Study On The English Version Of Cha Guan From The Perspective Of Toury’s Theory Of Translational Norms

Lao She is a famous modern novelist and dramatist in China,and the first writer in New China to be awarded the title of “People’s Artist”.In the background of the rise and fall of a teahouse in old Beijing,Cha Guan,the culmination of Lao She’s drama,reflects the changes of Beijing’s social image and different fates of people from all ranks of life from the end of Qing Dynasty to the 50 years after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War.The play which contains strong Chinese culture and folk customs has attracted much attention as soon as it was published.It was first put on the stage in 1956 and provoked a stir in Chinese society and the readers.Since then,the play has performed on the stage for many times,and in 1980,Cha Guan was invited to be performed in West Germany,France,Switzerland and so on,which was the first time for the Chinese drama to go abroad.In order to promote its spread abroad,famous performing artist and translator Ying Ruocheng translated it into English.After that,Cha Guan was invited to be performed in Japan,Canada and other countries over the world.For this achievement,Ying Ruocheng’s version played an important role.Based on Evan Zohar’s polysystem theory and Holmes’ s theory of translation studies,the Israeli scholar named Gideon Toury puts forward translational norms.In Toury’s view,translation is a sociocultural activity restricted by translational norms.Both the text selection before translation and the decision in the actual translation process are influenced by social and cultural factors.It is worth exploring what kinds of translational norms the translator has followed in the process of translation,for the reason that Cha Guan,such a work with strong Chinese characteristics and Beijing flavor,can be accepted by the target language readers of the version successfully.In view of this,this paper takes Toury’s theory of translational norms as theoretical framework and attempts to study Ying’s version of Cha Guan and its English translation process from three aspects: preliminary norms,initial norms and operational norms,so as to explore how the translational norms of Toury are reflected and operated in the English version of Cha Guan.By analyzing the English version and original text of Cha Guan,the author studies the Ying Ruocheng’s choice and implementation of translation strategies in the translation process,and finds that the selection and translation of the original text are greatly influenced by the culture of the target language country,especially in the context of promoting the dissemination of Cha Guan on the foreign stage.Thus,it is particularly important to adopt the translation tendency of neutrality and favours the target language habit.Mr.Ying Ruocheng’s translation not only conforms to the reading habits of the target language readers,but also retains some features of the source language in the details,which satisfies the requirements of transmitting Chinese culture,so as to form a satisfactory translation on both sides.Taking Toury’s theory of translational norms as framework of the thesis,it provides a new perspective for the study of the English version of Cha Guan.Using Toury’s theory of translational norms to make analysis of Ying Ruocheng’s version of Cha Guan can not only deepen the understanding and study of the version,but also can raise understanding of Toury’s theory of translational norms,and give some enlightenments for the export of Chinese contemporary literatures.