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Translating English Fantasy Novels Into Chinese: A German-Functionalism-Based Systemic Study

Posted on:2013-02-23Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:H B ZhangFull Text:PDF
GTID:2235330374451995Subject:Foreign Linguistics and Applied Linguistics
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
Although, with the progress of economic globalization and with increasingly moreinteraction between cultures, Western fantasy literature is being continuously transmitted intoChina through translation, fantasy novel translation is limited in its efficiency. Naturally,studies of it have made achievements in understanding its nature and techniques. Studies sofar are however not systemic enough in their object of study and methodology. Adopting JiaZhengchuan’s Dialectical Systemic View of Translation (DSVT) as guideline and Germanfunctionalist theories of translation (GFTT) as basis, taking the successful Chinese translationof Harry Potter series by the People’s Literature Publishing House as an example, andemploying an integrated methodology of deduction and induction, this thesis therefore carriesout a systemic study of English-Chinese fantasy novel translation (ECFNT) in terms of itsnature, features, rules and strategies so as to formulate a German functionalism-basedsystemic approach to it.Firstly, the thesis deduces from DSVT and GFTT and induces from the Chinesetranslation of the Harry Potter novels by the People’s Literature Publishing House thefollowing notion and characterization of ECFNT: ECFNT is in general a contextualizedfantasy text processing activity between the English and Chinese languages, literatures,societies and cultures with the Skopos of transmitting English fantasy novels into China, beinginternally composed of Chinese initiator and commissioner, English source text producer,Chinese translator, Chinese target text receiver, English source text, Chinese target text, andother components with a complementarily differentiating structure, being externallyconditioned mainly by the contemporary Chinese socio-cultural context and performing in itvarious functions, especially the function of transmitting English fantasy literature to China soas to enrich the Chinese culture and obtain commercial benefits, and temporally exhibitingitself as a process of English source text reading and Chinese target text (re)writing. ECFNTis characterized generally by its dialectical interconnectedness, internally by its dialecticalintegrity, externally by its dialectical openness—especially by the feature that its Skopos is determined by its economic and cultural context, and temporally by its dialectical dynamicity.Secondly, this study deduces from DSVT and GFTT and induces from the Chinesetranslation of the Harry Potter novels by the People’s Literature Publishing House thefollowing system of rules and techniques of ECFNT: ECFNT should follow four ordered rules,i.e., the function-centered interconnectedness rule, the condition-centered openness rule, theSkopos-centered integrity rule (including three ordered sub-rules, i.e., the Skopos rule, thecoherence rule, and the fidelity rule), and the reception-production-centered dynamicity rule.Accordingly, ECFNT should go through the procedures of overall consideration and planning,contextual analysis and design, structural analysis and design, and process analysis andoperation, and adopt both instrumental and documentary translation strategies such asinterlinear translation, literal translation, philological translation, foreignizing translation,equifunctional translation, heterofunctional translation, and homologous translation.This study may be practically and theoretically significant to ECFNT in particular and tofantasy novel translation in general. On the one hand, it may be capable of direct applicationto the practice of translating English fantasy novels into Chinese so as to optimize the qualityof translation. On the other hand, it may compensate for some limitations and weakness ofcurrent studies of fantasy novel translation in terms of their scope and methodologies.
Keywords/Search Tags:fantasy novel translation, Dialectical Systemic View of Translation, Germanfunctionalist theories of translation
PDF Full Text Request
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