. Without any decorative words and ostentatious expressions, the author uses three short and succinct sentences with fewer verbs to depict a static landscape painting through the juxtaposition of eight images—“官. 路”,“小山城”，“小溪”，“白色小塔七“单独的人家”,“老人”,“女孩子” and"黄狗”, making us associated with harmony, peace and tranquility as well as loneliness with the repetition of the Chinese character “一”. In Gladys Yang's version, she pays full attention to the simple writing style and the esthetics connotation embodied in the use of the character "一" in the original. Besides using three simple sentences, almost the same in the length, with no more than three verbs and seven "a (an) and one "the” to fully represent the eight images to retain the aesthetic prospect of peacefulness and loneliness, She also translates “单独”(的人家)into a “solitary" household, the meaning of which contains the two connotations of "alone” and lonely”，which further deepens the beauty of solemn, quiet and loneliness embodied in the original.

For Gladys Yang, her English version of Bian Cheng is included in a series of books called "Panda Books" firstly published in Chinese literature, which was initiated by the Chinese government in the 1980s in order to introduce Chinese literature, cultural legacy and China to the world. With the initiator's aim of spreading Chinese culture to the west, the translator needs faithfully transmit the linguistic and cultural information of the original. Also, with China's adoption of the policy of reform and opening-up to the outside at that time, communications between countries have become more and more popular ever since then, and more and more foreigners began to take interest in Chinese culture and were willing to enjoy and accept Chinese culture. What’s more, the advocacy of foreignization translation strategies has increasingly gained popularity in the western translation world ever since 1980's. The dominating English literary system began to take on a new stance and showed more tolerance for foreign cultures. With all these factors taken into consideration, plus her own long-term will to introduce Chinese culture to the world out of her love for it, we may understand why when the conflict appears, she chooses to put the ethics of representation in the first place. That is to say, she is guided by the ethics of service of being "loyal above all to the client, but also to the target readers and to the original writer”. What’s more, the ethics of communication lays emphasis on communicating with others rather than representing the Other, so when such conflict emerges, that is, the total representing of the Other causes confusion or banier and frustration for target readers to read, Gladys Yang would consider the importance of cross-cultural communication and adopt flexible translation strategies guided by the ethics of communication to decrease linguistic and cultural barriers to achieve mutual understanding based on the sacrifice of total representation of the original.

A Contrastive Study on the Translation of Li Qingzhao’s Shengshengman and Zuihuayin from the Perspective of Defamiliarization 祝美梅 student no. 202070080632

Abstract

Poetry is what lost in translation as Robert Frost said, for it’s concise words, specific form, unique cultural allusion and images, the translatability of poetry has always been a controversial topic in translation field. However, since all human beings are endowed by nature with the same mind which has similar function so that they can communicate with one another. Thus, as a product of thought, poetry is understandable, enjoyable and translatable from author’s view. This thesis aims to study with poetry translation under the theory of defamiliarization, which was proposed by Russian formalist Shklovsky. (Xu Yuanchong, 2011, 35-38)

Poetry is what lost in translation. As Robert Frost said, for its concise words, specific forms, unique cultural allusion and images, the translatability of poetry has always been a controversial topic in translation field. However, since all human beings are endowed by nature with the same mind as has similar function so that they can communicate with one another. Thus, as a product of thought, poetry is understandable, enjoyable and translatable from author’s view. This thesis aims to study poetry translation according to the theory of defamiliarization, which was proposed by Russian formalist Shklovsky. (Xu Yuanchong, 2011, 35-38)--Yuan Tianyi (talk) 08:39, 14 December 2020 (UTC)

Defamiliarization, though a technique for literature writing, has a very intimate relationship with translation. In literature writing, writers should defamilirize the familiar things to readers in order to arouse their interest and curiosity, prolong their length of perception to discover the beauty of art. Translation, as Andre Lefevere said, is a kind of rewriting. This translation strategy is extremely adapted to poetry translation concerning to its characteristics, comparatively speaking, literal translation of poetry would just like watered wine, not only tasteless but also easily misleading. Li Qingzhao, as one of the most important Song dynasty poetess in history, her works have been studied by mass of scholars at home and abroad. The style of Li’s poem was named “Yi’an Ti”, whose features were taking vulgar as elegance, old for the new. Therefore, the way Li tackles with poetry creation achieved the same purpose with defamiliarization. Shengshengman and Zuihuayin are as representative works in her two entirely distinctively life period. (Fang Xiaoyuan, 2011, 13-15)

Key Words

Defamiliarization Theory; Shengshengman; Zuihuayin; English Versions

摘要

译诗则诗。诗歌以其凝练的词语，特定的形式，涵盖的独特文化典故和意象，是否可译一直是译界极具争论的话题。本文旨在由俄国形式主义什克洛夫斯基提出的陌生化理论下研究诗歌翻译。陌生化，虽然是文学写作技巧，同样适应于翻译。在文学作品中，作家通过使熟悉的事物陌生化引起读者的兴趣和好奇，延长审美感知长度。勒菲弗尔说，翻译即改写。这一翻译策略尤其适合于诗歌翻译。直译只会是译诗平淡乏味，如同兑水之酒，甚至产生误解。李清照，作为历史上最有名的女词人之一，其“易安体”本就以其化故为新，以俗为雅的特点与“陌生化”有异曲同工之处。《声声慢》、《醉花阴》是她前后截然不同两个时期的代表作。本文试以俄国形式主义者什克洛夫斯基提出的“陌生化”为理论指导，以李清照词《声声慢》、《醉花阴》的多个译本为研究对象，分析对比不同译者的英译，尝试研究在译文中怎样重现文本陌生化和制造译本的陌生化，以期证明陌生化理论对李清照词英译的指导作用。(Ge Yunfeng, 2008, 34-35)

本文共分为四部分，由引论、正文、结论三部分构成。引论部分主要介绍陌生化理论，优势和劣势，李清照词特点和国内外研究现状。正文分为两个部分，词和意象两个方向并辅以具体实例。结论部分将主要总结陌生化理论在诗歌翻译的应用，本文作者认为用陌生化理论研究翻译文本仍有很大的发掘空间，对诗歌翻译有启迪意义。

关键词

陌生化理论；《声声慢》；《醉花阴》；英译版本

Introduction

The best way to know a nation is to enjoy her poetry. (Gong Guangming, 2004:395).As an art of language and an invaluable treasury of national language, poetry distinguishes itself by its distinct style, refined language and fresh artistic conception. Poetry is conceived the store of human knowledge and experience. Therefore, to enable people of different languages to have a successful grasp of the meaning of poems, poetry translation is one of the most important sections in the cross-cultural communication in the globalization time.

Defamiliarization is an important feature of poetic language. It is about poets’s consciousness and aesthetics pursuit. To realize defamiliarization of language, poets must use particular words and images or other skills which new to readers to create a sense of surprise and freshness. Defamiarization not only applies to poetry creation but also to poetry translation. The application of defamiliarization to translation can faithfully reproduce the artistic manner of the original poems and give their readers aesthetic enjoyment. It also allows, in some degree, creating treason in translated texts against original. Of course, defamiliarization should never be overdone whether in poetry creation or in poetry translation. The purpose of artistic translation techniques is to make objects in the target text unfamiliar, to make forms and image unusual, and to increase the difficulty and length of perception on the part of the target audience because the process of perception is an aesthetic end in itself so must be prolonged. Something commonplace, customary or familiar are made to appear unfamiliar and innovative in one way or another. All these creative manipulations of the target text enhance the target audience’s discernment of the artistic merit in the target text. (Zhu Chunshen, 2002, 101-103)

Li Qingzhao was born (1084-1151) in Zhangqiu into a family of officials and scholars, her father was apprenticed to Su Shi. Li was unusually vivacious and knowledgeable for a woman of noble birth at that time. Before she got married, her poetry was already well known among intellectual. In 1101 she married Zhao Mingcheng, with whom she shared interests in art collection and epigraphy. After Zhao started his official career, she often felt lonely and suffered lovesickness. Hence these experiences inspired some of the love poems that she wrote. Her husband and she shared much poetry and mutually wrote poems. When Northern Song capital of Kaifeng fell in 1126 to the Jurchens during the Jin–Song wars, fighting took place in Shandong and their house was ruined. The couple fled to Nanjing, where they lived for one year. Zhao died in 1129 when route to an official post. The death of her husband was a cruel stroke for her life. Li described her married life and the turmoil of her flight in an afterword to her husband's posthumously published work, Jin shi lu（金石录）.Her earlier poetry portrays her carefree life as a young lady of high society, and is marked by its elegance. Li subsequently settled in Hangzhou, in which the Song government was established. She insisted in writing poetry and published the Jin shi lu. According to some contemporary records, she had a briefly marriage with a man named Zhang Ruzhou who treated her relentlessly, and she divorced him within months. She overcame the criticism of her marriage. Though only around a hundred of her poems are known to survive, mostly of them in the form of Ci are tracing her winding fortunes in life. Li is credited with the first detailed critique of the metrics of Chinese poetry. She was regarded as a master of WanYue School “the delicate restraint”. (Zhang Bing, 2000, 98-100)

1.1 Shklovsky’s Definition of Defamiliarization

Defamiliarization, as a literature writing technique, was first put up by the Russian formalist, Viktor Shklovsky in the early 20th century. He explained the concept in his essay Art as Technique which comprised the first chapter of his seminal A Theory of Prose, first published in 1925:"The purpose of art is to impart the sensation of things as they are perceived and not as they are known. The technique of art is to make objects unfamiliar, to make forms difficult, to increase the difficulty and length of perception because the process of perception is an aesthetic end in itself and must be prolonged”.(Shcklovsky.1991) Shcklovsky believes “defamiliarization” is the nature of literature language and the essential feature of literature as art. Therefore, “defamiliarization” stands for the quality of art and literature. In literature, writers should defamilirize the familiar things to the readers in order to arouse their interest and curiosity, prolong their length of perception to discover the beauty of art. The process of literature writing bears in itself of foreignness and freshness.(Zhang Jintong, 1987, 78-79)

1.2 Features of Defamiliarization in Translation

In Chen Lin and Zhang Chunbai’s Defamiliarization Effect in Literature Translation (2006:93), they named up two distinctive features of defamiliarization in translation.One is alienization and the other is hybridization.

Alienization, is the similarity among defamiliarization, alienating and foreignizing, means to retain the language and culture differences of the source text, maintain the visibility of the foreign, in order to give the target readers a fresh experience of authenticity.

Hybridization claims to combine foreign and domestic elements to produce a hybrid text, it has both the features of the foreignness and the domestic, thus it gives the receivers a sensation of newness and freshness. The author of this thesis takes domestication as one aspect of hybridization, for no matter how strict foreignization is, it could not avoid domestic element during translating. In Jin Bing’s doctoral dissertation (2007), he propo sed to represent defamiliarization technique of the original text in translated text as much as possible, and foreignization is an effective translation strategy to achieve defamiliarization. However, foreignization is not the only way to achieve defamiliarization, as it’s opposite, domestication is another way. That is to say, different translation strategies can be applied in realizing defamiliarization. (Zheng Engyue, 2003, 19-21)

1.2.1 Advantages of Defamiliarization

To create the translated version newness, promote intercultural communication and complementary advantages, the tactics of defamiliarization also embodies translator’s subjectivity, as the appearance of cultural-turn proposed by Susan Bassinet, against the culture invasion, this theory is accepted by more and more people. This technique is meant to be especially useful in distinguishing poetry from prose, for, as Aristotle said, “poetic language must appear strange and wonderful” (Shklovsky 19).Defamiliarization draws attention to the use of common language in such a way as to alter one’s perception of an easily understandable object or concept. The use of defamiliarization both differs and defers, since apply of the technique alters one’s perception of a concept (to defer), and forces one to think about the concept in different, often more complex, terms (to differ). (Li Ruijie, 2013, 56)

1.2.2 Disadvantages of Defamiliarization

Defamiliarization increases the difficulty of comprehension, the new express or form distance itself from target receiver, thus lost many audiences, and prohibit culture spreading. Sometimes, translator would sacrifice faith and fluency in order to create novel effect, so demand reader’s patience and sensibility. Excessive making works with coinage word, unusual format or rebel against the target grammar, only found that works meaningless. (Li Xuexin, 2009, 13-15)

2. A brief Introduction of Li Qingzhao

Before analyzing the translation versions of Li Qingzhao’s Ci, a general understanding of the characteristics and aesthetic value of Li’s Ci is very necessary.

2.1. Li Qingzhao’s life and her Poem

Li Qingzhao, a talented and prolific poetess, exerted great influence on the classic Chinese lyric poetry. In Song Dynasty, lyric poetry reached its most thriving period. Among numerous poets, Li Qingzhao, as a female, shocked the male-dominated field of lyric poetry and formed her unique style. She is deemed the founder of Wanyue School of Song Poem.

Her tortuous life experience and extraordinary fate made the keynotes of her poem various from one period to another. In the early years of her life, they are full of joy and happiness; but in her later life, there are filled with loneliness and sorrow. Her early work---Zuihuayin, is the reflection of life without difficulties and worries, this work written during she was apart from her husband. Shengshengman was created at the time when she lost her husband whilst the country was shattered and at stake. Through her poem, readers would see the ups and downs in her life. Poem records her life experience. Her lyrics poetry was called “Yi’an Ti” due to the particularities of her own style. Firstly, as a poetess, she gave us vivid images of women, digging into their inner emotions and beauty. Secondly, her choosing of words comprises a large proportion of daily languages, making a beautiful fluency in tune by ways of colloquialism.

2.2Research on Li’s Poem in Domestic and Abroad

A comprehensive knowledge of history and state quo of researches on Li Qingzhao at home and abroad is a significant premise of the comparative study of Li’s poem.

The study of Li Qingzhao’s poem in western word, mainly in America, raised scholars’ interest in the 1950s and 1960s.Wang Honggong’s One Hundred Poems from the Chinese and Hu Pinqing’s Li Qingzhao were published. In 1965, Cyril Birth’s Anthology of Chinese Literature from Early Times to the Fourteenth Century was published in New York. In that book, five poems of Li Qingzhao’s were translated by C.H.Kwock and Vincent Mc Hugh; three were translated by a Chinese American scholar, Xu Jieyi. In 1980s, the study thrived in America. Two all-translated were published. One is the co-translated edition by Wang Honggong and ZhongLing. The other is James Cryer. Those translated poems were chose as textbook materials by American universities. However, because of the abstruse language, culture barrier, and the difficulty in translating poem itself, overseas scholars usually could not make their rendering faithful to the original. At home, Bing Xin(冰心) is the first person set out to translate Li Qingzhao’ poem. Many domestic translators like Xu Yuanchong, from the theory of “Three Beauties”, Lin Yutang published The Importance of Understanding: Translations from the Chinese by LIN YUTANG, the celebrated couple Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang published Song Lyrics in 2001, Xu Zhongjie published 100 Chinese Ci Poems in English Verse in 1986, Chen Zumei, who studied Li’s poem from feminism and other translators include Zhu Chunshen, Gong Jinhao, Mao Yumei and so on. Through different translation criteria and strategies, those perspectives cast new light to the translation study of Li Qingzhao’s poem.

3. Defamiliarization on Words Level in Shengshengman and Zuihuayin

Poetry is the most personal and concentrated of the four literature forms (poetry, short story, novel and drama), no redundancy, no phatic language, where, as a unit, the word has greater importance than in any other type of texts. This paper mainly discusses reduplicated words, verbs, colloquialism supported by detailed examples. Poetry presents thing in order to convey a feeling, and therefore concrete the language, each represents something else---a feeling, a behavior, a view of life as well as itself.

3.1 Analysis of Translation of Reduplicated Words

Reduplicated word, as the name suggests, is to repeat the same character two or more times to form a format which bears the identical meaning of a character repeated. It is a kind of lexical devices to deepen the tone or sentiment in literature. Applied appropriately, reduplicated word could make literary works sound beautiful, fluent and forceful. However, applied inappropriately, it could make works awkward and blunt. It is rationally to say that Li Qingzhao favors reduplicated word, for in one fourth of her poem remain now, she successfully used reduplicated words to express her emotion.

Her typical work which applies reduplicated words is Shengshengman.

“寻寻觅觅，冷冷清清，凄凄惨惨戚戚。乍暖还寒时候，最难将息。

三杯两盏淡酒，怎敌他、晚来风急？雁过也，正伤心，却是旧时相识。

满地黄花堆积。憔悴损，如今有谁堪摘？守着窗儿，独自怎生得黑？

梧桐更兼细雨，到黄昏、点点滴滴。这次第，怎一个、愁字了得！”（陈祖美 2003：108）

This piece of work enjoys the largest number of translation versions from different translators among all her works. The first fourteen characters are: “寻寻觅觅，冷冷清清，凄凄惨惨戚戚”,they precisely describe the loneliness , melancholy and nostalgia of the homeland of the poetess after losing her husband. Six different translation versions collected are as follows:

1. I seek but seek in vain,

I search but search again.

I feel so sad, so drear,

So lonely, without cheer. (Xu Yuanchong)

2. So dim, so dark.

So dense, so dull,

So damp, so dank, so dead! (Lin Yutang)

3. Seeking,seeking,

Chilly and quite,

Desolate, painful and miserable. (Yang Xianyi）

4. Searching and searching, seeking and seeking,

So chill, so clear,

dreary,

and dismal,

and forlorn. (Stephen Owen)

5. Seeking

seeking

Searching

searching

over and over

lonely and forlorn

Sighing;

grieving

sighing

In the same round (Kwock&McHugh)

6. Seek…seek, search....search;

Lone...lone, cold...cold;

Sad...sad, pain...pain, moan...moan. (Liu Wuji)

Li Qingzhao used fourteen repetitious Chinese characters to vent the heart-broken feeling and her worry about the convulsive country. In order to imitate the acoustic effects created by the fourteen reiterated words, almost all the translators adopted the words with sound symbolism characteristics, for the sake of conveying similar emotions.

For instance, search, seek, chill, dismal, forlorn, desolate, dreary, mournful, miserable, gloomy etc. Among the six versions,No.1 Xu paraphrases them into the sentence in rhythmic way, using end rhyme throughout the whole poem to create the musical beauty, but he abandons reduplicated words and just illustrate the meaning which slacking down the artistic conception of the original poem to some extent. No.(3,4)use single, non-repeated words. Leave alone whether those versions fully express the spirit of fourteen characters, those using single repeated or non-repeated words sound better than paraphrased sentences for keeping the freshness and novelty of the original. Especially, Kwock&McHugh(N0.5) vividly represents the original both in form and content, the novel arrangement of the words, successfully imitated the scenes in the original poem. The specially designed lines of verse gave the readers the feelings of seeking and searching over and over again. The visual beauty is a means to complement the deficiency in acoustic beauty, thus, in author’s opinion; his version is the best of all versions in realizing defamiliarization effect. Lin Yutang(No.2) doesn’t repeat the same words, but he carefully picks out words with the same beginning letter “d” to create the feeling of duplication and use exclamation “so” to enhance the theme. His version also is a good example to retain and create defamiliarization effect, giving readers a fresh shock of sadness. From the aspect of form, this version depicted the beauty of balance in English and also corresponded with beauty of antithesis in Chinese. It was a wonderful interpretation and a unique creation in itself.No.6, the translator adopted literal translation. Although the translated version bears similarity in form with the original one, it lacks true beauty in sound and meaning. The literal translation obviously damaged the sorrowful atmosphere, thus this version lost the melancholy and deep grief reflected in the original version. By piling up words, the translators get nothing but the empty shell of the original poem.

Another example is “点点滴滴”,also from the same verse. Following are translation versions collected:

1.On parasol-trees leaves a fine rain drizzles

As twilight grizzles. (Xu Yuanchong)

2.In a drizzle so light, dripping-dropping into the oncoming night,

In the garden wutong trees stand blurred. (Zhu Chunsheng)

3.On drying leaves of plane trees should there be

A drizzle pattering, pattering towards the eve! (Liu Guoshan)

4.Against the tung and plane trees, the wind rises high.

The drizzle becomes trickles, as eve draws nigh. (Xu Zhongjie)

5.And the drizzle on the kola nut, keeps on droning: Pit-a-pat, pit-a-pat! (Lin Yutang)

6.The drizzles falls on the wutong trees, raindrops drip down at dusk. (Yang Xianyi)

No.1, to pursue the rhythmic beauty, Xu uses drizzles describing the sound of rain, as well as forming rhyme harmony on the last word. This kind of translation blurred the defamiliarization effect since ignorant repeated words.No.2,No.3,No.5,translators uses different repeated words, such as dripping-dropping, pattering-pattering, pit-at-pat, pit-at-pat. From the author’s viewpoint, Lin’s translation is the best, pit-a-pat is onomatopoetic word, and conforms to the English expressive convention. The version of No.4 seems disagree with the poem mood, as poetess can hear clearly raindrops drips on the leaves, the rain should become mild gradually, “the drizzle become trickles” is the situation of a storm, not the rain draws to stop.No.6 picks the word “drip down” also wanting forceful and sound beauty.

3.2 Translation of Verbs

Unlike English, Chinese poetry is skillfully using verb to vivify the image, often linked with rhetorical devices. Word transformation is mostly common, such as adjective or noun transformed to verb. There existed many instances; the author would like to choose two verbs from the Zuihuayin which would analyzed in this paper. Taking “帘卷西风”from Zuihuayin as an example:

“薄雾浓云愁永昼，瑞脑消金兽。佳节又重阳，玉枕纱厨，半夜凉初透。东篱把酒黄昏后， 有暗香盈袖。莫道不消魂，帘卷西风，人比黄花瘦。”

This verse was written to express Li Qingzhao’s yearning for her husband. It’s the Double Ninth Day---the Chinese festival of the senior and family get-together. The west wind blows, makes people feel chilly and distressed, especially when the poetess was alone. Translation versions are assembled as following:

1. What with curtains being folded— by violent blasts from the west (Xu Zhongjie)

2. The curtain lifted by the western wind (Qiu Xiaolong)

3. When the west wind rolls up my bamboo curtain (Mao Yumei)

4. With the door-curtains flapping in the west wind (Gong Jinghao)

5. Only, when the west wind stir the curtain (Lucy Chow Ho)

In the original, there is hyperbaton used to achieve the harmonious beauty of rhymes, actually only could west wind blast curtain actually but the original text is “帘卷西风”,the reasonable sequence is “西风卷帘”.Among five translation versions above, the verb was translated into different words.No.1, “blast” emphasizes on strength and makes a loud noise.No.2, “lift” presents position changed of curtain roused by wind, but the curtain should whirl in that situation, not just lift seems as holding by something.No.3, “roll up” is an ordinary word, though faithfully to the source text, still not good enough.No.4,the word “flap” sounds like we heard the sound of wind makes curtain toss with power. From the view of author of this essay, No.5 is more preferable. “Stir” vividly describes the situation; furthermore, revealing the mirthless of the character, thus, translator prolonged the perception length, increased the aesthetic sensibility, which defamiliarization is pursuing all the time, translation is a creation instead of the slave of original without soul.

“三杯两盏淡酒，怎敌他、晚来风急?”The verb in this sentence used very vividly, how few cups of liquor withstand the wind at the dusk; Li Qingzhao personifies the natural thing, which is widely applied to express defamiliarization. Follows are various translation versions.

1.By cup on cup of wine so dry oh, How can I endure at dusk the drift Of wind so swift? (Xu Yuanchong）

2.Three cups of thin wine would utterly fail. To cope with the rising evening gale. (Xu Zhongjie)

3.How can a few cups of thin wine, Bring warmth against the chilly winds of sunset? (Lin Yutang)

4.Three or two cups of light wine, How can they ward off the strong? (Yang Xianyi)

Among the four versions, No.1 chooses the first person view to express coldness felt at dusk by poet, which slash the effect of defamiliarization as change rhetoric to narrative speech.No.2, the verb “cope with” is not as strong as the original, “cope with” means solving something, working out or settling down, but not very positively and actively.No.3 employed the preposition “against” also not so forcefully. From the point of author, Yang translates best, on the one hand faithfully keep the form of resource text, on the other hand reproduce the defamiliarization by using the verb phrase “ward off”, meaning to shun, avoid, or escape the chilly wind. There is no absolute equivalence between the SL and TL, only the most natural closest to the former.

3.2 Translation of Colloquialism

Colloquialism refer to the types of speech or to usages not on a formal level, is often mistakenly used with a connotation of disapproval, as if it meant “vulgar” or ”bad” or “incorrect’ usage，whereas it is merely a familiar style used in speaking and writing. Li was adept and noted for refining colloquial words from folk languages, which was full of musical quality and vividness after her polishing. Her colloquial words seemed plain and amiable like daily dialogues with friends or just whisper to herself, but extraordinary beautiful and pleasant to the ear.

Shengshengman, for instance, is typically colloquialised for the whole. Here, the author picks up “守着窗儿，独自怎生得黑”to set as an example. “怎生得黑”is an ancient Chinese vernacular expression of “how to spend the night.” The defamiliarization effect of the original lies in its familiar wording but fresh feeling of lonely depiction. Collected translations are as follows:

1. Sitting alone at the window, how could I but quicken the pace of darkness Which won’t thicken? (Xu Yuanchong）

2. Standing by the window---watching in anguish stark. Could I bear alone the sight until it is dark? (Xu Zhongjie)

3. I remain by my window. Why is the day so dark, all alone? (Mao Yumei)

Xu Yuanchong’s version (No.1) and Xu Zhongjie’s(No.2)version sound influent and not easy to read. In order to keep the rhyming, Professor Xu Yuanchong makes a pair of “quicken” and “thicken”. However, his witty rhyming is not appropriate in the aspect of keeping defamiliarized colloquial style. Rhyming seems exquisitely modified that is not as natural and causal as daily language. Xu Zhongjie’s “anguish stark” sounds sophisticated and wordy which disobeys the features of vernacular or colloquial language. Mao Yumei’s translation（No.3)sounds simple and it is oral daily language.” All alone” put at the end prolongs the tone which makes the structure loose. Hers represents the original style best of the three, thus best keeps the defamiliarization effect of the casual style. Another sentence is“这次第，怎一个、愁字了得?”

1.How, in the word “Miserable,” can one find------ The total effects of all these on the mind! (Xu Zhongjie)

2.Oh, what can I do with a grief Beyond belief! (Xu Yuanchong)

3.Is this the kind of mood and moment, to be expressed by one word “sad”? (Lin Yutang)

4.At the time like this, what immense sorrow I must bear! (Yang Xianyi)

The above four versions are all translated by domestic translators. They chose different word to express “愁”,like miserable, grief, sad and sorrow. But the No.3 similar to the original forms thus more loyalty. The poetess was touched by the dismal sight and feeling melancholy of her life and the shattered country, so the Lin Yutang’s translation “the kind of mood and moment” is more proper, and the word “sad” also fit for the colloquial style. Defamiliarization in this sentence means to express complicated sentiment in a flat way, Lin successful retains the flavor in simple words.

4. Defamiliarization on Image Level

Image is often the final touch that distills and sharpens the meaning of poetry. In ancient Chinese poetry which boasts the construction of a profound meaning with very succinct language, image is especially central to its artistic value among the various composing elements. Image in itself as an intuitive language that transcends the barriers between different semiotic languages, therefore can be sensed across those different nations. Just as the Chinese poetic convention suggests, a work of art is best enjoyable when it transmits a sense of beauty in an implicit way. And image is such a way of talking silently. Moreover, as Zhu Guangqian(朱光潜)says, the pleasure of poetry resides in the sound and imagery.(《诗论》): “诗以情趣为主，情趣见于声音，寓于意象。”)This paper divides image into cultural-loaded images and natural images.

4.1 Cultural-Loaded images

This kind of category is the juxtaposition of allusion and complicated sentiment in certain culture.

1.Translation the image of “雁” in the Shengshengman

The sentence “雁过也，正伤心，却是旧时相识.”The translation versions collected as follow:

1. Myself, into woe, a flight of wild geese has thrown.

But with them, very familiar I have grown. (Xu Zhongjie)

2.I recognize the geese flying overhead:

My old friends,

Bring not the old memories back! (Lin Yutang)

3. It breaks my heart, alas,

To see the wild geese pass,

For they are my acquaintances of old. (Xu Yuanchong)

4. Wild geese fly past, while I’am broken-hearted;

But I recognize they are my old friends. (Yang Xianyi&Gladys Yang)

5. Overhead,a heart-rending line

South-bound wild geese at morn

Yet old acquaintances of mine. (Zhu Chunshen)

After study some versions, the author find most translators tend to translate “雁” into “geese”(Lin Yutang),or “wild geese(Xu Yuanchong),also “swan geese” translated by some people. But translators must can’t ignore the connotation meaning in target culture, geese in English means idiot, fool, reflecting derogative emotion.The slang “wild geese chase” indicates doing something in vain. Zhu Chunshen translated “雁”into “a heart-rending line--south--bound wild geese”, then he explained in the footnote, “geese in ancient China was message carrier, the poetess see geese passed, but doesn’t receive any letter, creating a melancholy feeling”. “雁” is a migrant bird that migrates from south to north in spring and return in autumn. Sometimes, their migrant movement is a sign of season. Besides, in Chinese ancient culture, “鸿雁传书”indicates love letter transferring written by lovers. At that time, Li was compelled to move to the south and her nation was invaded by enemy, she had no sense of belonging where her family were and didn’t know when her wandering days would end. Upon hearing the sound of geese, she can’t help being broken-hearted because of nation defeated and family lost. The image make readers resonate with the poetess. Considering of the culture diversity, translators should add footnote accordingly. The complementary information endeavors to convey original’s culture connotation, it’s also the defamiliarization goal, avoiding blunt and obscurity of different culture.

Another important image is “梧桐”,is an image rich in cultural meanings. It is a straight, huge and tall. As early as two thousand years ago, it was closely related to the mysterious legendary bird---phoenix. It was said wutong was the only tree where a phoenix would choose to inhabit and land on. According to the ancient tale, “ 梧”was the male and “桐” was the female. They were noted for the marital bliss and harmony. Therefore, it is often used to symbolize loyalty in love in Chinese literature. The sorrow triggered by autumn is often found in old poetry. In poem, this image stands for “sorrow, bitterness, distressed” when the tree was linked with rain, giving people the feeling of coldness. From the mainly English versions collected, “梧桐”was translated into “kola nut”(Lin Yutang), “platan (Xu YuanChong), “the tung and platan tree”(Xu Zhongjie), lola nut is a tree in tropical Africa, this kind of translation was mistaken, platan refers to French platan, tung is a specie of tree, producing oil, those translation definitely lost its cultural connotation. The author of this paper prefers Zhu Chunsheng’s translation version: Wutong tree. Wutong carries exotic charming to the fullest, evoking readers imagination, at the same time promote culture communication. Readers can understand this kind of tree after read the poem. Borrowed words always enlarge another language in this way.

4.2 Natural Images

Pure scenery depiction means the scene is universe, such as some flower, tree, mountain, stream but usually combined with emotional revelation.

The image “黄花” usually translated into “yellow flower”, “chrysanthemum”, “yellow chrysanthemum”. Different versions are collected as follow:

1. As compared with chrysanthemums,

I look slimmer e’en at my best. (Xu Zhongjie)

2. I would show a thinner face than yellow flowers. (Xu Yuanchong)

3. I look thinner than the chrysanthemum. (Mao Yumei)

4. I find myself thinner than the yellow flowers. (Chu Dagao)

Chrysanthemum is a formal word while yellow flower is more blurred, “yellow” in Chinese always tinged with sickness or fading, for this reason, readers may arouse curiosity of what this flower looks like and associate with figure of poetess, who is languid and haggard in plight. This image appears in both lyrics, carefully compare, it expresses different mood, in Zhuhuayin, Li is lonely missing her far-away husband, the flower stands for her noble,unsullied and aloof character, while in Shengshengman, the flower is withered, fallen, inanimate. From that point, translators may adopt two translation versions to same noun, the first fit chrysanthemum, easily be related with certain shape, fragrance and color, the second translated into yellow flower, would be more imaginary about the unfamiliar word, thus prolong the aesthetic reception. (Zhan Chongyang, 2013, 46-47)

=Conclusion

Poetry is the superior form of literature with the characteristics of it’s terseness in language, indeterminism in words, abstruseness and ambiguity in meaning, sharpness in emotion, felicity in rhetorical strategy and distinctiveness in rhythm. To reproduce the style and reveal the beauty of the original text will absolutely confronted with resistance form restricted factors both in linguistic and cultural aspects. After weighing various methods, the author of this paper think defamiliarization could best retain the spirit whilst making freshness in the translated one. (Xu Yuanchong, 2013, 67)

The concept of defamiliarization translation can facilitate understanding and appreciation of Li Qingzhao’s poem from a new perspective. The artistic techniques of translation are employed to render objects in the target text unfamiliar, to make forms alienized, and to increase the difficulty and duration of perception because the process of perception is an aesthetic end in itself and must be prolonged. Something commonplace, customary or familiar is made to appear unfamiliar and fresh in one way or another. All of these creative manipulations enhance the recipient’s discernment of the artistic material in the target text. And that stimulate the translator, one who is adept at subjective manipulation, and who treasures freedom and artistry, to devote him to the pursuit of the alienizing translation effect for art’s sake. The defamiliarization translation theory provides some fascinating insights into Li’s verse translation practice. Breaking the initial norm of sticking to the source culture, translation version is closer to the target-culture end in the continuum between the source culture and target culture. The type of translation coinage of nonce words and using of colloquialisms, rhetoric devices, unconventional form, distinguish itself from others translation method, thus breaks the expectation of target reader, for nonce words or unfamiliar word endowed new meaning that belong neither to the diction of western poetry nor to the diction of translational Chinese poetry, though this deviation gives rise to tortuous and impeded fluency in reading. That’s the essence of poetry. Unlike novel, prose, drama, with plot, dialogue or background, poetry is limited to the fixed format, words. Translation of poetry should take the poem’s specificity into account, literal translation, foreignizing translation, or prosify a poem, all can’t perfectly competing the original without lose flavor. Defamiliarization translation pursues aesthetic perception, novel and creation, also respecting translator’s rewriting properly, and the most faithful translation is not the best, at least for poetry. This paper tries to apply defamiliarization translation theory to analyze Shengshengman and Zuihuayin of Li Qingzhao’s poem, to contribute a humble effort to the translation classical Chinese poetry. Sometimes, we could use transliterated words combined with footnote, such as “wutong”in this paper, or another example also a frequently used image in Li’s verse, bajiao, attaching the word explanation after the poem, “Ba jiao belongs to the musa family, grown for the ornament of their large striking foliage.” Translation Chinese poetry, translator must bear in mind that Chinese flavor and poetry spirit should make ends meet, thus, readers could understand Chinese culture while they appreciate translation. (Gan Wanni, 2012, 95-98)

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Cultural differences on English interpretation and the coping strategies 谭媛媛 Tan Yuanyuan 202070080642 MTI

Abstract

Because of the cultural differences between China and western countries, interpreters are required to do both the surface interpretation of the language itself and the deep interpretation of the meaning conveyed in that culture. During the process of interpretation, dealing with cultural obstacles caused by the cultural differences inappropriately can cause misunderstanding, resulting in communicative suspension. This paper, while analyzing the cultural obstacles caused by the cultural differences, expounds on the specific coping translation strategies that an interpreter should take in dealing with cultural differences in the process of interpretation.

Key Words:interpretation, cultural differences, coping stratcgics

摘要: 由于中西文化存在很大的差异,对于口译员来说，除了掌握译出语语言表层次的信息外，更要掌握译出语语言深层次的文化内涵。在口译过程中，若不恰当处理由文化差异引起的文化障碍问题，就会产生误解，导致交际中止。本文分析了口译中因文化差异而引起的文化障碍问题，并着重指出了口译中应对文化差异现象的翻译策略。

关键词:口译，文化差异，应对策略

Introduction

The wave of globalization sweeping the world has provided vehicles, tools and channels for cultural exchange and dissemination among countries. At the same time, globalization has brought out the holistic quality of cultural spirit, prompting people to pay attention to the overall examination of problems, recognize certain commonalities of human cultures, and generate new cultural concepts such as "global consciousness" and "global values". However, due to the different geographical locations, social environments, religious beliefs, ways of thinking and living habits of different ethnic groups, different regions have a variety of cultural characteristics, and therefore there are huge cultural differences, and cultural conflicts will become more complex.（简芳，张健 2012） Therefore, no matter from which perspective, interpreters play the role of bridge and link. Therefore, when interpreting, interpreters should fully consider the cultural differences between China and the West, seek the common ground of cross-cultural communication, and establish a harmonious language communication atmosphere on the basis of improving mutual understanding in order to avoid the phenomenon of cultural conflict in interpreting communication.

The Problem of Cultural Barriers Caused by Cultural Differences in Interpretation

Mr. Wang Zuoliang points out that "the greatest difficulty in translation is the difference between two cultures." He believes that "the interpreter must be a cultural person in the true sense of the word." The differences between Chinese and Western peoples in terms of thinking, values, historical culture and cultural imagery, as well as traditional customs and religious beliefs, have led to cultural differences between the peoples. Therefore, in the process of interpretation activities, the interpreter needs not only to translate the literal meaning of the original language, but more importantly, to grasp its unique cultural connotation and be able to convey it to the other party through language.（连淑能 1993） According to American translation theorist Eugene Naida, translation is an exchange between two cultures, "For a truly successful translation, it is even more important to be familiar with two cultures than to master two languages. For words have meaning only in the cultural context in which they . function in the cultural context in which they are used." Therefore, a translator cannot reach a true sense of communication if he or she does not have the support of culture in the process of translation.

Cultural barriers caused by the way of thinking

Generally speaking, Western culture belongs to linear rational way of thinking, which emphasizes logic, hierarchy and abstraction; while Chinese culture belongs to spiral thinking, which emphasizes discernment, enlightenment and emotional meaning. Westerners tend to think that Chinese people are too subtle and even logically confused. Chinese people may also think that Westerners are too cumbersome and sometimes feel uncomfortable because of their overly direct expressions. Therefore, interpreters should not only correctly understand the difference between Chinese and Western cultures during the interpretation process, but also take appropriate measures to compensate for the understanding barrier caused by this difference. This difference is manifested in the language: Chinese sentences are clear and concise, while English sentences are compact and tightly structured, emphasizing the subordination and modification between components, and mostly using conjunctions, prepositions and relational words to link sentences together.

For example, the Chinese have the traditional virtue of respecting the elderly. To show courtesy, the host will say to the visitor, “您比我年长，您请上坐”. If the translator translates it literally as, “You are older than me. You take the upper seat.” Westerners will definitely feel uncomfortable when they hear it and think to themselves: Am I that old? At this time, the original meaning of the Chinese expression has been distorted, so the contradiction arises.

Cultural barriers caused from values

Values are a deep element of cultural composition, which is both a part of social culture and the result of long-term penetration and accumulation of social and cultural factors in people's minds. Chinese people talk about collectivism, while Westerners advocate individualism. The Chinese focus on the group, highlighting the role of the collective is the mainstream of their values, highlighting their own will be suspected of arrogance and arrogance. The British and Americans advocate the primacy of the individual, fully expressing their own values and highlighting individual contributions. Humility is deeply rooted in Chinese values and is a Chinese virtue, yet sometimes it is not as welcome in the eyes of Westerners. This obvious difference in values inevitably leads to a culture clash. A classic example: at a party, a foreign guest complimented a Chinese lady, praising her for being very beautiful, when the Chinese lady replied, “哪里，哪里”. The accompanying translator on the side, however, translated word-for-word into, “where, where ”. This was difficult for the visitor to understand. So he had no choice but to answer, “from up to toe”.And at this time the Chinese lady was also very dissatisfied, thinking that the foreigner was disrespectful to her.

Cultural barriers from historical culture and cultural imagery

Cultural imagery is a cognitive pattern agreed upon in different national or community cultures. Cultural imagery coalesces the wisdom of each nation, and is the crystallization of history and culture. Throughout the long history of each nation, they have appeared in people's language, forming a cultural symbol with a relatively fixed and unique cultural meaning. For example, in a business event, the Chinese side said something like this, “建立‘一条龙’服务中心”.The interpreter translated it as “set up the ,one-dragon service center to provide a coordinated process service for foreign investors in obtaining approval".“一条龙” was translated into“one dragon”.The word "龙" means something evil in the West, but "auspicious" in China, so it is easy to misunderstand if you don't understand the situation. Another example is that the phrase "望子成龙" should never be translated as “to hope one"'s child can become a dragon"，but to“to hope one’s child can be somebody”.

Cultural barriers caused by traditional customs and religious beliefs

Different countries have different traditional customs. Chinese people give "New Year's Lucky money" to the younger generation during the Chinese New Year, but "Chinese New Year" does not exist in Western countries, so they do not understand why they have to give money. On the contrary, Christmas, Halloween and other holidays in Western countries do not exist in Chinese traditional culture, and we do not fully understand the importance of these holidays, even though they are very popular in China nowadays. Cultural barriers due to differences in religious beliefs often occur in the interpretation process. Sleep with father" is a biblical euphemism, which means the same as "go the heaven" and "kick the bucket". It means the same as "go the heaven" and "kick the bucket", but for those who do not understand Western religions, it is likely to be mistranslated as "与父亲睡觉", which would be ridiculous.（Lu Naisheng 1993）

Look at the following example: If this sentence is understood as "约翰是可靠的，他不吃鱼，还玩游戏", it is because the translator failed to understand " eats no fish " and "play the game". After the Protestants overthrew the old government, the Protestants refused to eat fish on Ramadan to show their loyalty to Protestantism. So "" means "loyalty" and " to eat no fish " means "loyalty" and " to play the game "means "race",The correct meaning of the word is Therefore, the correct meaning is "John is reliable, he is both loyal and upright".

Cultural barriers caused by non-verbal language behaviors

The means of communication between people is not limited to verbal language. Non-verbal language, such as:eyes, facial expressions, gestures, distance between speakers, and physical contact, etc. are all conveying information to people around them. Ethnic cultures differ in their expressions of non-verbal language communication. This cultural aspect of difference should be taken into account when communicating across languages.（张文 2002）

In one example, an American teacher, who was new to China, noticed that several students were looking at the student grade book she happened to have open during recess without permission. This teacher seriously told the students that this was rude behavior and that they should be careful to respect the privacy of others. Personal things are not to be looked at without the person's permission. Several students felt embarrassed and didn't know what to say, so they gave an apologetic smile. This smile upset the American teacher even more, and she thought that the students not only disrespected her, but also mocked her. The reason for her misunderstanding was that she did not understand that the Han Chinese often use laughter to express embarrassment and apology.

Another example is that when Chinese people see a cute child, they can't help but go up and touch or pat it to show their affection for it. A Chinese mother would feel proud and smug when she encounters such a situation, while a Western mother is not used to this practice and considers it rude to pet her child, or even offensive.

Strategies for Handling the Phenomenon of Cultural Differences in Interpretation

Eugene Naida, a famous American translation theorist, put forward a. The whole set of theories and methods on dealing with cultural phenomena in translation has caused strong repercussions in the translation theoretical circles and is considered one of the most representative theories on dealing with cultural phenomena in translation, the core of which is his principle of "functional equivalence". This principle emphasizes that what translators pursue is not literal correspondence, but the reflection of cultural factors in the translated text to achieve functional equivalence. (叶子南，2001:38) This* view of Naida, although presented mainly for translation, is also useful for dealing with cultural phenomena in interpretation. Given that interpretation is very different from translation, it should not, and cannot, exactly replicate the strategies for dealing with cultural phenomena in translation. The focus of interpreting is not to transmit cultural connotations, but to serve the communication on the spot, so the treatment of cultural phenomena in interpreting should be in line with the characteristics of interpreting. According to the criteria of "accuracy, smoothness and speed" and the specific characteristics of interpretation such as "on-site, present and limited time", the first step in dealing with cultural phenomena in interpretation should be to find the "nearest natural equivalence" between English and Chinese, and to try to find the "nearest natural equivalence" from the target language. In dealing with cultural phenomena, interpreters should first try to find the "nearest natural equivalents" between English and Chinese, and try to find authentic expressions or interpretation methods from the target language for the understanding of listeners. According to the above principles and requirements, the following strategies can be used in dealing with cultural phenomena in interpretation:

Flexible use of naturalization and dissimilation

Naturalization in interpretation is to express the linguistic and cultural factors in the source language in the closest equivalent form in the target language as far as possible, and transform them into a form familiar to and understood by the audience of the target language. This undoubtedly avoids the cultural conflicts and understanding barriers caused by the differences between the source language culture and the target language culture, and enables listeners to better understand the original language for interactive communication between the two sides of the conversation. Many scholars advocate that cultural phenomena in interpretation should be dealt with mainly by naturalization. This view has its own validity. In many occasions, the focus of interpretation is not to perform cultural output, but to provide services for both parties in the live communication. The first step in dealing with cultural factors in interpretation is to find the "nearest natural equivalent" to the source language culture in the target language, and try to find authentic expressions or explanatory methods from the target language for the audience's understanding. For example, the use of naturalization means to put Chinese allusions "三个和尚没水吃" into " Everyone‘s business is no one"s business." is very easy to be understood by native English speakers in Western countries.

However, when using naturalization to deal with cultural factors, we should also see that while naturalization reduces the difficulty of audience acceptance and comprehension, it also sacrifices many cultural features of the source language, which may result in the loss of a large amount of accompanying information and prevent the audience from fully appreciating the original connotation of the source language and the foreign culture. For example, for foreigners who want to learn Chinese, in order to explain the cultural implications contained therein, he will translate“她有沉鱼落雁之容，闭月羞花之貌" by naturalization to “Her beauty would make the fish sink, the wild geese fall down and the moon hide herself, and put the flowers to shame.”（Deng Yanchang 2006）

Therefore, while emphasizing that interpretation should be mainly naturalized, it is important not to overlook the value of the means of dissimilation. This is because besides providing services to both parties of live communication, interpretation also has the function of cultural transmission, which is conducive to enhancing mutual understanding among peoples. For the specific forms and expressions containing strong cultural color and ethnicity, the dissimilation means can best reflect the ethnic color of the source language and make the audience feel novel and vivid, thus opening their eyes and gaining knowledge and enlightenment, especially on occasions such as tourism interpretation and banquet interpretation. In order to meet the needs of cultural exchange, interpreters should undoubtedly adopt the strategy of heterogeneity as much as possible in the process of interpretation, so as to retain the heterogeneous components in the source language to the greatest extent possible and transmit the information in the source language to the audience as originally as possible. In addition, the use of dissimilation can enrich the linguistic expressions of the target language and inject fresh blood into the culture of the target language, so that the language and culture of the target language can continue to develop and maintain vitality.（Edward Spir 2006）

Rational Use of Direct Translation, Substitution, Paraphrase, Interpretation and Other Translation Methods

The German functionalist translation theory, which emerged in the 1970s, advocates a "purpose-oriented" approach, which frees the translator and the translator from the bondage of the original language and regards translation as a purposive act. Functionalist scholars especially pointed out that their theory is also suitable for interpretation. The theory requires the translator to determine the strategies to be used in the translation process based on the specific requirements of the client and the translation purpose and the actual situation of the potential readers (or listeners) on the basis of a full understanding of the original language. The functionalist translation theory emphasizes flexibility and practicality in the translation process, which is a great inspiration for translators to flexibly use various translation methods to deal with cultural factors in interpretation. Combined with the specific characteristics and requirements of interpretation and the actual situation of the interpretation site, translation methods such as direct translation, substitution, meaning translation and interpretation should be flexibly used in dealing with cultural factors in interpretation according to the needs.

Direct translation method

Language is the carrier of culture, which reflects the cultural traditions and psychological habits of a nation. Direct translation not only preserves these cultural features and avoids ambiguities, but also facilitates cultural exchange and enriches the vocabulary of the target language. Without affecting the understanding of the audience, direct translation is preferable if the source and target languages can be unified or largely unified in content and form. The direct translation method is the fullest manifestation of dissimilation at the linguistic level. It is the fullest expression of alienation at the linguistic level. For example, " Let sleeping dogs lie" is directly translated as “勿惹睡狗”. “火上加油” is directly translated “Pour oil on the flame”.

Substitution Method

The substitution method is also called the "reciprocity method". It is a method of translation by applying words and expressions in the target language that have different expressions but are similar in meaning to the cultural concepts of the source language. The substitution method is the most typical manifestation of using naturalization to deal with cultural phenomena. For example, the Chinese idiom "冰冻三尺非一日之寒" is translated into " Rome cannot be built in one day”. English idiom "to spend money like water " translated into "挥金如土" is a good example.

Intentional translation method=

When the source language and the target language cannot be unified in terms of content and form or cannot be harmonized, translation is a method of expressing the meaning of the source language in the language of the target language from the meaning of the source language, free from the superficial form of the source language. The meaning translation method is also a common method of using naturalization to deal with cultural phenomena in interpretation. It is mainly applied to occasions where cultural communication is not the purpose. For example, during the second session of the Ninth National People's Congress, Premier Zhu Rongji held a press conference. In response to a reporter's question about the "U.S. accusation of China's theft of U.S. nuclear technology," Premier Zhu stated a series of reasons and then concluded that: "The U.S. has been accused of stealing nuclear technology from China. After stating a series of reasons, he concluded that,“我们为什么还要冒政治.上的风险和道德上的风险去盗窃什么人的军事机密呢?所以，所谓中国盗窃美国军事机密的问题可以认为是一种天方夜谭”.The last sentence of the translator's translation reads“So, the alleged Chinese theft of U.S. military technology is only a fiction.” Here, "天方夜谭" is not translated directly as" TheArabianNights"，but is instead translated as " fiction ". This shows that the interpreter is fully aware of the cultural differences between Chinese and Western cultures and adopts the method of paraphrasing and flexibly and accurately conveys the speaker's meaning to the audience in the target language. As we all know, in Chinese culture, when people refer to an absurd, unsubstantiated phenomenon or statement, they often say: 这简直是天方夜谭。But in English-speaking cultures, The Arabian Nights is not synonymous with ridiculous or absurd. Therefore, the word "天方夜谭" has a much richer connotation in Chinese than the same word has in English.（Bao Huinan 2001）

Interpretation

Chinese and English belong to different language families, and they are very different in terms of cultural and historical background, cultural psychological structure, thinking styles and methods, and language expression. Although there are some cultural concepts in the two languages that are equivalent, corresponding or basically corresponding, most of them are not corresponding or completely corresponding, and some concepts are completely vacant in the target language. When trying to preserve the cultural characteristics of the source language and the literal translation cannot make the audience understand its meaning, the cultural phenomenon of the source language can be properly explained to facilitate the audience's understanding. This method is called interpretation. Interpretation is actually a means of alienation-a disguised form of expression, similar to literal translation and annotation. The interpretation method is not only easy for the audience to understand, but also can retain the cultural flavor of the source language. It is a good way to deal with cultural gaps in interpreting. The interpretation method is mainly applicable to the following scope:

1) Proper nouns formed in the accumulation of source language culture 诸葛亮—-Zhuge Liang，a master mind in Chinese history. Mickey Mouse—-指一个小人物或一件微不足道的小事

2) Abbreviations, special phrases or collocations formed in a specific cultural atmosphere 三资企业—-refers to“外资”，namely, foreign- funded enterprise; “合资”， joint adventure and“独资”，wholly foreign-owned or funded enterprise. An LDC—-指 “a life and death commodity”始用于英国报刊，一般指成本低廉，但却是人类赖以生存的商品，如水。

3) Lingo, idiom, allusion, slang or colloquialism 解铃还需系铃人—-“Let him who tied the bell on the tiger take it off”, meaning, whoever started that trouble ends it himself.”

4)Special cultural words

敬老日—- Generally speaking, this phrase refers to the Double Ninth Festival in China，a day of giving and advocating more concern for the senior citizens. the Beatles—-指英国的披头士乐队，20世纪六七十年代曾风靡全球。

Simple translation and no translation

Chinese people use more adjectives when narrating and describing people and things, especially when introducing landscapes and historical sites, adjectives and four-character patterns are quite frequent. For example, when introducing a lake, we often hear commentary similar to the following: “ 湖水澄澈如镜，水光天接，湖中有十多个高矮不等的小岛被水相望，似断似续，烟水迷茫，错落有致....”. If during the interpreting process, the interpreter translates the described words one by one according to the original language, it is likely to be thankless and make people feel that the language is extremely exaggerated and ridiculous. In this case, omitting some adjectives will not affect the overall situation. It is undeniable that some of the special expressions in different nationalities and different languages cannot be translated or equivalently translated. Especially in time-stressed interpretation situations, it is inevitable to encounter difficult problems, such as humor in English. No matter how you translate them, the meanings of, puns, allegorical words with puns in Chinese, and word-breaking games in Chinese, etc., cannot fully reflect their meanings. In this case, you can use "no translation" or incomplete translation. For example, Chinese people are used to introducing themselves by saying: "我姓张，弓长张。"Directly translating it as “My family name is Zhang”is enough.

Conclusion

Interpretation is a cross-language communication activity as well as a cross-cultural communication activity. Due to the commonality and individuality of culture, the cultural characteristics carried by different language systems in cross-cultural communication appear the same, partly the same, gaps and conflicts. Therefore, the interpreter must not only be proficient in both the source language and the target language, but also understand the two cultures and understand the differences between the two cultures reflected in the differences in language expression. In addition, due to the characteristics of interpreting: timeliness, directness, diversity of occasions and forms, as well as the looseness of oral expression, resulting in the cultural sensitivity of the interpreter, the broad aspect of knowledge and the ability to deal with cultural differences There are higher requirements. Therefore, interpreters should focus on cultivating cross-cultural awareness, increasing their sensitivity to the differences between the two cultures, and mastering the principles and methods to fill the gaps in understanding between different cultures. For interpreters, cross-cultural awareness refers to a cognitive standard and adjustment method formed by the translator consciously or unconsciously in cross-cultural communication. It is the interpreter’s unique way of thinking, judgment, and The sensitivity of cultural factors. The interpreter is the carrier of cross-cultural awareness, and the broad cultural information foundation is the fundamental guarantee for the completion of cross-cultural communication. Only by following the principles of culture can the translator better control the language and make the target language truly accurate, decent and fluent.

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On Translation Strategies of Different Style, Taking English Journalistic Style and English Literary Style as an Example 张银柳 Zhang Yinliu

Abstract

With the consistent development of the cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries, translation plays a more and more pivotal role in the world stage. It can not only help Chinese to have a better understanding of foreign cultures and promote the cooperation, but also spread the Chinese cultures to the international world. Translation strategies are the focus of translation works, especially during the process of translating Chinese to English. It’s very necessary to have a thorough study about the translation strategies on C-E translation. While towards different styles of text, different translation strategies should be applied relatively. This thesis focuses on translation strategies of two styles - journalistic style and literary style. The thesis firstly introduces the background and development of translation strategies. Then it depicts the characteristics and translation principles of journalistic style text and literary style text. In the main part, the thesis combines the characteristics of the two kinds of texts to explore the translation strategies that suits for the two types, including domestication, foreignization, omission and etc. This thesis is expected to make some contributions to the study of translation strategies and the practice of C-E translation.

KEY WORDS

Translation strategies; text-types; journalistic style; literary style.

中文摘要

随着中外文化交流的不断发展，翻译在世界舞台上扮演着越来越重要的角色。它不仅可以帮助中国人更好地了解外国文化，促进合作，而且可以将中国文化传播到世界。翻译策略是翻译工作的重点，特别是在汉译英过程中。对中文英译的翻译策略进行深入研究是有必要的。在针对不同样式的文本时，应相对地采用不同的翻译策略。本文主要研究两种体裁的翻译策略：新闻体裁和文学体裁。 本文首先介绍翻译策略的背景和发展，然后描述新闻风格文本和文学风格文本的特点和翻译原则。论文的主体部分结合了两种文本的特点，探讨了归化，异化，遗漏等的翻译策略。本文有望为中文英译翻译策略的研究和翻译的实践做出贡献。

关键词

翻译策略; 文本类型; 新闻体裁; 文学体裁.

1. Introduction

Translation strategies are critical in translation process, especially for Chinese to English translation. Towards texts in different styles which have different models of texts’ structure and communicative functions, translation strategies are quite variable. There are a great number of scholars both from China and the international world who have devoted themselves to dive into and research the most effective and practical strategies. However, there are still lack of thorough researches about translation strategies for different text styles. In this thesis, the first part is about the introduction and analysis of former scholars’ researches and the whole picture of this thesis. Then, the thesis will discuss the background, development, characteristics and functions of different-style texts from the perspective of linguistics. The main part is about the translation strategies of source texts in journalistic style and literary style respectively, such as the domestication, foreignization in literary-style texts and the omission , restruction and generalization in journalistic-style text. In concluding part, the thesis will generalize the main idea and make an objective appreciation about the thesis, as well as point out the drawbacks and advantages.

2.Theoretical Framework

According to the research, there is still no specific definition of distinguishing differences of texts styles. Some scholars claim texts’ styles to be registers, even some equal them to speech events. Qin Xiubai, a famous Chinese language and teaching professor, introduced that there were two main schools of the study of Texts styles’- the Swalesian School represented by John M.S wales and V.K.Bhatia and the Australian School represented by J.R.Martin. John Martin believes that styles of texts means a bunch of social events in which the members have the same communicative goal. While V.K.Bhatia believes that styles of texts are identifiable communicative events that have obvious inner structural features, conventionally happening in specific careers or academic communities. We can tell from the two schools’ views that styles of texts are a kind of communicative events with its special communicative purpose and clear structures. From this point, translators or interpreters can exert theory to analyze texts’ styles and recognize the intentions of writers as well as keep the functional and sense equivalence between the source texts and target texts. J.R.Martin take texts’ styles as a communication-orientated process of social communication with steps.(1993) Eggins view texts of styles as a type of activity with steps that orientated on communicative purposes. (1994) So that the difference of texts styles is on the level of values in use rather than the contents of discourse, characteristics of forms or other rules. Huang Guowen once said that every text plays a communicative role in a specific social and cultural environment, and people belonging to a specific social and cultural background can usually see its communicative purpose. (Huang Guowen,2001) The text is a combination of communicative symbols for the exchange of information between the sender and the recipient. In order to achieve a certain communicative purpose, the sender must choose an appropriate genre and corresponding manifestation to convey the information, and the recipient is expected to respond accordingly. Thus, the function of texts can be realized. Christiane Nord summarized four functions of texts from the perspective of translation. They are referential function, expressive function, appellative function and phatic function. (Nord, 1997)

2.1.1The Referential Function

The referential function of a text means the reference to or description of objects or phenomena of the world. It is mainly expressed through the denotative value of the lexical items presented in the text and can be analyzed through the nature of the objects. It is orientated toward objects in real or fictitious worlds. There are several functions of referential function: informative function, directive function and didactic function.(Ping, 2002) If the referent is a fact or state of things unknown to the receiver, such as an accident, the text function may consist in informing the readers. If the referent is the description of an object, such as the illustration of using a washing machine, the text function may be directive. If it is a whole field that the receivers are to learn, such as physics, the function may be didactic.

2.1.2The Expressive Function

  The expressive function refers to the sender’s attitude to toward the objects or phenomena. This function is sender-orientated. The expressive function of the text may be subdivided according to what it is expressed. If the sender expresses individual feelings or emotions, such as a public speech, it will be an emotive  sub-function. If what is expressed is an evaluation, like comments, the sub-function will be evaluative.

2.1.3The Appellative Function

The appellative function refers to use of language to make the receiver feel or do something. The appellative function “receiver-orientated. It aims at the receivers’ sensitivity or disposition to act and tries to induce receivers to respond in a particular way. It can be broken into several sub-functions: illustrative function, persuasive function, advertising function and pedagogical function. If we want to illustrate a hypothesis by an example, we appeal to the reader’s previous experience to knowledge, That’s what called illustrative function. If we want to persuade someone to do something or to share a particular viewpoint, we appeal to their sensitivity and their secret desires. That’s what called persuasive function. If we want to let someone by a particular product, we tend to describe those qualities of the product that are presumed to have positive values in receivers’ value system. That’s advertising function. If we wan to educate a person, we may appeal to their susceptibility to ethical and moral principles. That’s pedagogical function.

2.2 Main Text - types

Katharina Reiss, founder of German translation functionalism, put forward text-typology theory in Possibilities and Limitations in Translation Criticism. She believes that there are four texts, including the context-focused text, the form-focused text, the appeal-focused text and the audio-media text. Peter Newmark, representative of the British linguistic school of translation theory, based on the study of former linguisticians, he put forward the following six functions of texts - expressive function, informative function, the vocative function, the aesthetic function, the phatic function and the meta-lingual function. A text may has several functions at the same time, but only has one major function. Taking a whole consideration of the two theories, the main texts are the following three, expressive texts, informative texts and vocative texts. Journalistic-style texts and literary-style texts are mainly connected with the expressive, informative and vocative function.

2.2.1 The Expressive Texts

Language is a tool for people to communicate with each other. Through language, people can express their thoughts, affection, wills, desires, opinions, attitude, etc. This is the expressive function of language. The core of expressive function is the speaker's thoughts. The speaker uses words to express feelings, regardless of the reaction of others.Typical expressive-function texts include the following three types. The first ones are serious and imaginative literature which contain lyrics, short stories, long novels and plays. The second type is authoritative texts, including a variety of genres, whose authority comes from the status of the author or language skills, such as senior government officials and political party leaders’ speeches, such as declarations, legal regulations, documents as well as literary and academic works written by authority figures etc. The third type is texts that express writers’ ideas directly, without direct readers, like autobiography, private letters, etc.

2.2.2 The Informative Texts

In interactions, people often have to describe, narrate or explain the situation of relevant things. This involves the information function of language. The core is the external environment, which is the reported insights and theories. The informative text usually has a fixed format, such as textbook, technical reports, newspaper articles, scientific papers, meeting minutes, etc. 

2.2.3 The Vocative Texts

People often use words to evoke others' sympathy or prompt them to take some actions. That shows the imperative function of language. The core of this function is the readers or audiences. The speaker wants readers or audiences to feel and follow the intent of the text and act as expected. Typical vocative texts are notices, advertisements, instructions, requests, appeals, etc.
 

2.3 Literary Stylistics and Journalistic Stylistics With the appearance of societal pragmatics, pragmatics and functional grammar, scholars recognized the importance of language functions. They tried to classify the texts in the light of language functions and divided them into two main types. One is literary style, the other is non-literary style. Snell-Hornby classified literary texts as Bible, drama, film, lyric poetry, modern literature, classic works, children literature, literature in 1990 and pastime novel.--Zhang Yinliu (talk) 05:00, 14 December 2020 (UTC)