A Study Of Xiao Qian’s Chinese-English Self-translation From Translators’ Adaptation And Selection

Self-translation is considered as a special translation activity,which has drawn attention of foreign scholars in the early stage,whereas it has gradually came into the view of Chinese scholars in recent years.As an outstanding bilingual writer,Xiao Qian is both a writer and a translator.His self-translation activities and self-translated works are of great significance,but little attention has been paid to them in the academic circles.This study extracts thirteen prose-fictions translated by Xiao Qian in Selected Masterpieces by Xiao Qian published by Beijing Language and Culture University Press in 2001 as the research object,with methods of comparative analysis and case analysis.The purpose of this study is to analyze Xiao Qian’s self-translated works from the perspective of translators’ adaptation and selection,based on Verschueren’s linguistic adaptation theory and Hu Gengshen’s translation as adaptation and selection.More specifically,in accordance with the structural objects of adaptability,selective adaptation to the translational eco-environment and adaptive selection of translation strategies,this study attempts to explore how Xiao Qian adapted and flexibly selected in his self-translation.It is found that in the process of C-E self-translating,structural objects of adaptability can be analyzed at the lexical,syntactic and textual levels.Besides,Xiao Qian adapted to the translational eco-environment,especially in source and target languages,the translator’s motivation and competence.Moreover,Xiao Qian selected the translation strategies of domestication and foreignization as well as the means or approaches of translation variation,including amplification,deletion,narration and remodeling.On the one hand,it fully meets the needs of the author and the target readers;on the other hand,it reflects the flexibility and creativity in the process of self-translating.In addition,this thesis provides a new perspective for the study of self-translation,which does not only focus on studies of translation strategies.Also,this study contributes to understanding the embodiment of translators’ adaptation and selection in Xiao Qian’s self-translation activities and his self-translated works,and focusing more attention on bilingual writers and self-translators.