不同的翻译理论和标准.doc

Peter Newmark is Professor of Translation theoriesPeter Newmark is professor of Translation at the University of Surrey. He has translated books and articles and published extensively on translation. He has made an important contribution to a more satisfactory understanding of the real nature of translation.Professor Peter Newmarks “major contribution is in a detailed treatment of semantic vs. communicative translation in which semantic translation focus primarily upon the semantic content of the source text and communicative translation focuses essentially upon the comprehension and response of the receptors” (Nida, 2001).Although Peter Newmark is not as influential as Eugene A. Nida, his theories are easier to understand and more popular among student translators.This part presents some excerpts of Peter Newmarks theories from his book A Textbook of Translation.(page117, ACoursebook on English-Chinese and Chinese-English Translation)Ernest Gutt and His Translation TheoriesTranslaiton study from revelance perspectiveRelevance theory, developed by Sperber& Wilson, in Relevance: Communication and Cognition (2001), came into birth in rejecting the inadequacy of the traditional communication theories. Sperber & Wilson define relevance theory as “a new approach to the study of human communication.” (Sperber& Wilson, 2001) The birth of relevance theory is the reconciling of both the code model and the inferential model, on which the two linguists comment, “the inferential model is adequate by itself to account for at least some forms of communication. On the other hand, there is no doubt that most cases of communication involve the use of a code The code model and the inferential model are not incompatible Thus both the code model and the inferential model can contribute to the study of verbal communication.” (Sperber& Wilson, 2001) Based on this compromise, the relevance theory proposes the ostensive-inferential model of communication, in which human communication not only requires encoding, transferring and decoding process, but also involves inference.Since relevance was first published, this theory of communication has encountered wide acceptances and wide criticisms as well. In the mean time, it has evidently inspired works in many other disciplines, such as linguistics, literary studies, psychology and philosophy. Translation is no exception. Relevance theory is complicated and sophisticated; therefore, the scope of this paper does not permit a detailed discussion of it. Thus this paper simply introduces a few important notions of relevance theory that are believed to bear a close relationship with the translation study.(page134, ACoursebook on English-Chinese and Chinese-English Translation)Lawrence Venuti, Peter Newmark and Their Translation TheoriesLawrence Venuti, American translation theorist, translation historian and translator, graduated from Temple University. He lived long in New York City. In 1980 he completed his PhD in English at Columbia University. Venuti has concentrated on the theory and practice of translation. He is considered one of the most intense figures in modern translation theory, often with positions that substantially differ from those of mainstream theorists. He criticizes the fact that, too frequently, the translator is an invisible figure. He has been engaged in translation criticism ever since he started translating.(page109, ACoursebook on English-Chinese and Chinese-English Translation)Criteria of translation 1.2.1 IntroductionTranslation criteria have been and remain to be the core of translation theory in its history since it stands out conspicuously in this complicated activity. Both in China and in the west countries there are many important ideas in this field.1.2.2 Study of translation criteria in China Yan Fus triple criteriaIn China, whenever translation criteria are mentioned, the words coming to ones mind are xin, da, and ya put forward by Yan Fu.After the Sina-Japanese War of 1894-1895, Yan Fu (1853-1921), one of the most important figures in the modern period of translation in China, was the most influential translator and translation theorist.Yan Fu won his reputation as a famous translator and also as a result of his contribution to translation theory. He set down the triple translation criteria of “Faithfulness, Expressiveness and Elegance,” which he called “xin,da,ya” (1898,Cited in Luo Xinzhang 1984), although the three Chinese characters originally appeared about translation in the period of the Three Kingdoms. These criteria influenced the development of translation practice and theory for almost half a century after it came into being.Faithfulness requires that the meaning in the target language should be faithful to the meaning of the original.Expressiveness is the requirement of intelligibility of the target language text, and the translated text should be in accordance with the language rules of the target language.Elegance requires a translation to be esthetically pleasing.There have been different comments and critiques of Yan Fus triple criteria in the modern history of translation in China. Most translators or translation critics accepted Yan Fus “faithfulness” and “fluency,” but some thought that “Elegance” is not always valid. Take the context of a court trial for example, a man is sued for having said in English: “You are a damn fool,” and it is rendered as: “你是个很不智慧的人”. The translation has no doubt gained in elegance, but will certainly not be a faithful translation of the original and might even affect the outcome of the case.In the application of Yan Fus criteria, people have put forward a variety of new standards. Liu Zhongde changed Yan Fus triple criteria as “faithfulness, expressiveness and closeness”.(1991, Cited in Luo Xinzhang 1984)Faithfulness: to be faithful to the content of the original.Expressiveness: to be as expressive as the original.Closeness: to be as close to the original style as possible.Though there have been different opinions on Yan Fus triple criteria, they have not been abandoned by translators in china. His theory successfully guided technical translation during the late Qing dynasty and the early Republic of China. Yan Fu, himself, with his translation output and translation theory, opened a new chapter in the translation history of China. Ma Jianzhongs view on TranslationMa Jianzhong ( 马建忠，1845-1900) held that the translator should carefully read and analyze the source text to get the real meaning, the structure, the style, the spirit, the tone, and the sound effect before he begins to translate. He held that a good translation should be the one that produces very similar effect on the target readers as that on the original readers by the source text. Lu Xun and his views on translation Lu Xun, one of the great writers of China, translated more than 200 literary works from 14 countries. He thought that translation is creative work, while differs from literary creation. The value of a translation lies in its faithfulness to the original text. He insisted that the main purpose of translation is to introduce the culture and social lives of foreign countries to the translated works, which would familiarize the readers with the foreign cultures. He was against those who like to borrow words or phrases from the target language in their translation of culturally loaded words is an important means of enriching the mother tongue. Fu Lei and transfer of the original spirit: spiritual resemblanceMost of the translators in the period from 1949 to 1978 took a literary approach to the study of translation theory. They pointed out that literary translation which requires a higher standard, is different from general translation. Literary translation is an act in which the translators reproduce exactly the artistic conception of the original text into the target language; this requires literary translators to have not only a good command of the two languages but also mastery of artistic creation processes and the ability to catch the literary spirit of the original text. The transfer of the original spirit, advocated by Fu Lei, is regarded as one of the main tasks of literary translation. Fu lei is one of the famous translators rendering French to Chinese. He wrote: “As a product, translation is like imitating a picture. What is more important is the likeness of spirit not resemblance to the original one.”Thus, an artistic literary translation depends on the transfer of the spirit of the original text; if the original text is an artistic work, it should remain artistic after it is rendered into another language. The advocating of “being alike in spirit” for literary translation does not deny the significance of “being alike in appearance”. A good translation product should both be “alike in spirit and appearance”. If, for linguistic and cultural reasons, the translator is in a dilemma as to whether to transfer either the appearance (grammatical and syntactic structure etc.) or the literary spirit, he should, according to Fus principle, sacrifice appearance for spirit. Qian Zhongshus view on translation: sublimationIn 1964, Qian Zhonghu, a member of the cultural elite in present-day China, put forward his “transmigration theory” for literary translation. Qian borrowed the Buddhist term in summarizing his theory of literary translation. A literary translation is like the act of transmigration in which the soul and the spirit of the original text remain in the target text even though the carrier of them, the language, has changed. Qians requirement for literary translation was so high that he himself had to admit that it was impossible to transmigrate everything of the original text to the target language, and that perfect transmigration of the original text into the target language was just an ideal.1.2.3 Study of translation criteria in the West George Campbells three principlesGeorge Campbell, a Scottish Enlightenment philosopher, minister, theologian, and professor of divinity, had three focuses to his intellectual life: language, theology, and rhetoric. In 1789, he put forward three principles in translation.The first thing is to give a just representation of the sense of the original.The second thing is, to convey into his version, as much as possible, in a consistency with the genius of the language which he writes, the authors spirit and manner.The third and last thing is, to take care, the version has at least, so far the quality of an original performance, as to appear natural and easy.1.2.3