Analysis on A Translation Practice

張星

【Abstract】The thesis is based on a translation practice of one chapter of Introducing Translation Studies Theories and Applications by Jeremy Munday. Through the analysis of the translation, five basic questions about translation are answered, including the definition of translation, translation unit, translation process, translation skills and the relationship between translation and culture.

【Key words】Translation Practice; Basic Questions of Translation

Ⅰ. The definition of translation

In my point of view, “translation” has three basic meanings. First, it refers to the general subject field. For example, in the sentence “there are a considerable number of collections and histories of translation”, the word “translation” here refers to the field of translation. Second, it refers to the production. For example, in “translation from English to Chinese”, here the “translation” means the text that has been translated. Third, it refers to the interpreting process from the source language to the target language. For example, I translate the “translators preference” into “譯者序”.

Ⅱ. Translation unit

I think there are different arrangements on contents and structures overall a whole passage. We should try to find out the structure of the ST and use it when we translate. For a translation unit, it should express one same meaning. A single word, a sentence, a paragraph or the whole passage can all be translation units. For example, a single word “preface”, is a unit and can be translated into “前言或序言”. But, when the translation unit is too small, such as a word, a phrase or a sentence, we tend to translate literally. And it will be harder for us to connect the whole text and express the original meaning and intention.

In my translation of this text, I basically use one paragraph as a unit, especially in the “summary” and “further reading” parts. But it is also appropriate to directly take the contents under different titles as units. Also, after the third checking of my translation, I feel the whole text is actually translated as a whole unit.

Ⅲ. Translation process

I think the translation process include two steps. First, we need to understand what the ST is. This step can be either simple or complex, depending on the background of the ST. After knowing the culture background and understanding the basic literal meaning, it is also important to figure out what specific intention the author wants to convey. Only then a thorough image about the ST can be established in our mind. Second, our task is to transfer the SL into TL using the equivalent words and restructuring the TT in view of the culture of the TL. We should describe the same thing and express the same feeling and intention in another different language. This process should not be confined to only once. We may need to check and assess if our translation is appropriate for many times, until the TT is authentic.

For example, I translated the two pages text for three times. The first time, I just skipped through the content, checked out the unfamiliar words and backgrounds of some famous theories, such as “triad of Dryden”, after searching it on Wikipedia, I knew it referred to “約翰德萊頓的翻譯三分法”. But at that time I just had a rough idea of the ST. The second time, I began to translate sentence by sentence, but just literally for most of the text. The third time, I compared my translation with the ST, and tried to polish it into more authentic Chinese. During my translation process, the first time belongs to the first step of translation process, the second and the third time can be both concluded into the second step of translation process.

Ⅳ. Basic translation skills

After a lot of practice, I have a better command of using translation skills flexibly. In the translation of this text, I mainly use conversion, amplification, negation, division and shifting.

Conversion

I think this is the most frequently-used skill. Here I will give two simple examples. ①For the sentence “they are now sometimes restricted to a justification for producing a new translation of a classic work”, I translate it into“(譯者序)現在有時僅被局限到用于解釋創作一部經典作品的新譯本的理由”. Originally, the word “ justification” is a noun, I use it as a verb “解釋...的理由”. ② For the sentence “a translators loyalty is to the original author”, I changed the part of speech of “loyalty” from a noun to a verb and translate it into “譯者要保持對原作者的忠誠”.

Amplification

For the sentence “echoes the imprecision of earlier writing”, I translate into “反映了早期作品的用法不精確”. Here, I add “用法” to specifically confine “不精確”.

Negation

For the sentence “I have refrained from officious tinkering with the translation for its own sake”, originally “refrained from” should be translated into “克制住了做某事”，here I put it into this “我已經不再僅僅基于對譯文本身的考慮，而對其進行費事的修補”。

Division

① For the sentence “translators preferences are a source of extensive information on the translation approach adopted in earlier centuries”, I think literally it can be translated into “譯者的序言是一種我們可以從中了解關于早些時候所采取的翻譯方法的廣泛的信息來源”, but the modifier part is too long and does not accord with the Chinese usage, so I divide the sentence and translate it into “譯者的序言是一種廣泛的信息來源, 我們可以從中了解關于早些時候所采取的翻譯方法”. ② For the sentence “there was a need to correct ‘mistakes and misinterpretations in the translation”, I translate it into “...出現了一些錯誤和曲解，因此有必要去進行改正”. Here, conversion is also used.

Shifting

① For the sentence “much of translation theory from Cicero to the twentieth century centered on...”, I translate it into “從西塞羅到二十世紀的許多翻譯理論，都集中在...”.② For the sentence “readers are recommended to follow their specific interests regarding country, period, cultures and languages”, I translate it into “建議讀者們綜合考慮國家，時期，文化和語言這些因素，根據個人興趣挑選作品進行閱讀”. Here, as for “挑選作品進行閱讀”, amplification is also used.

Ⅴ. The relationship between translation and culture

Narrowly speaking, translation is the interpreting between or among languages. But languages are integrated parts of cultures. So actually, translation plays a prominent role in communicating between different cultures. However, culture background is in turn a very essential factor for successful translation. If we want to translate a source text and make the subsequent target text equivalent to the original, having a general understanding about the SL culture background is essential. It is also necessary for us to correctly understand the intension of the author and the deep meaning of the ST. Except that, we should also know well about the TL culture background, so that we can express the SL into TL in an authentic way.

① For example, the word “triad”, simply looking it up in the dictionary, we cannot find out its true meaning. Because here it particularly refers to “約翰德萊頓的翻譯三分法”.

② For example, I translate the sentence “however, they are far more of a rarity in current publications” into“然而，譯者序在當前的出版物中卻尤其罕見”. Originally, “rarity” means “稀有物，珍品”. We need to use our knowledge on the language flexibly to polish our translation, because it will be very weird if we translate literally sometimes.

All in all, we should have a good understanding about both of the SL and the TL culture background. At the same time, translating can improve our command of both of the two cultures and languages.