儿童文学翻译中的译者主体性——《绿山墙的安妮》汉译本分析.pdf

合肥工业大学 硕士学位论文 儿童文学翻译中的译者主体性-绿山墙的安妮汉译本分析 姓名：刘玉霞 申请学位级别：硕士 专业：英语语言文学 指导教师：赵速梅 2011-04 iv 摘要摘要 本文的主要研究对象是在目的论理论框架下， 2006年由中国少年儿童出版社 出版的、由马爱农翻译的绿山墙的安妮汉译本中的词汇选择来反映翻译者的 主体性。 文章首先全面回顾了国内外专家和学者们在目的论理论框架下对译者主体 性的研究和不同学者对绿山墙的安妮所做的研究。然后，鉴于儿童文学和儿 童心理学相关研究与儿童阅读、理解和接受过程之间存在的紧密联系，介绍了儿 童文学翻译在目的论相关理论下的翻译特点， 其中包括儿童作为独立个体地位的 确立、儿童文学的功能、儿童语言和儿童的兴趣的分析。通过将源语文本和目标 语文本进行相对比，发现翻译者在翻译的过程中运用了汉语叠词、叹词、四字成 语及词组三种明显的词汇手段， 在符合翻译目的论情况下这三种词汇手段都极大 地增强了译文的生动性。此外，汉语叠词的大量使用为译文创造了大量的停顿机 会，从而降低译文的行文速度，有利于儿童读者在面对一个陌生的文化背景、陌 生的国度、陌生的故事时更容易理解和接受复杂的故事情节和节奏；叹词能够引 起读者与原文主人公感情的共鸣，从而更能引起读者的好奇心，并进而激发读者 的阅读兴趣；另一方面，汉语四字成语的大量采用也反映了译者及其所属儒家文 化中对儿童的教育倾向。 鉴于儿童文学的翻译在大多数情况下主要是以儿童为目标读者， 通过运用目 的论对绿山墙的安妮的汉译本词汇选择分析，本论文认为，在目的论理论框 架下翻译的译本更容易为儿童所理解和接受。因此，本文总结出以下三条作为发 挥译者主体性的原则： 一、运用三种词汇手段的模式从目的论的立场发挥译者主体性 二 、尽量使用儿童语言，并积极争取激发儿童的阅读兴趣 三、译者必须牢记儿童语言与成人语言的区别 基于以上三条原则， 本论文得出的结论为译者在翻译过程中主体性的发挥要 遵循适度原则，儿童作品翻译不可有成人化倾向。 关键词：儿童文学；目的论；译者主体性 ii abstract in this thesis, the author tries to apply the skopotheorie to the translators subjectivity on the analysis of ma ainongs chinese version of anne of green gables which published by the chinese juvenile childrens understanding competence and childrens acceptance ability, and their close relationship. from the above analyses, the author uses the anne of green gables as the case study to do research about children literature(cl) tranlation under the skopostheorie. in this research process the thesis demostrates and manifests the discoveries of tackery children as individuals, and it proves the importance of function of children literature (cl), children language and children reading interest, etc. then through the texual anayzing and comparison of target text (tt) and source text (st), which stating that in the process of translation that the translator uses three obvious lexical devices: chinese duplicative phrases, chinese idioms and phrases, interjections. in accordance with the translation skopostheorie these three lexical approaches are greatly enhanced the vitality of translation. in addition, chinese duplicative phrases which contribute to lowing down the pace of the development of the story and making the translated version longer pauses. so that children can catch up with the development of the story easily when facing a strange culture background, a strange country and a strange story. interjections can arouse children readers resonance to the emotions of the original hero. thus, on the one hand, it can arouse children readers more curiosity, and stimulate the readers interest in reading; on the other hand, chinese four words idioms and phrases used in great quantities can also reflects the iii translator and his/her subordinate confucius culture towards the tendency of children education. in most cases, children are the main readers of the translation of children literature, then the author tries to insist from the angle of skopostheorie to express the translators subjectivity to analyze the chinese version of anne of green gables. it is believed that it should make the translation more easily understandable and acceptable. so in this thesis, the author summarizes three principles to show translators subjectivity: first, from the angle of skopostheorie, the translator uses the three lexical devices to demonstrate translators subjectivity. second, the translator tries to use children language and actively inspire childrens interest in the process of reading. third, the translator has to remember the differences between children language and adults. based on the above three principles, the thesis has concluded that in the process of translation, translators have to bear in mind that because the children language is different from adults, translators not only adopt moderate methods but also children literature translation should not carry the tendentiousness of adultness key words: children literature; skopostheorie; translaters subjectivity i acknowledgements this thesis would not have been completed without much generous assistance although the responsibility for its defects rests with me alone first and foremost my heartfelt thanks and appreciations shall go to my supervisor, prof. zhao sumei, who has offered me her insightful comments and gracious encouragement in the study for my master degreefrom the choice of the present topic to the revision of the whole paper, she has continuously provided me with invaluable advice.without her heartful guidance and help， this thesis would have been impossible it has been a privilege and joy to work under her guidance during the past two and a half yearsin her i find an admirable combination of intellectual profundity and personal integrity, which has influenced so much my attitudes and understanding of academic research and will continue to do so in the future learning. my sincere thanks also go to all the other professors， who have conscientiously taught me various subjects in their respective fields of studies besides, i also want to express my deepest thanks to my dear classmates and friends, who have sincerely helped me with the writing of this thesis and my daily life. finally, i would also express my love to my family and relatives for their consistent support during these years of study. 1 chapter one introduction this thesis tries to apply the skopostheorie in children literature (cl) translation, and translators subjectivity under this theory, by analyzing ma ainongs the chinese version anne of green gables. the may 4th movement is a milestone for chinese culture, from then on, many foreign literature works came to china and foreign literature traslation became an important part in that period. its at that time that children were discovered as an independent constitute of society with their own distinctive features and their needs were also found in that phase, children orientation was put forward as the most important principle of children literature (cl) and many translation stradegies were put into use enriching the study of the translation of children literature (cl). after the foundation of the peoples republc of china more and more cl books have been translated, among which the most famous one is anne of green gables. it is one of world known works of anne series. mark twain spoke very high of the book: “in anne of green gables you will find the dearest and most moving and delightful child since the immortal alice.” he also called it “the sweetest creation of child life yet written.” (qtd. montgomery 1987) 1.1the background of the thesis it is well known that children literature (cl) is of great significance for children, because from it children readers can get entertainment, and knowledge as well as inspiration for themselves. in the world, literature has no national boundaries. children literature ( cl) both at home and abroad is equally important. since the late qing dynasty, foreign children literature (cl) has been introduced to massive chinese readers, among which there are both classic children readings such as the little prince, alices adventures in wonderland, oscar wilde fairy tales, 2 andersons fairy tales and some other famous versions. it is known that foreign literature serves as a supplement or even an indispensable part for chinese cl, supplying a channel for children to learn about foreign coutries and their culture. classic works of foreign children literature ( cl) should be introduced to massive chinese children readers through different translators. as a matter of fact, children literature ( cl) translation plays an indispensible role not only in the growth of children but also in the development of children literature ( cl) in china. the children literature ( cl) translation reflects some relationship to the inadequate concerns about translation studies of children literature ( cl) nowadays. up to now, there has not been a single systematic translation theory of children literature ( cl) which is used specially to help the practice of translation. there are a few articles about the cl translation that can be found in journals, yet they are mostly the translators experience sharing instead of systematic studies. based on the above mentioned analyses, author of the thesis tries to find a translation theory which could guide the translation practice of children literature ( cl). with english-chinese (ec) translation as an example, the thesis tries to apply the significance of translators subjectivity under skopostheorie to the translation of children literature ( cl). however, what is children literature? there still exists various answers to this question. some scholars define this term according to its writing purpose, namely, the purpose of the author. for example, gote klingberg, a swedish pedagogue and specialist in cl, holds that cl refers to literature produced especially for children. “he excludes all other writings and pictures that children may read” (qtdin ottinen,2000：61) and differentiate between children behavior and the literature read by children and produced for children (qtdin ottinen,2000：61). in the book essentials of childrens literature (tomlinson theories and many of 13 findings have being found in a wide range and them go deeper and wider than ever before. in different stage of age, children have different language characteristics. in this thesis the author mainly pays attention to the children after six. only after they attend schools, they begin to learn formal written language and the oral language become more logic than before. so the psychological concern on children language development and mainly keep a watchful eye on this stage which is much easier for the school aged children. broadly speaking, after going to school to get the formal education, children can develop their listening, speaking, reading and writing skills than before. some linguistics have done some research on conversations between children and the adults, among many findings one of them is that adults way of talking is much different from the childrens. peccei summarizes four characteristics of children: first, adults tend to use a higher pitch when they speak to children, but when they talk to the same age people may lower, except some special circumstances; second, the adults dont like to pause more often, though they speak to children using more stops particularly between long sentences and to speak more slowly; third, they tend to pronounce their words more clearly; fourth, they tend to use an exaggerated intonation and facial expressions. in summary, from the above analysis, when adults speak to the childre, they ofen use a higher pitch, more variable than in pitch, that is low, or high pitch instead of one stead form and more intonationaly exaggeration than to speak to adults. use more short sentences, more concrete and directive words, and more exaggerated intonation speech. we have discussed in the above that most childrens written language ability is only begin after going to school and their reading ability is limited by their limited vocabulary, knowledge and experience. it seems that research findings by linguists are mainly based on oral language of young childrenit is known that most childrens written language is only at the beginning stage when they attend school；their reading ability is rather limited owing to their limited vocabulary, knowledge and experience； even teenagers just start to learn reading to gain new knowledge，and analyze and 14 react to what they have read” (foster-cohen，2002：1 8 1)it is know to all that childrens attention span is very short (no more than thirty minutes, ordinary, in the primary school one class is forty minutes, and in kinder garden even shorter ), when they meet difficulties in reading and writing they may easily lose interest and give up. from this aspect, we may easily know that children written language is greatly influenced by their oral language . nevertheless，the children language in its written language form may different from its oral form in following aspects: it may not be as clearly feel as its oral form in that pitches and intonations and sometimes pauses when reading can not be clearly shown in written language form; it may not be measured by mere quality but by quantity but they call not say that a certain words or phrases of sentence patterns or pitches or intonations or sometimes pauses or something else are only used in children literary works what people call conclude is that a certain words or phrases or sentence patterns or pitches or intonations or sometimes pauses are likely and frequent to be used in children literary works. therefore, from the angle of skopostheorie, scholars study of translators subjectivity of cl translation, must consider all aspects of children s development factors. as is known to all, interest is the best teacher to learn. but how to attrack childrens attention is not an easy question to answer. from above article, the author can see that there are many reasons which influnence children readers reading interest. in this thesis, the author just from the books reason. childrens reading ability is closely linked with what they are reading. in childhood, most people depend on concrete objects and their former experiences. they always need to turn to concrete objects or their direct experiences for better understanding of target text. then after they attending high schools that their thinking pattern change from concrete one to abstract. during this process, translators should attempt to translate works in the way they familiar with. then in the following chapters give detailed introduction of it from different aspects. 3.1.1 using chinese duplicative phrases in translation in order to let children get amusing only when the reading is understood by children. intratextual coherence requires translators to produce a rendering that can be 15 accepted by the target readers, given their specific situations. accordingly, amusement is of the fundamental significance and it is a critical step to the basic need-understanding. without readability, a good children literature means nothing to children. as nancy williams says, “in order to enjoy and understand a story, children must be able to read a book without struggling over words that are too difficult to read or understand. if the book is too difficult to decode, energy will be directed to reading the words rather than in understanding the story” (william, 2000:13). according to skopostheorie, the readers need goes first. regarding the limited vocabulary and cognitive ability of children, the readings for them should employ simple words within their understanding competence. for example: the duplicative phrases are one distinctive feature in chinese, especially written chinese. this kind of formation is not only structural symmetrical and beautiful but also of great rhythmic sound effect; it makes the text more vivid and of great attractive. this kind of usage is more often seen in the children literature than the adults. though, it is not so formal and often in adults litrature and written language, it appears in children literature frequently. its common linguisitc patterns include mode(aa), mode(abb), mode(aab), mode(aabb), mode(abab). 3.1.2 using chinese four-word idioms and phrases the chinese children grow up in the environment of special language, and they are thus more familiar with chinese four-word idioms and phrases, which represent another peculiar characteristic of our language. in addition to their long fixed structure that everyone of the group is composed of exactly four chinese characters, they are also famous for their long established meaning；various of them are culture-bound phrases in which some ancient stories and allegories，historical events or old anecdotes can be seen. besides, considering of their age they just receive limited school education by which they could learn more literary words,. therefore, childrens readings should employ more chinese four-word idioms and phrases in they future study. at the same time, they are always used in the daily life, but they are employed more often in written form by educated people to achieve vividness and conciseness. 16 furthermore, chinese four-word idioms and phrases are a particular culture load tool. nida argues that “language constitutes the most distinctive feature of a culture, which may be described in a simplistic manner as the totality of the beliefs and practices of a society”, and “although a language may be regarded as a relatively small part of a culture, it is indispensable for both the functioning and the perpetuation of the culture. accordingly, a competent translator awares that ultimately words only have meaning in terms of the corresponding culture” ( nida, 2001:139 ). it is everywhere. accordingly “transcultural action or communication across culture barriers has to take account of cultural differences with regard to behavior, evaluation and communicative situations”( as cited in nord, 2001:33 ). however, it does not mean that source-culture conventions must be replaced by target-culture conventions in each and every translation. nord further advices that depending on the translation purpose and type, the translator may opt for reproduction or adaption (nord, 2001:57). that is to say, skopostheorie allows translators to make adjustments to conform to the target language. for example, “strong as a horse” can be translated as“强壮如牛” rather than“强壮如马” ， “to cast pearls before a swine”,“对牛弹琴”and “ to be dumbstruck ”, “呆若木鸡”, “to spend money like water” ， “挥金如土”. as shown in the four phrases, if there is a similar expression in the target language, the original can be just replaced to meet the understanding of the target addresses. however, if there is not and it must be translated word for word, then the translator must make a note to explain the cultural phenomenon. 3.1.3 using interjecti