A Descriptive Study Of Jimmerson’s Translation Of Er Ma From The Perspective Of Toury’s Translation Norms

Er Ma(《二马》)is one of the three novels that has established Lao She’s position in the history of modern Chinese literature, and it is also the only one novel that depicts Chinese people’s life abroad. Lao She made an incisive and vivid description of clashes of ideas and emotions between the Chinese and British characters in his unique humorous way and with a decidedly Beijing touch. Lao She, through a comparison of Chinese people and British people and the national characters they represent, criticizes the weak points of traditional Chinese culture and digs into the internal causes of national discrimination, and at the same time attempts to seek national self-reliance. The comparison of Chinese and Western culture, as well as the strong criticism of the frailties of Chinese national character in Er Ma has been a focus of related studies. The novel’s language is characteristic of Chinese culture and deep in meaning, thus serving as a window to China and its culture. The unique perspective and the rich cultural connotation have made Er Ma a distinctive novel. There are altogether three English versions of Er Ma, namely Ma and Son:A Novel (1980) by Jean M. James, The Two Mas (1984) by Kenny K. Huang&David Finkelstein and Mr. Ma&Son:a Sojourn in London (1991) by Julie Jimmerson. Only Jimmerson’s version is available on Chinese mainland market. The good sale of Jimmerson’s version published by Foreign Languages Press attests to her high-quality translation. Jimmerson’s consideration of various factors, social and cultural factors in particular, played an important role in the translation process of Er Ma. Therefore, it is necessary and inspiring to explain actual translation phenomena in terms of history and culture so as to acquire a better understanding of Jimmerson’s version. For this, Toury’s translation norms offer a practical and beneficial perspective.The Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS) has flourished during the "culture turn" of translation studies in1980s. As one of the important leaders of the descriptive paradigm, Toury considers that translation is an activity with social and cultural meanings and thus is subject to various socio-cultural factors. Toury has introduced norms into translation studies, and stated that norms are socio-cultural constraints which serve as "performance instructions" for translation behaviors. He distinguishes and elucidates three kinds of translation norms:preliminary norms, initial norm and operational norms. Preliminary norms govern the selection of the source text. Initial norm is concerned with the overall orientation or tendency of the translation. Operational norms have to do with both the micro-level and the macro-structure of the translated text, which are reflected by the translator’s strategies in reformulating the text. In Toury’s view, the three kinds of norms govern the translator’s decisions and choices in translation process and can be used to decide the appropriateness or acceptability of translation behavior, to make an appropriate adjustment to various constraints, which will provide a better and more thorough understanding of translation phenomena.This thesis presents a study whose aim is to observe and describe how Toury’s three kinds of norms are in operation in Jimmerson’s translating Er Ma in light of history, society and culture. Why did Jimmerson select the Chinese novel Er Ma to translate into English? Did she prefer an adequate or acceptable translation? In dealing with linguistic materials like culture-loaded words, metaphors and colloquialisms, and stylistic features of Er Ma, what kind of strategies did she adopt? To find answers to these questions, the present study has been carried out on the basis of a close reading of related documents and literature in both printed and electronic forms. Coupled pairs in terms of culture-loaded words, metaphors and colloquialisms were manually identified, counted and analyzed through a comparison of Er Ma and Jimmerson’ version. It was found that the three kinds of norms actually play their role in Jimmerson’s translation process. Firstly, factors like the open Chinese social and cultural background, readers’ expectation of knowing Chinese culture and Foreign Languages Press’s intention of introducing Chinese culture has influenced Jimmerson’s selection of Er Ma. Secondly, Jimmerson prefers acceptability to adequacy in order to offer an acceptable translation to the target readers. Lastly, according to statistics,71%of the180culture-loaded words are translated liberally;28.15%of the167metaphors are translated liberally;97.46%of237colloquialisms are translated liberally. So Jimmerson mainly adopts a domestication strategy. In addition, Jimmerson’s translation retains the sequencing and setting of Er Ma, fully reflects the theme of Er Ma through appropriate and accurate portrayals of characters, and thus reproduces the stylistic features of the original novel.Such a descriptive analysis of Er Ma and Mr. Ma and Son:a Sojourn in London from the perspective of translation norms aims not to establish prescriptive rules but to provide sensible explanations for Jimmerson’s translation decisions and choices. Besides, the present study has been made in expectation of enriching studies on Jimmerson’s translation and confirming the reasonableness or rationality of Toury’s translation norms.