On Sun Zhili's Translation Thoughts

Since the 1950s, with the development of linguistics, aesthetics, communication, social-semiotics and information of theory, translation studies have made remarkable progress and they are studied as science with depth and systematicness. It is self-evident that great effort should be put to the research of successful translators, both their translation theory and practice. Only in this way can their valuable experiences and skills be collected, summarized and absorbed. Such studies can not only help formulate the rules of bilingual transformation, but also help to summarize their translation features and techniques. As Sun Zhili is a distinguished scholar who has also devoted most of his life to translation practice, it is worthwhile to probe into his translation thoughts. But so far, study on Sun Zhili is merely focused on the simple summarization of his translation activities or introduction of his translation of his translation works.Based on a broad collection of materials about Sun Zhili's translation activities and a conscientious study of his exposition on translation, the present thesis is intended to sort out and make a comprehensive and systematic description of Sun Zhili's translation activities as well as his translation thoughts. It can not only contribute to the constructing of China's own translation theory, but also help set a model for the young majors in this field.Besides introduction and conclusion, the thesis falls into five chapters. In the introduction, the author presents a literature review relevant to Sun Zhili and introduces the current situation of the study. Chapter one starts with a brief introduction of Sun Zhili as a translator, and then introduces his major translation works. Chapter two discusses Sun's "ten contradictions", which are essence of Sun's translation thoughts. Those ten contradictions inclusively and dialectically bring new insights to translation studies. Sun's "ten contradictions" will be observed from two perspectives: the nature of translation and the process of translation. Chapter three centers around Sun's view on treason in translation. Treason can be divided into unconscious treason and conscious treason. Conscious treason can be further classified into expedient treason, tactful treason, considerate treason and creative treason. Chapter four intends to unfold Sun's view on translation ethics. In light of Chesterman's classification, Sun Zhili identifies five responsibilities, namely, the responsibility of reproducing the original; that of fulfilling the client's requirements; that of conforming to the social-cultural norms of the receiving country; that of satisfying the demands of the TL reader; that of abiding by one's professional ethics. Chapter five probes into the application of Sun's translation of Jane Austen's works in terms of style translation, and foreignization and domestication, which will prove the feasibility of his translation thought. It rounds off with conclusion that 1) translation theory should be integrated with practice; 2) translation dialectics should be upheld; 3) translators should be constantly seeking truth.