A Study Of The Translation Of Mo Yan's Wa From Bourdieu's Sociological Perspective

In 1990 s,there appeared sociological turn in translation studies.Since then,more and more scholars have conducted interdisciplinary studies of translation phenomena from the perspective of sociology.Translators are inevitably influenced by social factors in the process of translation since translation is an activity taken in the society.Therefore,to study translation phenomena from the perspective of sociology can comprehensively explain translators' behavior.The thesis,based on Pierre Bourdieu's theory of practice,studies how the three concepts of field,capital,and habitus influence Howard Goldblatt's choice of translation methods in Frog.Particularly,the discussion of Goldblatt's translation methods covers characters' names,doggerel,idioms,metaphor,and free direct speech.And the thesis employs text analysis and document analysis as the main methods.To achieve the research objective,the study answers the three questions: What translation methods were adopted by Goldblatt and what were Goldblatt's preferred translation methods in translating Frog? What were the specific field and Goldblatt's capital and habitus when he translated Frog? How did translation field,Goldblatt's capital and habitus influence his translation methods?The thesis finds out that Goldblatt employed both literal and free translation,but tended to adopt literal translation.When dealing with characters' names,doggerels,idioms,metaphor,and free direct speech,he tried to be faithful to the original text.Moreover,the field is favorable to the translation of Chinese literature;Goldblatt has possessed much cultural,social and symbolic capital;he has formed the habitus of studying and translating Chinese literature and his translation principle of faithfulness.Therefore,with capital advantage,Goldblatt has occupied a dominant position in the field,which enables him to choose translation methods according to his habitus.Literal translation in Frog is the materialization of his habitus and capital in the translation field.With Chinese culture “going global”,the study may shed some light on the translation of contemporary Chinese literature,such as what kind of translation methods to adopt.Also,it may provide some inspiration for relevant studies,such as the acceptability of translation of contemporary Chinese literature among foreign readers.