A Study Of Ying Ruocheng’s Drama Translation Views

Drama plays an important role in the world literature and art. Drama translation among different countries also has been lasting for many centuries. However, the researches on drama translation are limited. The correlated comments on drama translation theories are rare and not to speak of any systematic studies of drama translation theories.Ying Ruocheng, as an excellent and experienced director, actor and translator, has made great contributions to the exchange of drama cultures between China and western countries. In 1999, Ying’s translation of A Series of Famous Plays Translated by Ying Ruocheng was published by China Translation and Publishing Corporation. These series books altogether contain eight drama translation works, containing the preface of each book. Ying states his own views on drama translation in the preface of A Series of Famous Plays Translated by Ying Ruocheng after he finished translating these eight dramas. The main purpose of translating these eight drama works is to achieve the performance effect of all these drama works. At the present, the researches on Ying’s drama translation views on his drama translation works are few and the analysis of these eight drama translation works are still fewer. This thesis, on one hand, by reading a large number of correlated books and literatures, on the other hand, by analyzing the content of the preface and the eight drama translation works from A Series of Famous Plays Translated by Ying Ruocheng, aims to summarize Ying’s main emphasis of translating these eight drama works and give a comparatively systematic study of Ying’s drama translation views.By using literature research method, inductive research method and analysis research method, this thesis analyzes Ying’s drama translation views from the following four angles: firstly, this thesis makes a brief review of the existing studies on drama translation both in the west and in China and on Ying’s drama translation views. Then, the thesis summarizes Ying’s drama translation views into four aspects, that are: Ying’s views on the goals of drama translation; Ying’s views on the principles of drama translation; Ying’s views on the strategies of drama translation and Ying’s views on the methods of drama translation. At the same time, by analyzing the translating examples from A Series of Famous Plays Translated by Ying Ruocheng, this thesis can fully illustrate the reflection of Ying’s drama translation views in his drama translation practice. After that, the thesis analyzes the theoretical bases and contributing factors of forming Ying’s drama translation views. The following three aspects contribute to the formation of Ying’s drama translation views: the first, the characteristics of drama and drama translation are the foundations and preconditions of Ying’s formation of his own views on drama translation; the second, the existing drama translation views are the theoretical bases that pave the way for Ying’s formation of his own views on drama translation; the third, Ying’s own life experiences including the social background he was located in, the education experiences he received and the working experiences later on he possessed, all had great influences on his formation of drama translation views. Finally, the contributions of Ying’s drama translation views both to drama translation theories and drama translation practice are presented. With all these done, this thesis concludes that Ying attaches great importance to performability and all his eight drama translation works are translated for achieving the goal of performance on the stage.