The Study On The Chinese Translation Of The State In Its Relation To Trade From The Perspective Of Translation Norms

John Fryer is a famous translator in the Late Qing dynasty.He has translated many works,promoting the spread of western culture and the development of the Translation Institute of Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau.Many scholars have made in-depth research on Fryer himself and his translation of science and technology.However,few scholars have discussed his translations of social sciences,and one of representatives of such translation,The State in Its Relation to Trade,has not been thoroughly studied.Therefore,this thesis chooses this book as the research object to discuss the translation characteristics of Fryer.Toury believes that norms play a central role in translation behavior and translation process.The translator follows certain translation norms when he needs to choose from two different languages and cultural traditions in a specific context,which are reflected in the regular characteristics of the translation.If researchers find such characteristics,they can make a further study and reconstruct the translation norms.Basing on translation norms of Toury,the author reconstructs translation norms of Fryer after observing the deviation between the translation and source text: as for preliminary norms,the political needs and commercial development of Late Qing society determine that this book could be introduced into China.Meanwhile,the preference of Chinese translators at that time for western books and the excellent translation ability of Fryer make direct translation feasible.The initial norms show the target language-oriented tendency,and reflect the translator’s emphasis on the“acceptability” of the translation.In terms of operation norms,the translator frequently uses omission and restructuring,damaging the integrity of the text and changing the overall appearance of the translation.In terms of specific language,the translator mainly uses omission and amplification to adjust the wording,so as to make the translation easy to be understood.For sensitive political content,the translator chooses omission or mistranslation to downplay the image of Britain as a colonialist.Then the author further analyzes how the sociocultural factors and the translator’s subjectivity affect the translator’s translation norms.Under the guidance of Toury’s translation norms,the author reconstructs the translation norms of Fryer in The State in Its Relation to Trade,in the hope of providing some references for the study of Fryer’s translation and the translation history in the Late Qing dynasty.