On Communicative Adaptation In The Translation Of Character Discourse

Belgian pragmatics scholar Jef Verschueren's theory of linguistic adaptation points out that language use can be defined as a process of making linguistic choices.The context from which language is generated affects the language structure which,in turn,helps shape the context.As communication unfolds,this context-structure relationship changes dynamically and meaning is thus generated.In terms of context,communicative context represents an important non-linguistic factor and is constituted by four ingredients including the language user,the mental world,the social world,and the physical world.Guided by this theory of adaptation and based on my Chinese translation of Driving the King,I propose that translating a character's discourse in a novel involves two language using processes: first,the utterance of this character in the novel;second,the transition from source text to target text.When analyzing the source text,the translator needs to sort out the character's adaptation to the communicative context so as to grasp the meaning.When it comes to the target text,the translator should restore the unique cultural landscape reflected in the source text and help the reader understand cultural issues such as racism in Driving the King.To achieve this goal,my translation integrates domestication and foreignization translation strategies as a way to dynamically adapting to either the reader or the original novel.When dealing with issues of universality beyond cultural distinction,I adopt domestication strategy.When dealing with cultural differences,I tend to adopt foreignization strategy but turn to domestication strategy when the translation becomes too obscure and hard to read.In this study,the foreignization approach is achieved through literal translation with or without annotation while the domestication approach is realized through amplification,paraphrase,metaphorical object changing and perspectiveshifting.To conclude,the theory of communicative adaptability enables the translator to attend to non-linguistic factors in the translation process so that he or she can analyze the source text and choose translation methods accordingly in four dimensions,namely the language user,the mental world,the social world,and the physical world.In this process,the translator can play a reasonably active role to accomplish the trans-cultural communication.