"Deceptive Equivalence" And Fiction Translation

Shuihu Zhuan occupies an essential position in Chinese literature,no matter domestic and abroad worships it as an encyclopedia of Chinese culture.Pearl.S.Buck is the first English scholar to translate this classical work fully,titled All Men Are Brothe,rs that presented a mysterious eastern world to the west.Next,J.H.Jackson and Sidney Shapiro translated again,respectively Water Margin(1937),and Outlaws of the Marsh(1980).The latest translation version comes from John and Alex Dent-Young,who rearranged the whole structure and this version swept foreign country again.More importantly,this version supplies a pluralistic perspective to Shuihu zhuan translationThe basic task for translator is to convey fiction's content as concise as possible.If translators found some plots in original text are not accordance with common sense in the perspective of translators' cultural background,they tend to make reasonable modification.However.deceptive equivalence occurs generally,which refers to the translation cannot capture aesthetic values and thematic functions expressed by original text's author while it seems conveying approximately the same meaning.This thesis puts forwards that Geoffrey Leech's classification of meaning could adopt to guide translation practice in order to avoid deceptive equivalence by exploring meaning types in original text.British famous linguist Geoffrey Leech classified meanings into seven types,namely conceptual meaning,connotative meaning,stylistic meaning,affective meaning.reflected meaning,collocative meaning and thematic meaning.Combining fiction translation with seven types of meaning could enhance translation quality,avoid occurrence of deceptive meaning.as well as strengthen exchange between two cultures.This thesis aims at discussing the reason for occurrence of deceptive equivalence in Dent-Young's The Marshes of Mount Liang.To the matter of deceptive equivalence,the thesis puts forward the application of seven types of meaning could reduce the frequency of deceptive equivalence,and supply one practical method to future translation work.We target at developing translation competence.