（外国语言学及应用语言学专业论文）从目的论视角对中国第四次翻译高潮的翻译策略的研究.pdf

重庆大学硕士学位论文 中文摘要 i 摘摘 要要 本论文回顾了中国翻译史上所出现的三次翻译高潮，从政治、历史、文化和 经济等角度揭示了高潮产生的原因，并通过对三个高潮阶段有代表性的翻译家所 采取的翻译策略的分析，验证了目的论翻译理论，即翻译目的决定翻译策略。同 时指出翻译目的又是由特定历史时期的政治，文化等因素及译者个人的取舍及读 者群所制约的。在此基础上，作者从目的论视角出发首先比较了当前第四次翻译 高潮与前三次翻译高潮在产生背景方面的异同，其次结合当前的国际、国内形势 和对翻译的认识，作者指出本次翻译高潮的翻译目的是实现文化的多样性与语言 的多元化，并通过大量翔实的例证提出应采取的翻译策略，即：当前，翻译要实 现文化的多样性与语言的多元化，译者们应采取以异化为主的翻译策略。 关键词：翻译高潮，翻译策略，目的论，归化，异化 重庆大学硕士学位论文 abstract ii abstract the present thesis validates the skopos theory that the choice of translation strategy depends on the purpose of translation through the analysis of choices of translation strategies adopted by the famous translators in the first three translation climaxes and discloses the reasons of these climaxes coming into being by reviewing them from political, historical, cultural and economical factors etc. meanwhile, it points out that the translation purposes are conditioned by typical political, cultural and economic factors etc. in particular times, the translators own choices and corresponding readership etc. thereupon, by comparing the similarities and differences of the fourth translation climax to the first three ones and taking view of the current domestic and international situation, the author specifies the translation purposes of the present translation climax, namely, and then puts translation strategy accordingly by illustrating many examples. the thesis concludes that in order to realize culture diversity and language pluralism, translators should adopt foreignization as the chief strategy. key words: translation climaxes, translation strategies, skopos theory, domestication, foreignization 重庆大学硕士学位论文 chapter one introduction 1 chapter one introduction translation is a rewriting of an original text. to translate is to write source language text in the target language text. it is through the work and efforts of the translator that the two languages are connected and the communication between the two language communities is realized. as the intercultural mediator, the translators work is to set up a bridge between the two language communities and get rid of the communication gaps. yet its not an easy job. as every translator knows, he does not put languages into watertight compartments or enter at will and exclusively into one or another linguistic universe. instead, he is constantly going between language communities and creating or recreating links where no specific connection existed before. it follows that the whole process of translation is a subjective human activity of the translator which is bound to be influenced by the cultural, historical and economical factors of his time. as a part of translation process, the choice of translation strategy is subjective, too. though the translator has only two choices, which is, to translate word-for-word(literal translation) or to translate meaning-for- meaning(liberal translation), its not an easy choice. to quote bell, “pick the first and the translator is criticized for the ugliness of a faithful translation; pick the second and there is criticism of the inaccuracy of a beautiful translation. either way it seems, the translator cant win.”(2001:7). as translation process is not a pure language-transcoding activity, the translators choice of strategy, as a part of translation process, will be determined by the typical cultural, historical and economical and other factors of his time. in chinese translation history there have been four climaxes. the first translation climax was featured with the buddhism translation when the translators then combined buddhism with philosophy of laozi and zhuangzi, two great ancient chinese philosophers, for its better acceptance in china. by the same token, the bible was translated by incorporating confucianism during the second climax. similarly, the translators of the third climax influenced by the western thoughts and determined to make them serve in china, rendered the western works by drawing upon the traditional chinese thoughts. reviewing the translation strategies adopted in these three climaxes, we can see easily that their translation purpose is quite clear and simple, that is, to get their translation works accepted by the chinese people. different from the previous 重庆大学硕士学位论文 chapter one introduction 2 three, the fourth climax is unparalleled in scope and in quantity of translated works. it witnesses the translation of both foreign works into china and vise versa. and the world has shown a tendency of culture diversity and language pluralism. because of these, the translation purpose of this climax is undecided and complicated. hence, a consensus has yet to be reached on the strategies adopted during the period. in order to solve the above question, we must come to the essence of the translation. as mentioned above, translation is a subjective human activity. in vermeers words, “its a specific form of human action”(nord, 2001:29). since every human action has an aim, a purpose, so is translation. therefore, hans vermeer puts forward skopostheorie which says that a translational action is determined by its skopos. since the choice of translation strategy is a part of translation process, is it determined by its skopos, i.e. translation purposes, too? with this question in mind, the author undertakes to write the dissertation with an attempt to give a preliminary probe into the question of translation strategies adopted in the fourth translation climax from the perspective of the skopos theory. to be exact, the issue is elaborated in five chapters in the present thesis. the first chapter serves as a brief introduction. in chapter two, the concept of domestication and foreignization and their historic development are reviewed and the skopos theory as well. chapter three studies the translation strategies used in the first three translation climaxes in chinese history. chapter four is devoted to a study of the characteristics of the fourth translation climax and the translation strategies adopted. chapter five is a case study. the conclusion is drawn in chapter six. as mentioned, the studies and articles in translation often talk about the question of which translation strategy should be used, but they rarely tried to discuss it from the perspective of skopos theory so far. the author undertakes to discuss it from this perspective merely because only by doing this can we touch the essence of translation and it will be beneficial for the translators to look upon translations purely. also, bearing different purposes, the same book will have different translation versions for different readers, which in turn will enrich the translation cause and readers will be able to read more versions of the same work as well. therefore this paper explores in this aspect and ventures to illustrate the authors own understanding of the issue. the discussion is far from being thorough and satisfactory and is bound to have some weak points. the author is looking forward to valuable comments and suggestions. 重庆大学硕士学位论文 chapter two literature review 3 chapter two literature review 2.1 domestication and foreignization 2.1.1 the theory of “domestication and foreignization” in western countries the concept of “domestication and foreignizaiton” was put forward in 1995 by lawrence venuti but originated first from a lecture by german scholar schleiermacher. the latter put emphasis on inseparable relationship between translating and understanding. he argued that “there are only two kinds of translating, “either the translator leaves the author in peace, as much as possible, and moves the reader towards him. or he leaves the reader in peace, as much as possible and moves the author towards him.”(lefevere, 1992:149) in 1656, sir john denham published a translation with the running title, the reconstruction of troy, an essay upon the second book of virgils aeneis and written in the year 1636. in its preface, denham wrote “poesie is of so subtle a spirit, that in pouring one language out into another, it will all evaporate; and if a new spirit be not added in the transfusion, there will remain nothing but a caput mortuum”(venuti,1995:49). “therefore if virgil must speak english, it were fit he should speak not only as a man of this nation, but as a man of this age”(venuti,1995:50). obviously, this added new emotion is concerned with the domesticating process, since the foreign text was put into value-orientation which is typical in target-language culture. dryden joined denham in opposing “a servile, literal translation”. and much more explicating than denham, dryden links his fluent, domesticating translation to aristocratic culture(venuti,1995:64). both denham and dryden recognized that a ratio of loss and gain inevitably occurs in the translation process and situates the translation in an equivocal relationship to the foreign text, never quite faithful, always somewhat free, never establishing an identity, always a lack or a supplement. yet they also viewed their domesticating method as the most effective way to control this equivocal relationship and produce versions adequate to the latin text(venuti,1995:67). for tytler, the aim of translation is the production of an equivalent effect that transcends linguistic and cultural differences. to quote him, “i would therefore describe a good translation to be, that, in which the merit of the original work is so completely 重庆大学硕士学位论文 chapter two literature review 4 transfused into another language, as to be distinctly apprehended, and as strongly felt, by a native of the country to which that language belongs, as it is by those who speak the language of the original work”(1978:15). he was echoed by george campell in translating the gospels. around the turn of the nineteenth century, george lamb adopted the traditional domesticating method, an ethnocentric reduction of the foreign text to dominant cultural value in english in translating catullus. he stated that “the natural course of translation is, first to secure its fidelity, and then to attempt the polish of elegance and freedom”(venuti,1995:85). hence, he handled the expressions that may cause conflicts in the target language by developing strategies of omission and amplification. comparatively, it is strengthened by the theory of functional equivalence and dynamic equivalence, put forward by eugene nida, the well-recognized representative of the domesticated translation. he believes that it is essential that functional equivalence be stated primarily in term of a comparison of the way in which the original receptors understood and appreciated the text and the way in which receptors of the translated text understand and appreciate the translated text(nida,1998:314). in essence, his theory is to translate according to the language habit of cultural model of the target language. he felt that a dynamic translator was able to be more faithful than the literal translator by somehow perceiving more fully and satisfactorily the meaning of the original text(gentzler,1993:59). venuti(1995:118) viewed his dynamic equivalence as an egregious euphemism for the domesticating translation method and the cultural political agendas it concerns. like domestication, foreignization also enjoys popularity in western translators and translation theorists. foreignization was first adopted in 1795 as a translation strategy by dr. john nott in translating catallus into english. he sought to reproduce the pagan sexuality and physically coarse language of the latin text and his main concern seems to have been twofold: to ward against an ethnocentric response to the latin text and to preserve its historical and cultural difference. he said, “when an ancient classic is translated, and explained, the work may be considered as forming a link in the chain of history: history should not be falsified, we ought therefore to translate him fairly; and when he gives us the manners of his own day, however disgusting to our sensations, and repugnant to our natures they may sometimes prove, we must not endeavor to conceal, or gloss them over, through a fastidious regard to delicacy”(venuti,1995:85). notts foreignization of the 重庆大学硕士学位论文 chapter two literature review 5 latin text was, at that time, quite striking. what he cared was not only to prevent people from holding an ethnocentric attitude towards latin text but also to maintain its historical and cultural differences. at the turn of the 19th century, when the study of cultural anthropology suggested that the linguistic barriers were insuperable and that language was entirely the product of culture, the view that translation was impossible gained some currency. at that time, foreignization translation was very active in germany, though it lacked cultural connotation in england. friedrich schleiermacher, who put forward the term domestication and foreignization, was an ardent supporter of foreignization strategy. he believed a foreignizing translation method can be useful in building a national culture, forging a foreign-based cultural identity for a linguistic community to achieve political autonomy(venuti,1995:100). for him, the genuine translatoris a writer “who wants to bring those two completely separated persons, his author and his reader, truly together, and who would like to bring the latter to an understanding and enjoyment of the former as correct and complete as possible without inviting him to leave the sphere of his mother tongue”(lefevere,1992:149). he made clear that his choice was foreignizing translation. schleiermachers concept of foreignizing translation constitutes a resistance to the dominant cultural values of the time. in the 1850s, francis newman challenged the mainstream of english-language translation, arguing that “cowpers attempt to translate homer had proved as great a failure as popes” and suggesting that “a sensible change is taking place, from our recent acquaintance with the extent to which the germans have carried poetical translation”(venuti,1995:118). to him, a translator should “retain every peculiarity of the original, so far as possible, with the greater care.(ibid:121). he recommended a translation method that signified the many differences between the translation and the foreign text, their relative autonomy from one another, their composition in different languages for different cultures. in a way, his foreignized texts were challenging an elitist concept of a national english culture(ibid:127). another socially engaged victorian translator, william morris adopted a foreignizing method similar to that of newmans. morriss experiment received much more appreciative reviews than newmans, though they were also attacked. the dominance of transparent discourse in english-language translation was decisively challenged at the turn of the twentieth century, when modernism emerged in anglo-american literary culture. modernism seeks to establish the cultural autonomy 重庆大学硕士学位论文 chapter two literature review 6 of translated text by effacing its manifold conditions and exclusions, especially the recess of domestication by which the foreign text is rewritten to serve modernist cultural agendas(ibid:187-188). nevertheless, pound, of the time, privileged foreign texts that he could mobilize in a modernist cultural politics. yet his translations signified the foreignness of the foreign text, not because they were faithful or accurate, but because they deviated from domestic literary canons in english(ibid:200). huge kenner wrote, “ezra pound never translates into something already existing in english. only pound has had both the boldness and resource to make a new form, similar in effect to that of the original”(venuti:1995:204). peter newmark divided translation methods into semantic translation and communicative translation, with the former putting emphasis on source language culture and the latter target language culture. to him, semantic translation must take more account of the aesthetic value of the sl text, compromising on meaning where appropriate so that no assonance, word-play or repetition jars in the finished version. while communicative translation attempts to render the exact contextual meaning of the original in such a way that both content and language are readily acceptable and comprehensive to the readership(newmark, 2001:47). newmark thought that semantic translation is superior to communicative translation. though not stated directly, his opinions shows that he is in favor of the foreignization translation(刘嫦，2004). different from newmark, lawrence venuti is a stalwart supporter of foreignization strategy. to him, translation is the forcible replacement of the linguistic and cultural difference of the foreign text with a text that will be intelligible to the target-language reader. and it cant be judged according to mathematics-based concepts of semantic equivalence or one-to-one correspondence. he thinks that the aim of translation is to bring back a cultural other as the same, the recognizable, even the familiar; and this aim always risks a wholesale domestication of the foreign text, often in a highly self-conscious projects, where translation serves an appropriation of foreign cultures for domestic agendas, cultural, economic, political. therefore foreignizing translation is highly desirable today, because it seeks to restrain the ethnocentric violence of translation. it is a strategic cultural intervention in the current state of world affairs, pitched against the hegemonic english-language nations and the unequal cultural exchanges in which they engage their global others. foreignization translation in english can be a form of resistan