Nida’s Dynamic Equivalence Theory on Poetry Translation

1、Nidas Dynamic Equivalence Theory on Poetry Translation曹振霞【Abstract】basedonNidasdynamicequivalencetheory，thepaperanalyzesthepoemtranslation“ShallICompareTheetoanAprilDay？APsalmofLovebyLizhen.Thepapermainlydiscussesthestrategiesusedinthetranslation，namely，lexicalapproach，syntacticapproachandimageryapp

2、roach，whichhelpstorevealhowthedynamicequivalencetheoryisappliedtothetranslationofthepoem.Inconclusion，Lizhenstranslationofthepoemisnaturalandexpressivewhenitmeetsthecoreprinciplesofthedynamicequivalencetheory.【Keywords】Nidasdynamicequivalencetheory；poemtranslation；translationstrategies1.Introduction

3、Thepoem“YouAretheAprilDayofThisWorldOdetoLove?你是人間四月天?isoneofthegreatestclassicsofLinhuiyin，whoisafamousmodernpoetandthefirstfemalearchitectinChina.ThepoemhasbeenlovedandappreciatedsincepublicationanditistranslatedintodifferentEnglishversionsbydifferenttranslatorsorpoets.Poetrytranslationisoftenrega

4、rdedasacomparativelydifficultanddemandingformofliterarytranslationduetothesubtletyanddelicacyinthelanguageofpoetryandthedifferencesbetweenthesourcelanguageandthetargetlanguage.Thus，translatorsarerequiredtofathomtheconnotationoftheoriginalworkstotransmittheaestheticappreciationinbothmeaningsandforms，

5、andthenmakethereadersfeelasiftheyhaverelivedthesameexperience.basedonNidasdynamicequivalencetheory，thepoem“ShallICompareTheetoanAprilDay？APsalmofLove?你是人间四月天?byLinhuiyinanditsEnglishtranslationbyLizhenwillbeanalyzedasacasestudytoappreciatethepoemanditsEnglishtranslationaswellastodosomeresearchonthet

6、ranslationstrategiesreflectedintherendering.2.TheoreticalbackgroundNidasdynamicequivalenceisbasedonwhatNidacallstheprincipleofequivalenteffect，whertherelationshipbetweenreceptorandmessageshouldbesubstantiallythesameasthatwhichexistedbetweentheoriginalreceptorsandthemessage.Themessagehastobetailoredt

7、othereceptorslinguisticneedsandculturalexpectationandaimsatcompletenaturalnessofexpression.NaturalnessisakeyrequirementforNida.Indeed，hedefinesthegoalofdynamicequivalenceasseekingtheclosestnaturalequivalenttothesource-languagemessage.Thisreceptororientedapproachconsidersadaptationsofgrammar，oflexico

8、nandofculturalreferencestobeessentialinordertoachievenaturalness；thetargetlanguageTLshouldnotshowinterferencefromthesourcelanguageSL，andtheforeignnessoftheSTsettingisminimized.ForNida，thesuccessofthetranslationdependsaboveallonachievingequivalentresponse.Itisoneofthefourbasicrequirementsofatranslati

9、on，whichare：endprint1Makingsense；2Conveyingthespiritandmanneroftheoriginal；3Havinanaturalandeasyformofexpression；4Producingasimilarresponse.3.StylisticanalysisLizhenstranslationofthepoemisthoughttobenatural，expressiveandeasytounderstandbythetargetlanguagereaders.Thispartofthepaperwillanalyzethestrat

10、egiesusedinthetranslationsoastomakeclearhowthedynamicequivalencetheoryisappliedtothetranslationofthepoem.3.1LexicalapproachGenerallyspeaking，diction，whichmeansthechoiceanduseofwords，istheessenceofapoem.Differentdictionforthesamethememayresultindifferentstyles.“你是四月天里的云烟istranslatedas“Theearethethinm

11、istrisingintheAprildawn.Theauthoruses“thinmistinsteadof“cloudfor“云烟.“Cloudisdefinedas“agreyorwhitemassmadeofverysmalldrosofwater，thatfloatsinthesky.Forinstance，thesunwentbehindacloudOxford365.While“Mistisdefinedas“acloudofverysmalldropsofwaterintheairjustabovetheground，thatmakeitdifficulttoseeOxford

12、1286.E.g.Thehillswereshroudedinmist.Accordingtothedefinitionsinthedictionary，cloudmaybeeasilyassociatedwithrain；mistisoftenrelatedtothinvaporintheairabovetheground，bluringthingsaround.Obviously，consideringitisontheAprilday，mistsappearmoreoftenthancloudsofrain.Therefore，mistmatchesbetterthemeaningof“

13、云煙intheoriginaltextthan“cloud.Thissimpleandaccurateword“thinmistmatchestheoriginaltextinstyleandmanner.Itistheclosestnaturalequivalencetothesourcelanguagemessage.3.2SyntacticapproachFuleioncepointedoutthatwhendoingtranslation，oneshouldkeeptheoriginalsyntacticstructuretothegreatestdegree1979.Stylecan

14、notbeattainedexceptforkeepingtheoriginalsyntacticfeatures.However，poetryisaspecialtypeofliteraturegenre.Sometimes，inthetranslationofpoems，theoriginalsyntactichastobechangedinordertoattainagoodeffect.Theoriginaltitle“你是人间四月天istranslatedinto“ShallIcomparetheetoanAprilday？byLizheninsteadof“YouAretheApr

15、ilofThisWorldassomeothertranslatorsdo.Thelattertranslationkeepstheoriginalsyntacticpatternbuttheformerhaschangedthepatterntoaninterrogativesentence.ThistranslationimmediatelyremindspeopleofShakespearesmostfamouspoem“ShallIcomparetheetoasummersday？Lizhenstranslationisthoughttobeproperforthefollowingr

16、easons：firstly，asforlinguisticfeatures，boththetitlesofthetwopoemsaremetaphors.ShakespearecompareshislovertoasummersdaywhileLinhuiyinassimilatesherbelovedwithanAprilday.Secondly，asfarasthethemeconcerned，boththetwopoemsareaboutlove.Shakespeareshowshislovetoawoman，whosecharmandbeautywillnotfadejustasth

17、esunonasummersday.Meanwhile，Linhuiyinsparesnoefforttoshowheraffectionforherson，whoistheincarnationofabeautifulAprilday.Lastbutmostimportantly，“ShallIcomparetheetoasummersdayisoneofShakespearesmostfamousandpopularpoemintheworld，whichenjoysahighreputationinthepoeticworldandisfamiliartothepeopleintheEn

18、glishworld.Thetitle“shallIcomparetheetoanAprildayisanadaptationtothetargetlanguageculture，thoughtheoriginalsentencestructureischanged.Itmeetsthetargetlanguagesculturalexpectationswiththeirfamiliarculturalelements.Thiskindoftranslationisreceptor-orientedapproach，whichisthemainfeatureofdynamicequivale

19、nce.endprint3.3ImageryapproachImageryistheuseofwordsorpicturestodescribeideasoractionsinpoems，books，filmsetcLongman1254.Itisfoundationaltopoetry.Itdrawsreadersintoasensoryornewexperienceorrevealourownexperienceinanewexpectation.Intheoriginalpoem，“水光浮动着你梦期待中白莲。istranslatedas“.Inthewhitelilyopeningjoy

20、fullyintheshimmeringlake！Here，whitelilyischosentoreplace“whitelotus.InChineseculture，lotushasbeenlovedbyscholarsandpoetsforthousandsofyears，foritisarepresentationofgoodthings，suchaspurity，nobility，beauty，love，etc.Whatsmore，lotushasbeentheholyflowerinBuddhism.ItisevenseenastheembodimentoftheBuddha.Th

21、eimageoflotushasdeeplyrootedinChinesecultureandatthesametimebringgreatinfluenceonit.Linhuiyincompareshersontoalotusbloomingintheshimmeringlaketoshowherdeepestloveandappreciationforherson.JustaslotusoccupiesanimportantpositioninChineseculture，lilyhasanmajorplaceinEnglishculture.Itappearsinmanymythsan

22、dfairytalesinwesterncultures.Lily，especiallywhitelilies，representspurityandnobilityinliterature.Inthisway，LilyhasthesameimageandsymbolicmeaningaslotusdoesinChineseculture.However，thetargertlanguagereadersmaynotbefamiliarwithoraccepttheimagethatlotushascreatedinChineseculture，especiallywhenithassomet

23、hingtodowithreligion.Iftheoriginaltextistranslatedinto“lotus，itmayarouseconfusionorambiguity.Inordertokeepthisfromhappening，thetranslatoruses“whitelilytoachievethesameeffectas“lotuscreates，whichavoidstheculturalinterferencefromthesourcelanguage.ThiskindoftranslationwelldemonstratesNidasconceptindynamicequivalencetheorythat“theTTlanguageshouldnotshowinterferencefromtheSL，thetheforeignnessoftheSLsettingisminimized.4.ConclusionJustasNidasaid，“thebesttranslationdoesnotsoundlikeatranslation，Lizhenstranslationhasattainedthiseffect.Hist