A Corpus-Based Study Of Liang Shiqiu's And Zhu Shenghao's Translation Strategies In Translating Hamlet And Othello

The research of translation strategies has been subjective and always based on a personal impression. Although it is generally accepted that subjective judgment, viewed as an outdated method of evaluation, is unavoidable in translation studies, it is desirable to conduct objective analysis as bases for any judgment. Following the successful construction of Para-corpus, the English-Chinese drama parallel corpus specially developed for the research, the author attempts to conduct a quantitative and descriptive study of Liang Shiqiu's and Zhu Shenghao's translation strategies in their translations of Hamlet and Othello.Para-corpus is constructed owing to its capacity to generate objective data in a short period of time. Liang's and Zhu's translations of two Shakespearean plays, namely, Hamlet and Othello, are the subject of this study due to their immense popularity and particular literary merits. The thesis presents a detailed introduction to the principles, procedures, and rules for constructing Para-corpus. Then a corpus-based comparative analysis has been conducted of Liang's and Zhu's translations of culture specific words, that clause, and English passives in Hamlet and Othello, in hopes of identifying their different translation preferences and inclinations in the use of translations strategies, i.e., domestication and foreignization.After a detailed analysis of the difference between English and Chinese languages and the translator's subjectivity at work, it is concluded that both translators adopt domestication strategy in their translations, but Liang's translation consists of many elements of foreignization whereas Zhu's translation is more inclined towards domestication.The present research is an exploratory study, which makes an attempt at the application of the parallel corpus in the research of translation strategies. It can be argued that the present research will hopefully provide a new perspective and methodology for the future research on translation strategies and translation criticism.