Theoretical Research On Translation Criticism

Translation criticism, literary translation criticism in particular, has been in an awkward position in the translation study, for on one hand, its necessity in the translation circle is recognized, and on the other hand, it is too vague to get hold of. It is a trend that more and more people are shaking off their old prejudice against translation criticism, mistaking it as the fault-finding textual comparison of translation. With the bourgeoning development of multi-diversified scientific studies on translation as a discipline, the translation criticism as an important branch of translation studies has gained more and more attentions and concerns from the academic circle. Since 1990s more and more researches and discussions have been made by many scholars on the macro-perspective study of translation criticism, i.e. nature of translation criticism, principles and criteria, ends, functions and methods of translation criticism study. Against this academic background, the author of the paper choose translation criticism as its object, endeavoring to comb and analyze the issues, historical studies and current status of translation criticism research. Through the careful combing and analyzing, the paper presents a more systematic result. While recognizing the developments, the author believes that there are many concerns, namely the confusion of definitions, superficial interpretations, narrow horizons of study and over-simplified methods in the study of translation criticism. In the light of these issues, the author endeavors to systematically analyze the reasons and provide possible solutions. Translation criticism shall and should exert its unique cultural influence on translation study and Chinese society at large. The paper is more theoretically oriented in the study of translation criticism theories and structures. That is to conduct synchronic descriptions and diachronic excavations on concepts, definitions, criteria, practical problems, and paradigms mentioned in the previous studies by other scholars. The paper takes a macro-perspective and definitive research approach in summarizing and commenting on the issues of translation criticism, i.e. subjects, objects, principles, criteria and methods.The paper composes of four parts:in part one, the author elaborates on the definition and nature of translation criticism and its relationship with general translation study, in particular the criteria of translation criticism and criteria of translation studies; in part two, the author analyzes the objects of translation criticism research, believing that the objects of translation criticism is an interlinked network rather than individual factors. The author elaborates on the following three parts:i.e. translations as the object, translators as the object and reader's response; in the third part, the author analyzes the subjects and ends of translation criticism, believing that respective subjects of translation study have their corresponding ends in mind as well as the qualifications of translation critiques; the fourth part takes up the trunk of the paper. The author first presents the concrete and insightful ideas on the real translation procedures, next specific methods of translation criticism are introduced, i.e. close reading, comparative approach and so on. The author next analyzes Peter Newmarks's five points on translation criticism and puts forward procedures of translation criticism with the guiding principles, i.e. objectivism, accuracy and so on. On the issue of the translation criteria, the author believes that criteria shall be not only binding but also directory and referential, i.e. linguistic features criteria, faithful to the authorial tone and cultural tension.