翻译理论知识回顾

翻译理论知识回顾

Basic Knowledge of Translation Theory

I.Translation

1.Definition

1)The Definition in the Old Days

●“译即易，谓换易言语使相解也。”——贾公彦(618-907) 唐朝

●“夫翻译者，谓翻梵天之语转成汉地之言。音虽似别，义则大同。”——法云(960-1279)

宋代

It means that translation is a rendering from one language (Source Language) into another (Target Language), remaining the meaning.

●The British scholar Dr. Samuel Johnson once said: “To translate is to change

into another language, remaining the sense.”

2)The Current Definition

●The American translation theorist Eugene A. Nida wrote in 1964: Translation

consists in reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalence of the source language, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style.（所谓翻译，是在译语中用切近而又最自然的对等语再现原语的信息，首先是意义，其次是文体。）

1)再现原文的信息(message)而不是保留原文的形式结构(formal structure)

2)对等(equivalence)不是同一(identity)

3)对等是最贴近、自然的对等

4)意义是优先考虑的因素

5)文体很重要

●The British translation theorist Tytler’s definition in 1970 about

translation: “A good translation is one which the merit of the original work is so completely transfused into another language as to be as 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 ori ginal work.”

●Prof. Huang Long Translatology

Translation may be defined as follows:

The replacement of textual material in one language (SL) by equivalent textual material in another language (TL)

（翻译可以作以下界定：用一种语言（目的语）的文本材料对等地再现另一种语言（源出语）的文本材料。）

1)部分地替代

2)对等概念

2.Varieties of Translation

1)Interpretation and written translation

2)In terms of SL and TL, Interlingual translation语际(不同语言之间)，

Intralingual translation语内(同一语言rewording)，Intersemiotic translation符际(eg.把语言符号用图画、手势、数字或音乐来表达)

3)In terms of style, political essay政论，practical writing应用文，science

and technology科技，literary translation and so on.

II.Translation Criteria or Principle

●Tytler’s: Essay on the Principles of Translation, 1791

1) A translation should give a complete transcript of the ideas of the

original work.译文应完全复写出原作的思想。

2)The style and manner of writing should be of the same character as

that of the original.译文的风格和笔调应与原文的性质相同。

3) A translation should have all the ease of the original composition.

译文应和原作同样流畅。

●Yanfu’s: Faithfulness, Expressiveness and Elegance (信、达、雅)

1.“Faithfulness”means the full and complete conveying of the

original content of thought.

2.“Expressiveness” demands that the version should be clear and

flowing without any grammatical mistakes or confused logic and

sense.

3.“Elegance” refers to the use of classical Chinese before the Han

Dynasty.

In summary, the first two words as translation criteria are acceptable.

The original meaning of “Elegance”is unacceptable for today, but we can give it new sense -----elegant style in translation.

●Others:

Lu Xun’s (鲁迅)translation principle:

Rather be faithful (in thought) than smooth (in language) in opposition to Liang Shi-qiu’s translation principle in 1930s. (宁信不顺)

Fu Lei’s付雷translation criteria: TL should be similar to SL both in Form and in Spirit. (形似、神似)

Liu Chongde’s刘重德translation criteria: faithfulness, expressiveness and closeness. (信、达、切) faithfulness: to be faithful to the content of the original; expressiveness: to be as expressive and smooth as the original; closeness: to be as close to the original style as possible.

Liang Shiqiu ‘s and Zhao Jingshen’s (梁实秋，赵景深) translation principle in 1930s: “It’s better to have a smooth version than a faithful one.”宁错务顺

Eugene A. Nida’s translation principle: Dynamic equivalence or Functional equivalence or Equivalent-effect theory. The main idea is that the translator is to produce as nearly possible the same effect on his readers as was produced on the readers of the original.

Peter Newmark’s translation principle: From the angle of contextual analysis, he puts forward two translation approaches: Semantic translation and Communicative translation.

☆ Semantic translation: The translator attempts, within the bare syntactic and semantic constraints of the TL, to produce the precise contextual meaning of the author. Semantic translation focuses primarily upon the semantic content of the source text.