Coordination Theory Of Translation-A Study Of Gao Jian As A Translator

Take heed from history, with mankind as its basis.The 20th centurywas the centuryof translation.Translation during the last century was the golden age in the history of humantranslation.Over many years of literary translation activities, a multitude of translators haveaccumulated rich experiences, studied translation from a wide range of perspectives, andhave generated great numbers of insights into translation activities, the unique nature ofliterarytranslation, and the relationship between literature and culture. All these have laid asolid foundation for the research of literary translation. However, after a comprehensivestudy of the current state of translation in China, some scholars think that the presenttranslation studies are imbalanced, especially in literary translation, which is still relativelyfragmented. As Professor Mu Lei has stated:"Our country's research on translators usuallyfocuses on summarizing their experiences and retracing their processes of translation onlyafter their passing."Examples include the Translator Zhou Zuoren, Translator Lu Xun,Zhang Guruo's Art of Translation, and the Golden Mean Translation of Liang Shiqiu,which are only the other peoples'deductions of those deceased translators'thoughts, andcannot benefit from the feedback and confirmation. In actuality, the study of translators isfar from gathering collections of their works, but more importantly, it is focused on theirmaturation process, the transformation process of different translation concepts, and howthey consciously or unconsciously use various forms of translation theory to guide theirtranslations. Only through personal contact with these translators, to listen to them and toexperience and record some of their feelings which have not been documented, can wemake our research more sound, lively, reliable and comprehensive. Based on the above,this dissertation probes into the literary translation ideas of the nationally-recognizedeighty years old senior translator Gao Jian by exploring his translation track to highlighthis coordination theoryof translation.The dissertation will begin with the reason for choosing such a topic, analyze thecurrent state of China's literary translation studies, explore the background of establishing the coordination theory of translation (its theoretical basis, the objective needs, thescientific definition of Coordination Theory and the strategies for implementation), anddeal with ten pairs of the main contradictions in the Coordination of translation practice,which are illustrated by excellent examples from Mr. Gao Jian's works as well as otherfamous translators'to further elaborate on the Coordination Theory. Together, this willdemonstrate that the Coordination Theory is the core of the other four theories (Relativetheory, Multiple-Language theory, Language Character theory and"Stop"theory). At thesame time, some classic examples are chosen to verify and perfect the CoordinationTheory's future development. In addition, through the recorded interviews with Mr. GaoJian, the paper explores his successful journey in translation, which is a good illustration ofthe science of Coordination Theory in concept and practice. The dissertation can bedivided into six major sections.1. IntroductionProviding a brief account of the great achievements of literature translation studies inthe twentieth century, the deficiency in studying the translators, and Mr. Gao Jian and hisrich fruit of translation practices, especially illustrating the meaning of his translationresearch.2.The outline of CoordinationTheoryExpounding on the historical background and the objective needs to the establishmentof Coordination Theory, the paper explores the agreement between the coordination theoryand the traditional philosophy of China, the study of linguistics and psychology. Throughthe process of literary translation, the guiding ideology of the Coordination Theory ofliterary translation is analyzed and proved from the two contradictory aspects of translationpractice. The paper explores in great detail the definition of Gao Jian's CoordinationTheory and the object of coordination and its implementation strategies (the preconditionsand requirements of coordination, coordination standards and necessities, its range andscope, its effects and purpose, and its various aspects and methods), thus enabling readersto fully understand the basis of Coordination Theory and scientifically apply it in thefuture. 3. Dealing with various relationships based on CoordinationTheoryThis section analyzes and demonstrates the coordination of the relationships and thecontradictions in translations, beginning with the five groups of the contrastingrelationships (translate the word of the original or the meaning; should the version be likethe original or a translation; should the version inflect the writer's style or the translator'sstyle; should the version keep the words as they were in the original time or in the time oftranslators; should the version be translated literally or translated with appropriateadditions and deletions; ), the eight groups of dialogue relationships of literary translation(between the author and the translator; between the original and the translator; between theversion and the translator; between the audience and the translator; between the originalstyle and the translator's style; between the cultural context and the translator; between thestyle of the version and the translator; between the society and the translator), and theharmonization of ten pairs of the main contradictions in literary translation have beenanalyzed: the harmonization between science and art, harmonization between form andcontent, harmonization between the general and details, harmonization between thenaturalization and culturalization of language, the harmonization between English andChinese thinking, the harmonization between parataxis and hypotaxis, the harmonizationbetween foreignization and domestication, the harmonization between historical style andcontemporary style, the harmonization between the authors'style and the translator's style,and the harmonization between the translator of"self-awareness"and"creationawareness".4.The application of CoordinationTheoryThis section is the main thrust of the paper, which guides the application ofCoordination Theory by choosing specific examples. Through a selection of the classicversions of famous translators, such as classic prose and four different versions ofGettysburg (which highlights the ingenious coordination of translation), and especially bycomparing two versions of portions of English Rural Scenes, this paper hopes that thereaders will contemplate and attempt to utilize Coordination Theory to carry out anobjective analysis of various works, thus making a concerted effort to put theory intopractice. Next, When We Two Parted and A Song For St. Cecilia's Day are selected as theclassic cases of translation, illustrating the extensibility and practicality of Coordination Theory from six angles, five criteria, three aesthetic and two awareness of prose translationand poetry appreciation. The paper also provides the version produced by the famoustranslator Zhu Hong and the QianZi game's (embed the same words into sentences of thetext to enjoy the readers) version by several translators, and analyzes different versionsfrom various aspects to prove the important role of Coordination Theory in practice.Finally, this section offers the writer's own practice under the direction of this theory,which emphasizes the feasibilityand scientific applicabilityof the translation theory.5.The development and improvement of CoordinationTheoryCompared with the other four theories (Relative Theory; Multiple-Language Theory;Language Character Theory and"Stop"Theory), Coordination Theory is highlycomplementary; examples are presented to illustrate the development and perfecting ofGao Jian's CoordinationTheory.6.The interview of Mr. Gao JianRecapping the whole paper through the interview of Mr. Gao Jian, this section circlesback to the theory's origins, explores the development and improvement of theCoordination Theory, and examines translation practice and the formation of Coordinationtruthfully, comprehensively and objectively.The innovation of the paperlies in the following six points:(1) It manages to focuses on Gao Jian's Coordination Theory (rather than relying onthe traditional model to study one person from all perspectives) and analyzes the theory'srole of direction in translation practice based on many excellent works produced by GaoJian himself. Such an approach highlights the importance of the study and its distinctpersonalities, putting the theory into practice directly, making it much more convenient forthe readers to understand and grasp the Coordination Theory of translationcomprehensively and objectively, and provides a reference for the study of translators andtranslation theories.(2) The paper aggregates a large number of first-hand materials through theface-to-face exchange of opinions, which not only provides a strong basis for the study, butalso for future research. This also offers an important reference on translation CoordinationTheory.(3) The paper standardizes the definition of Coordinate Theory, tracing back its change from"reconcile"into"coordination", and explains its connotation.(4) The paper emphasizes the pursuit of"Truth, Goodness and Beauty,"withharmonization as the highest ideal for translation. It also applies others'strengths to bolsterits weaknesses, and regards"coordination as the means and harmony as the goal"of thewhole process of translation.(5) It is uncommon in translation studies for the translator to openly admit and pointout the weaknesses in his own works in order to explore the development and improvementof the CoordinationTheory.(6) The paper organizes the authentic reproduction of the interview with Mr. Gao Jianand examines his translation process. This will open ideas for future generations oftranslation researchers to promote the reliabilityof studyto the highest level.The approach to the study is to demonstrate the feasibility and reasonability of theCoordination Theory by using theoretical expatiation as the basis and the case study as themeans, following Gao Jian's Coordination Theory, exploring translation practices, andlocating the commonality between the coordination of theoryand practice.In this study, there is a certain reference value and significance in its issue startingpoint, research methods, and the collection of material, but there are some space left to beexpanded in its scope. In short, Mr Gao Jian's translation theory and practice provided awealth of resources for study in the translation field. New research perspectives andmethods need to be further explored for scholars and such research as a whole brings newideas and lead us to deeper contemplation.