Keywords: English translation standard moonlight on the lotus pond
Translation is an important bridge for cultural exchange. What kind of translation is the standard? Chinese and western translators have never stopped exploring translation standards. Yan Fu put forward the idea of "three difficulties in translating things: faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance" during the reform and reform. However, the western traditional translation takes equivalence and equivalence as the standard, such as Eugene Nida's translation principle.
Moonlight on the Lotus Pond by Mr. Zhu Ziqing is one of the modern classic essays. Its fresh and natural language style and the writing technique of happy writing and sad writing show its unique charm. Many domestic translators translate it into English, hoping that more foreign readers can appreciate Mr. Zhu's beautiful writing. Among many English versions, Mr. Zhu Chunshen's translation stands out.
Mr. Zhu Chunshen's translation language is accurate, vivid and natural, and in conveying the original information, it is just right, which conforms to the translation language habits, and there is no "hard and far-fetched trace due to the differences of different language habits" (Mr. Qian Zhongshu's language). His translation embodies different translation standards such as content, form and style. This paper intends to analyze Mr. Zhu's English version of Moonlight on the Lotus Pond from the perspective of translation criteria.
1. Introduction to translation standards
Translation criteria refer to the principles that translators follow in translation practice, and also the principles that translation critics must follow when criticizing translation. The true establishment of translation standards should be based on tytler's "Three Principles of Translation" in the west and Yan Fu's "Faithfulness, Expressiveness and Elegance" in China.
1. 1 China translation standard
Translators in different periods hold different views on translation standards. He Qian and Dao An, translators of ancient Buddhist scriptures, advocated literal translation, while Kumarajiva advocated free translation. In the late Qing Dynasty, Yan Fu put forward the translation standard of "faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance", while contemporary translator Zhang Peiji advocated "faithfulness, expressiveness and beauty". In On Translation, Lin Yutang put forward the viewpoint of "faithfulness, expressiveness and beauty", and translator Fu Lei pointed out that "in terms of effect, translation should be picturesque. Mr. Qian Zhongshu, a translator, pointed out: "When a work is transformed from one language to another, it can neither show stiff traces because of the differences in language habits, but also completely retain the original flavor, so it is considered to be in the realm of transformation. "No matter what translation concept the translator advocates, its purpose is to achieve the maximum equivalence between the source language and the target language and realize cultural exchange.
1.2 translation standards for western languages
The core of western translation theory is the discussion on the essence and standards of translation, which basically revolves around the themes of literal translation and free translation, faithfulness and unfaithfulness, accuracy and inaccuracy. Western traditional translation is based on equivalence and equivalence, such as Eugene Nida's translation principle. He believes that translation is a kind of language communication behavior, and translators should try their best to convey the meaning of the original text to readers in order to achieve dynamic equivalence and nearest natural equivalence.
Rice's functionalist linguistics transcends the standard of equivalence. Newmark put forward that different texts should have different judgment standards on the basis of Rice's text types, and opposed the simple single equivalence standard. Vermeer and Nord further developed the theory of functional linguistics and gradually formed a school of teleology. Skopostheorie holds that translation is not only a linguistic problem, but also a cross-cultural behavior. Lefevere inherited the multi-system theory and believed that translation was dominated by the translator's ideology and the dominant poetics of the target language society, and was closely related to factors such as power, politics, patronage and target language culture. In this sense, translation has become a manipulation and rewriting of the original text, and we can't just advocate loyalty.
1.3 summary of translation standards
In translation, the absolute standard of translation is actually the original itself, which can never be achieved. Whether it is "faithfulness, expressiveness, elegance", "loyalty", or "similarity in spirit", "transformation", "equivalence" and "diversity", regardless of content, form and style, they all pursue similarity with the original. In the process of translating Chinese into authentic and fluent English, the translation is not only required to be equivalent to the original in form, but also to be ideological, artistic and aesthetic.
In short, the similarity between Chinese and western translation standards lies in trying to reproduce the content, form and style of the original text on the basis of full understanding of the original text, so as to achieve maximum approximation.
2. The embodiment of translation criteria in Zhu Chunshen's English version of Moonlight on the Lotus Pond
When Mr. Zhu Chunshen's translation Moonlight Over the Lotus Pond expresses the artistic conception and ideological content of the original text, it not only achieves "faithfulness, expressiveness and transparency", but also achieves "turning", making readers feel that they are appreciating the prose of the original text.
2. 1 Understand the original text accurately
Accurate understanding of the original text is the starting point and the only basis of translation. On the basis of loyalty to the original, translate accurately.
2. 1. 1 Accurately grasp the original sound
In the first paragraph of the article, the author bluntly said, "I'm quite upset these days." "Quite restless" is the reason for watching the lotus pond under the moon, and it also lays the emotional tone for the whole article. Zhu Chunshen used "quite uneasy", which means upset, uneasy, and emotional ups and downs are in line with the "quite uneasy" mood. The word "upset" is concise and the tone is in place.
2. 1.2 Correct understanding of the original logic
The article describes the lotus pond like this: "On the winding lotus pond, I look forward to the leaves of the field." The leaves are high above the water, like a slim dancer's skirt. Although it is a sentence, Mr. Zhu Chunshen discovered the internal relationship between sentences and translated the two sentences into one sentence, "It is all over this winding water. "Just right. In addition, Zhu Chunshen's translation of Wang Mi with "what you see is what you get" is dynamic, which fully shows that all this is what the author saw while walking slowly, and the translation is accurate and vivid.
2. 1.3 Proper handling of original details
In the sentence "I quietly put on my big shirt and made a dash for the door", Chun Zhu used the word "shrugged", while Zhu Ziqing went out for a walk at night just because he was afraid of the cold, so he casually wore a big shirt temporarily. This translation is better than "put on".
2.2 Reproduce the content of the original text
2.2. 1 lexical level
The original words are concise and dynamic, and the choice of modifiers is original. Such as: "moonlight is like running water, quietly pouring on this leaf and flower." Although the word "diarrhea" is used in the original text, the word "static" in front of it can not be ignored; Generally speaking, the original text depicts a peaceful picture. Zhu Chunshen translated the word "thank" into "give up", which means "pour out". With the word "silent", the artistic conception of the original "moonlight pouring down quietly" is faithfully reproduced.