摘要
本文是一篇翻译报告,报告翻译材料节选自袁庭栋先生的《成都街巷志》.所选版本为四川教育出版社 2010 年版.该书系统书写了老成都的街巷文化,是国内第一部从街巷历史文化角度彰显成都风采的力作.
笔者独立承担该书 327 到 346 页的翻译.该部分论证充分,时间跨越清代后期到改革开放初期,主要涉及成都以官署、军政命名的街道及与之相关的命名缘由、历史变迁、名人掌故等.翻译难点主要分布于两个层面:词汇层面主要是地名、古代官署、官职等具有丰富文化内涵的专有名词翻译,句子层面主要为一些长难句的理解和表达.根据对原文文本特点和翻译难点的分析,作者以杰夫?维索尔伦提出的语用顺应论为理论指导,解决翻译中遇到的问题,并对实践经验、教训进行总结.
本报告共五章:第一章介绍了本翻译项目,涵盖项目背景、意义、原文语言特点分析、翻译难点;第二章阐述了文本翻译过程,共分为译前、译中、译后三个阶段;第三章介绍了维索尔伦所提出的语用顺应论;第四章作者以语用顺应论为指导,结合转换法、拆译法、增减译法等翻译手法与技巧,从语言结构顺应、语境关系顺应、动态顺应、顺应过程中的意识凸显四个层面对三十个译例进行分析;第五章为翻译报告总结,认为本翻译报告对于历史文化型学术文本的理解、翻译理论选用和翻译实践等方面都有一定的参考和借鉴意义.
通过本次翻译实践,作者对成都文化和语用顺应论有进一步了解,并能更加恰当地运用翻译策略、翻译技巧解决翻译实践中的具体问题.但是,本报告仍有不足之处,比如译者对原文个别地方的理解可能还不够准确,译文表达也存在不够地道之处,需要进一步修改完善.
关键词:语用顺应论,《成都街巷志》,结构顺应,语境顺应
Abstract
This report is based on the translation practice of an excerpt from Records of Streetsand Alleys in Chengdu. Published by Sichuan Education Press in 2010, the book is thefirst masterpiece in China that shows the culture of Chengdu from the perspective of thehistory and development of streets and alleys in Chengdu.
The author of this report is responsible for the translation from page 327 to 346.Spanning from late Qing Dynasty to the beginning of reform and opening up, the excerptis featured with adequate information. It introduces streets and alleys named after officialand military organizations, probing into their origins, development and current conditions,and related anecdotes. The difficulty in translation lies in lexical and sentential level: theformer is about the proper names of places, tittles, and officials, and the latter is aboutsome long sentences. Combining the characteristics of the original text and the difficultyof translation, the author uses the linguistic adaptation theory proposed by JefVerschueren as the guiding theory to solve the problems encountered in translation andthen summarizes the experience and lessons in translation practice.
This report consists of five chapters: Chapter One gives an introduction to thebackground and significance of the translation project, feature of source text, anddifficulties in translation. Chapter Two presents three stages of translation, whichcontains preparations before translation, during translation work and after translationactivities. Chapter Three introduces the theoretical basis, which is Linguistic AdaptationTheory proposed by Jef Verschuren, of this report. Chapter Four covers 30 case studiesemployed with translation techniques like conversion, division, addition, and omission that addresses the process of problem-solving from four perspectives, which areStructural Objects of Adaptability, Contextual Correlates of Adaptability, Dynamics ofAdaptability and Salience of the Adaptation Processes. Chapter Five is a conclusion ofthe translation report. It is concluded that the translation report has certain referencesignificance in understanding historical and academic texts, selecting theories intranslation, and improving translation practice.
Through this translation practice, the author has gained a deeper understanding ofChengdu culture and Linguistic Adaptation theory. Besides, he is able to apply translationstrategies and techniques more appropriately to solve specific problems in translationpractice. Parts of this report that need further improvement including inaccuratecomprehension of source text and unauthentic translation, and these certainly will berevised and improved.
Key Words: Linguistic Adaptation Theory, Records of Streets and Alleys in Chengdu,Structural Adaptation, Contextual Adaptation
Contents
摘要 ........................................................................................................................ I
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................ 1
Introduction ............................................................................................................. 1
Chapter One Project Description ............................................................................ 3
1.1 Background of The Translation Project .................................................... 3
1.2 Significance of Translation Project ........................................................... 4
1.3 Source Text Analysis ................................................................................ 4
1.4 Difficulties in Translation ......................................................................... 5
Chapter Two Translation Process ........................................................................... 7
2.1 Pre-translation ........................................................................................... 7
2.1.1 Theoretical Preparation .................................................................... 7
2.1.2 Preparation of Parallel Texts ............................................................ 7
2.1.3 Preparation of CAT Tools ................................................................ 8
2.2 While-translation ...................................................................................... 9
2.2.1 The Creation of the Termbase and Translation Memory ................. 9
2.2.2 Translation Diary ............................................................................. 10
2.3 Post-translation ......................................................................................... 10
2.3.1 Proofreading of Translation Contents .............................................. 11
2.3.2 Rearrangements of Translation Formats .......................................... 12
Chapter Three Theoretical Framework ................................................................... 13
3.1 Key Notion of Linguistic Adaptation Theory ........................................... 13
3.1.1 Language Use: A Process of Making Choices ................................. 13
3.1.2 Three Features of Language ............................................................ 14
3.2 Four Aspects of Linguistic Adaptation Theory ........................................ 15
3.2.1 Contextual Correlates of Adaptability ............................................. 15
3.2.2 Structural Objects of Adaptability ................................................... 15
3.2.3 Salience of Adaptation Process ........................................................ 16
3.2.4 The Dynamics of Adaptation Theory .............................................. 16
3.2.5 The Relation of the Four Aspects .................................................... 16
Chapter Four Case Study ........................................................................................ 17
4.1 The Choice-Making of Basic Utterance-Building Ingredients ................. 17
4.1.1 Structural Adaptation at Word Level ............................................... 17
4.1.2 Structural Adaptation at Sentence Level ......................................... 19
4.1.3 Structural Adaptation at the Text Level ........................................... 20
4.2 Application of Communicative Context Adaptation ................................ 22
4.2.1 Adaptation to Mental World ............................................................ 22
4.2.2 Adaptation to the Social World ....................................................... 23
4.2.3 Adaptation to Physical World .......................................................... 25
4.3 Application of Linguistic Context Adaptation .......................................... 27
4.3.1 Contextual Cohesion ........................................................................ 27
4.3.2 Intertextuality ................................................................................... 28
4.3.3 Sequencing ....................................................................................... 28
4.4 Dynamics of Adaptability ......................................................................... 29
4.5 Salience of Adaptation .............................................................................. 33
4.5.1 Salience Concerning ST Author ...................................................... 33
4.5.2 Salience Concerning TT Readers .................................................... 34
Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 36
Bibliography ........................................................................................................... 38
Appendix 1: Chinese-English Translation .............................................................. 40
Appendix 2: Glossary ............................................................................................. 80
Acknowledgments .................................................................................................. 90
Introduction
Chengdu is a city featured with rich history and diversified heritages and traditions.However, the traditional culture has gradually been outshined by the modern developmentand many people, even the natives, have lost track of the history of Chengdu. Under thebackground of "Chinese Culture Going Global", the Records of Streets and Alleys inChengdu served as a reminder here to preserve Chengdu's culture at home. Moreover, wehave been making effort to make it known by more people abroad, and translation playsa significant role during these communications.
This book describes Chengdu's charms from the names of its streets and alleys.Many places in Chengdu have been thoroughly introduced in this book, including rivers,bridges, streets and alleys, historical celebrities, and related anecdotes. Therefore, it is ofgreat research significance.
Linguistic Adaptation Theory is proposed by Belgian linguist Jef Verschueren. Thistheory is evolved during the translation practice, and it is finally developed into a fullygrown theory which is illustrated in Understanding Pragmatics. Before 2000, this theorydoesn't attract much attention from the world. However, there are a few researchers inChinese linguistic field who looked into this theory, and they also brought about fruitfuloutcomes, for example, Enlightenment of Linguistic Adaptation Theory on TranslationStudy (Ge Lingling, 2002:7-11), Translation: A Continuous Process of Choice Makingfor the Purpose of Adaptation (Song Zhiping, 2004:19-23),New Developments inPragmatics: Relevance, Adaptation and Memetics (He Ziran, 2007:66-94), Review of JefVerschueren's Pragmatics as Adaptation Theory (Qian Guanlian, 2009:61-65), AnAdaptation Theoretic Approach to the Literary Translation (Li Zhanxi, 2009:90-96) andPragmatic as General Functional Theory (Jiang Hongliu, 2018:122-129). In light of theseresearch findings, there are also many translation reports guided by Linguistic Adaptationtheory, yet little translation material of these reports shares the same features of Recordsof Streets and Alleys in Chengdu. Therefore, the author of this report believes this reportcan provide certain reference for other counterparts who may translate the remaining ofthe book.
This report consists of five Chapters: Chapter One introduces the background andsignificance of the translation project, feature of the source text, and difficulties intranslation; the Chapter Two introduces the three stages of translation. For example,during translation, the author made use of "jeemaa.com", which is a newly developedonline translation platform developed by a Chengdu translation company. It's free todownload and install the translation platform, and it is much easier to operate comparedwith Trados; Chapter Three talks about Linguistic Adaptation theory, including its keynotions and four aspects; Chapter Four presents 30 cases that are classified by the fourperspectives mentioned above; in Chapter Five, the author concludes the translationreport from the lessons gained and problems that have been solved.
Chapter One Project Description
In this chapter, the author will introduce the background and the significance of the project, the features of the source text, and difficulties during the translation.
1.1 Background of the Translation Project
To answer the "Chinese Culture Going Global" strategy, the Chengdu MunicipalGovernment has been promoting the "Three Cities and Three Capitals" policy, whichconsists of building Chengdu into an international city of culture, tourism and contests,as well as a capital of food, music and exhibition.
For now, thanks to the help of government, this city is known by many for its ancientculture like Shu Kingdom, Sangxingdui Ruins and Jinsha Ruins, but it was not until thepublication of the Records of Streets and Alleys in Chengdu by Yuan Tingdong that theenthusiasms of the local researchers in analyzing Chengdu's culture from a different anglewere unleashed, and the research have filled the blank of comprehensive study aboutmodern culture of Chengdu's streets and alleys and their development.
From the perspective of tourism, this city has set its goal to see 234 million touristsin 2020 and increase the revenue of tourism to 450 billion yuan compared with the 400billion expectancy in 2019. Chengdu has never been more willing to be known by morepeople and more open to them, and this city will provide them with better quality of thelocal culture ever than before. Meanwhile, it will increase the speed of spreading Sichuanculture. All of these outlooks can attract more talents from all over the world to pull theirwisdom and make contributions to Chengdu's further development and investors willflood in to chase great opportunities and thrive here.
Yuan Tingdong, the author of Records of Streets and Alleys in Chengdu, has devotedhis life researching Sichuan culture. By tracing the history of rivers, alleys, and streets inChengdu, verifying the correct names of them, and introducing the related anecdotes, heshows the profound culture of Chengdu to the readers from a quite different perspective.All of his research results can be seen in the Records of Streets and Alleys in Chengdu,which is published in 2010 by Sichuan Education Press. This book covers acomprehensive range of local culture, especially about rivers, ancient gates, streets, andalleys. Meanwhile, photos in the book have vividly shown the image of Chengdu in different period of time. Generally, this book is not only a live guidebook to the cultureof Chengdu but also a envoy that will promote cultural communication and understanding.
Besides, School of Foreign Language of Sichuan Normal University has alwaysattached great importance to tourism translation in MTI education. Following theguidance of Going Global Strategy and to promote Sichuan culture and tourism, Directorof the MTI programme assigns Records of Streets and Alleys in Chengdu as the translationmaterial to encourage better use of theories in students' practice.
…………由于本文篇幅较长,部分内容省略,详细全文见文末附件
Conclusion
After preparation, translating, proofreading, and revising, the translation project andthe report of translation based on it has arrived at the following conclusion.
On the one hand, the author has obtained much enlightenments from the translationpractice, and it can summarized as the following aspects: First of all, the translator haslearnt much knowledge about the traditional and modern culture of Chengdu during thetranslation project. Second, by translating the source text under the guidance of LinguisticAdaptation theory, he has a deeper understanding of the theory. It was not only about thelearning the notions and main aspects of the theory but also knowing how to overcomethe difficulties encountered during translation by taking the factors of theory, for example,physical, mental and social world of readers, into consideration. These factors mentionedabove are often linked with each other and they all are subject to the dynamic changes,thus the translator shall look thoroughly and make corresponding adaptation beforecarrying out proper translation, which can narrow the gap between the source text andtarget text as well as between author and readers. Third, the translator can overcome thedifficulties in translation by applying appropriate translation methods, though it'spainstaking in the first time, the author gets more familiar with using the methods afterhe has a better understanding of the source text and the guiding theory. Fourth, since theproject was assigned to half of the class, teamwork is inevitable and indispensable to thecompletion of the translation project. It is the effective cooperation and communicationamong other teammates that help the author to finish the translation project on time.
On the other hand, there is still much space for improvement. Though the translatorhas tried his best to render appropriate translation on the premise of understating theLinguistic Adaptation theory and how to use that, to be honest, he still causesmisunderstanding sometimes. These deficiencies are caused due to the failure to fullycomprehend the source text and the lack of parallel texts, especially for these quotedpoems and couplets. For the insufficient command of English and Chinese, it may lead tounacceptability and unfaithfulness of translation. To improve the translation and theauthor himself, he decides to participate in more translation practices so as to strengthenhis ability in translation. Besides, reading more materials from different fields in Chinese and English would help the translator to broaden his horizon and improve his efficiencyof thinking. By doing so, he can make his translation more acceptable to the readers.
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