Translation Norms And Strategies

The normative approach to translation studies is an important approach to start descriptive translation studies. By describing and applying translation norms, this approach intends to provide a way to construct the theoretical system of translation studies and to guide the process of translation as well as translation related activities. Toury, Hermans and Chesterman are three important translation norm theorists. Toury classifies norms into three kinds: (1)preliminary norms, which decide the overall translation strategy and the choice of texts to be translated,(2)initial norms, which govern the translator's decision to adhere primarily to the source text or to the target culture, and (3)operational norms, which control the actual decisions made during the act of translation. If it is accepted that norms are central to translating, then their nature and their function need to be explained more systematically.Liu Xie's magnum corpus Wenxin Diaolong has been the single longest treatise in Chinese literary criticism up to its time. Over the centuries, but especially since the Qing Dynasty, it has been regarded as a classic of literary criticism. Today as the numerous studies and modern Chinese translation can attest, Wenxin Diaolong reigns supreme in the field of traditional literary scholarship so much so that studies of this literary text have achieved a quasi-disciplinary status with its own name: Dragonology. However, in China, the research of the English versions of Wenxin Diaolong is relatively deficient.With Toury's norm theory as the theoretical framework, the thesis compares Stephen Owen and Yang Guobin's two English versions of Wenxin Diaolong and analyzes the norms to which the translator conforms and the different translation strategies adopts during the process of translation. The thesis consists of five parts besides the introduction and conclusion.The first part introduces Wenxin Diaolong and its huge value, then states briefly the norm theory, at last explains the reason why compares Yang Guobin and Stephen Owen's translation versions of Wenxin Diaolong and its significance of the study.Chapter one gives a detailed introduction of the main idea and structure of Wenxin Diaolong, the annotated edition of Wenxin Diaolong, the influence of Wenxin Diaolong at home and abroad and the English translations of Wenxin Diaolong, in summary, the thesis points out that at present the studies of its English translations are analyzed and compared from pure linguistic viewpoints and in a limited range, thus it is necessary to do a systematic comparison of the two English translations of Wenxin Diaolong.Chapter two, based on a concise presentation of the development of translation norm theory, focuses on the minute introduction of three representative translation theorists who explore the translation-norm theory are Gideon Toury, Theo Hermans and Andrew Chesterman. After a comprehensive analysis and comparison of their norm theories, getting a conclusion that is the paper will use Toury's norm theory to carry out the study because of its wide suitability.In chapter three, the thesis first gives an introduction of Yang Guobin and Stephen Owen's translation versions of Wenxin Diaolong, then taking the advantage of Toury's norm theory, analyze how Yang Guobin and Stephen Owen's translation versions of Wenxin Diaolong are affected by preliminary norms, initial norms and operational norms and their translation strategies.In the last chapter, the thesis points out that during the process of translation, Yang Guobin gives priority to source language and takes the translation strategy of alienation-adequacy, the translation version leaves enough space for target language readers to imagine Chinese culture. Stephen Owen gives priority to target language and takes the translation strategy of domestication- acceptability, which caters to target readers'reading habit and mode of understanding.