On Drama Translation

Drama constitutes an indispensable part of world literature and the translation of drama between countries has been going on for many centuries. Translating Chinese spoken drama is an effective way of transmitting Chinese brilliant culture. Moreover, in the 100th anniversary of Chinese spoken drama, conducting a research on drama translation is quite epochal and significant.However, until now only limited scholarly attention has been devoted to the rendition of drama. Different from other literary works, drama translation not only involves in the transfer between two languages, but also relates to numerous extralinguistic factors relevant to theatric art. As one of the most successful writings of Lao She, Teahouse is also one of Chinese classical dramas. Based on the up-to-now research of drama translation, with the case study of two English versions of Teahouse, this thesis mainly probes into the features of drama language and its translation theories and strategies in the hope of providing a multidimensional perspective for the study and practice of drama translation, as well as some inspiration and reference for the development of translation studies. In a word, through the research it is deeply convinced that drama should be regarded not only as a literary text, but also as a seed burgeoning in stage performance.This whole thesis consists of six parts. The first part is an introduction, presenting this thesis'research background and its structure. Chapter one gives a general introduction to drama as a comprehensive art, particularities of drama language and its translation, and the up-to-now research of drama translation. Chapter two constructs a theoretical framework of this thesis through presenting the current theories on drama translation. Chapter three provides background information about the drama Teahouse, and its two English versions. Chapter four offers a tentative comparison of the two English versions of Teahouse from the perspective of the features of drama language. The last part serves as a conclusion, giving a summary to the whole thesis and providing the direction for the future research.