Selected Abstracts

Selected Abstracts

Abstract: Since the 1980s, a growing number of researchers have conducted theoretical and empirical studies of translation process from different perspectives. Yet, the issue of comprehensibility, which plays an important role in translation process, has received scant attention. Translation and Comprehensibility presents a comprehensive and detailed introduction to the up-to-date theoretical models, research methods and cases on comprehensibility in translation studies.

Keywords: comprehensibility, translation, process research

On the Translation Strategy for the RSC Shakespeare Complete Works

GU Zhengkun (Peking University)

Abstract: Over the last four centuries, with his works being translated into many languages,Shakespeare's literary fame has been widely known in the world. This paper first lists reasons for the emergence of Shakespeare as a huge cultural phenomenon. It then goes on to sketch out the general picture of the project of translating the RSC Shakespeare Complete Works into Chinese, covering a wide range of issues such as the choice of the RSC Shakespeare Complete Works as source texts, translation style, the reference to existing Chinese versions of Shakespeare's works and the translation strategy employed in this version, etc. The present author discusses in detail the strategy employed in this project,i.e. “translating poetry into poetry”, proposing that the phonetic aesthetic characteristics of the Chinese language itself should be made use of to create a phonetic beauty in Chinese versions of Shakespeare's works. It is also proposed that, in creating the poetic flavor in translation, attention should be paid to the diversity of the means and degrees of poeticness. Some excerpts in different styles are chosen for illustration. This paper also introduces the methods used in translating the erotic words in Shakespeare's works,with literal translation being the main method and explanatory notes the assistant one.Keywords: the RSC Shakespeare Complete Works; translation strategy; translating poetry into poetry

Repetition and Signification: A Study of Textual Accountability and Perlocutionary Effect in Literary Translation

ZHU Chunshen (City University of Hong Kong)

Abstract: The paper begins with an overview of the relevance of functional/text linguistics, skopos theory, and the cultural-studies approach to the study of (literary)translation. It then examines the textual signif i cance of leitmotifs as “vertical translation units”, since both are found to be related to repetitions of a rank-free text element in formulating a network of signif i cation. In leitmotif-conscious translating, it argues, the accountability between the source and target texts can be observed at this level of textual network, while the translation, as a literary text, may induce different perlocutionary effects when functioning in a different cultural milieu.

Keywords: vertical translation unit, leitmotif, speech act theory

Changes and Differences: From the Approach to Translation as Adaptation and Selection to Eco-Translatology

HU Gengshen (City University of Macao / Tsinghua University)
LIU Aihua (Macao Polytechnic Institute)

Abstract: Eco-Translatology has been developing steadily, yet misunderstandings and confusions still exist between Eco-Translatology and the approach to Translation as Adaptation and Selection (TAS) with the latter being adopted a decade ago. By means of contrastive analysis, this paper aims to highlight the differences between Eco-Translatology and TAS in terms of their theoretical positioning, philosophical bases,research orientations, research objects, research methodology, core concepts, key terms,etc. It is pointed out that Eco-Translatology and TAS are not at the same level and have considerable differences.

Keywords: Eco-Translatology, Translation as Adaptation and Selection, change,difference

On the Construction of Ethics System for Translation Services

MIAO Ju & NING Hailin (Nankai University)

Abstract: Ethics is the essential principle of value evaluation and behavior selection. It provides a universal value and morality standards and guides social members to judge and analyze the nature of things or behaviors according to social norms and core socialist values. The ethical construction ensures translation industry development by giving a primary impetus to humanities research framework formation, policy and legislation constitution, ethical orientation reinforcement and sustainable industrial development.The theme of translation ethics system construction is the research on Chinese and western cultures and thoughts, and the research on the construction of ethics system of humanities, consisting of macro-system, micro-system and restriction system based on the wisdom extracted from these thoughts.

Keywords: ethics, translation ethics, ethics system of humanities

Attribution Tendencies in Translation Learning

WU Guangjun (Beijing International Studies University)

Abstract: Attribution, a key learner factor, has not been paid enough attention in translation teaching research. This study investigated through a translation test and a questionnaire survey on the attribution tendencies in translation learning amongEnglish majors in a Chinese university. It was found that the order of attribution was ability＞effort＞task difficulty＞luck. In addition, it was discovered that there were qualitative differences in attribution tendencies between translation learning high achievers and low achievers: high achievers tended to have internal and stable attribution tendencies while low achievers external and unstable tendencies.

Keywords: attribution, translation learning, English majors

Media, Narrative, and Chinese Interpreters for the Japanese Forces: With Xia Wenyun as an Example

YU Zhongli (The University of Nottingham Ningbo China)

Abstract: Drawing on narrative theory, this paper compares the personal narratives (the memoirs of Li Zongren and Xia Wenyun) with the public ones (the reports on newspapers and magazines) on Xia Wenyun, a Chinese interpreter for the Japanese forces during the war (1931-1945), and compares the images of Xia Wenyun in different narratives of different media with the stereotyped image of Chinese interpreters for the Japanese forces presented on the screen. It finds that due to different focuses or perspectives,narratives about the same person by different media make up different images, and the same type of narrative on the same person by different narrators also produces different images. The comparison also demonstrates that different types of narratives relate to,interact with, and even interconvert into each other. Although both sides of the war employed interpreters during the war, the limited existing studies which have emerged in recent years obviously focuses more on interpreters for our side than on those for the Japanese side. It is hoped that this study will contribute to further development of research on interpreters in the war.

Keywords: media, narrative, Chinese interpreters for the Japanese forces, Xia Wenyun

Towards the Translation and Transmission of the Classical Chinese Literary Theories in the English World: Methodological Signif i cance of Socio-Translation Studies

WANG Hongtao (Tianjin Foreign Studies University)

Abstract: As a prelude to the project on the translation and transmission of the classical Chinese literary theories in the English world, the present essay def i nes the core concepts employed in the project including the translation content, transmission channel and transmission scope, and discusses the construction of general methodological principles as well as the application of specif i c research methods borrowed from socio-translationstudies and other f i elds. It is hoped that the present study could lay a solid foundation for the project on the translation and transmission of the classical Chinese literary theories in the English world, which might help to tackle the “aphasia” of the contemporary Chinese literary studies and promote the “going global” cultural policy of China.

Keywords: classical Chinese literary theories, English translation and transmission,socio-translation studies, “aphasia”

Diachronic Multiple Corpora-based Translation Studies: Current Status and Outlook

ZHAO Qiurong (University of Science and Technology, Beijing)

Abstract: The present paper introduces a new methodology in corpus-based translation studies: diachronic multiple corpora. Based on monolingual diachronic corpus,diachronic multiple corpora combine the advantages of monolingual comparable corpus,bilingual parallel corpora and reference corpus, and overcome the shortcomings of the single type of corpus. They offer a new perspective for the study on translation-induced language contact and language change. The present paper reviews the basis on which diachronic multiple corpora have emerged, stresses the research on close language pairs and distant language pairs, and addresses the issues in diachronic multiple corpora building and research.

Keywords: corpus-based translation studies, diachronic multiple corpora, translationinduced language contact and language change

An Interview with Jean-René Ladmiral, French Translator,Philosopher and Linguist

LIU Heping (Beijing Language and Culture University)

Abstract: Professor Jean-René Ladmiral attended the International Seminar on Research and Translation jointly held in Beijing by Renmin University of China and Université Paris Diderot from October 30th to 31st in 2015. On the seminar, he delivered a keynote speech entitled “Aesthetics in Translation: Source Language or Target Language”.After the seminar, he was invited to Beijing Language and Culture University and delivered an academic report on the theory and practice of translation. The present author took the opportunity to interview him on the following eight topics: the relation between translatology and linguistics, the relation between Jean-René Ladmiral and the interpretive theory of translation in France, the relation between comparative literatureand translatology, the relation between French translation theories and other theories,the relation between source and target languages (domestication and foreignization)，main trends in translatology, whether there exists Chinese translatology, and the latest technology in translation industry.

Keywords: translatology, interpretive theory of translation, Chinese translatology

The Text, the Translator and the Readership ——A Book Review of Translation and Comprehensibility

Z HANG Wenhe & WEN Jun (Beihang University)