A Study On The English Version Of Chang Hen Ge Based On Chesterman's Theory Of Translation Ethics

As a cross-cultural communicative activity involving different languages,translation has ethical attributes.Against the background of the promotion for the diversity of cultures,the ethical issues of translation activities attract greater attention.The term “translation ethics” is put forward for the first time by Antoine Berman,a famous French linguist and translator in 1984.Since then,many scholars have dedicated to the study of translation ethics and published many influential works.The most representative one is Andrew Chesterman who puts forward a theory of translation ethic including five models,namely,ethics of representation,ethics of service,ethics of communication,norm-based ethics and commitment ethics.His theory has been considered the most systematic and widely applied to translation researches.Chang Hen Ge is one of Wang Anyi's representative works which won the fifth Mao Dun Literature Award.Its English version translated by Michael Berry and Susan Chan Egan has received wide acclaim abroad and much attention of translation researchers.However,few studies have been made from the perspective of translation ethics.This thesis first explores translation strategies and methods in The Song of Everlasting Sorrow and then analyzes reasons for the choice of the translation strategies and methods from the perspective of Chesterman's theory of translation ethics.Based on previous researches on the translation ethics of the two translators,the thesis expounds the influence of their translation ethics on the choice of translation strategies and methods,and further studies the mediation among five models of translation ethics when they are in conflicts.The results of the study show that in the translated version a great variety of translation strategies and methods have been adopted in a comprehensive and flexible way.With respect to the original structure,the two translators retain them in translation.For the translation of characters' names,they mainly adopt foreignization and translation methods such as transliteration and literal translation are mainly used.As for the translation of culture-specific items,Shanghai local culture items are translated with foreignization strategy while both foreignization and domestication are chosen for other items and literal translation as well as idiomatic translation,omission are frequently used.Foreignization and domestication are adopted in the translation of sentences with rhetorical devices.The study also finds that many uncommon translation methods like the change of direct dialogue and the use of italic for psychological descriptions facilitate the target readers' reading and understanding.A further study of the two translators' translation ethics reveals that they attach great importance to allthe five models of translation ethics.They not only pay attention to the reproduction of the original content and style,but also take norms of the target language as well as readers' reading habits into consideration.Therefore,different translation strategies and methods are chosen in compliance with different models of translation ethics and when the five models are in conflicts,the translators mediate creatively so as to transfer the unique characteristics of the source text and facilitate the needs of target readers.In a word,the translator's ethical thoughts exert great impact on the choice of translation strategies and methods.With the translators' profound understanding of the ethical significance of different aspects in translation activities,greater considerations will be taken into on the decisions of translation strategies and methods.This thesis hopes to be of some help for the translation of other Chinese literary works through a case study of The Song of Everlasting Sorrow.