A Study Of Translators' Prefaces Of Chinese Versions Of Mongolian Historical Works (1980-2016)

The translator's preface is a branch of translation paratexts and in the process of translating Western classics into Chinese,some translators will introduce writers and works by writing translators' prefaces.The translator's preface as a bridge between the original and the translated work not only conveys information about works,but also expresses the translator's voice,so it is of great significance to translation studies.However,in contemporary translation studies,there are not many studies of translators' prefaces,and the research on translators' prefaces of Chinese versions of Mongolian historical works is rare.The thesis will study translators' prefaces of Chinese versions of Mongolian historical works from three aspects by adopting the corpus-based statistical analysis method,collecting 84 translators' prefaces of 52 Chinese versions of Mongolian historical works from 1980 to 2016 to construct a small corpus.Firstly,based on genre analysis theory and combined with Swales' move-step model,this thesis does research on the move structure of translators' prefaces in the corpus,thus identifying classifications of their content.Secondly,it explores these translators' prefaces from the perspective of year and classifications of content respectively,trying to find out their evolving tendency in number and content.Thirdly,this thesis chooses representative translators' prefaces of six Chinese versions of Mongolian historical works by famous translators,Feng Chengjun,Yu Dajun and He Gaoji,for case study,attempting to analyse functions and values of translators' prefaces from four aspects,including translators,translation practice,translation criticism and the study of Mongolian history.The research findings are:(1)the content of translators' prefaces of Chinese versions of Mongolian historical works is made up of the following four Moves: Move1 Introducing the original,Move 2 Providing evaluation of the original,Move 3Introducing the translated work,and Move 4 Concluding the process of translation;(2)the content of translators' prefaces about the original and the original writer is much more compared with that of the translated work and the translator;the number of translators' prefaces has gradually increased since 2000;(3)translators' prefaces record translators' thinking in translation process,especially the analysis,discussion and examination of important translation issues;(4)translators' prefaces reflect translators' deep background in Mongolology,and often become an important way for translators to express their personal academic and historical views.Based on the research findings and analysis of these translators' prefaces,the thesis further points out:(1)translators' prefaces can fulfill informative,explanatory and prescriptive function in the receiving culture;(2)this functional framework contributes to accepting and spreading of translations in the context of the target language,and narrowing the gap between translation theories and practice;(3)translators of Mongolian historical works with the status of historians highlight the unique form of their prefaces,and convey their translation thoughts and historical views in these translators' prefaces;(4)translators' prefaces are also an important literature source for translation criticism,and help it move from a centralized standard to complementary diversified standards.Moreover,the research on translators' prefaces of Chinese versions of Mongolian historical works breaks through the limitation of previous studies,namely regarding translators' prefaces of literary translations as research center.And it explores great potential values of translators' prefaces in translation history and Mongolology.