Interpreting Western Translation Studies And Penetrating Translation Studies In China

Translation is one of the long-standing cultural communications among human beings. The exploration and research on translation will always come along with translation practice. The explorations made by scholars have gradually become more scientific and systematic, which, in turn, serve as a guideline for translation practice. In the history of translation studies both at home and abroad, scholars have formed their unique opinions on translation from various perspectives. After World War Two, translation theorists have made great achievements by applying the theories of linguistics, cognitive linguistics, pragmatics, sociology, and culturology to translation studies.Based on the studies of different translation theories, this thesis divides western translation theories into three schools: philological school, linguistic school and cultural school. Philological school mainly covers the study before the World War Two. Translation theories in this period are not systematic; mostly making discussions on literal translation and free translation, style and content, emphasizing on the effect of translation, pursuing for literariness and creativity of translated text. The development of modern linguistics provides a theoretical basis for translation studies. It is Jakobson who introduces linguistics and semiotics into translation studies for the first time by presenting his essay On Linguistic Aspects of Translation. On the basis of the theories of Saussure, Chomsky, Bloomfield, linguistic school forms a scientific theory on translation. Linguistic school puts emphasis on the analysis of source text and equivalence between source text and target text. Great translation theorists like Nida and Newmark play an important role in this period, making great contribution to linguistic school and profound impact on translation studies. However, linguistic school overemphasizes on the analysis of source text, neglecting aesthetics and cultural factors, whose opinion that translation is only a branch of linguistics also hinders the further development of translation study. In the late 80s, with strong disciplinary awareness, translation theories reach to the third stage. Translation studies are seen as an independent discipline, this view broadens the scope of translation and deepens the theoretical research. With the emergence of polysystem, cultural translation, deconstructionism, theories are derived from different cultural angles. Cultural school lays emphasis on the status of translators and analyzes translation from the perspective of cultural background, inspiring us to make innovative studies.In retrospect of western translation theories, the purpose of this paper is to predict the future tendency of translation studies and blow a fresh wind to Chinese translation studies. Since different human languages share certain common characteristics, it is necessary for us to introduce western translation theories, especially their research perspectives and approaches. However, due to the linguistic and cultural differences between China and western countries, translation studies in China should have its own characteristics, that is, we should take its real situation, peculiar Chinese culture and Chinese language into consideration.The first chapter of this thesis will introduce some basic theoretical concepts related to translation. Chapter two is to give a clear picture of six translation climaxes in western history. By introducing three main schools of western translation theories, Chapter three will illustrate the theory of each school and their representatives. The next chapter reveals the main objective of this research: shed light on Chinese translation studies. Finally, the last part is to make a general conclusion, urging us to pay special attention to the inter-disciplinary development of translation theories and translation teaching.