马玲玲论文正文.doc

温州大学瓯江学院本科毕业论文1. IntroductionTranslators qualifications are vital for the quality of translation. Through the long history of the translating research at home and abroad, many qualifications have been offered, namely, a translator is supposed to be able to have a correct understanding of the original text, be clever and right at choosing words, be good at sentence structuring, be proficient in linguistics, have literature cultivation, innovation mindset, and the attitude, skill and the art towards translation, etc.In 2009, the news agency the Reference News held the First Translation Contest, with the English Text entitled One Small Step Back to Where We Started. Analyzing the Chinese translated version that won the first prize in this contest, the author of this paper finds there are certain qualifications for a translator. A translator should be aware of some principles, standards and theories about translating practice. In this thesis, three translating principles will be involved, namely, the theory of discourse structure translation, functional equivalence of Eugene A. Nida and the principles of “faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance” of Yan Fu.2. Literary Review Translation enjoys a long history both at home and abroad; yet it has undergone quite different ways of development respectively. In the following, the author of this paper would like to present the development of the translation at home and abroad.2.1 Research abroad The history of translation can be traced back to two thousands years ago, and the modern language research is an irreplaceable element to the study of translation theories. Many years ago, the research about translation was mainly about the summary of the experience; however, nowadays translation studies have been developing markedly; no longer being regarded as part of linguistic discipline, with serious description and systematic summary (扈明丽&许明武, 2000:14). Many translators held that one should be truthful to the source language when translating the great work, the Bible, while Jerome, having a more open mindset, insisted that, “We should make the translated version much more coincided with the target language, in terms of rhythm and the other characteristics.” (熊德米, 2001: 7). Therefore the version of the Bible translated by him is much more fluent and acceptable to the readers. In the 16th century, Martin Luther, the famous Germany religious leader, translated the Bible into the German version which had received great applause from the ordinary readers at that time, and he also made a solid foundation for the development of German. One of the principles Luther bore in mind is that the translators should chat with housewives, children and other ordinary people on the street or in grocery markets, with the purpose of getting to know their way of speaking. In this way, the ordinary people can have a sense of talking with someone using German as their native language, which makes them feel much easier to follow (熊德米, 2001: 7). While in the 17th and 18th centuries, the translation circle had a controversy about the way of translating to the classical works. Then there came out two main parties. One is the party respecting the source language, which thought that as a translator, one should make the translated version tend to be the same as the source language in the writing style, in sentences and even in words; while the other party is on the contrary, holding that pursuing the elegance of the target language is of vital importance during the process of translating. Tytler, one of the most significant representative translators, raised three principles of translation in his book, On the Principles of Translation, which enjoys some similarities with the “truthfulness”, “expressiveness”, “elegance” advocated by Yan Fu, a well-known translator in the 19th century of China. In the 20th century, in the translation theory research field, combining the translation theory with every field of linguistic studies was a tendency. At this time, some masters in translation such as Eugene A. Nida, Peter Newmark, J.C. Catford and George Stainer wanted to make a great breakthrough towards some traditional translation theories on the purpose of finding a new way for translation theory and searching for a brand new mode and practice of it. Eugene A. Nida, one of the well-accomplished translators who are also well-known to our Chinese translation circle, had once advocated “the three-step mode” analysis, transformation and reconstruction, and elaborated his own dynamic equivalence, therefore making a definite dividing line with those comparative linguists who regarded the translation as finding corresponding components from the surface construction. The translation theory of Eugene A. Nida embarked on a new stage in 1970s, and in 1980s, he modified his “New Concept of Translation” into “Functional Equivalence”. Peter Newmark, a translator in England, used modern linguistics to analyze and deal with the concrete problems in the translating procedure. He thought that the theory of translation is rooted in the comparative linguistics and related to the semantic; therefore all the questions in semantics are related to translation. Moreover, Peter Newmark admitted the equivalence and the translatability of the language (Newmark, 2001:83). Translation is not only a science, but also a form of art. A translator should adopt different kinds of techniques towards different sorts of articles, consequently making a similar feeling to the readers of the source language and the translated version. From this point of view, we can see that a translator acts as an inter-mediator in the discourse (Hatim & Mason, 2001:3).2.2 Research at homeThe translation theory development periods in China can be divided into four stagesthe ancient translation theory, the modern translation theory, the contemporary translation theory and the translation theory in the present age(李 地, 2008: 4). The ancient translation theory was mainly about the agreed views and experience of translation, which were generally from the translation practice of Chinese Buddhist sutra between the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Tang and Song Dynasties. Additionally, the scientific English translation during the Ming and Qing Dynasties was involved. In the ancient times, when people translated one passage of the Buddhist scriptures they might meet a lot of difficulties. One main reason is that the Buddhist scriptures had usually been created in ancient times; therefore it is very hard for ordinary people to get a full understanding of the essentials of them. From this aspect, we can simply see the qualifications a translator should bear in mind at that special time. Xuan Zang, an eminent translator of the Buddhist scriptures, advocated not only word-for-word translation, but also initiated a new way of translation, in which free translation is combined with literal translation. Moreover, he had carried out some translation principles for the then translators to follow, namely “five categories of untranslatable terms”. Additionally, he gave his own opinion about the standards of translation, like, “When translating one passage, we, as translators should bear in mind that we should not only be truthful to the original article, but also should make the translated version more acceptable to the readers” (李地, 2008: 4). During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the translation course in China had been transformed into the translation of the Western science, mainly related to the works brought by the missionaries. It was not until the Opium War and the May 4th Movement in 1919 that our own translation theory became a system. A case in this point can be seen in Mr. Yan Fus “truthfulness”, “expressiveness” and “elegance”, which had been regarded as the best standards of translation in China. As far as the author of this paper is concerned, it takes great efforts for a translator to acquire all these three standards at the same time; however, it also represents the qualifications translators should bear. In the modern translation period of China, some translators explorations in this field have reached an even higher level. For example, Zhu Guangqian held that one truthful translated version must express the meaning of the source language as much as possible; therefore one qualification for translators to possess evoked, that is to understand the source text fully. And Fu Lei thought that the words, syntax and the usage of words in different countries are quite different, hence, translators should be able to extract the essence of the words in the passage in the process of translating. Then there came Qian Zhongshus theory of “sublimation”, which demands the translators should have their own thoughts, and put their ideas to readers when doing a translating work and adopt specific principles to particular issues; a good choice of words and a suitable diction are also pretty vital factors. Years ago, Mr. Liu Quanfu put forward that translating is a process of reconstructing (刘全福, 2008: 2).2.3 The Basic Qualifications Translators Should BearSince there are differences between Chinese and English, especially in the linguistic structures and the ways of expressing, a moderate method should be applied during translating. The use of transformation, also a technique of translation, can be applied to the morphology and syntax in translating practice (程晓堂, 2008: 12), because it can make the translated version go more smoothly and more coincided with the source language. The essence of translating is to express the information from one language into another. When translators deal with the source language, it is a process of re-producing; they will be influenced by the original author, and the translator has the responsibility to convey the original authors idea, writing style and the other related items to the readers of the target language; therefore they have almost the same feeling and get enlightened as the readers of the source language do. It seems a much higher level of qualifications for a translator. In addition, no matter how outstanding a translator is, he or she may meet some hurdles which he or she can not deal with at the moment, hence a dictionary is in dire need. Then there comes another qualification, that is, the fluent using of any reference book. Language competence is another factor existing in translating practice. Having a glance of various translated versions, the author of this paper perceives a common problem, that is, the lack of language competence, which should be paid much more attention to (李可, 2009: 7). From what has been discussed above, we could have a general idea about what a translator should possess. Meanwhile it can be easily seen that to be a qualified translator is not a simple job; it requires so many qualifications that you need to put your heart in it. The excellent grasp of the mother tongue, the fluent usage of the target language, the related theories at home and abroad, the translation skills and etc. Therefore translation has been called a procedure of hardships, because it needs great efforts and relentless pursuit of perfection.3. The Involved Three Translation Theories Talking of translators qualifications, we should be aware of some relative translation theories, because they are not only the solid foundation of translating practice, but also indispensable factors for it. Therefore, the author of this paper would like to introduce three translation theories to support her thesis, namely, the theory of discourse structure translation, functional equivalence proposed by Eugene A. Nida and the “faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance” by Yan Fu.3.1 The Theory of Discourse Structure TranslationRoughly speaking, Discourse Structure Translation refers to the attempts to study the organization of language above the sentences or above the clauses, and therefore to study larger linguistic units, such as conversational exchanges or written text (Beaugrande, 1980: 2, cited in李运兴, 2001: 16). According to Hu Zhuanglin, the discourse or text can be a word, a phrase, a caplet, a poem, a diary, a prose, a novel: or a slogan, a song, a dialogue, a three-hour-long lecture, etc.(胡壮麟, 1994: 2) . A translator is still a key role in the cross-culture or cross-language. He or she combines the translation purpose and the practical translation into one. We usually say that a translator should firstly be a reader of the source language, with a definite purpose of translating it, and his aims at understanding and grasping the main idea of the original writer, and acts as a receiver. Different languages may have their own unique methods of creation of discourse, but they also share some similarities. One translated version is the translators negotiation and response towards the source language. During the discussion of the discourse or text, Hatim (1990: 158) divided discourse into three aspects, namely, exposition, argumentation, instruction; the reason for this kind of classification lies, according to Hatim, in that, a discourse or text is a set of mutually relevant communicative functions structured in such a way as to achieve an overall rhetorical purpose (Hatim, 1990: 234). Since Chinese and English belong to different kinds of languages, when we deal with the translating job, the subject in the initial position in a Chinese clause should be identified as the subject theme or topic theme, the former being comparable to subjects in English and the latter quite particular to topic-prominent languages such as Chinese. It is also proposed that the concept of situation be introduced to account for the anaphoric omission of subjects in the Chinese clause complex (李运兴, 2002:7). Discourse or text plays an important role in the understanding of a source language passage; therefore, in the real practice of the translating, a translator should bear in mind that some sentence patterns need a little bit change, or a slight shift. As to the anaphoric omission of subjects, the understanding of the source language totally is required, and a translator should make sense of the relationship between phrases and phrases, sentences and sentences, so as to grasp the invisible subjects or other indispensable but important elements.3.2 The “Faithfulness, Expressiveness and Elegance” of Yan FuAccording to Yan Fu, “In translation there are three difficulties, namely, faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance.” Faithfulness is the prerequisite and foundation of translation. Expressiveness is the purpose. Elegance is the choice of the registers. This principle, advocated by Yan Fu, had made a profound significance in the translating practice and theory in China. Faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance, which are very difficult to achieve, are the summary of Yan Fus absorbing from the translation of the ancient the Buddhist scriptures, and the real translating practice was based on experience. Faithfulness requires the translator should put one language into another faithfully, and bridge the gap between the original writer and readers of the target language. Faithfulness is the prerequisite and foundation of translation; however, the prerequisite for the faithfulness is the theoretical qualifications a translator should bear in mind. Expressiveness is the purpose. Theoretically speaking, translation is a process of information transferring, and the target of translation is to represent the source language to the eyes of the receivers, with the utmost natural and real method from the prospective of meaning and style. Meanwhile, we can also clearly see that different culture backgrounds, customs and speech will surely cause the diversified sorts of language expressions, thus a typical task for a translator is to express the idea and the culture of the target language to the receivers. Qian Zhongshu once said that as a translator, he or she has no right to change the content of the original text; however, he or she can adopt correct translation techniques and to express the original meaning thoroughly in a much freer way. Elegance is the choice of the registers. To a certain extent, elegance is not only the highest level of the three standards, but also the most difficult one to achieve. Even Yan Fu himself, who had translated eight works into Chinese versions, often failed to achieve it totally (郭延礼2001: 247), because elegance is a very high requirement, which pays special attention to the figure of speech and the rich and bright colors of the translated version. However, Yan Fus translating standards, namely, faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance, are highly generalized principles, which have been making a significant sense to the Chinese translation practice and theory.3.3 Functional Equivalence of Eugene A. NidaSince the beginning of 1980s, the most influential translation theories from the West with the most far reaching effect have been those proposed by E. A. Nida, such as dynamic equivalence, equivalent effect and receptors response (范祥涛, 2006: 6). In this paper, what the author wants to talk about is Nidas functional equivalenceanother influential translation theory from the West, which makes a great contribution to the development of Chinese translation. Functional equivalence is one of Nidas greatest contributions to the translation theory field. In the book named The Theory and Practice of Translation, co-authored with Charles Taber, he definitely pointed out that functional equivalence means that the readers of the target language should have the similar feelings with those of the source language, when they read the typical work in different periods of time and places ( Nida & Taber, 1969：24).The functional equivalence takes a look from a quite different point of view, which changed from the text-oriented to the reader-ori