On Redundancy Equivalence In E-C (Ehglish-Chinese) Translation

The present thesis, with an attempt to provide a scientific basis for the study of E-C translation, tries to apply information theory to the analysis of redundancy equivalence in E-C translation.Information theory, developed by the American mathematician and communication engineer C.E. Shannon, mainly deals with the transmission of information by means of mathematical approach. The theory was initially designed to meet the demand of communication engineering studies. With the development of science and technology, it has acquired broader application to many other fields, including translation study. Focusing on the concept of redundancy that is found important in the realm of information theory, the thesis hopes to shed light on why and how we achieve redundancy equivalence in E-C translation.The discussion is immediately grounded theoretically on the communicative approach to translation. As the American translation theorist E.A. Nida holds that "Translating is essentially a process of communication" (Nida & Taber, 2004:VII), translation is by nature an interlingual communication event. On the basis of such an understanding, some basic principles in information theory are borrowed to describe the translation process, and the realization of redundancy equivalence is thereby proved to be the key to make the communication load of the translated text fit in the channel capacity of the target receptor and thus to raise the efficiency of information transmission. In E-C translation, redundancy equivalence is impaired by the differences in linguistic features and cultural backgrounds between English and Chinese. However, it is of very possibility to overcome redundancy unbalance through some strategies and techniques that are supposed to derive from Nida's "dynamic equivalence", i.e. the translator may choose from two strategies of keeping and adjusting redundancy and accordingly adopts such techniques as restructuring, repetition, amplification, and omission. Nevertheless, the application of information theory fails to provide an all-round solution to problems in E-C translation for redundancy equivalence is inadequate to address the transference of style in translation.