The Collaborative Translation Model In English Translation Of Chinese Literary Works

At present,a great number of Chinese literary works are translated into foreign languages,and literary translation has been an important pathway to know Chinese further.Therefore,the task of translation and communication of Chinese literary works is unprecedentedly challenging.Translators are playing a key role in communication of Chinese literary works as well as Chinese culture.Thus,it is quite important to choose a proper translation model for the translation of Chinese literary works.The paper generalizes the phenomenon of collaborative translation in China's translation history,and conducts literature review on the translation model of English translation of Chinese literary works,then points out that Sino-foreign translators'collaboration model is of great significance to English translation of Chinese literary works.Meanwhile,the paper takes Old Tales Retold translated by Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang and Binu translated by Howard Goldblatt and Sylvia Li-chun Lin as examples to analyze divisions of tasks of the two translators and their translation strategies.From the perspective of the dynamic process of translation,it has two directions,which are in-translating and out-translating.In-translating refers to the process that the translator translate the source text written in foreign language into their own mother tongue,and out-translating refers to the process that the translator translate the source text written in their mother tongue into foreign language.In the process of in-translating or out-translating,collaborative translation model can be either the division-of-tasks collaboration between translators,who share the same mother tongue,or the effective collaboration between translators with different mother tongues.Dating back to Chinese translation history,whether it is the translation of Buddhist scriptures that lasted for thousands of years,or the translation of scientific literatures in the late Ming and early Qing period,or the translation of social science works in the late Qing Dynasty and the translation of contemporary Chinese literary works,the phenomenon of collaborative translation is frequently seen.The collaborative translation phenomenon is vital in accomplishing the globalization of Chinese culture at the present stage of English translation of Chinese literary works.The first chapter gives an introduction of background,purpose and significance of the research.In the second chapter,by collecting and viewing the phenomenon of collaborative translation in China's translation history,the first part analyzes the specific forms of four collaborative translation models,which are the collaborative model between an interpreter and a scribe,the division-of-tasks collaboration model,the collaboration model between a translator and a reviser,and the collaborative model between a chief translator and an assistant translator.Meanwhile,this paper also analyzes advantages and limitations of the four models,for example,the collaborative model between an interpreter and a scribe is adapt to a period of low English proficiency,but not now;the division-of-tasks collaboration model which is more applicable to large foreign translation projects,requires organizational management and unified agency;the collaboration model between a translator and a reviser needs more time to explore and improve;the collaborative model between a chief translator and an assistant translator needs more time,but can balance fluency and culture of translation.The second conducts literature review on the translation model of English translation of Chinese literary works and points out that the Sinologists,who translate in vivid and precise language with congenital advantage on target language and culture,play an important role for English translation of Chinese literary works,which is also the basis of Chinese collaborative translation.However,Chinese translators have a deep interpretation on Chinese culture with congenital advantage on Chinese language and culture.Then this paper proposes that Sino-foreign translators' collaboration model is an ideal model for English translation of Chinese literary works.Based on the collaborative model between a chief translator and an assistant translator,the first part of the third chapter takes two typical collaborative translation phenomena of Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang and Howard Goldblatt and Sylvia Li-chun Lin as examples to analyze divisions of tasks of the two translators and their translation strategies under the collaborative translation model.Lu xun's Old Tales Retold and Su Tong's Binu give old stories a strong symbolic and critical social function in the way of historical rewriting.This part also' taking the translation of Old Tales Retold and Binu as examples,analyzes the fusion of translator's strategies and style.In the second part,by comparison,this paper concludes several features of the collaborative translation model between a chief translator and an assistant translator under the different divisions of tasks.For example,the chief translator controls the overall style of the text and the function of the assistant translator is present more on the micro-level.Besides,the collision and fusion of the two translators' translation concepts always exists,and the division of their tasks makes the translation methods more flexible.The features of the collaborative model between a chief translator and an assistant translator under different forms of division of tasks are very important for cultivating and training translators.Therefore,the fourth chapter puts forward that attracting Chinese scholars to participate in the translation process with the high-level overseas sinologists,and seeking out the prefect meeting point of the faithfulness of the source text and the acceptance of the target readers,are of great significance to set up a high-quality translation team for English translation of Chinese literary works.