On English Translation Of Zhuang Folklore Lexis From The Perspective Of The Approach To Translation As Adaptation And Selection

Folklore refers to the culture in life created, enjoyed and transmitted by the general public of a nation or race, which is the quintessence of culture. Zhuang is the most populous ethnic group in China, so its folklore is representative and influential. As an important part of the culture with Chinese characteristics, Zhuang folklore originates in the cultural exploration and inheritance of Zhuang people for hundreds of years. The study of the translation of Zhuang folklore not only helps to enhance the national identity, strengthen the national spirit, and shape the national character, but also helps to spread Chinese culture abroad and maintain its inherent cultural identity and features in the cultural globalization era. Lexis is the most active element in language reflecting directly national specific culture. The proper translation of the lexis is very crucial to the translation of folklore. Despite the fact that in recent years the translation of Zhuang folklore raises more and more attention, the translation studies are still inadequate.This paper adopts the approach to translation as adaptation and selection (ATAS) as the theoretical framework to attempt to analyze and explore the problems in English translation of Zhuang folklore lexis, and propose the corresponding translation principles and methods so as to provide a new perspective to the translation studies of Zhuang folklore lexis.Firstly, the theoretical feasibility of ATAS, or whether ATAS can be applied to the translation of Zhuang folklore lexis or not, is proved by introducing the theoretical framework and the features of Zhuang folklore lexis. Then, the translation process is established under the guidance of ATAS by following the time order of translation (before translating, in translating and after translating). It is expected that this paper can provide the translator with a clear picture of the translation steps and dimensions and help him/her to gain the target text with relatively high degree of holistic adaptation and selection.Through analyzing the translation examples, it can be seen that many errors existing in the translation of Zhuang folklore lexis result from the translator’s ignorance of translational eco-environment (TEE). Moreover, the translator’s selection of the translation strategies depends on the specific TEE. The target text produced may counteract on TEE. Therefore, the translator needs to strengthen the consciousness of TEE, play the dominant role, and improve the ability by conducting multi-adaptation to the specific TEE or at least three-dimension selection and transformation so as to produce the target text with relatively higher degree of holistic adaptation and selection and maintain the healthy development of TEE.Consequently, the author puts forward that before translating, the translator needs to understand the difficulties of translating Zhuang folklore lexis and be aware of TEE; in translating, the translator should make appropriate adaptive selection in the linguistic, communicative and cultural dimensions; after translating, the translator should accept the judgment and treatment of "post-event penalty" mechanism.