Short Stories Translation of The Other Place in the Perspective of Toury’s Theory of Translation Norms

高林芝

【摘要】Since 1915， The Best American Short Stories anthology has striven to collect the best short stories written by some of the best-known writers in contemporary American literature. Conducted under the guidance of Gideon Tourys Theory of Translation Norms and combined with the analysis of the translation of Mary Gaitskills The Other Place， this translation aims to explore how translation norms influence the translation at macro and micro levels.

【關鍵詞】 short stories translation Toury translation norms

Ⅰ. Introduction

The Other Place tells the story of a man who connects his fantasy and reality together through the bonds of some especially significant events in his life， the memories of which allow him to better understand the fascination with violence that he and his son share.

II. Tourys Theory of Translation Norms

There are three parts in Tourys translation theory： descriptive translation studies， target-oriented research method， and translation norms. Toury thinks that in the actual process of translation， translators fall under the constraints of three kinds of norm： the initial norms， the preliminary norms and the operational norms which consists of matricial norms and textual-linguistic norms.

Ⅲ. Case Analysis

The operational norms that govern the translation will be analyzed from the macro level （adding footnotes） and the micro level （choice of words， choice of sentence structure and stylistic features）.

3.1. Adding Footnotes

Translators often use addition in translation to let the readers have a better understanding of the text. Too much footnotes might disturb the readers to understand the works smoothly， but appropriate footnotes would help if the translation could not convey the meaning clearly.

Example One：

The source text：

Douglas and I were sitting together in the living room last week， half watching the TV and checking e-mail， when an advertisement for a movie flashed across the screen： it was called “Captivity” and the ad showed a terrified blond girl in a cage， a tear running down her face. （Gaitskill： 2011， 61）

The footnotes：

（Captivity） 《囚禁》，美國恐怖驚悚電影，這部影片由羅蘭·約菲導演，講述了一個男人和一個女人被囚禁起來的故事，于2007年上映。

3.2. Choice of Words

The translator utilizes four-Chinese-character phrases when translating some words.

Example Two：

The source text：

I loved it， especially in late spring， when it was starting to be warm and there were night sounds—crickets， birds， the whirring of bats， the occasional whooshing car， some lonely persons TV. （Gaitskill： 2011， 62）

The translated text：

我很喜歡那樣，尤其是在晚春，天氣漸漸變得暖和的時候，晚上有各種動物發出的聲音——蟋蟀嗡嗡作響，鳥兒婉轉歌唱，蝙蝠飛來飛去，偶爾有汽車呼嘯而過，還有某個孤獨的人家里播放電視的聲音。

3.3. Choice of Sentence Structure

Chinese is different from English in syntax， so the translators have to convert the source sentences to make the translation more smoothly for reading. And the translations of The Other Place mentioned in this paper both have changes in sentence structure.

Example Three：

The source text：

I loved the mysterious darkness of the trees， the way they moved against the sky if there was wind——big and heavy movements， but delicate， too， in all the subtle， reactive leaves. （Gaitskill： 2011， 62）

The translated text：

我愛樹林的神秘幽暗，我愛起風時所有稀疏、活躍的樹葉在空中有力而又優雅搖曳的姿態。

3.4. Stylistic Features

It is extremely important for the translator to represent the original texts style which is the concrete representation of the writers characteristics， aesthetic value and artistic culture. The meaning of the text includes the meaning of the style， and before fully conveying the meaning of the text the translator need to analyze and grasp the style of the source text.

Example Four：

The source text：

The fly bobbing on the brown， gentle water. The long grasses so green that they cast a fine， bright green on the brown water. （Gaitskill： 2011， 73）

The translated text：

蒼蠅在褐色的平靜的水中擺動著。那片長長的草地布滿了綠色，在褐色的水中投下了美麗且明亮的綠色倒影。

Ⅳ. Conclusion

To sum up， Tourys theory of translation norms is helpful for the translator to explore further into the translations of The Other Place. More valuable findings might be achieved if the translator makes more efforts to probe into more aspects of the short stories. That theory helps the translators know the norms in the translation and guides them to produce good translated texts.

【參考文獻】

[1]Gideon Toury.Descriptive Translation Studies and Beyond [M]. Shanghai： Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press， 1995.

[2]Gideon Toury.In Search of a Theory of Translation [M].Jerusalem： Academic Press， 1980.

[3]Tom Perrotta， Heidi Pitlor.The Best American Short Stories [M]. Mariner Books， 2012.

[4]王曉陽.圖里翻譯規范理論視角下的《傲慢與偏見》中譯本比較研究[D].長江大學， 2012.

[5]趙寧.Gideon Toury翻譯規范論介紹 [J]. 外語教學與研究， 2000，（3）.