Analyzing C-E Translation Quality On The Basis Of House's Model

The translation activity gives rise to translation review, which is centered on the quality of translation. With the development and prosperity of translation activities in China, the quality of translations on the market varies. How can the quality of these translations be assessed? This is a seemingly ordinary but complicated question, which makes the study of translation quality assessment (TQA) a crucial issue of special significance.The research of translation quality assessment may perfect the translation studies in both theory and practice. In theory, it can broaden and enrich the content of translation studies. In practice, it helps to improve the quality of the translation as well as of the translation review. On the one hand, TQA can be regarded as a kind of "quality control", standardizing the translation market, laying restraints on the translation and improving the quality. On the other hand, the application of TQA and its models in translation criticism (TC) can also help to improve the quality of a review, making it more objective, scientific and systematic, and avoiding criticism based on "subjective impression".In the field of TQA study, Juliane House is a forerunner who has made a great contribution. Her model for the assessment of translation quality is considered to be a systematic and relatively objective model, offering a new sight for TQA and TC. Taking the above into account, this paper firstly offers an introduction to House's model for TQA, including her original model in 1977 and her revisited model in 1997. House's original model is carried out on two main dimensions:dimension of language user and dimension of language use. The former is divided into geographical origin, social class and time. The latter is divided into medium, participation, social role relationship, social attitude and province. The assessment of translation quality lies in the degree of match between source and translation along the eight dimensions. The larger the extent to which a translation matches its source is, the better it can be. House's revisited model is conducted mainly along the dimensions of Field, Tenor, Mode and Genre. The quality of a translation is judged by the amount of the mismatches on these four dimensions. The more the mismatches are, the poorer the quality can be. After the introduction to House's model, the thesis analyzes its theoretical basis, parameters and assessing scheme. Finally, appropriate revision is made in order to get rid of the demerits of the model and make use of its merits. In this way, a new revised model is put forward, drawing on the methods used in TC. In order to test the reliability and validity of the revised model, the author applies the model to the assessment of an English version of a Chinese essay Beiying. The case study testifies that the revised model based on the Housian model is operative, reliable and valid in C-E translation.By conclusion, it is hoped that TQA study might receive the attention it deserves and the position of TQA study might be established. Furthermore, from the macrocosmic perspectives, the author attempts to put forward some principles for TQA study:systematic, theoretical, holistic and appropriate.