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翻译理论知识概要第一部分：翻译术语1.DefinitionsoftranslationTranslationcanberoughlydefinedasareproductionorrecreationinonelanguageofwhatiswrittenorsaidinanotherlanguage.Beingaverycomplicatedhumanactivity,itswholepictureisnevereasytodescribe.Scholarswithdifferentacademicbackgroundshaveattemptedtodefineitfromvariousperspectives.(1).LinguisticViewsonTranslationTranslationtheoristsfromthelinguisticschoolconceiveoftranslationasalinguisticactivityandsomebelievethattranslationtheoryisabranchoflinguistics,approachingtheissuesoftranslatingprimarilyfromtheviewpointofthelinguisticdifferencesbetweensourceandtargettexts.Translationmaybedefinedasthereplacementoftextualmaterialinonelanguage(thesourcelanguage)byequivalenttextualmaterialinanotherlanguage(thetargetlanguage).(Catford,1965:20).Translatingconsistsinreproducinginthereceptorlanguagetheclosestnaturalequivalentofthesource-languagemessage,firstintermsofmeaningandsecondlyintermsofstyle.(Nida&Taber,1969:12).Translationtheoryderivesfromcomparativelinguistics,andwithinlinguistics,itismainlyanaspectofsemantics;allquestionsofsemanticsrelatetotranslationtheory.(Newmark,1982/1988:5).(2).CulturalViewsonTranslationIntheculturalapproach,translationisregardednotonlyasatransferoflinguisticsigns,butalsoasacommunicationofcultures,i.e.translationisaninterculturalcommunication;hencethetermsofinterculturalcooperation,acculturation,andtransculturation.Translationisaprocesswhichoccursbetweenculturesratherthansimplybetweenlanguages{Shuttleworth&Cowie,1997:35).Atranslatorwhousesaculturalapproachissimplyrecognizingthateachlanguagecontainselementswhicharederivedfromitsculture(suchasgreetings,fixedexpressionsandREALIA),thateverytextisanchoredinaspecificculture,andthatconventionsoftextproductionandreceptionvaryfromculturetoculture(Shuttleworth&Cowie1997:35).Fortrulysuccessfultranslating,biculturalismisevenmoreimportantthanbilingualism,sincewordsonlyhavemeaningsintermsoftheculturesinwhichtheyfunction.(Nida,2001:82).翻译不仅涉及语言问题,也涉及文化问题。译者不仅要了解外国的文化,还要深入了解自己民族的文化。不仅如此,还要不断地把两种文化加以比较,因为真正的对等应该是在各自文化中的含义、作用、范围、感情色彩、影响等等都是相当的。翻译者必须是一个真正意义的文化人。人们会说：他必须掌握两种语言;确实如此,但是不了解语言当中的社会文化,谁也无法真正掌握语言(王佐良,1989)。(3).LiteraryViewsonTranslationTranslatorswhoholdthisviewbelievethattranslationisanartisticrecreationorarecreatedart.SomemodernWesternscholarsfromtheliteraryschooltakeliterarytranslationtobethemanipulationorrewritingofthesourcetexts.文学翻译的任务是要把原作中包含的一定社会生活的映象完好无损地从一种语言移注到另一种语言中,在翻译过程中追求语言的艺术美,再现原作的艺术性。用茅盾的话说,是使读者在读译文的时候能够像读原作时一样得到启发、感动和美的感受。语言是塑造文学形象的工具,因而文学的形象性特征必然要在语言上表现出来。文学语言的特征,诸如形象、生动、鲜明、含蓄、凝练、准确、风趣、幽默、辛辣、滑稽、悦耳、民族特点、地方色彩,还有行业习语、民间的俚语、谚语等等,都是作家根据塑造形象的需要,从现实生活中提炼创造出来的。文学作品的艺术形式与思想内容是辩证统一的,翻译要保存原作风格特点,因此要求译文生动形象、形神毕肖、雅俗等同、简洁精美、词情并茂(《译学辞典》2004:291)。(4).SemanticViewsonTranslationThisviewfocusesonthesemanticequivalencebetweenthetwolanguages,aswellexpressedbyEugeneNida(1986):Translatingmeanstranslatingmeaning.Translationisrenderingthemeaningofatextintoanotherlanguageinthewaythattheauthorintendedthetext(Newmark,1988:5).Semantictranslation:thetranslatorattempts,withinthebaresyntacticandsemanticconstraintsofthetargetlanguage,toreproducetheprecisecontextualmeaningoftheauthor(Newmark,1982:22).Insemantictranslation,greaterattentionispaidtorenderingtheauthor'soriginalthought-processesintargetlanguagethantoattemptingtore-interpretsourcetextinawaywhichthetranslatorconsidersmoreappropriateforthetargetsetting(Shuttleworth&Cowie,1997:151).(5).FunctionalViewsonTranslationFunctionalistsbelievethattranslationisaspecificformofhumanactionwithacertainpurpose,akindoflinguisticserviceprovidedtothesociety.Translatorsshouldtakeintoaccounttheneedsoftheclient,thereaderaswellasthepurposeoruseofthetranslation:Itisnotthesourcetext,oritseffectsonthesource-textrecipient,orthefunctionassignedtoitbytheauthor,thatdeterminesthetranslationprocess,buttheprospectivefunctionorpurposeofthetargettextasdeterminedbytheinitiator's,i.e.client'sneeds(Baker,2001:236).(6).CommunicativeViewsonTranslationThisapproachviewstranslationasacommunicativeprocesswhichtakesplacewithinasocialcontext.Communicativetranslation:thetranslatorattemptstoproducethesameeffectonthetargetlanguagereadersaswasproducedbytheoriginalonthesourcelanguagereaders(Newmark,1982:22).Communicativetranslationisgenerallyorientedtowardstheneedsofthetargetlanguagereaderorrecipient.Atranslatorwhoistranslatingcommunicativelywilltreatsourcetextasamessageratherthanamerestringoflinguisticunits,andwillbeconcernedtopreservesourcetext'soriginalfunctionandtoreproduceitseffectonthenewaudience(Shuttleworth&Cowie,1997:21).Theaboveviewshelpustounderstandthecomplexnatureoftranslation.Sincetherearemanyfactorswhichaffectthetranslationprocess,translationisacomplicatedhumanactivity.