On The Scrambled Translation Of Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix From The Perspective Of Translational Action Theory

In the wake of economic reform and opening up and the deeper and deeper intercultural communication, English works that cover various branches have been translated into Chinese and introduced to China. The translation publishing industry becomes increasingly flourishing in China. The amount of translation works is huge; moreover, their variety is wide. The larger the amount of information is, the quicker the update speed becomes. So only if English works are to be translated as soon as possible, can the spread and the update of a mass of information be guaranteed; besides, some English works win so great success at home that Chinese publishers see their prospects in China and compete with each other to introduce them and pursue profits. Under such circumstances, the phenomenon of scrambled translation, like "fast-food translation" and "co-operative translation", becomes quite common in today’s translation field. Scrambled translation is the product of market economy and the information age. Scrambled translation, especially that of literary works, would necessarily destroy the translation quality. The vacancy of the Fifth Lu Xun Literature Prize in Literary Translation not only exposes the decline of translation quality but also is pinned on scrambled translation. The decline of translation quality has become a burning question in Chinese translation field, in which scrambled translation dominates, so the study of the phenomenon of scrambled translation should not be neglected and should be the breach to improve today’s translation situation.Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is representative of works translated with a rush. Based on the Translational Action Theory, this research is expected to explore the scrambled translation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The Translational Action Theory builds a firm foundation for the study of scrambled translation. Focusing on the actional aspects of the translaiton process, roles of the participants involved in the process and their interaction, this theory regards translation as a purposeful and intercultural communication. Firstly, the Translational Action Theory is applied to the analysis of the scrambled translation process of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and thus the participants involved in the translation process and their interaction will be studied. The analysis of the translation process helps to discover the root of the poor translation quality of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Then, through the comparison between the English and the Chinese versions of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, how the participants influence the production of the final translation, actually the concrete manifestations of scrambled translation, will be disclosed. In this way, the merits and demerits of the translation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will also be clear.To study the scrambled translation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is to see greatness in trivialness. Through this descriptive study, concrete manifestations of scrambled translation have been found. Then good and bad points of works translated with a rush will help translators to make wise choices in future. What’s more, the root of their poor translation quality has also been unearthed, which helps to solve the deteriorating of today’s translation situation fundamentally. Translation is a complex intercultural communication rather than a simple switching between languages, so translation studies should be more diversified. Translation needs all participants’cooperation, so the decline in translation quality should not be blamed on translators alone. Publishers, readers, critics and translators should work together to improve the current translation situation.