论文资料翻译.docx
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论文资料翻译.docx
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论文资料翻译
TANZAIXIandSHAOLU
TRANSLATIONANDTHERELATIVITYOFCULTURAL
IDENTITIES
Translationasabridgingmeansofcommunicationacrosslanguage-cultureshasadouble
roletoplay:
itbothconstructsanddeconstructs,ordeconstructsandconstructs,thenational
culturalidentityofthesourceandtargettexts.Thepresentpaperattemptstoexplore
thenatureofthisdoubleroleoftranslation.Bylookingatwhatisconstructedand
deconstructedinthetranslationprocess,andhow,itarguesa‘reciprocal’relationshipbetween
thetwo,emphasizingthatneitherthe‘deconstruction’ofthesourcenorthe‘construction’
ofthetargetistobetakenintheabsolute.Whilethecoreareaofwhatisregarded
asaparticularculturalidentityisdistinct,theperipheralareasarebynomeansas
clear-cut.Themoreaccessthereistootherculturalidentities,themorecultural‘common
ground’theremaybebetweenone’sownidentityandtheidentityoftheOther,hencethe
lessdistinctivetheidentityofOneisfromthatoftheOther.Thepaperarguesthatthereciprocal
relationsbetweenthevariousprocessesintranslationareinfactthereflectionof
anunderlyingpostulation,namelytherelativityofculturalidentityintranslation.Tosupport
theargument,thepapermakesacasestudyofLuXunandhisbother’stranslationof
ShortStoriesfromAbroadbyexaminingboththereasonsbehinditsinitialreceptionfailure
inChinesesociety,andthereasonsthatcanbeusedtoaccountforanoppositeview
thattheseeminglyfailedtranslationhasinfactbeenapositivecontributiontotheevolution
ofmodernChineseliterature.
1.INTRODUCTION
Thecultureofaparticularpeopleisthesumtotaloffeaturescharacteristicofandactivities
undertakenbythatpeopleofwhichtranslationasaformofcommunicationis
aconstantconstituent.Bothwithinandacrosscultures,“[a]nymodelofcommunication
isatthesametimeamodeloftrans-lation,ofaverticalorhorizontaltransferof
significance”(Steiner2001:
47),andsotrueisthereverse,namelyanymodelof
translationisatthesametimeamodelofcommunicationorinNida’swords“Translating
iscommunicating”(WaardandNida1986:
9).‘Horizontally’(i.e.,synchronically),
translationbridgesthegapbetweenpeopleincommunicatingwithonean-
0324–4652/$20.00AkadémiaiKiadó,Budapest
©2007AkadémiaiKiadó,BudapestSpringer,Dordrecht
NeoheliconXXXIV(2007)1,197–216
DOI:
10.1007/s11059-007-1015-9
TanZaixi,DepartmentofEnglishLanguageandLiterature,HongKongBaptistUniversity,
KowloonTong,HongKong;E-mail:
thtan@hkbu.edu.hk;ShaoLu,DepartmentofEnglishLanguage
andLiterature,HongKongBaptistUniversity,KowloonTong,HongKong;E-mail:
othereitherfacetofaceorbytransgressingspatialbarriers.‘Vertically’(i.e.,diachronically),
ithelpspeopletransgresstemporalbarriers,makingcommunication
possiblebetweenpresentandpast.Asabridgingmeansofcommunicationacrosscultures,
translationhasadoubleroletoplay:
itbothconstructsanddeconstructs,ordeconstructs
andconstructs,thenationalculturalidentityofthesourceandtargettexts.
Ontheonehand,thetranslator‘invades’thesourcetext,asGeorgeSteiner(2001:
314)putsit,‘extracts’whats/hedeemsrighttoextract.Ontheother,after‘breaking’
theshellofthesourcetextandtakingthe‘meat’inside,orsotospeak,thetranslator
bringsithomeand‘restores’itinanother,allegedlyequivalent‘shell’inthetranslating
culture.Theseareobviousactionsof‘deconstruction’and‘construction’or‘reconstruction’.
Paradoxically,whatis‘deconstructed’intheprocessoftranslationisnotnecessarily
theculturalidentityofthe‘foreign’,sourcetext,andwhatis‘constructed’notnecessarily
theculturalidentityofthe‘domestic’,targettext,asisoftenthecaseoftarget
language-orientedtranslations.Butifadifferentapproach,asourcelanguage-oriented
approach,isadopted,thenwhatis‘constructed’intheTLwillbethecultural
identityofthesourcetextandwhatis‘deconstructed’thatofthetargettext.Whilein
thecaseoftheformeritistheculturalidentityofanewOther,verydifferentfromthat
oftheoriginal,thatis‘constructed’inthetargetlanguage;inthecaseofthelatter,the
targettextlooksso‘undomesticated’orso‘foreign’inthetargetlanguagecontext
thatitmustbe‘deconstructed’asifitwerestillaforeigntextsothetargetreadersmay
beabletounderstand.
Thisparadoxdriveshometherationaleofourcentralpositionthattheformation
anddevelopmentofculturalidentitiesthroughtranslationarebutarelativephenomenon.
Betweenwhatisconstructedandwhatisdeconstructedthereexistsa‘reciprocal’
relationship.Neitherthe‘construction’ofthesourcenorthe‘deconstruction’ofthe
target,orneitherthe‘deconstruction’ofthesourcenorthe‘construction’ofthetarget,
istobetakenintheabsolute.Whatismore,whilethecoreareaofaparticularcultural
identityisdistinct,theperipheralareasarebynomeansasclear-cut.Oneneednotgo
fartofindtranslationalevidencebothinhistoryandintheglobalisingworldofthe
contemporarytimestoprovethatthemoreaccessthereistootherculturalidentities,
themorecultural‘commonground’theremaybebetweenone’sownidentityandthe
identityoftheOther.Thisthenentailsthatincreasedcross-culturalcommunicationis
boundtoenhanceglobalculturalconstruction,hencereducingthedistinctiveness,
thoughnottheimportance,ofnationalculturalidentity.
Tosupporttheargument,wewillconductacasestudyofLuXunandhisbrother’s
translationofShortStoriesfromAbroadbyexaminingboththereasonsbehinditsinitial
receptionfailureinChinesesociety,andthereasonsthatcanbeusedtoaccount
foranoppositeviewthattheseeminglyfailedtranslationhasinfactbeenapositive
contributiontotheevolutionofmodernChineseliterature.Theaimistodrawattention
toa‘dialectical’viewofculturalidentitiesintranslation,tothefactthatwhilea
‘culturalturn’intranslationstudieshasbroughtaboutanenhancedawarenessofthe
culturalissuesabouttranslation,includingissuesonhowculturalidentitiesareforged
throughtranslation,theseissuesmustprimarilybeconsideredissuesoftranslation
andthatthe(de)constructionofculturalidentitiesintranslationmustbeinterpretedin
termsthatreflectthetruenatureoftranslationandtheroletranslationplaysinthedevelopment
ofaninter-culturebetweenthetranslatingandthetranslated.
2.ADIAGRAMMATICVIEWOFTRANSLATIONEQUIVALENCE
ANDTRANSLATIONALRELATIVITY
Itisgenerallyunderstoodthattranslation(oratleastgoodtranslation)mustinvolve
‘equivalence’betweenthetargetandsourcetext.Butwhenwecometothinkofitwe
willbefacingaseriesofquestionssuchas:
Whatdoes‘equivalence”actuallymean?
Cantherebecomplete‘equivalence’intranslation?
Ifnot,howmuchofitshouldthe
translatoraimat?
Howinthefirstplacedoes‘translationequivalence’posititselfasa
parameterindecidingwhetheracertainTTisatranslationorjustanirrelevantpiece
of(re)writing?
Andwhataretherelationsbetweenthedifferentkindsof‘equivalence’
orbetweentranslationequivalenceandthe(re)constructionofculturalidentities
intranslation?
Obviously,thesearethekindofquestionsthathaveallalongconfronted
thetranslatorbutforwhichnoconvincinganswershavereallybeenprovided.
Wedonotpretendthatwehavetheanswerstothesequestions,butastheyaresuch
importantquestionsespeciallyagainstatranslationstudiesagendamotivatedbycultural
issues,wewillnotdojusticetoourcentralissueofculturalrelativityinand
throughtranslationwithoutdiscussingthesequestionsfirst.Inessence,ourbasicconcern
withthoseabovequestionscanrelatebacktoourearlier,morefundamental
question:
Whatisthenatureoftranslation?
Ormoresimplyput,whatistranslation?
Wewilldiscusstheissuesmainlybyapplyingadiagrammaticapproach.Therepresentation
ofwhatisandwhatisnottranslationbymeansofdiagramsissimple:
TRANSLATIONANDTHERELATIVITYOFCULTURALIDENTITIES199
LanguageALanguageB
Figure1.[Interlingual]translation=Turningfromonelanguagetoanother
Figure2.Notranslationinvolved=Noturningfromonelanguagetoanother
LanguageALanguageB
Incontrast,itismuchmorecomplextorepresentindiagramswhatqualifiesas
translation.Thefollowingarebutafewpossibilitiesofwhatisandwhatisnot[the
idealtypeof]translation:
AfewclarifyingpointsneedbemadeinorderforthediagramsinFigures3
through5tomakesense.First,ageneralnoteontheformulasusedinourdiagrams.
Theseformulasarebasedonaborrowedconceptofthe‘Fouriertransformation’from
SignalProcessingTheory.WhereasinFourierTransformationitisbetweentheTime
DomainandtheFrequencyDomainthatthe‘transformation’takesplace,intranslation
‘transformation’isbetweentwolanguages.Thevariousformulasinourcontext
arethusdescribedas:
“TT=F(ST)”meansthattheST(sourcetext)istransformedintoaTT(target
text)throughF(thetranslatingprocess).
200TANZAIXIandSHAOLU
STTT
TT=F(ST)
ST⎽F
⎽1(TT)=F–1(F(ST))
F–1
Figure3.TTisequivalenttoST
STTT
TT=F(ST)
ST⎽F
⎽1(TT)=F–1(F(ST))
F–1
Figure4.TTispartiallyequivalenttoST
STTT
TT=F(ST)
ST⎽F
⎽1(TT)=F–1(F(ST))
F–1
Figure5.TTispartiallyequivalenttoST
“ST⎽F
⎽1(TT)=F–1(F(ST))”meansthattheSTistransformedintoaTT
throughF;whenFinvolvesnoloss/changeornearlynoloss/changeofinformation/
content/meaningwhat
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