A Comparative Study Of Two Chinese Translations Of The Wealth Of Nations

The Wealth of Nations,one of the most important works on economics,now,has more than twenty Chinese translations.These translations have attracted a lot of academic investigations from many scholars.However,most of these studies were made from the perspective of the following theories: the subjectivity of translators,the functional equivalence theory and the skopos theory.No research has been found to be made from the perspective of adaptation theory.Therefore,this thesis,on the basis of adaptation theory,will make a comparative study on Yan Fu's translation and Xie Zujun's translation of The Wealth of Nations,analyzing their different language choices in their translation process.This study is intended to discuss how translators of different ages make their language choices at different times.Through comparative study on two translations,the author finds that all translation works bear their own labels of ages.The translation works by Yan Fu and Xie Zujun are no exception.These language choices and adaptation,to be specific,lie in three aspects: adaptation to context,adaptation to language structure and adaptation to translation strategies.From the perspective of context,different adaptations to physical world and social world were made in Yan Fu and Xie Zujun's translation.In their translation process,Yan Fu often used historical events to denote past time while Xie Zujun tried to convey the past time with literal translation.When it comes to rendering the social context,Yan Fu tried to be adaptable to the social culture accepted by the people at the end of the Qing Dynasty while Xie Zujun adapted himself into the modern culture.From the perspective of language structural level,this thesis analyzes two translators' choices and adaptation at lexicon,syntax and style.To be specific,at lexical level,economic terms and proper nouns of place in particular,Yan Fu chose to “create” and “transliterate” new words for the lack of corresponding words in his age,while Xie Zujun used required terminologies as he lived in a time with economic terms and proper nouns of place which are sufficiently available.At syntax,Yan Fu employed passive voice while Xie Zujun preferred active voice when they translated passive voice in original text.Finally,Yan Fu translated the original text in a classical,elegant and brief style while Xie Zujun used a straightforward vernacular style.From the perspective of translation strategies,this thesis finds that Yan Fu adopted free translation.He used plentiful notes and made many deletions while Xie Zujun employed literal translation so that the original meanings could be fully conveyed.This thesis shows that translation works are products of age.They are reflective of their political and cultural features.Therefore translators are inclined to make corresponding language choices and adaptations in line with the features of their ages.Therefore,in translation process,translators should fully take consideration of the features of their ages so that they can make proper language choices and adaptations and produce updated translation works.