A Study Of Linguistic Features Of Drama And Drama Translation

The development of globalization promotes the international contact. Cross-cultural communication has become more frequent. Translation is playing an increasingly important role in this process. Drama, as an element of cultural production, is more accessible to ordinary people. It is a literary genre as well as an art of elegance. Its duality makes drama translation a problematic area of translation studies. In the past, most theorists regard drama translation as part of literary translation, and try to apply translation theories for literature to drama translation. Yet, this is far from enough. For a long time the study of translation has relied predominantly on the faithful transfer of the message. However, in terms of the translation of literary works, faithfulness is not easy to achieve. With regard to drama translation, the problem gets more complex. Drama translation has gained very little benefit from recent linguistic development, because it is impossible to analyze its particularities entirely from the perspective of modern linguistics, as drama is composed for stage performance, and dramatic language is more energetic than that in other literary forms.This whole thesis consists of six parts.The first chapter gives a general introduction to the thesis. The purpose and significance of the study are stated. After that, the methodology and overall structure are presented.The second chapter is a literature review. By analyzing the definition and classification of drama, the thesis puts forward the purposes and particularities of drama translation. Drama first appeared in ancient Greece as early as 6th century BC. It is widely accepted that drama evolved from rituals. Another theory traces the drama's origin back to human's interest in storytelling. There are mainly three features of dramatic language:individuality, colloqualism and terseness. To be specific, firstly, dramatic dialogues ought to reveal the characters' personality and help to distinguish one character from another. Secondly, the language coming out of actors is from real life. It is quite informal. Thirdly, the appreciation of drama on the stage is spontaneous and immediate. If the sentences are too long and complex, the audience won't follow the pace of the play, which will certainly decrease the effect of the play. In a broad sense, translation fulfills a communicative function between different cultures. In a narrow sense, the purpose to render a drama is to make sure that the audience understands the source language and culture completely. Translation of dramatic texts differs a lot from the translation of prose and fiction and poetry. Generally, drama translators pay more attention on colloquialism, performability and individuality of the language.The third chapter is a theoretical part. Some current researches on drama translation are discussed. They are the theories from Peter Newmark, Susan Bassnett and Ying Ruocheng. Recent research in drama translation in the west generally follows two approaches:linguistic oriented approach and target text, target culture and reception oriented approach. The first approach emphasizes the linguistic and stylistic elements. Peter Newmark belongs to this approach. Newmark, a famous translator, translation theorist and linguist, introduced the concepts of semantic translation and communicative translation, which are the core of his translation theory. According to Newmark, communicative translation attempts to produce on its readers an effect as close as possible to that obtained on the readers of the original. Semantic translation attempts to render, as closely as the semantic and syntactic structures of the second language allow, the exact contextual meaning of the original. In theory.there are wide differences between the two methods. He also established a correlation between text functions, text-types and translation. He divided texts into six types according to the six functions of text, i.e. expressive text, informative text, vocative text, aesthetic text, phatic text and metalingual text. Among them, the first three are discussed more frequently. According to him, drama is typical expressive text and semantic translation ought to be the main method, with communicative translation used from time to time. Compared to the first approach which emphasizes the linguistic and stylistic elements, the second approach in drama translation in the west shifts the focus to the acceptance of the translations and the choices made by drama translators due to the influence of the target system. Susan Bassnett is an important figure following this approach. Bassnett identifies five translation strategies for theatre texts:1) translating the theatre text as a literary work; 2) using the source language cultural context as a literary work; 3) translating "perfomability"; 4) creating source language verse drama in alternative forms; 5) co-operative translation. She points out that the cooperative translation probably produces the best results. Ying Ruocheng's special identity as a director, actor and translator makes it possible for him to achieve a comprehensive understanding of the ideology of the source texts and select the right translation strategy. In his opinion, drama translation as a system is an inseparable whole. Readability and performability should be emphasized on at the same time. Hence, drama translators should take the responsibility to make the translated dramas both suitable for reading and performance. Ying's translation theory of drama mainly consists of four points: intelligibility, performability, individuation of characters, and terseness.The fourth chapter is an introduction to Teahouse and its author Lao She, together with its two English versions. The main content is the feature of dramatic texts, which is also an important content of this thesis. There are three features of dramatic language:colloquialism, individuation and terseness.The fifth chapter makes a comparison of the two English versions of Teahouse from the aspects of Beijing dialect, colloquialism and words with Chinese characteristics. The last chapter is a conclusion of the whole thesis. It summarizes the major findings including features of dramatic language and three basic factors that influence the quality of the translation of drama, i.e. intelligibility, performability and the cultural factor.