A Study On Ying Ruocheng’s English Rendering Of Teahouse Based On The Approach To Translation As Adaptation And Selection

As a special literary style with the duality of readability and performability, drama has been laid on the fringe of literary field for a long time. Thus the attention paid to drama translation is relatively less than that of other literary genres. Generally, the studies of drama translation are confined in studying the characteristics and standards of drama translation. Few researchers have thrown their eyes to the study of drama translator’s status or problems related to drama translators.Professor Hu Gengshen proposed the Approach to Translation as Adaptation and Selection on the philosophical basis of Darwin’s "survival of the fittest", defining translation as "a translator’s adaptation and selection activities in a translational eco-environment". Professor Hu clearly emphasized the translator’s central role in translating activity through the concept of "translator-centeredness". In recent years, professor Hu’s theory has been more and more universally applied to studying translation practice, which not only indicates that this translation theory has opened up a new angle for translation study, but has also proven its explanatory power and vitality.The present author tries to study Ying Ruocheng’s English rendering of Teahouse from the Approach to Translation as Adaptation and Selection. The successful performances of Teahouse in western countries proved that Ying Ruocheng’s English rendering adapted to the drama translational eco-environment and realized the multi-dimensional adaptive selection and transformation. In this dissertation, the author mainly probes into two questions which are based on the three aspects of translator’s adaptation to and selection of "needs","competence" and the "translational eco-environment":Why did Ying Ruocheng choose to translate Teahouse? How did Ying Ruoceng conduct the adaptive selection and transformation in the translation process?Firstly, Ying’s adaptation to "needs" will be probed from two aspects of needs. One is Ying’s personal interests and pursuits of drama and drama performance, the other is the need of Teahouse’s being performed on western stages with a performable English version. Secondly, Ying’s adaptation to the "competence" which is based on Ying’s educational background, bilingual and bicultural abilities, occupational experiences and translation practice. Lastly, the author analyzes Ying’s adaptation to the drama translational eco-environment through specific examples, showing that Ying noticed the cultural and linguistic differences between China and western countries, and he considered western audiences’understanding of the drama. He used free translation, addition and other translation methods to accomplish the dramatic language features such as colloquialism, terseness, personality, etc.Through the present study, the author tries to answer the two questions which are put forward above:on one hand, Ying Ruocheng’s selection of translating Teahouse adapted to his "needs" of personal interests and occupation pursuits, and it also adapted to the immediate "need" of a performable English version of Teahouse for western stages. Meanwhile, his educational background, performing experiences and drama translation practice entitle him to the "competence" of translating Teahouse; on the other hand, Ying’s translation of Teahouse realized the adaptive selection and transformation in cultural, linguistic and communicative dimensions, which contributes a lot to a drama text suitable for performance. And the successful performance of Teahouse in western countries is the best evidence to show Ying’s success of rendering Teahouse.