A Study On Goldblatt's English Version Of Tan Xiang Xing From The Perspective Of Translation Ethics

Translation is not only a kind of cross-cultural communication,but also a complicated practical activity and social behavior.Translators,the key characters in the process of translation,should balance various human relations and cultures.Any translation needs the guidance of translation ethics.“ Ethics of translation ” was firstly put forward by Antoine Berman in the 1980 s and then many scholars proposed different views on it,among which the five models of translation ethics(namely,ethics of representation,ethics of service,ethics of communication,norm-based ethics and ethics of commitment)held by Andrew Chesterman stood out.Then the concrete ethical requirements are systematically interpreted by Andrew and his approach has exerted profound influence in the academia.The full-length novel “Sandalwood Death” written by Mo Yan appeared on the bestseller list when it came out as its vividly description of the Chinese typical officialdom,penalty and vernacular culture.At the same time,the English version translated by Howard Goldblatt successfully drew the attention of scholars and experts to make detailed research.Too many studies focused on the transplanting and rewriting,cultural translation theory,dynamic equivalence,etc.However,domestic translation ethics studies are still immature and few of them conducted based on translation ethics theory.Therefore,based on Chesterman's five models,the present thesis tries to analyze how every step of Goldblatt's translation of Sandalwood Death is operated and to find out the methods and strategies that he has adopted in order to deepen the understanding of translation activities and promote the cross-cultural communication between east and west.The author finds that Chesterman's five models are all embodied in Sandalwood Death.Foreignization translation strategy is adopted to make the translation line with the representation ethics,which vividly reflects the local “Maoqiang Opera” without destroying the features of the original language.Tomake the translation line with the ethics of service,ethics of communication,norm-based ethics,domestication strategy is used and such methods as adapting,omitting,free translation,free translation plus internal paraphrase are adopted.The method of rewriting is used to make the translation line with the ethics of commitment.Goldblatt has made his own choice,coordination and adjustment to make the translation readable and realize the cross-cultural communication because of the conflicts and overlaps among the five models of translation ethics.