Strategies For Translating Chinese Science Fiction From The Perspective Of Translation Norms

The fiction produced in China reflects the complexity of the environment.Contemporary Chinese science fiction(SF)translation shows the world what China really is.It is the so-called Chinese dream of Chinese SF and the authors and translators.Ken Liu's anthology Invisible Planets:Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction in Translation(hereinafter to be referred as Invisible Planets)collects a selection of thirteen speculative fictions that he has translated from seven Chinese SF writers and draws a broad profile of Chinese SF for Anglophone readers.Based on Andrew Chesterman's Translation Norms,the thesis studies the application of translation norms in the translation of SF.At first,the thesis gives a systematic literature review of foreign and domestic studies of translation norms and Chinese SF translation;and then it introduces Andrew Chesterman's translation norms(i.e.expectancy norms,accountability norm,communication norm,and relation norm)and his classification of translation strategies and their general characteristics.Then the thesis analyses Ken Liu's translation strategies from the perspectives of the four translation norms.The analysis finds out that Ken Liu's translation in Invisible Planets does not follow a particular norm but applies various translation strategies in different situations.Translation tradition attaches great importance in readers' expectations but sometimes the translation would not obey the translation tradition to explain the original writer's meaning.Trusts among the original writers,translators,readers and publishers are necessary in the production of a good translated work.The translator adopts culture filtering to remove culture bumps in the translation of culture-loaded words and idioms to conform to the communication norm which is the difficulty of Chinese SF translation.The translator adopts different translation strategies for different types of texts to conform to the relation norm which is the key point of Chinse SF translation.The translator follows translation norms in his own way and those norms influence the translator's translation process.Ken Liu's creative selection of translation strategies provides a good example for translators.Analysis of Invisible Planets from the perspective of translation norms gives a new angle to study SF translation,contributes to Chinese SF go global and help Anglophones to know a different China by reading Chinese SF.