A Comparative Study Of The Two English Versions Of Xi Xiang Ji : A Perspective Of Adaptation Theory

Jef Verschueren, a distinguished Belgian linguist, put forward the adaptation theory in 1999. According to the adaptation theory, the language use is a process of constantly making choices. The reason why people are able to make a variety of suitable choices in language use lies in the three properties of language: variability, negotiability, and adaptability. Moreover, four investigation dimensions of the adaptation theory are contextual correlates of adaptability, structural objects of adaptability, dynamics of adaptability and salience of the adaptation process. They are closely related and interdependent.Translation is viewed as cross-cultural communication and the language use in it is the dynamic process of making flexible adaptations to the contextual correlates and linguistic structures with a certain purpose. Drawing on the adaptation theory, the thesis takes the two English versions of Xi Xiang Ji as research subjects to explore a fresh angle for the investigation of translation of Xi Xiang Ji.Xi Xiang Ji, created by Wang Shifu of the Yuan dynasty, is the masterpiece of the classical Chinese drama. It’s about the love story of Cui Yingying and Zhang Sheng, arranging from their love at first sight to being wife and husband after experiencing resisting feudalism to pursue liberal marriage and getting through sorrows and joys, separations and reunions. It’s written in poetic atmosphere with full of rhetorical flourishes, which is admired by a great number of readers. This thesis will make a comparative study of Xu Yuanchong’s Romance of the Western Bower and West and Idema’s The Story of the Western Wing to tentatively analyze drama translation from the perspective of the adaptation theory, illustrating the adaptation theory can be employed both as epistemology and as methodology in drama translation research.The research methods of this thesis are as follows: Firstly, comparisons are made between the two English versions of Xi Xiang Ji to show how they make adaptations in aspects of communicative context, structural objects, dynamism and salience. Secondly, the combination of quantitative and qualitative analysis is applied. Statistics on word frequency collected through the computer software Ant Conc 3.2.1 and ICTCLAS offer a better idea to clearly illustrate how adaptation at the lexical level achieved in different English versions, which may make the analysis less subjective and more convincing.This thesis comprises five parts:The introduction covers the research background, research significance, research methodology, the structure of this thesis and the presentation of Xi Xiang Ji, Wang Shifu, two English versions, and translators of Xi Xiang Ji.Chapter One is the literature review of English translation of drama and English translation of Xi Xiang Ji.Chapter Two describes the theoretical framework: the origin, development, four angles and the enlightenment of the adaptation theory on translation.Chapter Three is the main part of the thesis. The author makes the comparative study of the two English versions of Xi Xiang Ji from four dimensions of adaptation.The last part comes to the conclusion. The author holds that the process of translating Xi Xiang Ji is the dynamic process of making flexible adaptations to the contextual correlates and linguistic structures with a certain purpose. According to the adaptation theory, translators of the two versions employ different translation strategies and make corresponding choices and adaptations to achieve different translation goals. Xu mainly adopts domestication strategy, presenting a fluent and easy-following version by free translation and omission, but sometimes Xu excessively pursues conciseness of the version and beauty in sound at the expense of omitting the contents reflecting cultural elements or linguistic features of the source text. West and Idema tend to adopt foreignization, aiming to offer a version as faithful as possible to the source text. By drawing the reader to the author, they achieve to represent the original flavor of Chinese culture, but West and Idema as westerners are not good at fully grasping the background knowledge of Chinese culture so sometimes mis-translations may be caused. Generally, for foreign readers who are less familiar with traditional Chinese culture, the readability of the version may not be satisfying, which needs further studies.