ExplainingtheRoleoftheConceptofNormofToury’sApproachtoDescriptiveTranslationStudies

1. Introduction

1970s， the main aspects European translation studies focused on were the empirical study of translation text， the description of translation process， as well as literature translation （Gentzler， 2001）. Upon the massive descriptive research of Hebrew-English literature， Gideon Toury has developed Itamar Even-Zohars polysystem theory and James Holmess descriptive translation theory （Toury， 1980）. Then Toury structured a complete approach for descriptive translation studies （Munday， 2012）. The norm of descriptive translation is the transcendence for traditional translation theory norm； it helps translators to build a comprehensive and objective cognation for translation activity， thus makes the translation theories fully used by translators （Toury， 1980）.

2. Cross-cultural elements on descriptive translation

The descriptively translation studies in Europe has achieved significant development， the main representatives are Toury （Israel）， Hermans （Britain） and Chesterman （Finland） （Munday， 2012）. Likewise in China， descriptive translation studies is still at starting stage， which is staying at the stage of importing and introducing foreign theories. Some scholars like Liao Qiyi （2000）， Zhao Ning （2001） and Han Jianghong （2004） had published related papers on this topic， but independent research is rare to see （Han， 2004）. Chinese scholar Lv （2002） criticizes that there are many successfully abridged translation works among English-Chinese translations because of the support of descriptive translation norm， like Gone with the Wind， The Thousand and One Nights which were abridged for several times in Chinese translation. For prescriptive translation theories， such phenomenon may be seen as “disloyalty”， but for descriptive translation norm it is possible because abridged translation might be a result of sociocultural impact from target language， so it could be a strategy of descriptive translation.

Language is a reflection of national beliefs and social values； it is more than a technical tool for transforming different words； it will not be easily expressed during translating as it carries many concepts of culture， society and politics （Temple & Edwards， 2002：49）. Temple and Edwards （2002） quote Overings （1987） view that translators need not feel anxious about the lack of literally， but focus on the prescriptive customs from different regions. Overing （1987） argues that “it is not the ‘word about which we should be anxious， we should be concerned， instead， about an‘a(chǎn)lienframework of care which is based upon an ‘a(chǎn)lien set of universal principles about the worlds” （Overing， 1987：76）.endprint

In the field of descriptive translation studies， Toury has argued that the orientation of the translation studies is mostly relied on the source-text and the source-language （Toury， 1980）. Be different away the approach of traditional prescriptive norm approaches， Itamar Even-Zohar and Toury have advocated the analysis of actual translation， which is on the basis of descriptive perspective. While the polysystem theorists have argued that translation should be made sense of the function of norms， especially those related to target-culture （Toury， 1995）. For Toury， “translations are facts of target-cultures； on occasion facts of a special status， sometimes even constituting identifiable sub （systems） of their own， but of the target-culture in any event”（Toury， 1995：29）. Heilborn （1999） has criticized that the conceptual shift of translation sociological approach is mainly from source-text to target-context， which provides a rich but deficient essential of the starting point （Heilborn， 1999：110）.

Even-Zohar pointed that the increasing cultural artifacts would lead to a growing of serve from one country to another （Even-Zohar， 1990：50）. Similarly， Heilborn states because of the high status and less orientation the international cultural system has， the role translations changed greatly should be due to the centrality of international translation system （Heilborn， 1999：119）. Towards the sociology of translation， Heilborn predicts it would highly possible becoming the core of cultural world-system， because it is focus on cultural international exchange， globalization， and translation studies （Heilborn， 1999：120）. The inspiring polysystem theorists concerned more about the role of translations in the target-culture， especially the literary system of the target-culture in the international system （Heilborn， 1999：120）.

1950s， famous Chinese scholar Qian zhongshu led to translate Selected Works of Mao Zedong， the translation version was loyal， accurate and elegant but it did not welcome by British reader （Lv， 2002）. British scholar who worked in CIPG （China International Publishing Group） commented， “the English translation was too elegant， dock men could not understand it.” Scholars in CIPG had to retranslate it-applied theories of descriptive translation （Lv， 2002）. In descriptive translation norm， this phenomenon deviated from expectancy norms （Toury， 1995）. From the example I can see descriptive translation norm could be a guide for translation process.endprint

3. The role of the norms of Tourys approach to descriptive translation studies

The biggest aim of descriptive translation norm research is to build the general laws that can be used in translation practice （Toury， 1995：267）. Toury （1995：267-279） proposes two general laws： “the law of growing standardization” and “the law of interference”. As a basis for it， Chesterman （1997： 71-72） proposes the third general law “the law of explicitation”. These three general laws are currently in “hypothesis stage” which need further examination and research， if true， the laws would be the universal norms of descriptive translation （Chesterman， 1997）.

The academic interests of descriptive translation are not at the languages， but at the reason of the translation and the role in society （Toury， 1995）. Gutt （2000） takes an example： there were steamships regularly drove between Travemunde （a Germany city） and Helsinki. The travel guidebooks in the steamships are Germany and Finnish， but it was hard to distinguish which language was the source text and which was the translation text. Because the texts were not aligned， it means the Germany content introduced Finland scene and resorts for Germany while the Finnish content introduced German scene and resorts for Finnish （Gutt， 2000）. At first I thought it is not translation， but Gutt （2000） asserts this situation reflects relevance requirement， in this example， if the translation followed the loyalty rule， the repeated contents and lengthy introduction may bore readers. Translation is often limited by the ethics， morals and social orders from different countries and regions that were attractive for descriptive theorists （Toury， 1995）. Alcoff （1991） asserts the form of language is influenced by identity factors， such as gender， ethnicity， religion， sexuality and moral status. Perhaps identity is not only reflected in language and translation， which is more than a social discipline. Therefore what descriptive translation norm advocated might be beyond literal translation and considering more about the elements behind the language. Alcoff （1991） also proposes using cross-language development knowledge to translate， because most cross-language studies are experiments on writing translation. The core of the idea looks as if the similar view of Tourys descriptive translation theory.

4. Conclusion

Descriptive translation norm might be the key part of descriptive translation theory； its development and emphasis may not mean repel prescriptive translation theory. The discipline of translation is wide than we ever thought about， as it including and involving many sociocultural aspects. Tourys concept of norm is a positive and valuable research in translation development. The general laws and methods descriptive translation norm presents would provide a fresh analysis approach for translation studies. Tourys norm may exceed the traditional prescriptive translation norms， in order to evolve translation process that would act a leading role to help people understand translation studies over all. The ideas of Toury would be enlightening translators in the future studies： translation norms are descriptive， not prescriptive； norm is never at standstill but ever-changing； there are two ways for building translation norms， inside the texts and outside the texts， the former is priority.endprint

References：

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[2]Chesterman，A.（1997）‘Memes of Translation，Amsterdam：J.Benjamins.

[3]Gentzler，E.（2001）‘Contemporary Translation Theories， Clevedon：Multilingual Matters.

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[6]Heilborn，J.（1999）‘Towards a Sociology of Translation，Book Translation as a Cultural World-system European Joural of Social Theory，2（4）429-44.

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[9]Overing，J.（1987）‘Social and Cultural Anthropology the Key Concepts，London，New York：Routledge.

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[11]Toury，G（1980）‘In Research of a Translation Theory，Tel Aviv：Porter.[12]Institute for Poetics and Semiotics.–（1995）Amsterdam/Philadelphia PA：John Benjamins.

[13]Toury，G（1995）‘Descriptive Translation Studies and Beyond， Amsterdam/Philadelphia：John Benjamins.

[14]Tymoczko，M.（1999）‘Translation in a Postcolonial Context–Early Irish Literature in English Translation，Manchester：St.Jerome Publishing.

作者簡介：黃焱（1988-），女，白族，云南大理人，助教，碩士，供職于大理大學，研究方向為翻譯學。endprint