（外国语言学及应用语言学专业论文）从功能派理论看软新闻的汉译英.pdf

摘要 软新闻的日渐升温和日益密切的跨文化交流使得软新闻的翻译需求量有了大 幅增长同时也为翻译研究者开辟了一个新的研究领域本文的研究对象即为软 新闻的汉译英 由于软新闻翻译更注重受众的反映它与单纯寻求对等的翻译模式有着较大 的差异软新闻的翻译不仅仅是一个从源语到译入语的语言转换过程更是一个 根据译语文化不断调整使受众更容易接受的过程 本文以功能派的翻译理论为依据试图在大量的软新闻翻译实践与讲求对等 的传统翻译模式之间寻找一个契合点此外作者还将依据功能派的翻译理论 提出一个更具操作性的由上至下的翻译模式 对于软新闻的文本分析使我们认识到软新闻翻译的特殊性而对功能派翻译 理论的回顾使我们了解到为何这一理论适用于软新闻翻译在分析了翻译过程中 的几个关键步骤之后作者将功能派的翻译理论运用于主体研究并得出了软新 闻汉译英中的常用翻译策略在这一分析过程中作者采用了描写译学的分析方 法先发现再验证即在第一阶段中发现的翻译现象将在第二阶段得到验证 通过对一个小型语料库的研究分析作者归纳出了软新闻汉译英中的常见翻 译策略和翻译类型并提出了一个由上至下的功能派翻译模型供这一领域的 译者参考另外本文对于翻译教学和翻译质量评估也有一定的应用价值 关键词软新闻的汉译英 功能派翻译理论 由上至下的翻译模型 abstract the emerging popularity of soft news and the strengthened intercultural communication call for more translations in this field. thus, soft news translation opens a new field for translation studies and poses controversial and challenging questions for translators and translation scholars. as the soft news translation differs from the equivalence-based translation practice in that it centers on the target audience, it is not just a source language (sl)-target language (tl) linguistic operation, but often a specialized adaptation process depending on factors of the target culture. with the functionalist theory as the rationale, this thesis attempts to bridge the gap between the translation practice of soft news from chinese to english and the long established equivalence-based translation criteria. furthermore, the author attempts to offer a more operational top-down model in terms of the functional translation approach. the text-type analysis of soft news and the literature review of the functionalist theory make us recognize that how specific this field of translation is and how appropriate the functional approach is to be applied. after analyzing key steps in the translation process, the author applies the functionalist theory to the corpus and generalizes the strategies adopted in soft news translation. the dts method adopted for the analysis features a two-stage procedure: discovery and justification. the preliminary findings of the first stage are tested in the second stage where the whole corpus is analyzed. and then the author moves on to the findings and implications from the analysis. the classification of strategies and the tentative proposal of the top-bottom model in terms of functional translation approach may offer a guideline for translators in their practice. and the implications in the field of translation pedagogy and quality assessment may shed light on further study and application. lastly, the limitations of this thesis may reveal some perspectives for future research and improvement. key words: c-e translation of soft news functional approach a top-down model 1 chapter one introduction 1.1 research statement as the world has well been into the information era, intercultural communication demonstrates a growing intensification among global villagers. news, both as information and a culture carrier, has proved an increasingly important medium in the intercultural communication. by nature of the events, news can be classified into “hard news” and “soft news”. a news story can be hard, chronicling as concisely as possible who, what, where, when, why and how of an event. or it can be soft, standing back to examine the people, places and things that shape the world, nation and community (richard 1998:35). thus, the translation strategy for various news types also differs accordingly. due to the time limit, hard news is usually not translated but written by correspondences in foreign countries. soft news, on the other hand, attracts more and more readers worldwide thanks to its flexible style and vivacious language. the emerging popularity of soft news and the strengthened intercultural communication call for more translations in this field. thus, soft news translation opens a new field for translation studies and poses controversial and challenging questions for translators and translation scholars. as soft news translation is quite specialized and subjected to its communicative nature, some questions arise: how does it differ from the traditionally equivalence-based translation? what kinds of translation strategies are frequently used in the c-e soft news translation? will translation strategies like abridgement or reformulation be regarded as unfaithful translation? the author believes that all these questions can be answered from the functional approach. the traditional criteria for translation were dominated by “equivalence” in the west and “faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance” in china. however, with the flourishing practice of translation activities, some special translation strategies emerge, particularly in the 2 specialized area such as soft news translation. these widely used strategies, for instance, abridgement and reformulation, are against the long-standing criteria in the equivalence-based translation theory. then, are they still a kind of translation and how to justify them from the theoretical background? the functional translation approach provides us with a new path to the tower of babel. with the functional approach as the theoretical basis, this thesis attempts to bridge the gap between the translation practice of soft news from chinese to english and the long established equivalence-based translation criteria. furthermore, the author attempts to offer a more operational top-down model in terms of functional translation approach. 1.2 corpus this thesis will only concern itself with soft news translation from chinese to english. besides, the language data are culled from authorities at home, mainly from china today. the hard news and soft news from other media such as tv, radio or billboards will not be covered. the corpus comprises a set of authentic soft news with a wide coverage. most of the materials are chosen from magazines in 2003 and all of them are post 2000, so that the data analysis may ensure the topicality of the study and the novelty of the statement problem. the samples for analysis are mainly from china today, since the magazine enjoys high prestige and a large circulation. source language (sl) and target language (tl) versions of the soft news are paired up, with each pair assigned a number for convenient reference. to keep the data authentic, the date and name of the publication are provided in italics following each pair. taking diversity into consideration, some samples are collected from other authoritative magazines or newspapers in china, which are duly referred to and acknowledged. 1.3 research methodology a comparative analytical method will be adopted in accordance with the principles of the descriptive translation studies (dts). according to toury (1995), analysis procedures begin with identifying translation phenomena (those target- culture texts assumed to have resulted from translation processes) and move on to the establishment of coupled pairs of replacing + replaced segments. next step comprises a tentative reconstruction of the translation process, 3 based on inferences involving the type of equivalence which is found to underlie those relations, and hence the establishment of the particular notion of translation according to which translation decisions may be assumed to have been made. in brief, the stage undergone mainly involves discovery procedures in nature, and then the justification of the hypothetical statements through the extension of the analysis to related phenomena. 1.4 possible contributions although the flourishing practice of soft news translation has made it a rich field of research for translation studies, study on soft news translation is still quite new worldwide. in contrast, study on literary translation has a long tradition in the west and china and it still dominates the discipline. however, principles and techniques developed from and designated for translating literary and religious works do not necessarily work when they are to guide the practice of soft news translation in that it centers on the target audience. some scholars have been aware of this and released articles in major professional periodicals, but so far none has adequately describes the practice of soft news translation or established a satisfactory model. therefore, it is of paramount importance and urgent need to develop a more operational model to guide the translation practice in specialized area and find the rationale to justify some special strategies in soft news translation. this thesis strives to offer a contribution to the area of soft news translation from chinese to english. the text-type analysis of soft news and the literature review of the functionalist theory help us recognize that how specific this field of translation is and how appropriate the functional approach is to be applied. after analyzing key steps in the translation process, we apply the functionalist theory to the corpus, generalize and then justify the strategies adopted in soft news translation. lastly, we move on to the findings and implications from the analysis. hopefully, the findings of this thesis will help to establish a well-balanced top-down model to guide the translation practice and shed new light on translation quality assessment and pedagogy. 1.5 preview of each chapter as the thesis unfolds, we will go through six chapters. chapter one will identify the 4 research statement and then limit the scope of the study and the source of language data. the adoption of the dts as the methodology and the possible contribution this thesis may offer will also be included. we point out in chapter two that the equivalence-based translation approaches do not meet the requirements of soft news translation according to some assumptions. we will therefore review the functional approach including text typology, skopos theory and function plus loyalty, which will better cater to the soft news translation. in chapter three, a text-type analysis of soft news may shed light on the specialization of the translation in this field. in chapter four, the major part of this paper, we will first give a brief explanation of the dtsa methodology featuring a two-stage procedure. accordingly, we analyze key steps in the translation process from the functional approach and then justify the strategies applied in soft news translation. based on the description and analysis in the previous four chapters, we will then discuss the elicited results in chapter five, trying to offer a more operational top-down model and bridge the gap between the abundant practice and the unsatisfactory translation pedagogy and quality assessment. chapter six is an overview of the whole dissertation. 1.6 summary the globalization and intensified intercultural communication drive a rapid growth of soft news translation in this information era. soft news is a very specialized area for translation and now a rich field for translation studies, and we endeavor to address the problems arising therefrom. then, we limit the scope of the study and the source of language data. in accordance with the principle of the descriptive translation studies (dts), a comparative analytical method will be adopted in the corpus analysis. finally, we move on to the significance of the study and the possible contributions this thesis may offer. it aims to bridge the gap between the abundant practice and a not yet adequately researched discipline of soft news translation from chinese to english. finally, a brief preview of each chapter may help us have a better understanding about the contents of this thesis. 5 chapter two literature review 2.1 assumptions and basic concepts before we go through the functionalist theories, it is highly necessary for us to hold a clear picture about concerning assumptions and basic concepts. the relations between language function, text function and translation function will shed light on the different translation strategies for different text types, and we will outline the link between language, culture and translation. 2.1.1 language, text and translation function the division of language functions can be traced back to cicero. over two thousands years ago, this roman philosopher declared that language served three major functions: to instruct, delight and move (fawcett, 1997: 101). later scholars strive to set up more inclusive taxonomies of language functions, and different authors use different terms in the domain. among the most influential formulations are those of buhler (1934), jakbson (1969) and halliday (1973). buhlers language function refers to “referential, expressive and cognitive functions” (qtd. by baker, 2001:32), which corresponds broadly to jakbsons viewpoint about language function, though the latter additionally distinguishes phatic, metalingual and poetic functions. halliday distinguishes three macrofuncations: “the ideational, the interpersonal and the textual” (baker: 2001:32). to some extent, these alternative formulations share a degree of consensus. it is on the basis of buhlers language typology that reiss distinguishes between the informative, expressive and operative texts, each calling for particular sets of skills and strategies on the part of a translator. each language function has a corresponding language dimension: logical for the informative, aesthetic for the expressive, dialogue for the operative. and each text function corresponds to a general text type: the informative function produces content-centered text types, the expressive function gives form-centered text types focusing on the sender, and the persuasive function leads to behavior-centered focusing on the receiver. undoubtedly, language functions exert far-reaching influence on the translators task of 6 relaying values from the source text to the target text. however, there will be no absolutely one-to-one correspondence between language function, text function and text type, since no actual text will exhibit only one language function. in fact, all texts are multifunctional, even if one overall rhetorical purpose will generally tend to predominate and function as the ultimate determinant of text structure (baker, 2001:32). furthermore, the mere consideration of the function of the s ource language and the source text is far from enough; we should also take the function of the target language and the translated text into account. the reasons for initiating a translation are independent of the reasons for the creation of any particular source text, which is the basis for the skopos theory of reiss and vermeer. nord introduces the further distinction: it is not the text itself that has a function; rather, a text acquires its function in the situation in which it is received (nord, 1997:28). from text perspective in linguistics, she explains the distinctions between function, text function and the translation function as follows: a text is a “communicative occurrence”(nord, 1997:40). an essential prerequisite for such a communicative occurrence is, first of all, the existence of a “situation”, fixed in time and space and comprising at least two participants who are able and willing to communicate with each other for a certain purpose by means of a text. the text transmitted over a suitable channel of medium has the function of fulfilling the communicative purpose intended by the sender. nord continues to elaborate on text function and sums it up as “text function is, therefore, a pragmatic quality assigned to a text by the receiver in a particular situation and not something attached to, or inherent in the text” (trosborg, 1997:49). thus, it seems only logical that the function of the source text is specific to the original situation and cannot be left invariant of “preserved” through the translation process. the function of the target text, or translation function, on the other hand, is specific to the target situation, and it is an illusion that a target text should have automatically the same function as the original. besides nord (1997), quite a few translators establish their models in this sense, such as reiss and vermeer (1984), newmark (1982), hatim and mason (1990). these models 7 broaden our horizons to translation studies. 2.1.2 language, culture and translation as an integrated part of culture, languages do not operate in isolation, and cultures differ from each other in various ways. the close link between language, culture and translation finds a full embodiment in soft news translation where plenty of culture-rich words and phrases abound. even between the languages of communities whose cultures are fairly closely allied, there is by no means a one-to-one relation of exact lexical equivalence between the items of their vocabularies. in their lexical meanings, words acquire various overtones and associations that are not shared by the nearest corresponding words in other languages. therefore, it is highly necessary for translators to be culture conscious in soft news translation. to some extent, translating means comparing cultures. translators interpret source-culture phenomena in the light of their own culture-specific knowledge of that culture, from either the inside or the outside, depending on whether the translation is from or into the translators native language and culture. a foreign culture can only be perceived by means of comparison with our own culture, the culture of our primary enculturation (witte, 1987:119). we may thus assume that there are various culture-specific concepts of what constitutes translation. actuall