Contrastive Study On Two Chinese Versions Of Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland

According to Jef Verschueren’s adaptation thory, language has variability,negotiability and adaptability. The three characteristics correlate to each other andthey are inseparable. Variability and negotiability are conditions of the adaptability.Language users can make choices from a series of linguistic variations throughnegogiating in order to adapt to the context and make a successful conversation. Theprocess of language using is a process that the language users make constant linguisticchoices to adapt to communicational environment and subjects. Translation is across-cultural communication activity in which languge choosing in the targetlanguage is a dynamic process of adaptability which varies in the different situations,language structures to satisfy the communicators’ needs best. Only making dynamicadaptation to the contexts and structures of the source language and target languagecan translators achieve the translation goal of pragmatic equivalent. Adaptation theoryhas important theoretical and practical value in translation study.In recent years, children literary translation study shows a rising trend in ourcountry but it cannot change the edge position of children literary translation whileforeign children literary translation has great importance to children literaturedevelopment. The readers of children literary translation are children, so the translatorshould keep the children taste of original text and send it to children readers ofanother culture. The Alice’s Adventure in wonderland is a classic children literaturework and its translation is quite difficult because there are many thoughts, behaviorsand customs of Victorian Era in the book. Mr. ZhaoYuanren makes good use ofChinese language in the translating process and reproduces the original style inphonological, lexical, syntactic, the rhetoric level and so on, which shows hisprofound knowledge in both English and Chinese and his excellent translation skills.The style of Mr. Wang Yongnian’s version is quite formal. The linguisticcharacteristic is more in line with the habits of modern Chinese people and it isfamous between adults and children.This paper analyzes two Chinese versions of Alice’ Adventure in Wonderlandfrom three aspects of adaptation theory including context adaptability (linguisticadaptability and social cultural adaptability), linguistic structural adaptability (phonetic level,lexical level and syntactic level) and dynamic adaptability anddiscusses the guidance of adaptation theory in children literary translation anddifferent adaptable degrees of two different versions through the comparative analysisof language, rhetoric and style. By comparing the two Chinese versions, the authorbelieves that the translators should apply the adaptation theory in children literarytranslations by choosing proper lexical, sytactic and rhetorical methods to adapt tocultural context and linguistic structures dynamically, the translation will achieve therecreational and educational purposes of children literature.