The Basic Knowledge Translation Theory

Chapter2TheBasicKnowledgeTranslationTheoryBasicKnowledgeofTranslationITranslationIITranslationCriteriaorPrincipleIIIPrerequisitesofaTranslatorIVTranslationStrategiesVTwoBasicTranslationTheoriesVITermsIDefinitionThedefinitionintheolddays“译即易，谓换易言语使相解也。”——贾公彦(618-907)唐朝“夫翻译者，谓翻梵天之语转成汉地之言。音虽似别，义则大同。”——法云(960-1279)宋代Itmeansthattranslationisarenderingfromonelanguage(SourceLanguage)intoanother(TargetLanguage),remainingthemeaning.TheBritishscholarDr.SamuelJohnsononcesaid:“Totranslateistochangeintoanotherlanguage,remainingthesense.”ThecurrentdefinitionTheAmericantranslationtheoristEugeneA.Nidawrotein1964:Translationconsistsinreproducinginthereceptorlanguagetheclosestnaturalequivalenceofthesourcelanguage,firstintermsofmeaningandsecondlyintermsofstyle.（所谓翻译，是在译语中用切近而又最自然的对等语再现原语的信息，首先是意义，其次是文体。）再现原文的信息(message)而不是保留原文的形式结构(formalstructure)对等(equivalence)不是同一(identity)对等是最贴近、自然的对等意义是优先考虑的因素文体很重要TheBritishtranslationtheoristTytler’sdefinitionin1770abouttranslation:“Agoodtranslationisonewhichthemeritoftheoriginalworkissocompletelytransfusedintoanotherlanguageastobeasdistinctlyapprehendedandasstronglyfeltbyanativeofthecountrytowhichthatlanguagebelongsasitisbythosewhospeakthelanguageoftheoriginalwork.”Prof.HuangLongTranslatologyTranslationmaybedefinedasfollows:Thereplacementoftextualmaterialinonelanguage(SL)byequivalenttextualmaterialinanotherlanguage(TL)（翻译可以作以下界定：用一种语言（目的语）的文本材料对等地再现另一种语言（源出语）的文本材料。）部分地替代对等概念InsummaryTranslationistheinformationtransferringbetweentwolanguagesandtheculturalcommunicationbetweentwolanguagefamilies.Translationisarenderingfromonelanguageintoanother.Translationisascience,anart,abilingualart,acraft,askill,anoperationandcommunication.Translationisarepresentationorrecreationinonelanguageofwhatiswrittenorsaidinanotherlanguage.Translationisakindofsciencebecauseitwasawholesetofrulesgoverningitandcertainobjectivelawstogobyintheprocessoftranslating.VarietiesoftranslationInterpretationandwrittentranslationIntermsofSLandTL,Interlingualtranslation语际(不同语言之间)，Intralingualtranslation语内(同一语言rewording)，Intersemiotictranslation符际(eg.把语言符号用图画、手势、数字或音乐来表达)Intermsofstyle,politicalessay政论，practicalwriting应用文，scienceandtechnology科技，literarytranslationTranslationCriteriaorPrincipleTytler’s:EssayonthePrinciplesofTranslation,1791Atranslationshouldgiveacompletetranscriptoftheideasoftheoriginalwork.译文应完全复写出原作的思想。Thestyleandmannerofwritingshouldbeofthesamecharacterasthatoftheoriginal.译文的风格和笔调应与原文的性质相同。Atranslationshouldhavealltheeaseoftheoriginalcomposition.译文应和原作同样流畅。TranslationCriteriaorPrincipleYanfu’s:Faithfulness,ExpressivenessandElegance(信、达、雅)“Faithfulness”meansthefullandcompleteconveyingoftheoriginalcontentofthought.“Expressiveness”demandsthattheversionshouldbeclearandflowingwithoutanygrammaticalmistakesorconfusedlogicandsense.“Elegance”referstotheuseofclassicalChinesebeforetheHanDynasty.TranslationCriteriaorPrincipleOthers:LuXun’s(鲁迅)translationprinciple:Ratherbefaithful(inthought)thansmooth(inlanguage)inoppositiontoLiangShi-qiu’stranslationprinciplein1930s.(宁信不顺)FuLei’s付雷translationcriteria:TLshouldbesimilartoSLbothinFormandinSpirit.(形似、神似)LiangShiqiu‘sandZhaoJingshen’s(梁实秋，赵景深)translationprinciplein1930s:“It’sbettertohaveasmoothversionthanafaithfulone.”宁错务顺LiuChongde’s刘重德translationcriteria:faithfulness,expressivenessandcloseness.(信、达、切)faithfulness:tobefaithfultothecontentoftheoriginal;expressiveness:tobeasexpressiveandsmoothastheoriginal;closeness:tobeasclosetotheoriginalstyleaspossible.EugeneA.Nida’stranslationprinciple:DynamicequivalenceorFunctionalequivalenceorEquivalent-effecttheory.Themainideaisthatthetranslatoristoproduceasnearlypossiblethesameeffectonhisreadersaswasproducedonthereadersoftheoriginal.PeterNewmark’stranslationprinciple:Fromtheangleofcontextualanalysis,heputsforwardtwotranslationapproaches:Semantic（语义的）translationandCommunicativetranslation.Semantictranslation:Thetranslatorattempts,withinthebaresyntactic(句法的)andsemantic（语义的）constraintsoftheTL,toproducetheprecisecontextualmeaningoftheauthor.Semantictranslationfocusesprimarilyuponthesemanticcontentofthesourcetext.Communicativetranslation:ThetranslatorattemptstoproducethesameeffectontheTLreadersaswasproducedbytheoriginalontheSLreaders.Communicativetranslationfocusesessentiallyuponthecomprehensionandresponseofreceptors.Insummary,translationcriteria:faithfulnessandsmoothness忠实与通顺.FaithfulnessreferstothatcontentandstyleofTLshouldbefaithfultotheSL.Smoothnessrequiresthatversionshouldbeclearanddistinct,flowingandeasytoreadwithoutsignsofthemechanicalword-for-wordtranslation,ofobscurelanguage,ofgrammaticalmistakes,confusedstructureandlogic.PrerequisitesofatranslatorAsZhouEn-laisaid:Tobeagoodtranslatorweshouldstrengthenour“basictraining”inthethreeessentialaspects:TheenhancementofourpoliticalconsciousnessThebetterment（改良）ofourcommandoftherelevantlanguagesThebroadeningoftherangeandscopeofourgeneralknowledge.Translationstrategies:foreignizationanddomesticationForeignization:Ifthetrans