Trans Type EN 8
Media:Example.ogg==Chapter 8: Translation methods and strategies applicable to the style of biographical literature -- Taking Incidents in Life of Slave Girl (excerpt) as an example == 传记文学的文体所适用的翻译技巧与策略——以英文传记《一名女奴的人生际遇》(节选)为例
Abstract
The translated text of this article is a part of the English biography Incidents in Life of a Slave Girl. The author of this work is Harriet Jacobs. This translation mainly takes the translation functional equivalence theory of American linguist Eugene A.Nida as the theoretical framework, adopts some translation skills in translation practice, and discusses the translation skills and Strategies of Chinese translation of such texts by analyzing the stylistic characteristics of biographical literature, especially African American autobiography. Through the Chinese translation of this autobiography, we can have a clearer understanding of the history of slavery in the United States, a deeper understanding of the lives of slaves and how this system of discrimination against blacks oppresses and persecutes slaves, especially female slaves.
Key Words
Autobiographical Literature, Black female slaves, Translation methods and Strategies
摘要
本文的翻译文本是英文传记Incidents in Life of a Slave Girl中的一部分章节。该作品的作者是哈丽雅特·雅各布斯，这次翻译主要是以美国语言学家尤金奈达的翻译功能对等理论为理论框架，在翻译实践中采用了一些翻译技巧，并通过分析传记文学尤其是美国黑人自传的文体特点探讨汉译此类文本的翻译技巧和策略。我们可以通过这部自传文学作品的中译本更清楚地认识美国的蓄奴制历史，更深入地了解奴隶的生活以及这一歧视黑人的制度是怎样对奴隶特别是女奴进行压榨和迫害的。
关键词
传记文学，黑人女奴，翻译方法与策略
Title
Translation methods and strategies applicable to the style of biographical literature -- Taking Incidents in Life of a Slave Girl (excerpt) as an example
Introduction
This work belongs to the category of biographical literature. Biographical literature is a literary genre in which the author reproduces the characters' life stories and experiences, shows the characters' spiritual outlook and values, and depicts the characters' distinct love and hate and vivid personality through documentary writing and a variety of literary and artistic techniques.
There are more than 50 characters involved in the biography. In the author's works, these characters are very vivid, such as the forbearance of a strong grandmother to the slave owner, the loyalty of a hard-working aunt to the slave owner, the oppression of female slaves by a crafty and sinister doctor, and the wit of Linda Brent, the heroine who pursues freedom and courage.
In particular, the author's description of the heroine's seven years spent in a "cage" like cabin before she fled to the North more ruthlessly castigates the evil of slavery. The heroine's experience deeply moved her relatives and friends, including white slave owners. With the help of her relatives and friends, the heroine was able to escape to the north.
Taking the translation functional equivalence theory of American linguist Eugene Nida as the theoretical framework, In this paper I have adopted the following translation skills in the process of translation:
1. The translation methods of foreignization and domestication are used to achieve partial functional equivalence between the source language and the target language, so as to reduce the lack of culture after translation. 2. According to the similarities and differences between English and Chinese language structures, literal translation and free translation are used to make the translation conform to the expression habits of the target language. 3. The methods of addition and subtraction are adopted to make the translation consistent with the original in grammar and language form, as well as in cultural background and word association. 4. The Conversion Transformation is adopted to make the translation more acceptable to the target language readers. By analyzing the stylistic characteristics of biographical literature, especially African American autobiographies , the author discusses the translation skills and Strategies of Chinese translation of such texts.(Guo Shulin & Guo Jian 2011: 3.)
This paper is divided into four parts. The first part is an overview of the translation project, which mainly introduces the relevant situation of the translation project, the author and works of the translated text; The second part discusses the purpose and significance of the research; The third part, translation theory and case analysis, including functional equivalence theory, translation strategies and case analysis; The fourth part is the summary of the project, mainly on the problems encountered in translation, the experience and inspiration gained in the process of translation.
Text background
From the beginning of the British northern colony to the early 20th century, blacks were brutally exploited and oppressed by the slavery system. In particular, female slaves not only had to bear heavy labor, but also suffered the destruction and abuse of supervisors. Since the publication of the first Autobiography of black slaves in 1760, some advanced elements in black slaves denounced and denounced the evils of slavery with their own experience, and made outstanding contributions to the abolition movement.
The author of this work is Harriet Jacobs, whose pseudonym is Linda Brent. Born in a slave family, she fought tirelessly because she could not bear the persecution of slave owners on her and her children. After fleeing to the north, the author wrote a biography of her personal experience of being enslaved, exploited, persecuted, fleeing to the north and realizing freedom, which was published in 1861. (Beardslee, Karen E. 1999, 37.)
Through the Chinese translation of this autobiography, more people have a clearer understanding of the history of slavery in the United States, a deeper understanding of the lives of slaves and how this system of discrimination against blacks oppresses and persecutes slaves, especially female slaves.
Research Purpose and Significance
This autobiography of black women starts from the experience of childhood from the perspectives of black slaves and women. In the process of growing up, the author experienced different masters of good and evil. When she was a child, her hostess let the author learn to read and write. Later, she died of an illness. Then the new owner, Dr. Flint and his wife tortured and framed her. Later, for the freedom of her children, the author resolutely decided to flee to the north and enjoy the right to freedom with her children. In the process of pursuing freedom, she went through escape, pursuit, hiding until he went north by boat.
The author selects simple but typical examples in daily life, through the description of characters' psychology and language, the contradictory struggle between the interests of opposite classes, the criminal complaint of slave trafficking, and the process of slaves fleeing to the north, reveals the slave owner's naked exploitation and fraud of slaves, and reveals the slave's sincerity, courage and longing for freedom. The simple language and narrative techniques of the work fully shape the tenacity, courage, intelligence and clear love and hate of the female slave Linda Brent, and show the readers the misfortune and suffering of many slaves. (Beardslee, Karen E. 1999, 37.)
Translation theory and its application
Functional equivalence theory
This translation practice report takes the translation functional equivalence theory of American linguist Eugene Nida as the theoretical framework. Eugene Nida is an American linguist and a famous translation theorist. From the perspective of etymology, according to the essence of translation, he put forward the famous dynamic equivalence translation theory, namely "functional equivalence".
In this theory, he pointed out that "translation is to reproduce the information of the source language from semantics to style in the most appropriate, natural and equivalent language". He believes that translation is not only lexical equivalence, but also semantic style and stylistic equivalence. The information conveyed by translation includes both surface lexical information and deep cultural information. There is also equivalence in dynamic equivalence, including lexical equivalence, syntactic equivalence, textual equivalence and stylistic equivalence.
Nida pointed out that the translation should be functionally equivalent to the original text. Judging whether the translation is equivalent to the original text should be based on the psychological response of the readers, that is, the translator should not only stay in the equivalence of structure and semantics, but strive to make the target readers produce the functions and effects that the original author wants to achieve through his works, so as to make the target readers after reading the translation, Get the same feelings as the original readers, and make translation really become a converter of thoughts, feelings and cultural information.
Therefore, in literary translation, according to Nida's theory, the translator should take the four aspects of dynamic equivalence as the translation principle to accurately reproduce the cultural connotation of the source language in the target language.
The core of Nida's functional equivalence theory is "content is greater than form", which emphasizes that when there is a conflict between content and form, content must precede form (Nida, 2004:203). Due to the differences between Chinese and Western ways of thinking and logical habits, in order to make the translation conform to the habits of readers in the target country and make it easier for readers in the target country to accept, the author has adopted different translation methods and strategies in translation. (Nida 1993: 138)
According to the specific content of Nida theory, this paper intends to analyze its application in English-Chinese translation practice from four aspects.
Frist, According to the similarities and differences between English and Chinese language structures, literal translation and free translation are used to achieve lexical semantic equivalence between the source language and the target language.second, addition and subtraction and part of speech conversion are used to make the translation conform to the expression habits of target slogans in grammar and language form and consistent with the original text in terms of cultural background and word association. Third, forward and reverse translation is used to reproduce the original text .Fourth, for the long and difficult sentences of the original text, the translation methods such as reorganization, sentence splitting and merging are adopted to make the language expression forms of the translation more rich and diverse, and more easily accepted by the target language readers.
Translation skills, methods and case studies
When translating vocabulary, I mostly adopted the literal translation method to convey the information of the original text more accurately. If the meaning of the translation is not accurate enough or does not conform to the Chinese expression habits after the literal translation, I adopted the free translation method, while for the long and difficult sentences with complex structure, the Conversion translation method and split method are adopted to make them conform to the Chinese expression habits and more acceptable to the readers. (Guo Shulin & Guo Jian 2011: 3)
Case 1: literal translation and free translation to achieve semantic equivalence in vocabulary
In the process of translation, It is the basic quality of every translator to correctly express the source language in the target language. In order to achieve this goal, the translator must start with the smallest unit of the source language—vocabulary. In project translation, the author follows the functional translation theory and pursues semantic equivalence. First, we must ensure the equivalence of lexical meaning. I mainly discuss the semantic equivalence of words from two aspects: literal translation and free translation.
Literal translation
Literal translation emphasizes the consistency between the original text and the translation in form and content, which helps to maintain the style of the original text. Literal translation is not a dead translation, a hard translation, or a literal translation. Literal translation emphasizes retaining its form and reaching its meaning.
The example 1:“Nothing could please her better than to see me humbled and trampled upon” is literally translated as ”没有什么比看到我恭顺谦卑、任人践踏更让她快活啦。”
Analysis: In this sentence, humbled and trampled upon is used to express the due psychology and living state of slaves in the eyes of slave owners. Here, it can be translated into “恭顺谦卑和任人践踏”, which can reflect the coldness of slave owners and the misery of slaves.
Free translation
Paraphrases emphasize divine similarity. When the original text is quite different from the translation in terms of lexical meaning, syntactic structure and style, it cannot be confined to the original text. Free translation should be adopted to explain the form of the original language in another language form, so as to correctly express the ideological thrust of the original text. Free translation should conform to the grammatical norms and expression habits of the target language, so as to make the translation more fluent and natural. Free translation is not an arbitrary addition and deletion, nor random translation. Free translation emphasizes "preaching its spirit" rather than "retaining its shape". The work belongs to biographical literature. There are great differences between the source language culture and the target language culture. The translator can not adhere to literal translation from beginning to end, but should carry out free translation according to needs, so as to achieve better translation effect.
The example 2: I resolved to give him no cause to accuse me of being too much of a lady, so far as work was concerned.
literal translation: 就工作而言，我决心让他找不到口实指责我过分淑女。
free translation: 就工作而言，我决心让他找不到口实指责我养尊处优。
Analysis: a lady originally meant “女士或优雅的女子”. Too much of a lady is often understood as “十分优雅”. Because the author could read and write and looked dignified, he had not done heavy work like other slaves before, "I" guessed that the young master was disgusted with it. Here, “too much of a lady” is translated as “ 养尊处优”, which reflects the inner contempt of the young master for "me".
Case 2: Addition, subtraction and part of speech conversion make the translation achieve sentence meaning equivalence, which is in line with the expression habit of the target language
Additional translation
The example 4: One day, she sat under the window where I was at work, crying that weary cry which makes a mother's heart bleed.
Translated text: 一天，她就坐在我干活的那个房间的窗户外哭，哭得声嘶力竭让任何一个做母亲的心里流血。
Analysis: A mother literally means "一个母亲", but the following clause is translated into "哭得声嘶力竭让一个母亲的心里流血". The emotion of the translation is weak. In this article, "I" as a slave must work and can't take into account children and family affection, because in the slave owner's view, slaves are low animals and don't deserve feelings. Although I heard my daughter crying, I couldn't get over it. Any mother would be distressed to hear her daughter cry. In order to make up for the lack of emotion in literal translation, the method of additional translation should be adopted here, which is translated as "任何一个母亲"
Omission
The example 5: The doctor stamped his foot at him in a rage, and exclaimed, "Get out of the way, you little damned rascal! If you don't, I'll cut off your head."
Translated text：医生愤怒地跺了他一脚，厉声说道：“滚开!他妈的小坏蛋，如果不听话，我把你的头砍下来!”
Analysis: Dr. Flint twice went to the north to pursue the fugitive slave "I" without success. He spent a lot of money and was full of anger. At this time, my son asked him if he had brought his mother back. Dr. Flint stamped his feet angrily, scolded and threatened the child. Through the vivid description of Dr. Flint's body movements and language, his angry image jumped onto the paper,In order to achieve the same effect and achieve the equivalence of language style, I used even verbs according to the original "stamped his foot at him in a rage, and exclaimed" and translates it into "愤怒地跺了他一脚，厉声说",” you little damned rascally !!! "It is also a typical strong adult's words towards weak children. In order to be concise and powerful, I omit "you" and translate it into "他妈的小坏蛋".
The example 6: But when winter came, the cold penetrated through the thin shingle roof, and I was dreadfully chilled.
Translated text：可是到了冬季，寒气穿透薄薄的木瓦屋顶，我感到冷风刺骨。
Analysis: “when winter came” doesn't have to translate it word by word “当冬天到来”, because there is a conjunction "But" in front. In order to avoid the cumbersome feeling of conjunction, the author uses the subtraction method to translate it into like "可是到了冬季", so that the turning tone is natural and the expression is smooth.
Conversion translation
The example 7: My fear of snakes had been increased by the venomous bite I had received, and I dreaded to enter this hiding place.
Translated text：上次遭遇蛇咬，现在我对蛇更惧怕了，踏上这个藏身的地方，我不由心惊胆颤。
Analysis: My fear of snakes is literally translated as "我对蛇的恐惧", and the subject of the following clause is "I". In order to give the target readers a unified reading perspective, “My fear of snakes has increased” is translated as “我对蛇更惧怕了”. By transforming the noun of “fear” into a verb, the translation is more concise and more in line with Chinese expression habits than literal translation.
Case 3: The stylistic style of the original text is reproduced by positive and negative translation
The Positive and Negative Translation
The example 8: Nobody respects a mother who forsakes her children; and if you leave them, you will never have a happy moment.
Translated text 1：没有人尊重抛弃孩子的母亲，如果你离开他们，你永远不会幸福的。
Translated text 2：抛弃孩子的母亲会遭人唾弃，如果你离开他们，你永远不会幸福的。
Analysis: This sentence contains a negative indefinite pronoun—“Nobody”. In Translated text 1, the first half of the original text (Nobody respects a mother who forsakes her children) is translated into "没有人尊重抛弃孩子的母亲". Although the meaning is translated, the expression is not authentic. Translated text 2 uses the positive and negative translation method to change negative into positive, and “Nobody respects” into "遭人唾弃" can better express the speaker's (my grandmother's) eagerness to oppose "I" to escape.
Case 4:The translation methods of Recasting, sentence splitting and merging are adopted to make the translation conform to the expression habits of the target language
There are great differences between English and Chinese syntactic structures. English is a linear language. Its syntax takes the subject predicate structure as the central axis, while other components form branch lines in the form of branches and connect with the main axis through connectives. The logical relationship between sentences tends to be explicit,; Chinese is more parataxis, and the combination between the components in a sentence or between sentences mostly depends on the connection of semantics and uses fewer connectives. Chinese sentences are arranged under the command of theme, that is, the structure of "topic description" has various forms and free combinations . The logical relationship between sentences is more implicit (Yang Lin, 2007: Preface).
There are few logical relational words between clauses and between sentences. Therefore, I adopt the recasting method, sentence splitting and merging to realize the semantic equivalence of sentences, and study the influence of sentence structure on the translation. The significance is to better guide the translation practice.
Recasting
The example 8: This was the good old lady who paid fifty dollars for my grandmother, for the purpose of making her free, when she stood on the auction block.
Translated text：这个老太太是个好人，当年外祖母站在拍卖台上，为了让外祖母获得自由她花五十美元买下了我的外祖母。
Analysis: The original text contains two compound structures, one is an attributive clause, the other is a time adverbial clause. Because Chinese sentences are constructed according to the law of logical order, the word order is arranged according to the actual sequence and event order, which is divided into sequences in time, and pays attention to the causality in logic. I adjusted the time adverbial clause to the front, first explained the time, then explained the reason, and finally the result. This reorganized translation plays an important role in shaping the relationship between sentences, which is in line with the characteristics of Chinese sentence structure.
Sentence-combining
The example 9: There was joy and there was sadness in the sound. It made my tears flow.
Translated text：无论是哭声还是笑声都会让我泪流满面。
Analysis: The original text has two sentences. Considering the close causal relationship between the two sentences, the author adopts the translation method of combined sentence to translate it into one sentence, so that the target language readers can read it more naturally.
Dismantle the syntactic
The example 10: My hope was that the doctor would get discouraged, and, for fear of losing my value, and also of subsequently finding my children among the missing, he would consent to sell us; and I knew somebody would buy us.
Translated text：损失一个女奴，再赔上我的两个孩子，这正是弗林特医生所担心的。他会泄气并同意卖掉我们，我知道有人会买下我们，而这正是我所希望的！
Analysis: When dealing with long English sentences, the method of dismantling the syntactic is generally used to divide the original sentence into several parts and combine them according to their internal logical relationship. The adverbial clause after the subject of “My hope” consists of three parallel sentences, the second of which has a more complex cause adverbial. First I take apart the subject clause, first translate the clause, and then present the subject at the end, which is in line with the characteristics of Chinese presentation before topic.(Fu Juan 2016.1)
Case 5: Stylistic equivalence
The basic task of translation is to faithfully present the original text, so it is necessary for the translator to pursue the style of the original text. To achieve stylistic equivalence, the translator needs to analyze and identify the stylistic markers in the original. The original text contains national language characteristics, historical allusions and religious beliefs, so it has cultural differences. In translation, it should reflect the style of the original text and optimize it accordingly, so as to realize the recreation of style and adapt to the communication of the target language.
The original text has strong religious and cultural content, simple and pious faith, and shows their enthusiasm and passion for them. In translation, we should not only show the feeling of religious belief and culture, but also optimize the sentence style and deal with alienation appropriately, so that readers can feel the piety and understand the author's writing intention.
The key to shaping the problem role lies in its adaptability to the style of the original language. Only by adopting appropriate translation methods, deeply understanding the cultural background of the original text and skillfully changing the style of the original text, can the style meaning of the original text be reproduced in the target language and better reflect its charm and artistic conception.
In a word, a biographical text should be well expressed first to make it conform to the expression habits of the target language. First, we should deeply understand the creative intention of the original author and think of what we think from the perspective of the original author, so as to realize the central idea of the original text. The premise of translation is that the translator should have profound language and cultural skills and deeply understand the particularity of different background cultures, Have a good command of the target language, and then use it flexibly.(Jacobs 2001:314-336)
The example 11: She hasn't so much feeling for her children as a cow has for its calf. If she had, she would have come back long ago, to get them out of jail, and save all this expense and trouble.
Translated text：她对孩子的感情还不如母牛呢，母牛还知道护犊子。如果她有感情，她很久以前就会回来把他们救出去了，也就没有这些代价和麻烦了。
Analysis: This sentence is a complaint made by Dr. Flint's wife—my mistress, about my escape. Considering that cows in Chinese culture also have the image of caring for their cubs, I translate call “feeling for her children as a cow has for its calf” as：“母牛还知道护犊子”, This not only achieves cultural equivalence, but also sounds colloquial. On the other hand, it is in line with the speaker's identity as a mean slave owner.
[He was "a chip of the old block." If he found any slave out after nine o'clock, he could whip him as much as he liked; and that was a privilege to be coveted.如果他发现任何人九点后（宵禁时刻）跑出去，他就会抓住并鞭打此人，直到他满意为止。这是别人垂涎三尺的特权。]
Conclusion
Through the development of this project, I believe that the translation of biographical works needs to have a full understanding of the differences between Chinese and English languages and cultures, thinking habits and expression methods. Only after having an accurate understanding and grasp of the language characteristics and contents of the original text, can words and sentences be carefully selected and constantly modified and polished in the process of translation, Make it an excellent translation. I summarize the following points in the whole translation process:
The translation method of biographical text. Biographical text has both information function and expression function (Zhang Meifang, 2006). Therefore, in translation, the translator should not only correctly express the information of the original text, but also reflect the literariness of biographical literature.
In view of the differences in thinking and logic between Chinese and English, different translation methods should be adopted in the translation process. For example, literal translation can be used in terms of vocabulary, so as to simply, clearly and accurately convey the meaning of the original text. If literal translation is not possible, free translation, addition or subtraction, positive and negative translation, such transformation and other methods should be adopted to strive to achieve literal semantic equivalence.
In terms of sentences, according to the respective characteristics of Chinese and English sentence structures, translation skills such as recasting , disassembly and combination of syntax are adopted in order to meet the reading habits of target language readers. Experience the language style of biographical literature. In this translation process, the author's narrative language is simple and simple, and does a good job in the analysis of the characteristics of biographical literature materials. For a translator, the types of material translation can be diverse, literary or scientific, so the translator must do a good job in the analysis of text materials when he gets a relatively unfamiliar translated text, Only after analyzing the materials thoroughly and finding out the characteristics can the preparatory work be done adequately. (Li Xiaochun 2016,1)
This translation paper adopts biographical text, which is characterized by many names and place names and strong local cultural characteristics. Therefore, in order to improve the accuracy of translation, I have made a lot of preparations before translation, including finding the author's relevant background information, relevant historical facts, as well as the folk customs at that time. With reference to the new English Chinese dictionary, the names of people and places in the text are translated uniformly. Due to sufficient preparation, these problems encountered in translation have been solved.
I have two experiences in maintaining problem awareness in the translation process. First, if you encounter an uncertain word and sentence in the translation process, you should consult the relevant reference books in time or use the Internet. Second, when dealing with cultural problems, I often ask my classmates or experts in this field for advice, so as to solve the problems in time.
At the same time, there are some problems in the process, My translation experience is still shallow and the cultural knowledge reserve is insufficient. There are some disadvantages in this project:
Frist, Because my Chinese level needs to be further improved, the translated language is still immature and not concise enough.
Second, the lack of relevant knowledge leads to the fact that the unique things of foreign culture can only be translated directly and hard in translation, resulting in stiff and rigid translation. Such as ”A box, covered with sheepskin, is called the gumbo box. A dozen beat on this, while others strike triangles and jawbones, to which bands of dancers keep time.”
Third, in translation, we should not only maintain the meaning of the original text, but also reflect the style of the original text. We can't have both fish and bear's paw—鱼和熊掌不可兼得。Therefore, I believe that only through a lot of translation practice and summing up experience can we improve our translation level.
Reference
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Jacobs Incidents in the life of a Slave Girl: Written by herself." Languages &Literature 15(2001):314-336.
Nida E.A.（2001） Language and Culture: Contexts in translating. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.
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