The Reproduction Of Characters In Fiction Translation From The Perspective Of Communicative Translation Theory

Based on Text Typology,Peter Newmark proposed the theory of semantic translation and communicative translation.While integrating features of free translation,domestication and dynamic translation,communicative translation—when compared with semantic translation—attaches more importance to reading effect,that is,the target readers' understanding and perception.Besides,it also takes into consideration the differences in time and space between the source text and the target text.Therefore,as for light literature translation,the communicative translation theory is highly significant for producing an idiomatic and coherent version,thus improving readability.One of the major tasks for translators in fiction translation could be reproduction of characters,the so-called“soul”of a novel/fiction.In that sense,a good translator needs to help make the multi-dimensional round characters reappear in a vivid and lifelike way.The translation work of“Funny Little Snake”hit a bottleneck when it came to recreation of round characters.But it's precisely the most distinctive feature of this short story—depicting characters with various description techniques and a delicate and exquisite style of writing.It's undeniable that semantic translation holds water in maintaining the author's style,but obviously it affects the expressive force and fluency expected by readers in translation of popular fiction.However,communicative translation sheds light on how the shortage could be covered.The commentary part of this thesis starts by introducing researches on the communicative translation theory and its application to different text types.And the emphasis is put on significance of the theory for character translation in fiction.Then,from the perspective of communicative translation theory and taking into account the language features and writing style of the original text,comes the discussion of how round characters could be reproduced in the Chinese version—by analyzing positive description and indirect description from different angles including the reader response,context construction and source-language information reorganization.Last,concrete translation strategies and techniques are summarized based on the above-mentioned case studies,which again highlights the inspiration from communicative translation theory for reproducing character images.