A Study Of The Satirical Effects In The Chinese Translation Of The Great Deformation From The Perspective Of Equivalent Effect Theory

The Great Deformation is an economic masterpiece written by former U.S.congressman David A.Stockman who had served as director of the White House Budget and Management Office under President Reagan.The book criticizes the poor policies adopted by the then U.S.government and in particular the Federal Reserve when met with various financial crises and cliffs.To this end,the author uses abundant materials displaying satire in his writing which poses a challenge to translation.This paper seeks to explore how translated pieces may provide the target language reader with a similar reading experience as is perceived by the source language reader by taking a deeper probe into the Chinese translated text of The Great Deformation and using Jin Di's Equivalent Effect Theory to discuss its satirical effects.After a careful analytical study,it has been found that Zhang Jianmin,Chinese translator of the work,mainly achieves the same or similar effects of satire in his translated work,keeping the same style with the original work by means of literal translation,liberal translation and at times a combination of both.In using literal translation,Zhang adds additional information or annotations instead of word-for-word transformation,which includes retaining the satirical effect in the original text directly,with annotations and with supplementary explanations.In using liberal translation,Zhang looks for similar substitutes in the target language such as by replacing the original proverbs with what is found in the target language,omitting the original form of satire yet retaining its flavor,adding the form of satire and expressing the original meaning vividly,and,if necessary,borrowing terms from the source or target language to achieve equivalent or similar effects.To adopt these translation strategies effectively,the author of this paper stresses that the translator should pay attention to,and accumulate,relevant background knowledge to avoid information addition not mentioned in the original text,take into consideration the expression form and completeness of the meaning and,in doing so,avoid some unnecessary enhancement or weakening of the satirical effect.All these strategies and similar methods used in the translation make it possible for the translated work to carry the same satirical style with almost the same significance as the original text.This paper mainly explores how to realize a dynamic equivalence of satirical effects in the Chinese translation of The Great Deformation,which may provide some guidance to studies or translation practices for similar economic works.