Translation Style Of Four English Translations Of " The Cricket "

One of the means of language communication between people of different cultures is translation, which contributes greatly to the development and the evolution of our society. Translation is a complex and creative activity. Translation research has been continuing from ancient time till now. Translation criticism is the indispensable part of translation research."The Cricket"is an important short story from Strange Tales of a Lonely Studio written by Pu Songling. My thesis, introduces briefly the plot of"The Cricket"and its author Pu Songling."The Cricket"has already been translated into English by some translators, including Zhang Qingnian, Denis C & Victor H. Mair, Ding Wangdao and Yang Xianyi. The four translations embody distinctive translation styles. After introducing"The Cricket", the following aspects are formulated. Firstly, an introduction of the style theory. Here Mona Baker's methodology for investigating the translator's style is introduced. Secondly, an introduction of text category, target language text and source language text. A translation critic can find translator's style and translation's quality on the basis of an analysis of the original, which is not enough to evaluate a translation and a translator's style. Comparison of the target language text with the source language text is an indispensable part of translation criticism. The category of the source language text must be researched. The methods of translation and translation criticism used by a translator and a translation critic vary with different kinds of text. Thirdly, an introduction of linguistic and non-linguistic elements that may affect the translation and translation criticism. Fourthly, translator's personalities will be discussed for they are also a factor to affect the translation. For the same source language text, there are no two identical translations. Fifthly, based on the above theory, I will make many comparative analyses both between the original and the translation and between the four translations. These analyses are not subject to linguistic aspects. Translator's subjective factors are formulated to see clearly the translation and translator's style. Finally, I will summarize the four translator's respective translation distinctiveness and style and the possible reasons leading to the differences.