On The Omission Strategy In The English Version Of Lang Tuteng

Traditional translation theory is strongly influenced by structuralism, emphasizing the utmost fidelity of the translation to the original. And, omission is usually served as an effective means to make the translation fluent and idiomatic. In this sense, omission suggests a negative meaning and therefore is not encouraged. Deconstruction subverts the binary oppositions of structuralism and frees writing from a subordinate status. The deconstructive translation thought views the fundamental questions of translation from a brand-new perspective, providing us a better understanding of the aim and status of translation. From the deconstructive point of view, omission is actually a reflection of the basic deconstructive principles such as the uncertainty of meaning and the translator's subjectivity. Instead of being a passive translation strategy according to traditional translation theory, omission is an inevitable phenomenon in the process of inter-lingual transformation.This thesis is a descriptive study. Based on the deconstructive translation thoughts and by applying the mode of signification as a standard of translation, this thesis tries to explicate the nature of omission and give evaluations of different type of omissions by studying examples of omission in Wolf Totem, an English version of Lang Tuteng. Firstly, this thesis discusses the theoretical foundation of omission and its nature; secondly, this thesis discusses the feasibility of the use of"mode of signification"as a deconstructive translation standard; and finally, omission is divided into linguistic omission and non-linguistic omission, with the former being further divided into omission in grammatical context and omission in semantic context, into which the author carries out detailed studies respectively. The results of the study are listed as follows: a) From the deconstructive point of view, omission is an inevitable phenomenon in the process of translation. The essence of omission is a loss in certain element of the"mode of signification"; b) In the English version of Wolf Totem, linguistic omissions that successfully transfer the original mode of signification are considered to be good translation, while those fails to do so are considered to be inappropriate translation. Non-linguistic omissions are all inappropriate because the loss of part of the signifier will certainly lead to loss of meaning in the translation; c) The"mode of signification"can be used as a translation standard. However, it is too exacting a standard to comply with. Therefore, from the perspective of"afterlife of the original", an important deconstructive concept, the English version of Wolf Totem has its value because it is, after all, a supplement to the original novel.