The Use Of Addition And Omission In The English Translation Of The Legend Of The Condor Heroes:A Redundancy Perspective

The Legend of the Condor Heroes is a representative work of Louis Cha（1924-2018）,a famous Chinese writer.Since the Swedish translator Anna Holmwood translated the first nine chapters of The Legend of the Condor Heroes into English and renamed it A Hero Born in 2018,the translation has attracted extensive attention from scholars at home and abroad.The translation is highly praised by readers in the West,but controversial in China.The controversial translation increases the value of its research,so it is selected as the research object of this study.This study is based on a self-built parallel corpus and analyzes the rationality and specific situation of the translator’s use of addition and omission methods from the perspective of Redundant Information Theory.Quantitative analysis shows that throughout the whole translation there are 173 omissions and 28 additions of whole sentences or large paragraphs,and the methods of addition and omission are mainly used in the first chapter Suddenly a Snow Storm.Qualitative analysis shows that these translation methods are mainly used to add or reduce the redundant information to reduce the information load rate of the text,so as to match the difficulty and length of the text with the reader’s channel（reading）ability（i.e.,language understanding ability）.The addition method is mainly used to add the necessary redundant information to promote plot development and explain the concrete cultural background.In promoting plot development,the addition is of five types:adding interpretive language,adding evaluative language,adding main characters’ actions and language,and adding information for making up for the vacancy of the previous omission.The omission method is also mainly used to reduce the redundant information to promote the development of the plot of the novel and bridge the cultural background gap.However,different from addition,excessive omission damaged the integrity of the novel structure in this translation.In the same vein,from the perspective of redundant information theory,omission that is simply used to reduce the difficulty of the process of translation is not acceptable.