A Study On The E-C Translation Of The Kite Runner In Mainland China And Taiwan Based On The Adaptation Theory

The novel The Kite Runner selected in this thesis for study is the first novel written by the Afghan-American writer Khaled Hosseini.The novel is based on the narration of leading character Amir,telling the childhood memories between him and his servant Hassan,and the story of his immigration with father to the United States after war.It is full of details of Afghan life with an imprint of the Islamic culture.This book was translated both in Mainland China and in Taiwan.Under the influence of different cultural background and history,translators will adopt different strategies in translation.In order to study the differences and causes involved,under the guidance of the Adaptation Theory proposed by Jef.Verschueren,this thesis analyzes language use in the two translated versions from the historical,social and cultural aspects in detail.Specifically,this thesis analyzes the translators' ideas and strategies from three aspects: word choices,sentence structures,language style,which leads to findings of differences in adaptation to the target language affected by different contextual correlates.Word choices are mainly about borrowed words and Islam-specific words,including translation differences and reasons.In the analysis of the sentence structures,emphasis is placed on long sentence translation and grammar,for which the translators tend to use different methods.The study of the language style focuses on syntax,methods and language features used by the translators,especially on four-character idioms,sayings and colloquialisms.Based on the study of content,contrasts as well as the causes in translation of the selected texts are analyzed with the consideration of historical and social development factors.Through my study,it is found that differences in the word choices are caused by the use of different phonetic transcriptions and the Islamic culture foundation.Because of the stronger influence of the old Chinese grammar and the western culture,translators in Taiwan prefer to use different linguistic structures.There are also differences in the language style owing to different language development and applications.Besides,differences in language use and grammar result in the use of different idioms,sayings and colloquialisms.