奈达翻译理论研究--A-Study-on-Nida马会娟

奈达翻译理论研究AStudyonNida’sTranslationTheory马会娟著EnglishAbstractThisbookmakesasystematicresearchonNida’stranslationtheory,clarifysomemisunderstandingsconcerninghistheory,discloseitstruenatureandexploreitsvalidityandlimitationsinliterarytranslations.ExamplesfromToday’sEnglishVersionandToday’sChineseVersionoftheBible,whichweretranslated,followingNida’stranslationtheory,demonstratethatNida’stheory,contrarytosomepopularwrongassumptions,isapplicabletotranslationpracticebetweenforeignlanguagesandChinese.AcomparativestudyofNida’stheoryandJinDi’stheoryismadetorevealthesimilaritiesanddifferencesbetweenthetwotheories,andthereasonsfortheirdiscrepanciesarealsoexplored.ExamplesfromJin’sChinesetranslationofUlyssesareexaminedagainsttheprincipleof“equivalenteffect”.ThisbookalsoexploresthelimitationsofNida’stheoryinliterarytranslation,pointingoutthathistheoryfailstoaddresstheissueoftransferenceofaestheticvaluesofliteraryworkintoanotherlanguage.AttemptshavebeenmadetoamendNida’stheoryinrespectoftransferringaestheticvaluesofliteraryworkbymeansof“formalaestheticmarkers”and“non-formalaestheticmarkers”,withaimofmarkingitmoresuitableforliterarytranslationbetweenChineseandEnglish.CHAPTERONEIntroduction1.1ReasonsforfurtherresearchonNida’stranslationtheoryHisworksontranslationsetoffthestudyofmoderntranslationasanacademicfield(Snell—Hornby,Heylen,Baker)BeforehistheorywasintroducedintoChinainthe1980s,peoplemainlyfocusedattentionontraditionalChinesetheories,especiallyYanFu’sthree—characterprincipleoftranslation:faithfulness,smoothnessandelegance.SinceNida’stheorywasgroundedsolidlyoncontemporarydevelopmentsoflinguistics,communicationtheory,informationtheory,semioticsandanthropology,Chinesetranslationscholarstookgreatinterestinhistheory.ChangNamfungsummarizes4kindsofmisunderstandingsregardingNida’stheoryinChina:1)“Dynamicequivalence”isonlyanidealtranslationctiterion2)Nida’stheoryisunfittoguidetranslationpracticebetweenChineseandEnglishbecauseitgrowsoutoftranslationexperienceamongIndo—Europeanlanguage3)Nida’stakes“reader’sresponse”asatranslationcriterioninevaluatingtranslation4)Nidadoesn’trespecttheculturalfactorsinthesourcelanguageandhismaintenanceofcompletenaturalizationintranslatingisakindofculturalhegemonism.Theterm“equivalence”inNida’stheorynevermeans“identical”,butonly“substantiallythesame”.“dynamicequivalence”isfoundedoninformationtheory,andishasondirectrelationshipwith“receptionaesthetics”or“reader-responsetheory”atall.Nida’sdiscussionaboutkernelsanddeepstructuresisbasedonsemanticlevelwhileChomskyfocusesonsyntacticallevel.Nida’s“scienceoftranslation”istotallydifferentfromthedebatesofthedebateofwhether“translationisascienceoranart”occurringamongsomeChinesescholars.WhenNidatalksabout“scienceoftranslation”,whathemeansisthathetendsto“dealwiththeprocessoftranslationinascientificmanner”,drawingonthetheoriesoflinguistics,informationandcommunication,etc.1.2AprofileofNida1.2.3HisacademiccontributionstomodernlinguisticsandtranslationEricM.North,theformerGeneralSecretaryoftheAmericanBibleSocietyoftheAmericanBiblesociety,dividesNida’sacademicactivityinto4phasesonhiswritingsinchronologicalorder:1)thephaseofdescriptivelinguistics,1943—19512)thephaseofcross—culturalcommunication.1952—19603)thetranslationphase,1961—19734)thesemanticphase,1974—MessageandMissionwasthemostsignificantbookofthesecondphase.GentzlersuggestedthatitwasinthisbookthatNidafirstoutlinedhistranslationtheory.Thisbookmarkedthebeginningofthethirdphase.Inthethirdphase,inthebook,TowardaScienceofTranslating,Nidafirstadvancedthepropositionof“dynamicequivalence”,andthethree-stagemodelofthetranslationprocess：“analysis,transferandrestructuring”.ItiscommonlyagreedthatTowardaScienceofTranslatingbestsummarizesthevariousaspectsofhistranslationtheory.ForNida,translatingmeanstranslatingmeaning.ThemostrepresentativebookofthisphasewasFromOneLanguagetoAnother.Inthisbook,Nidanotonlyfurtherexploredtheissuesofmeaningofadoptingasociosemioticsapproach,butsubstituted“functionalequivalence”for“dynamicequivalence”justtoavoidunnecessarymisunderstandings.1.3AsurveyofNida’stranslationtheoryWewillreviewNida’stranslationtheoryfromtwoimportantaspects:1)thescientificstudyoftranslating2)theprincipleof“dynamicequivalence”1.3.1Nida’sscientificstudyoftranslating“Scienceoftranslating”means“forjustaslinguisticsmaybeclassifiedasadescriptivescience,sothetransferenceofamessagefromonelanguagetoanotherislikewiseavalidsubjectforscientificdescription.Hesuggeststhatitismoreeffectivetotransferthemeaningfromthesourcelanguagetothereceptorlanguageonthekernellever,becauseonthisleverthelinguisticmeaningoftheoriginaltestisstructurallythesimplestandsemanticallymostevident.Nidaadvancesathree-steptranslationprocess:○1toanalyzesource-languageexpressionsintermsofbasickernelsentences○2totransformthekernelformsofthesourcelanguageintotheequivalentkernelformsofthereceptorlanguage○3totransformthekernelutterancesofthereceptorlanguageintothestylisticallyappropriateexpressionThisprocessoftranslatinghelpsthetranslatorconsciouslyavoidliteraltranslation