A Study Of Translation Variation In The Thai Version Xi You Ji

Xi You Ji, as one of the four most famous work of Chinese classical literature, is not only popular in China, but also widely welcomed all over the world. In addition to its entertaining and intriguing plot, its background also reflects abundant Chinese culture, society, historical background, including profound philosophy. It can be said that Xi You Ji contains priceless value in many ways, such as history, literature, Buddhism etc. Nowadays this novel disseminates widely in Thailand. Since the reign of King Rama V until now, there are many versions of Xi You Ji Thai translation. The most original Thai version was translated by Nai Tin in1898. Nai Tin translation work is now the most complete Thai version full translation. Through a comparative analysis, it is found that this translation work contains numerous translation phenomena such as deletion, summarization, reduction etc. These phenomena are the "Seven translation variation strategies" of "Translation variation theory" proposed by Professor Huang Zhonglian.This thesis applies translation variation theory to comparing and analyzing Xi You Ji Chinese version to Thai version. The author examines how the translator has used translation methods during translation i.e. edit, omit, remodel, and also simply investigate the possible factors motivating the translator to use variation strategies. This thesis is composed of five chapters:Chapter One mainly elaborates the value and the significance of the thesis, research goals, research methods and also research areas.Chapter Two introduces the main concept of translation variation theory by mainly focusing on two important aspects, the first is the seven translation variation strategies: addition, deletion, edition, narration, reduction, combination and remodeling. The other aspect is the difference between full translation and variation translation, depending on the degree of maintaining the original work.Chapter Three introduces the study and the dissemination of Xi You Ji in Thailand. So far there are only3studies regarding Thai version of Xi You Ji that the author can collect. As for the dissemination of Xi You Ji in Thailand, it can be divided into2periods. The first period is Thai version of Xi You Ji before1989, in which Charassri Jirapas Ph.D has already collected and studied before. The Thai version of Xi You Ji after1989is considered the second period. Regarding to the research and collection of the Thai translation version, it is found that before late20th century there are3types of Xi You Ji in Thai version:book, magazine and comic. After that period, there is increasing number of comics. However, the books are just the reprints of the previous version. This chapter also provides a detailed introduction of Nai Tin translation work dissemination in Thailand.Chapter Four carries out comparison and analysis between Xi You Ji Nai Tin translation work in the reign of King Rama V and the original work, the author will analyze from macro and micro perspective respectively. There are only3translation variation strategies found in the macro perspective, which are edition, deletion and addition. As for micro perspective, the edition variation strategy is not found; however, there are other six translation variation strategies adopted in the micro perspective, i.e. addition, deletion, narration, reduction, combination and remodeling. Most of the content, which is deleted, reduced, narrated, and combined is redundancy. Although these variation strategies make the content short and straight to the point, Thai reader could not appreciate the poem or may not know implied meanings or any specific details of the story. The purpose of addition and remodeling variation strategies is to make Thai readers accept the translated content, by making the content suitable for Thai society, custom, and culture etc.Chapter Five serves as the thesis conclusion. Firstly, this thesis summarizes that the translator conducted variation translation in his work might be because of many influencing factors such as religion, culture, custom and social background. It can be concluded from the study that the purpose of the translator applying these seven translation variation strategies is to respond the need of the target readers, by making the translation work more comprehensible and acceptable.Through comparison and analysis, it is found that the study of translation strategies, which Nai Tin conducted during translation is helpful for translating Chinese classical literature and also other containing Chinese culture books. Moreover, this study also proves the existence and value of translation variation issued by Professor Huang Zhonglian.