| A Thousand Splendid Suns is one of the novels written by the renowned contemporary American fictionist Khaled Hosseini. It has gained wide recognition.Up to now, Chinese scholars, Li Jihong and Li Jingyi have translated the novel. This thesis will choose Li Jihong’s version as the research object as it has been widely received and read. By comparing the original version and the translated version, this thesis attempts to analyze how Li Jihong’s translation of A Thousand Splendid Suns has achieved the same register as that in the original version and summarize some translation methods based on Li’s translation practice under the guidance of register theory.Register is determined by three variables: field, tenor and mode. Field refers to the situation in which the event is produced, including the topic, the whole activity of the participants and the communicative purpose. Tenor refers to the interrelations among the participants, consisting of the social status and the role relationships. Mode refers to the medium of language activities, which mainly consists of writing and speaking. The three variables mutually determine the language of use, namely the register of language. In novel translation, locating the register of the original version and the translated version helps to identify the personality of characters, locate the intimacy level between them and pinpoint the attitude and feeling of them. The reproduction of the register in the translated version will faithfully reproduces the content and style of the original version.By comparing the register markers of the original version with those of the translated one at various levels, this thesis aims to find how the translation has achieved in creating the equivalent register of field, tenor and mode. Along with the analysis, it is found that there are three main translation methods that Li has adopted,namely, amplification of interjections and auxiliary words; adoption of Chinese four-character phrases; free translation of colloquial expressions. It is expected thatthis study could give further insight to other translators. |
