On Interpretive Translation

Translation is communication and exchange between two cultures and their languages. Amplification is so frequently employed as one of the means to compensate what is lost in translation, which most translation theorists or translators used to considered as a simple technique and see what is showed superficially while something concerned and important is neglected. This thesis starts from giving the definition of interpretive translation in terms of its relations with compensation and amplification. Interpretive translation adopted in texts of religious literature, social science literature and literature by elitist translators or defined by outstanding theorists, though bifurcations do exist as to their opinions, proves that it is reasonable and suitable to interpretively translate linguistically implied information and cultural information. Chapter three and Chapter four are respectively devoted to analyze interpretive translation of linguistically implied information and cultural information, and interpretive translation and explanatory note are compared to highlight advantages of interpretive translation. Chapter five is the core of the whole thesis, in which four criteria of interpretive translation are put forward as to the expressiveness, length of expansion, plots and types of writing. In Chapter six, based on the advantages and disadvantages of the two techniques, the author suggests give more options to readers by employing both interpretive translation and explanatory note. The conclusion is that interpretive translation is a special type of amplification, which is a way of compensating what is lost in the cross-culture communication due to the differences on the linguistic and cultural level, and more important is that its advantages does not give a translator the privilege of uncontrolled and unrestricted translation, for the four criteria should be abided by.