An Investigation On Hybridity Of Liang Shiqiu's Shakespeare Translation

The theory of hybridity brings about new perspectives. Translation definitely involves different languages and cultures, which will clash, melt and blend into a "hybrid" target text in translating, so the translated text is an inevitable hybrid. The hybrid text absorbs the features of the two languages and cultures and becomes the third language, which exists in "the third space" between source language and the target language. Liang Shiqiu's translation is by no means an exception.The thesis investigates hybridity in Liang Shiqiu's translation ideas and practice.Setting priority to the principle of "preserving the origin", Liang Shiqiu held that the translated text should be faithful to the source text and he retained those heterogeneous elements in his translation. At the same time he insisted that the translated text should have the same easy and fluent language as the source text. In fact he held that the translated text should be an organic whole of faithfulness and smoothness; therefore, his translation ideas bear the characteristics of hybridity and finds its way in his translation practices.Selecting several of Shakespeare works translated by Liang Shiqiu as corpus, the thesis carries out a case study on the hybridity in Liang's translation practice. In the case study, descriptive, analytic and comparative methods are adopted. A lot of examples are selected from his translations and then hybridity in his translation practices is analyzed from three aspects: language, culture and literature. Liang Shiqiu's translation is renowned for its "faithfulness" and "smoothness" and some heterogeneous elements are carefully preserved in his translation. Firstly, in Liang Shiqiu's translation, there are still some language components that are different from the norms of the Chinese language, such as transliterated words, sentences with English grammatical features. These heterogeneous elements in language form hybridity in his translation.Secondly, Liang Shiqiu's translation of Shakespeare's works is well known for the abundant notes, through which he introduced to Chinese readers English puns, imageries, allusions. Unlike other translators, he preserved all the obscene words in Shakespeare's works. So he translated Shakespeare as he was. So Liang Shiqiu made great contribution to introduce Shakespeare and western culture to Chinese readers and facilitated hybridity between Chinese and western cultures.Thirdly, Shakespeare is the most notable practitioner of blank verse as a dramatic form, and his plays are, in fact, written predominantly, though not entirely, in blank verse. Liang Shiqiu translated Shakespeare mainly in prose, but for sentences with rhyme, he also added feet accordingly to keep the style of the source text, which contributed to literary hybridity in his translation.With a reflection on hybridity in Liang Shiqiu's translation, it is found that Liang Shiqiu's translation bears the characteristics of hybridity, and the appropriate hybridity in translation is helpful to enrich the target language and improve the cultural balance.Conclusions come out as follows: 1) Liang Shiqiu's translation ideas and practices bear the characteristics of hybridity. 2) Domestication and foreignization are hybridity of different degree. Hybridization is a more objective translation strategy. 3) Appropriate hybridity is meaningful to enrich Chinese language, culture and literary genres as well as writing techniques.