A Case Study Of Two Chinese Versions Of The Da Vinci Code -from The Perspective Of Toury's Norms Theory

Translation is a norm-governed activity from the perspective of Toury's theory of translational norms. However, what is actually available for observation is not the norms themselves, but the products and by-products which are named textual and extratextual sources by Toury. Therefore, if we tend to observe the translation process as a norm-governed activity, we need to reconstruct norms by those sources at first, and the external and internal factors that influent translation activities can be revealed at the same time. This thesis is an endeavor to conduct descriptive study of the Davinci Code from the perspective of norms reconstruction. Based on the analysis of the original and two Chinese versions of it in Mainland and Taiwan in the social, cultural and historical context, the dissertation infers the initial norms and preliminary norms from the extra textual sources and the operational norms from the textual sources, and verifies whether the translation strategies reflect the translation norms or violate norms and show variability and creativity in their translation strategies. It also discusses how translators'habitus influents their decisions. It can be concluded that translation process is a dynamic course as norms slide from rules to idiosyncrasies. The research aims to reproduce the dynamic process by revealing the external and internal factors, so as to guide the translators who will do translating under the similar circumstance to adopt appropriate translation strategies.The Da Vinci Code is a detective novel written by American author Dan Brown and published in April 2003. Following in its step, Mainland Version and Taiwan Version were presented in succession in 2004. Because of the separation between Mainland and Taiwan for several decades, it is inevitable that distinguish differences exist in ideological, political, social and cultural factors and those differences would be reflected from translation activities. What's more, the translators'translation activities are also subjected to their different habitus related to their education background and self experiences. Therefore, the Mainland and Taiwan Versions of The Da Vinci Code serve as the appropriate texts for the study of the translation activities from the perspective of norms, and so far, the systemic study conducted by scholars about it can not be found.The initial norms are mainly reconstructed on the extra textual sources of sub-cultural differences and different situations to translators, which mainly manifest at the following aspects: Taiwan has been more influenced by western culture than Mainland; readers and researchers in Mainland pay more attention on classic novels; the translator of Mainland Version is the initiator as well; the translator of Taiwan Version is also the editor. The reconstruction of preliminary norms is based on the extra textual source of publishing house and the selecting of original and translators. In Mainland, as the professional expert of English literature and culture, the translator must get involved in the related activities of publish house, co-translators, and publicity. In Taiwan, initiator's desire of making the translation a successful operation and publishing of the popular novels is the critical factor, and the translator has been chosen for her experience as an editor and of translation about art and cultural suspense novels. The reconstruction of operational norms reveals clearly that translators abide by norms and their translation strategies reflect the translation norms. It also can be found that translators violate norms, show variability and creativity.The major findings of the research: Toury's three norms intersect with each other and are closely related; the translation strategies abide by norms, but with variability; translators'habitus both with norms together put influence on translation activities. The findings are beneficial for translators who will do translating under the similar circumstance to consider external factors such as the cultural difference and difference in initiators or publishing houses, in harmony with internal ones including the habitus of translators, so as to adopt appropriate translation strategies accordingly and make proper decisions.