A Stylistic Study Of Gao Jian’s Versions From English Prose Works

In the modern translation field of China, professor Gao Jian, as a theorist and translator,is familiar with readers and scholars. In2005, he was honored with the title of “seniortranslator” by Chinese Translation Association. Among all of his translations, his prosetranslations from English to Chinese have been praised highly since they were published. Hisprose version is frequently employed into many academic works or articles. What is moreimportant, his versions have also been arranged into the translation textbooks, so it isnecessary to give a systematic research for Gao Jian’s success in the prose translation.The purpose of this thesis lies in two points: one is to analyze his personal translationstyle; the other one is to learn from his translations. It is not easy to be familiar with stylewhich is abstract. Thus, Text Type Theory and Stylistic Markers Theory would provide thetheoretical guidance in the analysis of the original prose and Gao Jian’s according translations.Besides, the qualitative and quantitative analysis would play an important role in this research.The quantity of his English to Chinese prose translations is so large that ten representativeprose translations would be chosen. The ten pieces of the original prose are chosen in thesequence of the time in the English prose history, which are all the gem of the English proseand each of them represents the characteristics of prose at that time and has its own style atthe same time.In order to make the prose translation in a high quality, the features of prose should befamiliar with. Thus, this thesis introduces prose and accordingly mentions that prosetranslation should pay attention to three requirements under the guidance of Text Type Theory.Then, the thesis analyzes Gao Jian’s translations on the ground of Stylistic Markers Theory bymeans of the qualitative statistics and the quantitative analysis. The research shows that GaoJian does well in the understanding of the original writings and in the diction. In a word, histranslation is loyal to the original text and takes full advantage of the target language. At the same time, Gao Jian’s great achievements in translation also give translationpractitioners some inspirations. Firstly, the birth of a successful translation can not do withoutthe good original writing and the translator’s motives or intentions behind his translation. GaoJian’s translations are always related to two factors: one is that the original text is an excellentwork, and the other one is his preference for the translation career. Secondly, a good translatormust have the solid natural accumulation and the high aesthetic culture, the rich translationexperience from his translation practice over a long period of time, and the high writingquality, thus, he could be possible to thoroughly understand and transfer the meaning and thespirit of the original texts, and to make his translation natural to the readers in the targetlanguage.At last, this thesis points out that researches about Gao Jian’s translation thoughts andhis translation practice could be made on the multiple or interdisciplinary perspective.Additionally, if a comparative research of the translations between multiple versions could bemade with the systemic combing and the clear presentation about the translation comparisonin its connotation, principle, method, significance and so on, it could also be a scientificresearch on the Gao Jian’s translation style.