A Study of Translationese in EnglishChinese Translation.docx
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A Study of Translationese in EnglishChinese Translation.docx
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AStudyofTranslationeseinEnglishChineseTranslation
AStudyofTranslationeseinEnglish-ChineseTranslation
Abstract:
Withtheincreasingeconomic,political,andculturalexchangesintheageofglobalization,somuchattentionhasbeenpaidtotranslation,foritplaysavitalimportantroleonmutualunderstandingandcommunication.Amongmanytranslationissues,translationesehasbeengivenmoreandmoreattention.Thispaperfirstbrieflyintroducesthedefinitionsandfeaturesoftranslationese,thenexpoundsthecausesandsolutionsoftranslationese,andfinallydiscussestheacceptabilityoftranslationese.
Keywords:
translationese,unnatural,acceptability
1.Introduction
Withthedevelopmentofglobalizationandinternationalization,economic,politicalandculturalexchangesamongdifferentcountriesandregionsarebecomingmoreandmorefrequent.Translation,asatoolandbridgeofcommunication,playsasignificantroleintheprocessofcommunication.Asthedemandofalargenumberoftranslations,thequalityoftranslationhasbeenconcerned.However,theoriginaltextsmayvariousfromeachother;translatorshavedifferentpreferencesincertainwords,sentencestructures,andstyles;andtranslator'stranslatingproficiencymayindifferentlevels;andthetargetreadersmayhavedifferentrequirementsoropinionsonthetranslations.Allthesefactorsleadtoproducedifferentlevelorstyletranslationworks.Thephenomenonoftranslationeseinthetranslatedtextshasbeendrawnmoreattentions.Translationesehasbeenquiteapopulartopicinthecircleoftranslationresearch,asitdirectlyaffectsthequalityandreadabilityofthetranslatedtexts.ThispapermainlydiscussesaboutthetranslationeseinEnglish-Chinesetranslation.Thispaperfirstgivesthedefinitionsandsomedistinctivefeaturesoftranslationese,thenanalyzesthecausesoftranslationeseandputsforwardseveralstrategiesforimprovingthequalityoftranslation.Attheendofthispaper,theacceptabilityoftranslationeseisdiscussed.
2.LiteratureReview
Thispartmainlyintroducesthedefinitionsoftranslationesegivenbysomescholarsandresearchersfromhomeandabroad,andsomedistinctivefeaturesoftranslationese.
2.1Definitionsoftranslationese
Whatistranslationese?
Manyscholarsandresearcheshavealreadyairedtheirownviewsonthedefinitionoftranslationese.Thefollowingaresomeofthem:
InTheTheoryandPracticeofTranslation,Eugene.A.NidaandCharlesR.Taberdefinethetranslationeseas“formalfidelity,withresultingunfaithfulnesstothecontentandtheimpactofthemessage.”(Nida&Taber,2004:
13).
Gellerstam(1986)holdsthatthetranslationesereferstothe“fingerprints”leftbythesourcelanguageinthetargetlanguageaftertranslation.
Newmark(2001:
75)describestranslationeseasinaccuratetranslation.Tobemoreprecise,translationeseisatranslationwordedinanabsurdhybridlanguageasaresultofatranslatinginwhichtheinterferenceofthesourcelanguageistoogreatonthetranslator.Actuallytranslationesehasbeenfoundthestyleofsometranslatingorientationssuchaswork-for-wordtranslationandliteraltranslation.
Puurtinen(2003)definestranslationeseas“atranslation-specificlanguage,whichreferstolinguisticfeaturesthatareeitherspecifictotranslationsoroccurwithasignificantlyhigherorlowerfrequencyintranslationsthanintargetlanguageoriginals.”
InDictionaryofTranslationStudies,amoreprecisedefinitionoftranslationeseispresented:
ageneralpejorativetermusedtorefertoTLusagewhichbecauseofitsobviousrelianceonfeaturesofSLisperceivedasunnatural,impenetrableorevencomical,becauseitisobviouslydifferentfromthefeaturesofTL.(Shuttleworth&Cowie,2004)
InthebookofAnAppliedTheoryofTranslation,FanZhongying(1994)devotedawholechapter,ChapterNine,tothediscussionofthephenomenonthoughheemploysanothertermtranslationsyndrome.Hereishisdefinition:
“…Yetinfact,wecanoftendiscovermanyforeignizingexpressionswhichdonotconformtothehabitualuseoflanguageintranslations.Thisisacommonfaultexclusivetotranslation.”
AccordingtoLiuMiqing(1999),translationesereferstoatranslationstylethatreadersdonotlovetoaccept.Itistheproductofmechanicaltranslationopinionsandmethodology.TheproduceroftranslationeseusuallyneglectsthedifferencesbetweentheSLandtheTLandregardstranslationasmechanicaltransferofsurfacestructures.
SunZhili(2003:
95-103)employsthewordtranslationesetoreferto“akindoftranslatedtextwhichisawkwardandextremelyhardfortheTLreaderstoaccept.”andWangZhikui(2004:
174-184)definestranslationeseas“theunidiomaticusageoflanguageexistingintranslatedtexts.”
FangMengzhi(2004)definestranslationeseas“unnatural,unsmoothandunpolishedsentencesorexpressionsintranslatedworkswhichareusuallydifficulttoreadandhardtounderstand.”
ChengXixu(2006:
104)alsogiveshisowndefinition:
Translationeseisanunnaturalformoflanguageintranslationwhichcarriesthefeaturesofthesourcelanguagestructures,thusviolatingthehabitualuseofthetargetlanguagewithinacertainperiodoftime.
Tosumup,translationesereferstohybrid,unnaturalexpressionsinthetranslatedworksthatdoesnotconformtothelinguisticconventionsoftheTL.Inthispaper,theEnglish-Chinesetranslationwastakenasexampletoanalyzethephenomenonoftranslationese.ManyscholarsalsocalledthiskindoflanguageasEuropeanizedlanguage.
2.2FeaturesofTranslationese
AccordingtoShuttleworthandCowie(2004:
178),inappropriateSLmetaphorsandsyntax,unnaturalwordorderandahighconcentrationofunnatural-soundingterminologyarethesortoffeatureswhicharetypicaloftranslationese.
FanZhongying(1994:
98)discussesthisphenomenonoftranslationeseinthenameof"translationsyndrome".Thecharacteristicsoftranslationsyndrome,inhisopinion,areasfollows:
(1)atranslationwithlighttranslationsyndromeisunnaturalinlanguagebutcanbeunderstood;
(2)thecollocationsdonotconformtoChineseusage;(3)metaphorsintheoriginalaredirectlytransplantedand(4)thesurfacemeaningisconsideredwithoutbotheringthedeepmeaning.
LiuMiqing(1999:
245)aimsspecificallyattheEnglish-Chinesetranslationpractice,andhesumsupthefeaturesoftranslationeseasfollows:
(1)thetranslationviolatesthelinguisticusageofTL,especiallywordorder;
(2)thesentencepatternsandlexicalpreferenceofSL(especiallythepronounsinEnglish)arefoundinTL;(3)therhetoricaldevicesofSLaredirectlytransplanted;(4)theforeigncultureisblindlyintroducedwithoutconsiderationofthenationalandtheindividualpsychologyofthereceptors;(5)SLisimitatedandthesocialfunctionandeffectsareignored.
SunZhili(2003)studiestranslationeseinthecontextofEnglish-Chinesetranslationpractice,astothefeaturesoftranslationese,hesummarizedtwoitems:
(1)unsmoothlanguagewhichnotonlyviolatesthenormofChinesebutruinsthereaders'interestsand
(2)obscuremeaningwhichconfusesthereaders'understanding.
ChengXixu(2006:
104)liststhreemainfeaturesoftranslationese:
(1)beingunnatural;
(2)carryingthefeaturesofsourcelanguagestructuresand(3)beinginviolationofthehabitualuseoftargetlanguage.
Inaword,thephenomenonoftranslationeseischaracteristicofitsformalfidelityandignoranceofthelinguisticconventions,expressionsandsentencestructuresoftheTL.Translationswithtranslationeseareunnatural,andfromwhichtheshadowofSTcanbeseen.
3.CausesofTranslationeseandtheSuggestions
Asthedefinitionsandfeaturesoftranslationesehavebeengivenbymanyscholarsandresearchers,thecausesoftranslationesehasalsobeendiscussedbythem.
FanZhongying(1994)arguesthattherearethreemajorcauses:
firstly,thetranslator'signoranceofdifferencesbetweenthetwolanguages;secondly,thetranslator'smisunderstandingof"faithfulness";thirdly,thetranslatordoesnotcomprehendthedeepmeaningofSLtext.
LiuMiqing(1999)holdsthattheproduceroftranslationeseusuallyneglectsthedifferencesbetweenSLandTLandregardstranslationasamechanicaltransferofsurfacestructures.Thetranslatordoesnotunderstandthedeepstructurethroughthesurfacestructureintheprocessofcomprehension.
AccordingtoFangMengzhi(2004:
26),translationesedoesnotoccurbecauseofthetranslator'slimitedtargetlanguagecompetenceorpoorwritingskills.Instead,itoccursbecause"thetranslatorcannotgobeyondtheobligatoryrulesofgrammarandsurfacestructureofsyntaxinSL",thatistosay,thetranslator"keepstoorigidlytothesourcetext,andtriestoseekcompleteformalequivalenceinwording,figuresofspeechandsentencestructuresbetweenthetwolanguages,withoutknowingthatheisattemptingatsomethingimpossible,whichnodoubtwillendupinfailure.Thushistranslationwilljustcausepainforreaders".
Basedonthefindingsoftheseandotherresearchers,thecausesoftranslationesecanbesummarizedasfollows:
3.1NeglectingtheDifferencesbetweenChineseandEnglish
ChineseandEnglishbelongtotwodifferentlanguagefamilies:
ChinesebelongstoSino-Tibetanlanguagefamily,whileEnglishbelongstotheIndo-Europeanlanguagefamily.Thedifferencescanbedescribedas:
Chineseisdiffusiveandparatactic,whileEnglishiscompactandhypotactic.TherearenoconnectivesshowingtherelationbetweenChinesesentences.Incontrast,Englishsentencesarecomposedwithconnectivesindicatingtheirrelationship.Englishlaysstressonusinglogical-grammaticalconnectorsinconveying
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