Bing Xin's Translation Thoughts

Bing Xin is a well-known Chinese writer, but she is not widely known as a translator. In fact, she excels herself at poetry, prose, novels and creative writing. In recent years, there are many articles discussing Bing Xin as a writer and the contribution and influence of her creative writing. Therefore, this thesis intends to highlight her contributions to the art of the translation.The Prophet is a poetry collection written by Gibran, a forerunner of Arabic contemporary literature. Gibran regards this book as"the second birth of his life"for it well expresses his"only wish to strive for freedom in front of the sun."The original work is very imaginative with deep philosophical insight and great imagination and clarity. Due to the domestication strategies employed and the flavor reserved in Bing Xin's translation, readers can gain as the same artistic charm as the original text. It can be said that Bing Xin's translation The Prophet is really excellent among all the translations up to now.After a close reading of Bing Xin's representative translation The Prophet, this thesis analyzes her unique translation strategies, namely, employment of notes to explain foreign names and objectives, domestication of cultural worlds or images. Based on previous researches, Bing Xin's translation thoughts can be classified as follows: first and foremost, the translator should carry out translation in a serious and strict way. Besides, the translator should have a solid foundation of both foreign and mother language. Last but not least, the translator should always bear readers in the mind. In her translation procedure, she applies the four-character idioms,"er"sound, double words and other figures of speech to improve her translation. Her translation is not only close to the original work, but also rhythmical. Her translation The Prophet which implies the writer's style as well as her translation style well demonstrates her translation thoughts. This thesis also discusses the influence of The Prophet upon Bing Xin's writing and translating activities, which explores the interaction between translation and writing.In the systematic research of Bing Xin's translation thoughts, this thesis tries to adopt Nida's Functional Equivalence in the analysis with the hope to enrich our Chinese translation history.