A Study Of Potential Translation In L2Writing In Waiting

Ha Jin is an important Chinese-American literary writer worldwide, and his works mainly talk about stories occurring in China in English language, which fits for the appreciation of western world. After entering American literary circle, he won many literary awards that few Chinese-American can obtain, such as American National Book Award, PEN/Faulkner Award, and Flannery O’ Connor Award for Short Fiction. As a Chinese writer whose native language is not English, Ha Jin could make a clean sweep of so many laurels in few years, thus he is regarded as a miracle in American literary circles.In order to fully explain the success that Ha Jin has achieved with describing stories in China in US, the author chose to analyze the most famous and representative novel Waiting written by Ha Jin. In the analysis of Waiting, the author applied Shklovsky’s defamiliarization theory to illustrate the exotic cultural and fresh feelings brought to westerners. To convey defamiliarized feelings to them, Ha Jin adopted translated writing technique to express histories, cultures and customs peculiar in China. The author summarized and classified the potential translation skills hidden in this writing works, and found out the strategies that Ha Jin had employed to do this translated writing.If further research is carried out into much more Ha Jin’s works, Ha Jin’s translated writing style can be much more uncovered and the defamiliarization effects achieved in his works can inspire much more Chinese writers to write much more excellent English works in world literary circles.This thesis can be divided into five parts. Chapter One introduces the background, purpose and significance of the study respectively. In Chapter Two, the researcher expounds Defamiliarization theory put forward by Russian formalism theorist Viktor Shklovsky, to be more specific, the basic concepts of Defamiliarization theory, the effects and functions of Defamiliarization and put forward that translated writing is a writing style that can create defamiliarized effects. In understanding translated writing, the researcher distinguishes translated writing and translation, and points out that Chinese can be the negative transfer on English writing and also the positive transfer on English writing in translated writing, which totally depends on the literary writers. Chapter Three analyzes the translated writing in one of Ha Jin’s most representative novels---Waiting. First, the researcher introduces the main story described in the novel, the background of Ha Jin, and the success that Ha Jin has achieved. Second, the researcher uncovers that Defamiliarization effects achieved in his novels made Ha Jin win many world awards, and defamiliarization effects are conveyed through translated writing method. Third, the researcher classifies the translated writing in Waiting from3aspects, namely, translation with absent source, word for word translation used in phrase, idiom and sentence pattern, and free translation applied in cultural and national custom convey. In Chapter Four, the outcome of Ha Jin’s original translated writing and other translator’s translation works of Waiting has been analyzed and the researcher also puts forward the difficulties encountered by writers when they intend to employ translated writing method, that is, over-defamiliarization. Then, the researcher summaries several translated writing strategies applied in the novel, including language ability, translation skills, writing skills and translation methods to avoid over-defamiliarizaition so as to provide some skills for future non-native language writers. In Chapter Five, the researcher provides some English writing inspirations for Chinese overseas students. Firstly, they should be equipped with favorable English writing ability, and improve their ability in practical English writing. Secondly, when they are catering for foreigners’interests, Chinese overseas students are also in the position to shoulder the task of conveying Chinese culture. Thirdly, they should create their own new writing forms to deal with cross-culture problems instead of following foreign wiring forms blindly.