Translation Theories Applied to Literary Translations

Translation Theories Applied to Literary Translations

Overview Page of Translation Theories Applied to Literary Translations

30 Chapters（0/30)

Theor_App_Lit_EN_1 Theor_App_Lit_EN_2 Theor_App_Lit_EN_3 Theor_App_Lit_EN_4 Theor_App_Lit_EN_5 Theor_App_Lit_EN_6 Theor_App_Lit_EN_7 Theor_App_Lit_EN_8 Theor_App_Lit_EN_9 Theor_App_Lit_EN_10 Theor_App_Lit_EN_11 Theor_App_Lit_EN_12 Theor_App_Lit_EN_13 Theor_App_Lit_EN_14 Theor_App_Lit_EN_15 Theor_App_Lit_EN_16 Theor_App_Lit_EN_17 Theor_App_Lit_EN_18 Theor_App_Lit_EN_19 Theor_App_Lit_EN_20 Theor_App_Lit_EN_21 Theor_App_Lit_EN_22 Theor_App_Lit_EN_23 Theor_App_Lit_EN_24 Theor_App_Lit_EN_25 Theor_App_Lit_EN_26 Theor_App_Lit_EN_27 Theor_App_Lit_EN_28 Theor_App_Lit_EN_29 Theor_App_Lit_EN_30 ...

Back to translation project overview

To the To Do list

1 周巧: A Case Study on Chinese Translations of Toni Morrison’s Novel Beloved Based on Catford’s Translation Shifts Theory

Theor_App_Lit_EN_1

摘要

长篇小说宠儿是美国当代黑人女作家托妮·莫里森独具特色的一部作品。因为这部小说的语言具有黑人英语的典型特征，且塑造的黑人形象非常丰满独特。因此本文以美国著名非裔女作家托妮的《宠儿》的汉译本为语料，从卡特福德翻译转化理论的角度分析宠儿的翻译策略和特点，从而更加了解该作品中爱与自我的主题，也更理解奴隶制下美国黑人的生活状态。

翻译转换理论是翻译学家卡特福德站在语言学的角度解释翻译过程中是从源语到目标语出现形式偏离现象的理论。根据该理论，翻译转换包括两种：一为层次转换，一为范畴转换。其中，层次转换包含两类：（1）数的转换及（2）时态和体的转换；而范畴转换则包含四大类：（1）类别转换、（2）单位转换、（3）结构转换及（4）系统内部转换。以美国非裔小说家托妮.莫里森的小说《宠儿》为例，从词汇、句法方面分析其语料特点，结合卡特福德翻译转换理论探讨在文学翻译过程中采取的转换策略与方法，并分析该理论在文学翻译中的可行性。

关键词

翻译转换理论；《宠儿》；黑人英语

Abstract

Beloved is a unique novel of Toni Morrison, who is a contemporary African American female writer. Because the language of this novel has the typical characteristics of black English, and the black characters in this novel are very rich and unique. Therefore, based on the Chinese translation of the Beloved of Toni Morrison, a famous African American female writer, this paper analyzes the translation strategies and characteristics of Beloved from the perspective of Catford's Translation Shifts Theory, so as to better understand the theme of love and self in the work and the living conditions of black Americans under slavery.

Translation Shifts Theory is a theory that translator Catford explains the phenomenon of formal deviation from the source language to the target language in the process of translation from the perspective of linguistics. According to the theory, Translation Shifts fall into two categories: Level Shifts and Category Shifts. In terms of Level Shifts, it includes the transformation of number, tense and aspect. Category Shifts cover four aspects: (1) Class Shifts, (2) Unit Shifts, (3) Structure Shifts and (4) Intra-system Shifts. Taking Beloved as an example, this paper analyzes the characteristics of its corpus from the aspects of vocabulary and syntax, and discusses the shift strategies and methods in the process of literary translation combined with Catford's Translation Shifts Theory, thus analyzing its feasibility in the literary translation.

Key words

Translation Shift Theory; Beloved; Black English

Introduction

The selected text of the translation study is a literary novel written by the African American writer Toni Morrison, which was named Beloved with the themes of love and self. It mainly talks about Seth, a female slave, who was chased on the way to escape with her daughter. Because she didn't want to see her child become a slave again, she resolutely strangled her young daughter. Eighteen years later, slavery had long been abolished, and the baby girl she killed came back to punish her mother's behavior day and night. This book is full of vivid characters, richly detailed descriptions and passionate emotions. The most important feature of the book is there is a range of slang in Afro-American English, which shows language features and reflects characters’ images.

In order to have a better understanding of Beloved and Translation Shifts Theory, the author study the Chinese translation of Beloved from the perspective of Catford’s Translation Shifts Theory. The appearance of Catford’s Translation Shift theory can be traced back to 1950s. Instead of talking about formal equivalence, Catford’s theory stresses meaning transmission. It is the typical reflection of the principle that form is not as important as content. The theory, devoted to two aspects, namely level shifts and category shifts, is becoming one of the most practical and influential theories in the studies about translation shifts. Correspondingly, the author writing this report will probe into the utilization of the translation shifts theory which Catford initiated, particularly, the category shifts in the studying.

The report is structured as follows: the first part is the introduction of information about the source text, the guidance theory of the translation work and the report outline, followed by the second part which focuses on the linguistic features of Beloved. As for the third part, there provides a theory introduction, namely, Catford’s Translation Shifts Theory which covers level shifts and category shifts. The fourth part is the case analysis of Beloved from the perspectives of this theory. Finally, the report ends with a conclusion, in which the whole report and several deficiencies are briefly reviewed.

Introduction to Beloved

In this part, the author will roughly introduce the main content of the novel Beloved and analyze the linguistic features of the text , laying a solid foundation for the following steps.

Main Content

Beloved tells about a black slave named Seth who fled from a Kentucky farm to a Cincinnati farmhouse alone in order to gain freedom. A month later, she was chased by slave owners. For freeing her child from the tragic fate of being a slave, she resolutely cut her throat and buried her. The child who died miserably in the hands of his own mother was named Beloved. Because she killed her children herself, the mother has been hated and rejected by the people in the community and endured the torture of conscience and great loneliness. Beloved returned to the world 18 years later. She turned into a girl, disturbed her mother, and destroyed her mother's stable and warm life.

Based on the life of a small town in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1873, the novel shows the great spiritual crisis left by slavery to American blacks through the story of a young black woman who has been reborn and a black mother who has suffered psychological suffering. It also reveals that slavery still has a strong influence on black people after the abolishment of slavery.

Linguistic Characteristics

The selected text used for this report is the literary novel Beloved and its Chinese Translation by Pan Yue and Lei Ge. This part introduces the linguistic characteristics of the source text from lexis, syntax and discourse specifically.

Language features are determined by the specific group, culture, and context. Beloved, written by an African American Writer who has a totally different writing style from normal American writers. The excerpted text has the following linguistic characteristics: In the first place, regarding lexis, many words in the novel are common, but the collocation and usage of these words are not. The words used are exaggerated and humorous, involving a large number of slang words, close to life.

Secondly, in terms of syntax, The structure is not rigorous and standard. The omission of be verbs is one of the most prominent features of black English. In addition, double negation is also a common phenomenon, which has obvious characteristics of black English sentence patterns. Finally, in terms of discourse, this book is in the form of dialogue, very colloquial and close to life, therefore the selected text is very smooth and natural. The plot of the story is complicated, twists and turns, exciting and fascinating.

More specifically, one of the most typical linguistic characteristics of this novel is black English. Black English is a kind of informal language that in novels can reveal different images and reveal the special culture of black English. Therefore, some words and phrases in this novel have their own slang meaning, making the characters rich and vivid.

Theoretical Framework

Translation theory guides translation practice as a whole or from a macro perspective. Some translation theories are directly connected with translation practice. In addition, the theory can also be used to guide the criticism and appreciation of the translation. Through the analysis and evaluation of the Chinese versions, we can explore the deep-seated reasons and promote the development of translation practice, which also reflects the promotion of translation theory to practice to some extent. In recent years, more and more scholars have tried to discuss the practical value of shift theory in English-Chinese translation and achieved some results. This paper attempts to use the Translation Shifts Theory to explore the guiding role of shift theory in English-Chinese translation practice through the analysis and study of beloved's translation strategies.

付红岩

A Comparative Study of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn‘s Translation on the basis of different Chinese versions

1.2 关键词

1.3 Abstract 1.4 Key words 1.5 Introduction 1.6 Introduction to Beloved 1.6.1 Main Content 1.6.2 Linguistic Characteristics 1.7 Theoretical Framework 1.7.1 About Catford’s Shifts Theory 1.7.1.1 Introduction to Level Shifts 1.7.1.2 Introduction to Category Shifts 1.7.2 Feasibility 1.8 The Advantage of Catford’s Translation Shifts Theory Applied in the Chinese Version 1.8.1 Level Shifts Applied in the Version 1.8.1.1 Tense and Aspects Shifts 1.8.1.2 Shifts between Plurality and Lexis 1.8.2 Category Shifts Applied in the Version 1.8.2.1 Structure Shifts 1.8.2.2 Class Shifts 1.8.2.3 Unit Shifts 1.8.2.4 Intra-system Shifts 1.9 Conclusion 1.9.1 Major Findings of the Study 1.9.2 Limitations of the Study 1.10 References

詹若萱

Chinese Translation of Subtitles of "Jane Eyre" from the Perspective of Functional Equivalence Theory

Abstract

This paper attempts to discuss subtitle translation from the aspect of Nida’s Functional Equivalence Theory by meticulously selecting many fresh examples from a film “Jane Eyre” adapted from the well-known book “Jane Eyre”. Literary works are important subjects for film and TV dramas, and many of them are based on literary works. ”Jane Eyre” has attracted tens of thousands of readers, and its research value has been continuously shown. The subtitle translation of its adapted film“Jane Eyre”also contributes to the literary work’s popularity.

This paper has 3 parts which carefully discusses subtitle translation, Functional Equivalence Theory and the translation methods of functional equivalence in subtitle translation. The research is of great significance to the development of subtitle translation. This paper provides a more scientific reference for film subtitle translation, making the Functional Equivalence Theory more mature in the practical application of subtitle translation, and provides a more effective explanation for the application of Functional Equivalence Theory in subtitle translation. It contributes a lot to promoting the vigorous development of film subtitle translation.

Key words

"Jane Eyre";Subtitle trabslation; Functional Equivalence Theory

摘要

本文根据奈达的功能对等理论，从电影《简爱》中精心挑选了大量新颖的字幕翻译实例，论述了如何根据功能对等理论进行字幕翻译。文学作品是影视剧拍摄的重要题材，很多影视剧作品都是根据文学作品改编而来的。《简爱》自问世以来，吸引了数以万计的读者，其研究价值也不断地显示出来。字幕翻译也促进了文学作品的传播与受欢迎。

本文分为三个部分，分别对字幕翻译、功能对等理论以及功能对等理论在字幕翻译中的应用进行了详细的论述。本文为电影字幕翻译提供了更为科学的参考，使功能对等理论在字幕翻译实践中的应用更为成熟，并为功能对等理论在字幕翻译中的应用提供了更为有效的解释。

关键词

《简爱》；字幕翻译：功能对等理论

Introduction

With the implementation of the Chinese economic reform and the development of the trend of global integration, the commerce and trade cultures of different countries have more chances to intermix with each other. Where movies and TV shows have become one of the main art forms in daily life, it makes sense as an important carrier of culture. In recent years, more and more English movies and TV plays have been introduced into China, which not only play the role of entertainment products, but also become a window for Chinese audience to understand English-speaking countries. Because of the language barriers, the audience often needs the help of subtitle translation to understand the dialogue, background and other information of the specific film and TV show, which is the foundation for audience to understand the direction of the plot, characters and other contents. If the translator cannot convey this information to the target audience properly by subtitles, it will make the target audience can not enjoy the same fun as the native audience.

Nowadays, people are eager to watch more movies and TV series which have their own unique characteristics. And people’s need for subtitle translation is larger both in quality and quantity. The quality of the subtitle translation has large influence on people’s watching experience and their perceptions of the cultural and social connotations the film conveys. Therefore, the importance of film translation is self-evident. Although film translation has a great influence on today's society, it is different from other forms of translation. The history of film and television translation is still very short. While subtitle translation, seen as the most direct way of film translation, has not yet formed the systematic and theoretical system, it still relies on experience and perception in translation.

With the help of Nida's Functional Equivalence Theory, this paper chooses Jane Eyre,a film adapted from the famous English novel Jane Ayre. This paper analyzes the translation strategies by listing many representative practical examples, and concludes whether the translation meets the objectives of TV drama translation and the audience's expectations. This paper hopes to provide some examples to better promote the development of subtitle translation of literary works from the perspectives of Nida’s Functional Equivalence Theory. In addition, this paper also hopes to arouse more scholars’ interests to explore the subtitle translation based on the Functional Equivalence Theory, and this paper also serves to enrich the studies of subtitle translation in E-C translation to promote the cross-cultural communication.

Subtitle translation

This part will present a brief introduction of subtitle translation including its characteristics and strategies.

Characteristics of subtitle translation

Firstly, subtitles should be easy to be understood because they have to show the main content of the all in a relatively simple way. Zhang Chunbai points out “with rare exceptions, film dialogues must be simple to be understood at first hearing because it is difficult for audience to hear it twice.” Subtitle translation is rarely using very obscure words and complex sentences. In particular, the instantaneity of the film makes the subtitles stay short. Therefore, the subtitles often need to present the plot, the actors’ emotion and the story background in a short time to achieve a clear effect. It includes two parts. On the one hand, choose simple sentence patterns. On the other hand, choose simple words. In addition to simple sentence patterns, words in sentences are usually translated into language easy to be understood.

Secondly, subtitle translation is supposed to be in accordance with the context and takes the audience's language and cultural background as the standard. Subtitle translation will consider different language, cultural characteristics and make the conversion according to the context. By watching this kind of subtitle translation, audience can have their best watching experience. For example, English language pays more attention to the structural beauty of sentence patterns, long sentences such as conjunctions and master-slave compound sentences, and the overt cohesion of the internal components of sentences, while Chinese language pays more attention to the beauty of artistic conception and the modification of adjectives. The sentences of Chinese are loose but the meaning is not scattered, and the internal components of sentences are mostly covert coherence.

Brief Introduction to Nida's Functional Equivalence Theory

Enlightenments of Functional Equivalence Theory

===Application of Functional Equivalence Theory in subtitling "Jane Eyre"

6李雯 Creative Treason in Literary Translation:Take English Versions of Bian Cheng as Example（文学翻译中译者的创造性叛逆--以《边城》英译本为例）

= Abstract:Creative treason was put forward by Robert Escarpit in 1958.Bian Cheng is the masterpiece of Shen Congwen. Its English versions obtain widespread attention from home and abroad. However,scarce scholars study Bian Cheng from the perspective of creative treason. This thesis analyzes English versions of Bian Cheng by Shen Congwen to study creative treason.This paper briefly introduces creative treason, Bian Cheng and different English versions of Bian Cheng. Through analysis of some examples in different English versions of Bian Cheng, it concludes translation strategies of creative treason, such as domestication, free translation, mistranslation, omission and so on.Translation is a kind of re-creation of the translator. Different translators adopt different strategies of creative treason during translation, which aim to better represent essence of the original work and help spread Chinese literature.Key words:Bian Cheng; literary translation; Creative treason 摘要：创造性叛逆是由罗伯特•埃斯卡皮于1958年提出的翻译理论。《边城》作为沈从文的代表作，其译本在国内外文学翻译界都备受关注，但却鲜少有学者从创造性叛逆视角对《边城》英译本进行研究。本文以沈从文《边城》英译本为例分析创造性叛逆。本论文简要介绍创造性叛逆翻译理论、《边城》以及其不同英译本。通过对《边城》不同英译本中的例子进行细致的分析，总结创造性叛逆的翻译策略，如归化、意译、误译、漏译等。翻译是译者的一种再创作活动，译者在翻译过程中采取不同的创造性叛逆策略，旨在更好地体现原文内涵，促进中国文学作品的传播。关键词：《边城》；文学翻译；创造性叛逆 Chapter One Introduction Perfect translation is not absolute conformity with the original form,but an integration between the original meaning and the translator's own creation.Such creation is known as creative treason which is of great significance in literary translation. This thesis,based on creative treason theory,analyzes English versions of Bian Cheng by Shen Congwen and attempts to conclude strategies of creative treason. 1.1 Research Background For a long time,the study of translation in Chinese and western translation circles was confined to the study of the original work and the author, but it missed the importance of the real creator —the translator—and his special cultural status. Many translation theories, like “Faithfulness, Expressiveness and Elegance”,“Spirit Likeness”and“Sublimation Theory”, advocated absolute faithfulness to the original work. Translators were in a dilemma between obedience to the original author and flattery to the readers. The traditional translation theories also held that the value for translation was no match for the original work and translation was a kind of imitation lack of creativity. These ideas greatly restricted the development of translation and put translators in a dilemma between faithfulness and treason. Robert Escarpit put the notion of creative treason in 1958,which injected literary translation with new strategies. Creative treason,as inevitable phenomenon during literary translation,is gaining more and more attention from translators and scholars. The 20th century is known as the“Era of translation” (Newmark, 2001:3).Translation theories achieved unprecedented development.Increasing number of researchers began to explore translation from the perspective of culture,which enriched the essence of creative treason .Researches about creative treason greatly increases these years .It has become a necessary strategy during the process of literary translation. 1.2 Research Significance Creative treason is extremely frequent in literary translation. In the process of literary translation, the translator's translation is often affected by bilingual differences, cultural context, social background and original style. Under the restriction of these objective conditions, the translator gives full play to his subjective initiative in translation activities and adds a lot of creative translation on the premise of respecting the original. This is the inevitability of creative treason in literary translation. For some certain purpose, translators often take stock of all the relevant factors affecting translation and choose one or more creative treason strategies. These strategies are not mutually exclusive but instead they often coexist in one translation version. Bian Cheng, as a treasure of Chinese literature, has four English versions,each with its own characteristics and advantages. With the image of beautiful natural scenery, Bian Cheng is full of rich natural environment, folk customs, human feelings ,love and sadness.It is viewed as one of the most wonderful work in Chinese literature and is of great research value. Because it is rich in literary value and cultural information,different translators have different understandings in different historical and cultural backgrounds. So they use different translation strategies to meet the needs of their potential readers and purposes,thus many creative treason strategies appear in the process of translation. Above all,it is of great value to investigate English versions Bian Cheng from the perspective of creative treason as many kinds of creative treason appear in these different translation versions.Through analysis,this research can help readers grasp a better understanding of creative treason and facilitate the spread of Bian Cheng. Chapter Two Literature Review Since the advent of creative treason,it has gained much attention from translators.More and more scholars begin to investigate literary translation from the perspective of creative treason.Bian Cheng, as the masterpiece of Shen Congwen, also gained much notice at home and abroad.Researches about creative treason and Bian Cheng emerge one after another in recent years. 2.1 Studies of Creative Treason Theory at Home and Abroad Studies about creative treason theory originated from foreign countries.It was initiated by a French literary sociologist Robert Escarpit in his book The Sociology of Literature in 1958 and received wide attention from home and broad since its advent.Creative treason injected literary translation new vitality and new strategies which were widely employed in various classical works of literary translation.