On Principles Of Text Translation In Global Context

According to Professor Liu Zhongde (1998:14),"The so-called principles of translation and criteria of translation are actually the two sides of the same thing. The former lays emphasis on the translator, who should follow them while translating, whereas the latter on the reader or critic, who may use the criteria to evaluate a translation."And the terms"principle"and"criterion"will be used interchangeably in the dissertation.When"talking of the importance and double function of the criteria of translation, a theorist puts it quite well, saying that the criteria of translation function as a plumb-line for measuring the professional level of translation and as a goal set for translators to strive after. Hence, the formulation of definite and normal criteria of translation has a momentous bearing on its gusto and quality."(ibid.:14)And the issue of translation criteria is considered as a fundamental one in translation practice, in teaching of translation and in translation criticism( Wang Hongyin,2 009:9 7). So it is of great significance to probe into this issue so as to establish certain principles which are relatively stable and dynamic, and are feasible in theory and operative in practice and be source-text oriented and target-text oriented as well.The dissertation focuses on the study of principles of text translation. In the first part a brief history of translation has been presented at the beginning of this part and then such items as the aim and implications of the research, the motivation of research, methods of research, structure and arrangement of research, and the expected innovations in the research are introduced.In the second part the definition of translation and its nature have been covered firstly. It is pointed out that one important part of this dissertation is to study translation from the perspective of text linguistics for the fact that"the texts are primary form of linguistic manifestations"and the basis for translation, and"translation, therefore, is a text-oriented event (Wilss, 2001: 112)"first and foremost. What's more, translation can be regarded as two purposeful communicative acts between a sender (or text producer), a translator and a recipient(a target text reader) by means of different languages concerning and being limited by the physical world, the world of conscious and unconscious experiences, and the world of the products of the human mind. Then the classification of translation and the principles of translation in the past are mentioned and analyzed. It is held that translation principles should be relatively stable on the one hand, and should be dynamic on the other they should be feasible in theory and should be operative in practice they should be source-text oriented and target-text oriented as well.Next the traditional levels and strategies of translation and the translators'role are dealt with. What's more, text types are also covered. And because of the fact that"Few texts are purely expressive, informative or vocative: most include all three functions, with an emphasis on one of the three."(Newmark, 1988: 39-44) and that the strategies and methods of translation are determined by such key factors as the subjectivity of the translator, the translation purposes and social and cultural elements apart from types and functions of texts, the principles of text translation in the dissertation are intended to be applicable for various types of texts instead of a single type.And then the principles of text translation, which comprise the intertextual principles and the extratextual principle, have been mentioned here for translators to follow while translating and for the reader or critic to use to evaluate a translation.In the third part the seven intratextual principles of translation originating from the seven standards of textuality presented by Beaugrande and Dressler (2002:11) have been mentioned which comprise cohesion, coherence, intentionality, acceptability, informativity, situationality and intertextuality. The guidance of these principles in text translation have been analyzed and illustrated by the use of a large number of examples. It can be concluded that these principles are quite conducive for guiding translators in achieving a fundamentally good target text. This is the basis and the first step for a good translation.The fourth part starts with the introduction of skopostheorie, in which the"Skopos rule"is regarded as the top-ranking rule for any translation, meaning that a translational action is determined by its Skopos that is,"the end justifies the means"(Nord, 2001:29). Then the forms and variants of texts are discussed as a basis for translation work. And this part focuses on the guidance of the Skopos rule in translating public signs, advertisements, and certain parts of Ulysses, a novel by the Irish author James Joyce. It is also mentioned that the"Skopos rule"can be applied to guide translators in other fields, such as news English, scientific English, tourism English, legal English or legal language, business English and language for global communication.It can be concluded that translation is definitely a dynamic activity and the product of translation is–if not dynamic in itself–then at least the outcome of a dynamic process (Dollerup, 2007:2). And all the choices made by the translator in the translation procedures, translation strategies or techniques, etc., should be governed by and thus serve the intended Skopos of every specific translation. Thus, the extratextual principle of translation, the skopos rule is presented.In the fifth part two English versions of the Chinese poem Chang Hen Ge《(长恨歌》) are assessed in the light of principles of text translation presented in the dissertation and a new version is produced under the guidance of the principles. From the discussion in this part, it can be seen that both versions are qualified products in that the translators of the two versions have fulfilled the skopos of translation and have made the versions adequate in terms of textuality. It can also be seen that the same poem can be translated into English in a completely new form under the guidance of the principles. Thus it can be concluded that the principles of text translation presented in the dissertation are applicable in the assessment of translation products and are practicable in guiding a translator's translation practice. To be exact, a translation product can be assessed by the extratextual principle and the intratextual principles, the latter are done in terms of cohesion, coherence, intentionality, acceptability, informativity, situationality and intertextuality. And a translator can free himself/herself from some traditional limitations and produce versions in a new form under the guidance of the principles.In conclusion, the intratextual and extrotextual principles can be used to guide translators in translation and to be applied in translation assessment for the reason that they are an integration of the objective and subjective measurements which is undoubtedly superior to the traditional principles of translation. The great benefit of the research would be that researchers and practitioners in translation could move away from the old vague contradictory translation strategies and approaches between free vs. literal translation, foreignizing vs. domesticating translation, fidelity(faithfulness) vs. clarity(transparency), formal resemblance vs. spiritual resemblance, proactive/prospective & retrospective translation, direct vs. indirect translation, total vs. restricted translation,direct vs. oblique translation, full vs. partial translation,formal equivalence vs. dynamic equivalence(or functional equivalence),semantic vs. communicative translation,documentary vs. instrumental translation, covert vs. overt translation,full vs. acceptable translation, imposition vs. requisition, prescription vs. description, etc.. They may also move away from the dubious distinction between author-directed and audience-directed translation and strike a balance between the source-text orientation and target-text orientation so as to perform translation work and assess translation products properly.