An Exploration Of The Theoretical Model Of Faithful Translation Based On “Reality-Cognition-Language”

In both China and the West,the discussion on translation standards has a long history and has produced many views.The essence of the various views in traditional translation studies and that of various equivalence theories in linguistic translation studies are about the discussion of what is faithful translation.However,since different scholars hold different views about the level and dimension of faithfulness,they have not reached a consensus on what is faithful translation.Cognitive science and cognitive linguistics that emerged and rapidly developed in the middle and late 20 th century not only provide a new perspective for the cognitive study of translation,but also brings new inspiration for the study of faithful translation.Based on the core principle “reality-cognition-language” of cognitive linguistics,the present paper aims to construct a theoretical model of overall faithful translation from the perspective of text(language)generation so as to explore the generation mechanism of overall faithful translation.The model of overall faithful translation can be described as: Starting from the generation basis of text,and with the prerequisite of rich world knowledge and strong ability of two languages,a translator restores the generation basis,namely reality and cognition(conceptual content and way of construal)of the source language text through the traceability analysis of the source language text,on the basis of this,the translator finally constructs the target language text.Since the ontological features and expressive effects of the source language text originate from the original author's interactive experience and cognitive processing,namely reality and cognition,the target language text thus constructed will be faithful to the source language text from inside to outside naturally.There are four pairs of core concepts involved in this model: two realities,two types of cognition,two language texts and two language readers' responses.The first two involve how the target language text is faithful to the source language text at the level of reality and cognition respectively,the latter two involve the manifestation of and relationship between the two language texts,and the function of two language readers' responses.To further illustrate the rationality,feasibility and applicability of this model,three English translations of Li Yu's Yu Mei Ren are analyzed.The theoretical model of faithful translation constructed from the perspective of text generation not only opens up a new perspective for the theoretical study of faithful translation and realizes the full faithfulness to the source language text from inside to outside,but also advances the integration of cognitive linguistics theories and translation studies.This model also plays a significant role in guiding translation criticism,translation practice,translation teaching and translator training.