AStylisticStudyofTranslatorBasedonWesternTranslationTheory

WuJing

【Abstract】This paper focuses on the historic development of the stylistic study of translator in light of western translation theory，and analyzes its features on each phase and current emphasis of research，by which knowledge of the development of western theory and translators style can be shown.After that，we can research its problems existing in the stylistic study of translator based on western theory so than we can provide a panoramic analysis in this field.

【Key Words】translators style； western theory； problems

1.Introduction

Translation is a kind of activity of recreation.Translators style is similar to a fingerprint whose feature is shown by a series of languages and non-languages in translated text.But what is translators style？ The definition has broad meanings and different researchers have different understandings to translators style by different terms.With development of linguistics，stylistics and translatology，a stylistic study of translators has gone a long way.This paper shows the development of a stylistic study of translator based on western theory and its problems in order to demonstrate prospects of research.

2.Western Theory and Translators Style

The history of western translation starts from the translation of Bible.Romans contributed a lot to the history of western translation.And they used literal translation when translating Greek works while they used free translation when translating non religious works.Therefore，schools of literal translation and free translation were formed since then in the history of western theory.Quintilianus has ever proposed a translation theory ---target text should compete with source text---and emphasized translators should do something in which translators can reveal their own styles.In this period，the study of translators style lacked systematic knowledge.But western classical translation theorists thought the style of target text must be loyal to that of source text，and some of theorists recognized translators subjectivity，which is helpful for the development of translators style.

The 20st century witnessed the development of translation.There are many schools in translation study，such as linguistic school，cultural school，deconstruction school.Many linguistic theories was applied to translation study and played an important role in western modern translation study.“Dynamic equivalence” proposed by Nida focuses on meaning and style of source text and does not confine equivalence just between source text （ST） and target text（TT），which means the equivalence between ST and TT does not only emphasize linguistic structure.Translation study of linguistic school develops fast，and it stresses the equivalence between ST and TT on the level of semantics，syntax and discourse，which means linguistic school puts emphasis on source text and regards translators as the ones who are inferior to writers of source text and ignores subjectivity and humanity of translation.

In 1972，Holmes proposed that translation study should attach an importance to the relationship between source text and target text as its own product and between target text and target culture，not the traditional equivalence and loyalty.The development of translation study paved the way for the development of translators style.In the 1970s，cultural turn appeared in western translation study，that is，cultural elements should be studied in translation.This is a new way of translation study.Evan Zohar put forward to Polysystem Theory in the 1970s.Polysystem Theory shows that translators should bring individual style into target text and adjust their translation strategies to target culture in the process of translation.Toury proposed descriptive translation and translation norms at the end of 1970s.Tourys study is to find cultural restriction rules of translation choices.（Liao Qiyi，2000） In fact，this kind of translation choice is from translators.Therefore，descriptive translation is the foundation of translators style theory.In 1992，Lefevere considered culture as the base of translation by translation manipulation and rewriting and thought translators were influenced by ideology and poetics in translation.Deconstructive translation theory，feminist translation theory and postcolonial translation theory play a supplementary role in the study of translators style.Jacques Derrida，an expert of deconstruction，thought the meaning of text was not decided by source text，but target text，which means translators manipulate translation.So the same source text may have some different target texts.Feminist translation theory shows diversity and differences of target texts.Target texts strengthen the impact of source text and embody its second life.But feminist translation theory is too subjective and is overcorrected，which arouses criticism.Postcolonial translation theory in the 1980s stresses the relationship between translation and power and aims to fight against inequality and focuses on hybridization of cultural values in target text.

In 1993，Mona Baker published Corpus Linguistics and Translation Studies Implications and Applications and introduced corpus study into translation study，which is the beginning of translation study based on corpus.After that，the stylistic study of translators based on corpus appeared.

3.Problems and Solutions

In the frame of western theory，theoretical space of the study of translators style is relatively small.Since culture turn，translation study emphasizes translators and target text from the angle of philosophical exercise.In this period，the stylistic study of translators is from theory and philosophical exercise and gets away from the language attribute of translation study.Faced with this situation，many researchers reconsidered the essence of translation and went back to the translation itself---from linguistic trace left by translators to social，historical and cultural elements behind the translators.The problem of the stylistic study of translators is that whether researching target text only or target readers is partial.To this problem，more scholars research language use habits and special sentence structures used by translators on the basis of corpus.

4.Conclusion

The development of translation study experiences the linguistic school at the beginning，cultural school in the 1960s，corpus translation based on corpus linguistics and translation in the 1990s.Its trend and its points are not simple cycle and repetition，but find a new way to absorb advantages from other subjects in order to fit to the essence of translation with crossculture and interdisciplines.We think culture and linguistics in the stylistic study of translators can be helpful.The stylistic study of translators should focus on not only linguistic level，but also nonlinguistic level such as translation strategies，comparison between target texts.

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