Choice Of Translation Strategies From Adaptation-theoretic Perspective

As an indispensable part of translation studies, the choice of translation strategies has always been a focus that appeals to the attention of researchers in translation field. Based on different criteria and principles, many translators and translation theorists insist their standpoints on the choice of translation strategies. With the shift of research paradigm from prescription to description in translation studies, Adaptation Theory provides a new perspective to study the ever-lasting dispute.Firstly, the thesis defines translation strategies and relevant terms, then reviews the dispute over the choice of translation strategies in translation history, through which the necessity is found to study the issue with the basis of a new theory and by a different research paradigm.Jef. Verschueren assumes language use should be a continuous making of linguistic choices with different degree of salience for the purpose of adaptation in his Adaptation Theory. Translation—a special form of language use, is a cross-cultural communication, which therefore can be approached by Verschueren's theory of adaptation.Dynamics of adaptability is the centre in the theory of adaptation which means the dynamic generation of meaning in language use, and dynamics of adaptability can be embodied from three particularly salient factors: (1) The temporal dimension: It is the bare fact that language use takes place over time. (2) Dynamics and context: Context is dynamic, including social context, mental context, and cultural identity context and so on. (3) Dynamics and structure: The speaker and interpreter can move back and forth along the basically linear dimension at any stage in the process of meaning generation.With the basis of Adaptation Theory, the thesis compares and analyzes the translation strategies adopted in large quantities of examples. The conclusion is like the following: In the process of choosing translation strategies, the translators are affected by various factors, as a result, they would have adapted to mental, social and physical world, consciously and unconsciously. In this sense, the dynamic adaptation in the choice of translation strategies accords with Mr. Gao Jian's Coordination Theory of translation. Mr. Gao Jian proposes that translation, in its essence, is a result of coordination among different language factors.In short, the attempt to study the dynamic adaptation of choosing translation strategies is not to prescribe the translators to translate in this or that way, but to demonstrate some law of choosing translation strategies to provide a new perspective to translators: In the practice of translation, the translators can adopt one or the combination of various translation strategies depending on concrete situation.