E*ploring the Chinese Translation of
Rock, Church
A Thesis Submitted in
Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the
Degree of Bachelor of Arts
Abstract
Among various translation theories, equivalence is the essential aspect in judging the quality of translation. Functional equivalence is the key concept of Nidas theories, which is also one of the most popular criteria in translation at present. Under the direction of Nidas translation theory, the English-Chinese translation in literature attaches importance to the "foreignization" and "domestication" translation strategies. On one hand, the "foreignization" emphasizes the rendition needs to retain the cultural features and linguistic style of source te*t, and on the other hand, the "domestication" stresses the translation version should approach the cultural images and linguistic forms of target language. Langston Hughes short story, Rock, Church, is one classical African American literary work, which contains distinct national characteristic and ironic implication. In order to keep the faithfulness and readability of translation version, it is necessary to take use of a variety of translation methods reasonably to retain the cultural and linguistic features ma*imally as well as the smoothness and fluency of rendition. According to the original work and translation version, the paper analyzes the application of "foreignization" and "domestication" during the translation based on the principle "functional equivalence", the conclusion is that the rendition can reach the basic requirements of practical translation.
Key words: functional equivalence, foreignization, domestication, "Rock, Church"
《跳吧,教友們》之翻譯與譯評
摘要
在各類翻譯理論中,“對等性”是評判翻譯質(zhì)量的根本方面,“功能對等”是奈達(dá)翻譯理論的核心概念,也是當(dāng)今英漢翻譯中最為流行的翻譯標(biāo)準(zhǔn)之一。在奈達(dá)翻譯理論的指導(dǎo)下,文學(xué)英漢翻譯十分注重“異化”和“歸化”這兩項(xiàng)翻譯策略。一是“異化”原則強(qiáng)調(diào)譯文要保留原文的文化特色和語言風(fēng)格,二是“歸化”原則強(qiáng)調(diào)譯文要向譯入語的文化形象和語言形式靠攏。朗斯頓﹒休斯短篇小說《跳吧,教友們》是典型的美國黑人文學(xué)作品,其原著帶有鮮明的民族特色和諷刺意味。為保持其譯文的忠實(shí)性和可讀性,合理運(yùn)用各類翻譯方法能夠最大限度地保留原著的文化及語言特點(diǎn),以及保持譯文的通順和流暢。在此,筆者結(jié)合小說原著和筆者譯文評析“功能對等”原則指導(dǎo)下的“異化”和“歸化”兩項(xiàng)翻譯原則在翻譯中的應(yīng)用,得出結(jié)論是譯文能夠達(dá)到翻譯實(shí)踐的基本要求。
關(guān)鍵詞:功能對等,異化,歸化,《跳吧,教友們》
Contents
1. Introduction 1
1.1 Langston Hughes 1
1.2 The short story "Rock, Church" 2
1.3 Purpose of the thesis 3
2. Translation theory and translation strate
……(新文秘網(wǎng)http://jey722.cn省略3578字,正式會員可完整閱讀)……
ide, Hicks planned to catch this opportunity to destroy Elder Jones because he could not accept the fact that he was the No.1 lover of Bradford. According to Jones plan, firstly he would be nailed on the cross and dead, then he would be revive after 24 hours and became a miracle. However, Hicks, the person who would nail Jones with hammer, destroyed everything. Elder Jones had never thought Hicks would hurt him cruelly during the nailing and threatened him to leave Bradford. Thus, in the end, Elder Jones could not bare the hurt anymore and shouted loudly regardless of surroundings, and once he was let down he could not wait to escape from the church. Finally, the whole farce directed by Jones ended with his downfall.
1.3 Purpose of the thesis
As a student of English major, the translation has been an important part among all of the courses during the almost four-year studying. In translation, through the translation theories and strategies taught by the teachers, in English-Chinese translation, basically, I can reach the asking that "similarity in function and correspondence in meaning". Now, this time, I choose one short story named "Rock,Church" written by American novelist Langston Hughes, and as far as I know, there is no Chinese version of this story. Firstly, during the translation of the source-te*t, I believe that will be an e*cellent opportunity for me to test and even raise my level in translation, and secondly, the most important thing is through the part” translation methods", which is analyzing the selected Chinese translation e*amples, it will help me review those useful translating skills that I have learned in the te*tbooks and practice. In addition, through reading and translating this short story, it must will enlarge my cultural horizon and make me learn more about the African American culture and literature.
In this thesis, under the direction of "functional equivalence" theory of Nida, I will take use of the "foreignization" and" domestication" translation strategies to analyze the Chinese translation te*t. Then, using different translating methods to e*plain the selected e*amples of source and target te*ts and finally, I will test the faithfulness and readability of the Chinese version through my own and others assessment.
2. Translation theory and translation strategy
2.1 Eugene A. Nidas Translation Theory
Eugene A. Nida is a distinguished American translation theorist as well as linguist. His translation theory has e*erted a tremendous influence on translation studies in western countries. His works on translation set off the study of modern translation as an academic field, and he is regarded as the most influential one among all contemporary translation theorists. The "functional equivalence" is a key concept in Nidas translation theory, which was divided into two levels: the minimal level and the ma*imal level. The former is defined as "the readers of a translated te*t should be able to comprehend it to the point that can conceive of how the original readers of the te*t must have understood and appreciated it." the latter is described as "the readers of a translated te*t should be able to understand and appreciate it in essentially the same manner as the original readers did".(Ma,2009:92,99) However, comparing to the ma*imal level which is ideal and rarely achieved, the minimal level is realistic and a translation below this level is unacceptable(Nida ,1993:118)
2.2 Domestication Translation and Foreignization Translation
Based on the "functional equivalence" theory, Nida firstly put forward the "domestication/naturalization translation". In his view, a functional/ dynamic equivalent translation must fit the receptor language and culture in order to make the translated message intelligible and natural to the target language receptors, who are unaccustomed to the source language and culture.(Ma,2009: 108)Then in 1995, in The Translator’s Invisibility , Venuti summarized the definition of domestication translation, which is "an ethnocentric reduction of the foreign te*t to target-language cultural values, bringing the author back home" (Venuti ,1995: 20)
On the contrary, the" Foreignization" is a strategy in which a target te*t is produced which deliberately breaks target conventions by retaining something of foreignness of the original (Lian,2010:13) It is a method" an ethnodeviant pressure on target-language cultural values to register the linguistic and cultural difference of the foreign te*t, sending the reader abroad "to have alien reading e*perience(Venuti, 1995:20)
2.3 The differences and unity of these two translation strategies
Seriously, both the foreignization and domestication translation are not only two translation strategies but kind of moral attitude toward the foreign te*t and culture, these two terms emphasize the moral effect brought by the choices of the te*t and strategies (Venuti ,2008: 19) The foreignization translation contributes to conserve the differences and elements of source te*t and culture, thus, the readers can e*perience the retained e*otic features through reading the rendition. Furthermore, despite the risks caused by this sort of strategy, the foreignization can enrich the target language and stimulate the interactions and integration between the source and target languages. For e*ample,
To kill two birds with one stone 一石二鳥
On the contrary, through the domestication translation, the translator will convert some special cultural linguistic factors of source te*t to the equivalent or similar information of target te*t. Thus, the rendition will be rather smooth and easy to be accepted by the readers. However, although the domestication can somehow stimulate the cultural interactions, during the conversion or deletion, the obliteration of source language and cultural identity cannot be escaped. For instance, Nida holds that "Lamb of God" and other important Biblical terms must be retained in translation, for these terms are "deeply imbedded in the very thought structure of the message"(Nida,1964: 111:167)
Besides the characteristics of those two strategies, during the translation, both of them will be affected by some factors, such as "skopos". It will affect the choice of translation strategies which are should be chosen by translators according their own "skopos". That is to say, the foreignization and domestication all serve to achievement of "skopos".
3. Translating methods
3.1 Methods under the guidance of foreignization translation
Foreignization translation lays great emphasis on retaining the cultural flavors of the source-language and enables the reader to have an alien reading e*perience. And in this way, we can better understand the source-language culture and enrich Chinese modes of e*pression (Lian, 2010: 313)Therefore, under the guidance of foreignization translation, we can conclude that the literal translation, conversion and choice of affective meaning are suitable for it. E*amples are listed as follows:
3.1.1 Literal translation
Literal translation, also called word-for-word translation, is ideally the segmentation of the source language te*t into individual words and target language rendering of those word-segments one at a time.
E*ample 1
Source: “Come one! Come all! Come, my Lambs,”(P23)
Target : “來吧,全都過來,來吧,我的羔羊們” (P36)
In this sentence, the "lambs" are translated literally into "羔羊們". In the Bible, the "lamb" is a classical simile of those people who believe in the "Jesus", as the "Jesus" is compared to a Shepherd, the lambs are always the images of individuals who are directed by the shepherd. Thus, in this place, the lamb can be translated directly according to ……(未完,全文共55861字,當(dāng)前僅顯示10047字,請閱讀下面提示信息。
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