A Comparative Study Of The Translation Theory Of Yan Fu And The Interpretive Translation Theory Of Lederer

This thesis is a study comparing the translation theory of Yan Fu,a Chinese translation master,with the French interpretive translation theory of Lederer.Yanfu was a famous translator active towards the end of the nineteenth century and in the beginning of the twentieth century.His translation theory has exercised a profound influence in China, especially the well-known "Xin,Da and Ya" that he proposes are deemed as "translation models" which have always been admired by later generations.While the French interpretive translation theory of Lederer was based on research in simultaneous interpretation in the 1960s,it has been later developed into a general interpretation and translation theory relating to many areas of translation activity and enjoying wide popularity.By analyzing some factors influencing the translation theories of Yan Fu and Lederer, and by comparing their influences on these two theories on the primary level and comparing Yan Fu's "Xin,Da and Ya" and the interpretive translation theory on the operational level,the author finds that although distanced by a cultural difference in time and space and dealing with different media of interpretation and translation,these two theories,both prescriptive,have shared similar focuses of attention and theoretical requirements,such as conveying the ideas and meanings of the source texts,emphasizing language expression and stylistic characteristics in translation,and pursuing both faithfulness and adaptability to target readers.Specifically:1)in the aspect of ideas and meanings,Yan Fu's "Xin" and Lederer's "sense equivalence" both mean conveying and being faithful to the connotations and "deep" meanings of the source texts rather than literal equivalence;2)in the aspect of language expression,Yan Fu's "Da" and Lederer's "deverbalization" and "expression" advocate that translators can not be bonded by the syntactical order and linguistic signs of the source texts,but should accurately and adequately express the senses and ideas of the source texts in target languages in a fluent and idiomatic way;3)in the aspect of stylistic characteristics,the interpretive theory is nearly a correspondence to the requirement of Yan Fu's "Ya",i.e.,a target text must have a proper style corresponding to that of the source text,albeit Yan Fu's "Ya" lays more emphasis on literary modification.Moreover,both theories pursue being faithful to the source texts,and this faithfulness is based on sense equivalence rather than literal equivalence.At the same time,they both lay stress on the target texts' adaptability to their readers.All these common grounds show that some eternal themes and truth exist in translation theories which defy the change of time,place and culture.On the other hand,the author also finds that influenced by some factors such as translation theoretical traditions and historical contexts,besides Yan Fu's theory is tinted with a political ideology with a view to save China by translating foreign ideas and Lederer's theory is characterized by heavy commercial pragmatism,Yan Fu's theory is characterized by his practicality,intuitive thinking,implicity,conservation and a literary taste,while Lederer's theory abounds in theoretical discussion,rational thinking, definiteness,innovation and scientific methods.These differences are more:1)the practicality in Yan Fu's theory puts stress on researching translation methods and techniques rather than pure theory,while the interpretive translation theory emphasizes the theoretical side,i.e.,the theory behind translation practice and how to know and explain translation from the theoretical angle;2)Yan Fu's theory embodies an intuitive thinking, because his "Xin,Da and Ya" are insights into translation without any classified and systematic elaboration,while the rational thinking of the interpretive translation theory is displayed in the objective and rational analysis of the translation objects and in the systematic summary and induction of the translation theory;3)the implicity of Yan Fu's theory means using concise words with concentrated meanings to express his views but having no definite explanations or detailed demonstration,while the definiteness or explicitness of the interpretive translation theory ensures a clear explanation and definition of theory and terms;4)the conservation of Yan Fu's theory is embodied in his extreme admiration of the Confucian tradition and Taoist classics,while the innovation of the interpretive translation theory is embodied in its novel views,though innovation can be also found in Yan Fu's exposition of the internal relationship of his "Xin,Da and Ya";5) the literary emphasis of Yan Fu's theory means it is more applicable to translation of literary and social scientific works,while the scientific orientation of the interpretive translation theory,with its systematic and rational demonstration,supports from other disciplines such as cognitive science,psychology and man-machine interaction,makes itself more applicable to interpretation and translation practice in various fields including science and technology.The author believes that the common grounds or themes shared by the Chinese and French theories provide a bridge for the mutual explanations of the translation theories of Yan Fu and Lederer,and the mutual explanations can extend to other corresponding Chinese and western translation theories.It is also helpful to update Chinese traditional theories and make them known to the outside world,as well as to introduce and localize western theories in Chinese contexts.Meanwhile,the different characteristics summarized above can improve mutual understanding by both Chinese and western translation scholars and help translation theorists to learn from each other and fulfill their respective needs,so that translation theories will be better developed.