The Application Of Semiotic Theory Of Meaning In The Chinese Translation Of 2013 Virginia Outdoors Plan

Semiotics,first proposed by Charles.Sanders.Peirce,offered a powerful tool for analyzing the system of signification(using signs to communicate meaning).C.W.Morris distinguished three kinds of meaning,i.e.referential meaning,syntactic(intra-lingual)meaning and pragmatic meaning.Translation,by essence,is the inter-lingual activity of meaning transferring.When it comes to which kind of translation can be defined as adequate or prominent,opinions differ among practitioners and researchers.But the semiotic analysis of meaning ensures that the translator achieves an accurate understanding of the source text and renders a precise version of translation.This thesis reports how the author translated the non-literary text Virginia Outdoors Plan(2013)under the guidance of the semiotic theory of meaning,illustrating with typical examples how to identify the multiple layers of meaning of the source expressions,and how to determine and prioritize the most important contextual meaning(s)for transfer.To achieve the maximum equivalence of the source text and the translation,the author resorted to such compensatory strategies as perspective shifting,paraphrase and contextual amplification.The thesis also discusses how to avoid inappropriate translations by examining possible alternate versions of several passages in the original and explaining why they would fall short of the recipients' expectations.The semiotic theory of meaning approaches meaning from three perspectives,i.e.syntatics,semantics,and pragmatics.It enables translators to grasp the right direction of translation to ensure that the delivering of the original ' s message is both correct and appropriate.The semiotic theory of meaning highlights the core task of translation and offers strategies and methods for solving problems in translation in a systematic way.The three kinds of meanings covers basically the whole meanings during the translating process.The translator identifies,captures and evaluates the three semiotic meanings at the comprehending part of translating and finds out the most important meaning(usually the referential meaning),and translate it first.Then combining the contexts and backgrounds of the source text,the translator determines whether there is any intra-lingual meanings.If so,the translator shall evaluate whether the target reader can understand or accept it,and shall adopt proper means of shifting and compensation to make up for the "lost" meanings.If the target reader cannot grasp the intra-lingual meaning,then the delivering of meanings shall ascertain that the reader can get the information that the author most wanted to deliver.The expressing part of translating primarily faces the target reader,and to achieve the above goal,two criteria shall be accepted.First,the language use shall conform to rules of the target language.Second,the different layers of meanings shall be organized according to their levels of importance.The task of a translator is to convey the exact meaning that the source text carries.A good translation shall achieve four goals:(1)within the bounds of the norms of target language grammar and usage along with the acceptability of the expected readership;(2)with priority given to the most prominent or significant meaning(s)in the context;(3)the translator shall adopt proper strategies in translation when necessary;(4)to transfer the maximum amount of meanings of the source text and the distribution of such meanings so as to achieve maximal equivalence to the source text and its communicative functions under the target language perfectly realized.