Rethinking Of Imagery Translation And Its Application In Non-Literary Translation Practice

This thesis will be dedicated to the rethinking of imagery and its role in translation, especially non-literary translation.Firstly, imagery, by its nature, is a set of images as three-dimensional reflections of the objects in individuals'mind. It is an integration of all sensory images combined with experiences, intuitions, moods, logic thinking and other factors.Secondly, many relevant studies can be found in this field, such as Ezra Pound's imagism, Gaston Bachelard's philosophic image theory, Fu Lei and Lin Yutang's spirit translation theories, image studies in cognitive psychology, Gestalt psychology and visualization theory in interpreting, etc. Though rewarded with constructive academic results, they still have limits, either in image or imagery concept or imagery translation. Many aspects in this regard are still untapped, especially the application of imagery translation in non-literary fields, open for further study.Thirdly, imagery translation, as an alternative way to convey form, meaning and spirit of the source text, should be attached importance to and widely applied in translation practice. Further findings concerning the process and significance of imagery translation can be obtained through a comparative study on imagery translation and semiotic translation. Semiotic translation, as a lineal and unitary process, focuses on a series of translation formulas to transform linguistic signs with complicated shifting techniques. It can be easily combined with machine translation to attain higher efficiency than imagery translation. Imagery translation regards language as the reflection of mental pictures, and stresses the transformation of three-dimensional being of forms, meanings, and spirits in the source text. It prevails over semiotic translation in its faithfulness and expressiveness. Apparently, better effect can be attained if those two options are properly deliberated in translation practice.Fourthly, imagery translation techniques are analyzed for non-literary translation practice in two levels: micro-level and macro-level. The former involves the translation of sub-images, i.e., image fragments as words or phrases, including copy of sub-images, and replacement or transformation of sub-images; while the latter, translation of images in sentences and paragraphs, focuses on the interrelations among sub-images, images and clusters of images in texts. In the following, comprehensive imagery translation skills will be analyzed with non-literary translation cases.In brief, translation is not only about the language, but the overall mental picture of meanings, thoughts, intentions, feelings and any other aspects involved. Thus, it is of great significant if the translators'mental imagery can be an accurate reflection of that of writers or speakers and be fully conveyed in target text. Accordingly, a translator should be equipped with sound language skills, culture background, rich knowledge, and great perception.