Translation Of Zero Message From The Perspective Of The Information Theory

Traditionally, translation study was guided by linguistic principles. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in explaining linguistic phenomena within the framework of communication and information theories.Zero message is an important concept in the information theory. It is closely related to other factors in the information transmitting process, such as information difficulty, channel capacity, noise, redundancy, and so on. Moreover, in the translation practice, the process is also influenced by the translator, the context and the culture simultaneously. As a result, translation is an information transmission process. Characteristics of information provide a foundation for transferring information in the translation process.Banished is a popular novel that plays a significant role in contemporary literature. Based on information theory, this thesis aims at exploring the zero message translation process concerning with the Cultural Revolution terms in the English version of Han Dong's novel Banished.As this research is based on information theory, the author of this thesis obtains a new understanding of the literature translation through the analysis on the Cultural Revolution terms. First, translation is a process of information transmission. Thus, applying information theory in literary translation studies is reasonable and acceptable. Second, the translator should consider different factors that would affect the zero message translation process to realize effective information transmission. Third, in order to overcome the noise in the information transmission process, the translator should make adjustment through proper translation strategies to change the redundancy patterns and make the communication load suitable for the reader's channel capacity.