Dynamic Translation Criteria

Definition of translation criteria is often expressed as follows: Translation criteria are the principles of translation activity, yardsticks for translation evaluation, and the goals translators try their best to reach. They are the central issues of translation theories. However, there is still no consistency as to definitions of translation criteria. It is true that there are numerous sayings about translation criteria. In the preface to Collections of Translation Studies (Fan yi lun ji), Luo Xinzhang makes a summary of the development of translation theories in China as a line like this: Literal Equivalence (An ben)—Faithfulness (Qiu xin)—Resemblance in Spirit (Shen si)—Spiritual Transmigration (Hua jing), which is, in fact, the developing line of translation criteria. The main claims about translation criteria in the west include: Tytler's"Three Principles", Jakobson's"Equivalence", and Nida's"Equivalent Effect", etc. There is one thing in common for these translation criteria, that is, moving translated text as close as possible to the original (i.e. faithfulness criterion). However, the greatest flaw in these criteria is that they are static, transcendental, and universality-oriented. And they are too prescriptive to achieve.Translation criteria in recent years are almost as numerous and varied as the people who have discussed the subject. Gu Zhengkun puts forward the theory of"Multiplicity and Complementarity", which means different translation activities should conform to different translation criteria. Professor LüJun advocates"the three criteria"as the minimum criteria for translation in the Post-Modernist cultural context. Yang Xiaorong argues,"The clarity of criteria conforms to the clarity of conditions". Nevertheless, there are still some scholars who support the traditional three-character translation criteria of"Xin, Da, Ya", such as Wang Zhenping, Peng Changjiang, Wang Xiangyuan and others.Ever since 1970s translation theory boom has come out with many approaches and schools, such as Polysystem Theory, Skopos Theory, Cultural Approach and Deconstruction, etc. These theories have exerted great influence on the study of translation criteria. The criterion of faithfulness is no longer taken for granted. The studies on translator, target cultural environment arouse great attention. Thus the study on translation criteria has shifted to the study of constraints or relevant factors on the formation and acceptance of translated texts, e.g., the study of norms, the analysis of translation process, and the research on the model of translation quality assessment. The idea of guiding translation activity, assessing translation quality with universally applicable criterion can hardly find its trace in western translation theories. The reasons for this phenomenon are as follows:...