Drama Translation In The Light Of Semiotics

Drama is one of the oldest artistic styles in human history, and also an indispensable component of human civilization. With the development of translation studies, scholars begin to explore the translation theory from various angles and there is a multidisciplinary trend in this field, the field of linguistics, philosophy, aesthetics, sociology, etc. However, as a unique branch of literary translation, studies on drama translation relatively lag behind. A vital reason is the complexity between dramatic text and performance, which has definitely cause obstacles to the translation studies. Fortunately, the Prague School brought the notion of semiotics into the field of theatre in1930s, which has expanded the horizon of drama translation studies to a new path.Drama semioticians believe that translation process is a process of semiosis. The decoding and encoding process is not arbitrary, rather, it is a governed one, determined by translators, readers, audience, social cultural environment, etc.; and most of all, this process follows the guiding principle of "performability" of drama translations, which specifically, falls into three concrete requirements, i.e. actability, orality and gesturality.This thesis starts with a semiotic perspective and analyzes the performability and extra-text determinants of Ying Ruocheng’s two works on both micro and macro level. On the micro level, Ying’s translation of performability is analyzed from verbal signs and non-verbal signs; Guided by orality and gesturality, verbal translations have adopted the translation methods of colloquialism, brevity, action and characterization; the translation of non-verbal signs serves directly stage performance, the musical signs, stage set descriptions and culture-loaded signs are translated differently from those in other literary forms.On the macro level, the translation process is a decoding-encoding circulation. This process is basically a decision-making one involving a lot of factors. Firstly, the translator Ying Ruocheng’s life experience has greatly influenced his translation strategies and translation qualities. Secondly, the direct reader of performers and indirect reader of audiences are determinants which influence the different translation strategies of stage settings and dialogues. Thirdly, both Amadeus and The Family are translated around1980s, when the Reform and Opening-up has just initialed in China. The social culture environment also determines the translation process.Above all, the study has proved that Mr. Ying’s translations not only follow strictly but also realize the criteria of performability. And together with various extra-text contributing factors, his works have developed a school of his own. On the other hand, the thesis has exemplified semiotics can apply to drama translation studies and analyzes performability from a multi-level, which may serve as not only a guidance of drama translation practice, but also a criterion for drama translation criticism and appreciation.