西方翻译理论.doc

一. The beginning period the end of 4th century B.CBackground: Roman Empire became powerful in the world. Greek culture was very attractive to Rome.Representatives:Andronicus: Homes Odysseus, 240 B.C The first large-scale translation activity in Europe.Cicero: The first translation theorist in the west in Roman period literal translation and free translation from the view of a rhetor and orator.Weakness: lake of systematic study of translation principle.Significance: introduce the ancient Greek literature into Rome even into the western world. develop Rome literature.二 From Rome Empire to early Middle AgesBackground: to meet the needs of Christian community-develop the religious culture, Scriptures was translated form Hebrew to Latin.Features: religious translation activityRepresentatives: Jerome, the Old Testament The most systematic among all ancient translators意译：Free translation-literary works直译：Literal translation-the scriptures三、The Medieval TimesTranslation center form Baghdad (Syria) to Toledo (Spain) Syria: the 9th -10th century, founded the House of Wisdom, Greek-ArabicFeatures: word-for-word translation Toledo: the 11th 12th century the school to Toledo ArabicLatin and SpainSignificance: to provide a solid scientific and technological basis for the European Renaissance.四、The Renaissance PeriodFeatures: from ancient literary works to major contemporary worksRepresentative：Martin Luther New Testament into Germanshifts of word orderuse of modal auxiliariesintroduce of connectivessuppression of foreign terms that had no equivalent in Germanuse phrase in target language to translate words in source languageshifts of metaphor to non-metaphor or vice verse.五、From the late of 17th century to the early of 20th century Representative: John Dryden, Alexander Tytler, Arnold NewmanFeature: to cultivate a literary nature; to advance the theory of translatability and untranslatability.六、Contemporary translation studies world war Features: progress in different field a special occupation including modern translation theories (1959-1972) and contemporary translation theories (1972-nowadays)Modern translation theories (1959-1972)Representative:Roman Jakobson: On Linguistic Aspect of Translation in 1959 intralingual translation. Interlingual Translation, Intersemiotic translation.J. R. Firth & Catford: the theory of textual equivalence Eugene NidaContemporary Translation theories (1972-now)Representative: James HolmesThe Name and Nature of Translation studies in 1972 proposed that Translation Studies is an independent subject. Including: Deconstruction School, Post-colonialism and Feminism school.Philological SchoolTime: before the world warBackground: from translators translation practiceFeatures: Literal and free translation; content and style; faithfulness and aestheticsWeakness: no systematic translation theoriesResearch objects:1)Register 2) figures of speech 3)creativity of language1) Register: The relationship between a particular style of language and its context of useDiachronic perspective: to observe adaptability of language from history development: neologism; archaism; old-fashioned word; old useSynchronic perspective: to analyze language usage from synchronic sequence; terminology; written language, oral language, common language, vulgarity, etcInterlacing perspective Function: whether translation is in accordance with ST on linguistic level and whether it reflects the character, time, and individual style of the work.2) Figure of speechComparison on figure of speech between ST and TT: to find the hidden rules and establish regulation or criterion to guide translation and its evaluation.Three approaches to conform to criteria:Domestication: Venuti,1995 译者向目的语者靠拢Foreignization 向原语文化靠拢，把原语言中的文化信息向目的语转输丰富目的语。Literal translation+notesRepresentatives:1) John Dryden (1631-1700): British poet, translator Formed a comparatively clear, comprehensive and metaphases, paraphrase, imitation. a. translation is an art; b. grasps the features of ST; c. takes the TL readers into consideration; d. translators were the slavers of the author; e. foreign words can be applied in translation Central idea: faithfulness to ST and the author.2）Alexander Fraser Tytler(1747-1814)a. Good command of both languages and try to reproduce the idea completely, to add some necessary contents and delete superfluous ones.b. Style and techniques, used in translation should be similar with that of the original.c. Translation should be as smooth as original.d. An excellent translation should enable the readers to appreciate the beauty of the source text.3) Theordore Savory: British research after world war. Translators encounter 3 obvious problems in choosing equivalent words.a. Illusory correspondence b. Gaps in language that cant be filled in translation.c. Translation of proverbs, idioms, and allusions.4）George Steiner: In the 1970sAfter Babel: Aspect of language and Translation Bring forth the process of translation.Translation 的四个步骤：a. Trust; b. Aggression; c. incorporation; d. RestitutionWeakness of Philological School:1)No disciplinary awareness or systemic theory2)Focus of Literature translation3)No involving in any relations between translation and meaning, translation and thought, translation and culture.Linguistic SchoolTime: from Augustine to structuralism in the 20th centuryBackground: the first stage without systematic theories. Development of modern linguistics(Noam Chomsky; Saussure; Bloomfield)Features 1) form the scientific theory on translation; 2) focus on analysis of source text, equivalent between target language and source language.Purpose: translation semantically equivalent to the original text.Weakness: neglect the aesthetics and cultural factors and hinder the future development of translation studies.Prague SchoolFounder: Vilem Mathesius（1890-1938）Representative: Nikolays Trubetskoy; Roman JakobsonMain Argument:1.Translation must take into account all kinds of language functions. Cognition, expression, instrument, etc.2.Translation lay stress on language comparison including semantics, grammar, phonetics, style of language, types of literature.Roman JakobsonMain points:1.Translation can be divided into 3 categories(3 types: Semiotics; intralingual; interlingual)2.Comprehension of word depends on translation3.Correct translation depends on equivalence of information4.All language posses the same expression5.Grammar category is the most complicated problemLondon SchoolFounder: J. R. FirthMajor argument: significance of language is determined by the social context of situation in which language is used.Representative: John Catford1.Translation is “replacing the literal material of one language. (the original) into the equivalent literal material of another language (the version language)”2.Classification of translation: Full translation and partial translation3.Equivalence of translationPartial translation: Some words can be moved into source language directly.4.Conversation of translation; Conversation in Gradation; Conversation in category5.Limitation of translation: untranslatable phenomenon can be divided into several types.Communicative TheoryEugene Nida:Main points:1.Theoretical principle2.Nature of Translation3.Function of Translation4.Correct Translation5.Semantic Analysis 6.Procedure: Semantic Translation and CommunicativePeter Newmark Communicative and Semantic translationsMain view points:1.category of translation : communicative translation; semantic translation; literal translation; interlinear of translation2.Nature of Translation: Translation is a skill; science; art and taste.3.Law of translation4.Losing of meaningHermeneuticsTwo schools:Methodology (objective) - oriented,Ontology-orientedThree periods:(1)Classical hermeneutics (2) Modern hermeneutics (3) Contemporary hermeneutics (1)Classical hermeneuticsTime: Renaissance and before the Religious ReformThe origin of hermeneutics:1. Linguistic theory of Aristotle, Rendering Homers epics2. Annotation of the Bible. Hermeneia, a Greek God Herms-the messenger of Greek Gods.Features: no own unique hermeneutic principle(2) Modern HermeneuticsFrom religious reform to hermeneutics of SchleiermacherCharacteristics:(1) Abandon slogans of classical Hermeneutics (2) Methodological hermeneuticsRepresentative: Schleiermacher; Dilthey; BettieMain rules(1) Interpretation is both possible and necessary (2)The role of interpretation is to reconstruct the original meaning of the author.(3) Understanding and interpreting are regarded as general methodology of the humanities.(3)Contemporary hermeneuticsFrom Diltheys Epistemological hermeneutics to contemporary philosophical hermeneuticsRepresentatives(1)Heidegger: the change of trend from traditional methodological hermeneutics to Contemporary ontological hermeneutics(2)Gadamers: student of Heidegger, found Contemporary philosophical hermeneutics; Bring translation into study of hermeneutics and analyze translation from philosophical hermeneutics.(3)Steiner: initial focus is on psychological and intellectual functioning of the mind of the translator and discusses the process of meaning.Significance: Hermeneutics provides abundant theoretical basis for translation studies.Weakness:1.No systematic principle or standards to measure cross-over point.2.Understanding? interpretingDeverbalisation (脱离原语语言外壳)Interpretative Theory of TranslationMain idea of Hermeneutics SchoolGeorge Steiner:A. Interpretation is translationGround: language is in perpetual change.Hermeneutics: significance: point out interpretation is the universal feature of translation.B.Four steps of Translation activityTrust: to believe that what is said in the original text is meaningful and worth translation.Aggression: refers to conflicts between two languages and cultures in the course of interpretating the original text.Incorporation: meaning and forms of original text are transferred into the target language. In process, the target language may be enriched or assimilates the source language.Restitution: translator can achieve the comparatively perfect translation by restitution.Antoine Berman:Trials of the foreign for cultures of the target language.Trials for foreign itself: advocate Foreignization, discarding the ethnocentrism, oppose naturalization.Functional Translation TheoryTime: origin of structuralism school in the 1960sTheoretical basis: transformational-generative theory.Representatives:1 Katharine Reiss2 Hans J. Vermeer3 Justa Holz-Manttari4 Christiane NordNidas Model of Translation: Formal equivalence & Dynamic equivalence: The minimal level is defined as “the reader of a translated text should be able to comprehend it to the point that they can conceive of how the original reader of the text must have understood and appreciate it.The maximal level is stated as “the readers of a translated text should be able to understand and appreciate it in essentially the same manner as the original readers did.”Eugene Nida adopts the useful elements of the transformational generative grammar and suggests that it is more effective to transfer the meaning from the source language to the receptor language on the kernel level, a key concept in Chomskys theory.That is to say, the critic should judge a translation not by verbal correspondence between the two texts in question, but by seeing how the receptor, for whom the translated text is intended, reacts to it. Strength: unlike traditional translation theories, which focus on verbal comparison between the original text and its translation, Nidas concept of translating shifts from “from of the message,” to the “response of the receptor”. Thus, the importance of receptors role in translating is emphasized. Weakness: Nidas theory is only useful for translation of propaganda, advertisement or certain religious materials, but it could not provide the basis for a general translation theory.Functionalist School-Pragmatic turn in translation in the 1970sThe theoretical basis: action theory and communication theory Vermeer Skopos Theory: translation is a type of human action, an international, purposeful behavior that takes place in a given situation.It is the skopos/the purpose of the translation which determines the translation methods and strategies that a translator may adopt in order to produce a functionally adequate translation. Strength:Functional approaches really have great practical value of professional translators, especially for those who work on non literary texts such as technical commercial and official documents, for the approaches are mainly developed from translation practice of pragmatic texts.Weakness:以形害义，进而影响目的语读者对译文的接受，但翻译策略并非千篇一律，只采用重功能而不重形式的方法，现更注重形式与功能方面的结合。Cultural SchoolLow Countries group, from the Netherlands and Belgium, in the 1970sCultural School:Polysystem SchoolDescriptive Translation StudiesDeconstruction SchoolPost- colonial schoolCharacteristics:1.Emphasis on relation between translation and cultural factors, such as politics, history and aesthetics.2.Stress on the cultural position in translationwhether it is equal to or more important than the original.3.Analysis of acceptability of translation and cultural factors that have impact on translation.Main Ideas:1.The descriptive branch: to describe phenomena of translators as they manifest themselves in the world.prescriptive translation studies.2.The theory branch: to establish principles by which these phenomena can be explained. 3.The applied branch: to use information gained from 1 and 2 in the practice of translation and training of translators.Contributions:1.Put forward translation studies as an independent discipline.2.The first theorist who cares about the process of translation as a decision-making process.Polysystem School- Even-ZoharPolysystem: the entire network of correlated systems- literary and extraliterary within society.Translation is a major system for young or small countries like Israel.Three social conditions which translation would be given a primary position:1.when literature is young2.when literature is weak3.when literature is experiencing crisisConclusion:Translation is determined by conditions within the receiving polysystems, how texts to be translated are selected by the receiving culture. If a certain system is lack of some techniques, forms or styles, translation maybe introduces in order to keep the vitality and dynamic diversity of the whole system. Descriptive translation studies- Gideon TouryWeakness：1 They do not completely break away from linguistic school.2 They only see the influence of target culture on translation, neglecting the impact of translation on target culture.3 The views raised by scholars from the low countries could not represent the real progress in the field of translation studies. Cultural Translation -Susan Bassnett and Andre Lefevere Cultural Turn(Susan Bassnett and Andre Lefevere)Background: it is difficult to apply linguistic approach to solve problems in translating literary works.Main Ideas:Culture school emphasizes influence of cultural factors on translation and significance of translation in culture construction.Fundamental unit of translation is culture, not words, sentences or discourse, faithfulness based on vocabulary equivalence or discourse equivalence is nonexistent.The purpose of translation is to make translation is to make translation has the same function in the TL culture with that of the SL in the SL culture. Andre Lefevere: a Belgium literary critic and translation theoristTranslation is a rewriting, a rewriting of an original text, just as annotation and commentary.Rewriting is also “manipulation”, manipulating literature and culture. Positive：Through importing new concepts, new styles, new devices and new expression methods, rewriting or manipulating may further society and culture to go forward.Negative: it can suppress some innovations. DeconstructionismBackground: Rebellion against structuralism linguistics defined as the analysis of formal structures in a text or discourse and deconstructionism comes into being. Deconstruction is philosophical thought and originates in France in the late 1960s. Representatives: Derrida and Lawrence VenutiDerrida: (1930-2004), a philosopher in FranceThe origin of philosophy is translation or the thesis of translatability:Traditionally, the target text is dependent on the source text for its content, from, evaluation and existence because of dominance of the original. Instead, deconstructionism breaks away from the traditional concepts and microcosmic analysis is of translation and proposes macroscopic ideas.Main Ideas:1 Translation is a process that distorts original meaning and deconstructs texts and ensures the rebirth, the regeneration, the emergence and the growth of languages in general. i.e. the source text can only survive through translated text.2 By transgressing the limits of the target language, the translator extends, enlarges or makes language grow. i.e. Derrida puts out dominance of translators.Venuti 1953-: an American translation scholar According to a German translator, Friedrich Schleiermacher, Venuti put out distinction between domesticating and foreignizing translation. Schleiermacher:There are two methods of translating: either the translator leaves the author in peace, and moves the readers towards him; or he leaves the reader in peace,