An Analysis of the Process of Translationfrom Infotransferring Perspective

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1、An Analysis of the Process of Translation from Info-transferring Perspective翻译过程分析之信息传递视角 An Analysis of the Process of Translation from Info-transferring Perspective ContentsAbstract.1Key words.1I. Introduction .21.1 Theories and Histories of Translation.21.1.1 Translation and Translation Theory St

2、udy abroad.31.1.2 Translation and Translation Theory Study in China .4II. Language .52.1 Definition of Language.52.2 Characteristics of Language.62.3 Functions of Language.6III .The Process of Translation: the Transferring of Information.73.1 What do Others Say.73.2 The Process of Translation is tha

3、t of Decoding and Encoding Messages83.3 What Makes a Good Translator.9IV. Application of the Theory to Translation.104.1 The Translation Should Give a Complete Transcript of the Original Work SL.114.2 The Style and Manner of Writing Should be of the same Character with that of the Original .114.3 Tr

4、anslate Naturally.124.4 Idioms of the SL Should be Dealt with Properly in Translation 12V. Conclusion .13Acknowledgments.14References .14An Analysis of the Process of Translation from Info-transferring Perspective摘 要： 语言翻译的历史几乎和语言一样非常悠久，翻译在世界文化的发展中一直发挥着重要作用。翻译家和翻译理论家群星灿烂，硕果累累，为人类文化的传承做出了杰出的贡献。笔者从信息传

5、递的视角对翻译的过程进行分析，认为翻译的过程是信息在其载体语言之间传递的过程。起始部分首先明确了翻译的定义，并对翻译和翻译理论的历史进行了回顾。接下来就语言的功能进行了讨论，作为第三部分的铺垫。第三部系统地论述了信息是如何在源语言和目标语言之间传递的。第四部分在前三部分的基础上就如何做好翻译进行了讨论。关键词：语言；翻译；过程；信息传递视角；翻译理论Abstract: Translation is almost as old as language and has played and plays a key role in the development of world culture.

6、During the long translation history, many translators and translation-theoretician came forth fruitfully and presented their widely divergent or general alike opinions of principles on translation from different perspectives. Translation has been heated topic over a long time. However, translation s

7、eems still lack a comprehensive theory that can explain what on earth it is and how it takes place. In the present paper, the author presents an analytical study of the process of translation from an info-transferring perspective. He thinks that the process of translation is a process of decoding th

8、e information from the SL and then encoding them into the TL. This paper starts with the definition of translation and a historical overview of translation theory and practice. Secondly comes an analysis of the functions of language, which is the base of the third part. Then comes the main part of t

9、he paper. In the third part, the author gives a systemic analysis of the process of translation. The next part focuses on how to apply the theory to translation practice.Key words: Language;Translation;Process; Info-transferring Perspective; Translation TheoryI IntroductionTranslation is almost as o

10、ld as language and has a history as honorable and as complex as that of any other branch of literature. Even since the second century in China and the first century in the west, there has been interlingual translation. And, since then translation has been a hotly debated topic. Therefore, it can be

11、seen that that translation has been a heated topic over a long period of time. However, translation still seems to lack a comprehensive theory that can explain what on earth it is and how it takes place. In Chinese translation circle, some people even doubt whether or not it is possible and necessar

12、y to establish the science of translation-translatology. The main reason is perhaps that the world “translation” itself is a very ambiguous one. The Chinese equivalent “fanyi” sounds even fuzzier too. Fanyi, in Chinese, may either stand for a subject of the curriculum, a job people engage in, a piec

13、e of literary work, or the translating or interpreting work itself. Sometimes, “fanyi” may even refer to the translator or interpreter himself / herself. Translation covers a very broad range. In terms of languages, it can be divided into two categories: from native languages into foreign languages

14、and vice versa; in terms of the mode, it can be divided into oral interpretation, written translation and machine translation; in terms of materials to be translated, there is translation of scientific materials, translation of literary works such as novels, stories, prose, poetry, drama, etc., tran

15、slation of political essays such as treatises on social problems, reports, speeches, etc., and translation of practical writing as official documents, contracts and agreements, notices, receipts, etc.; in terms of disposal, it can be either full-text translation, abridged translation or adapted tran

16、slation. The complexity of the sole term “translation” itself suggests no simplicity in the study of translation.Therefore, it is of great significance that a comprehensive definition on translation be supplied. Then, what on earth is translation supposed to be?Some famous translation-theoretician g

17、ave us their definitions. Encyclopedia Britannica (1991:24) defines it as “the act or process of rendering what is expressed in one language or set of symbols by means of another language or set of symbols”. Catford (1965:65) thinks that translating is “the replacement of textual material in one lan

18、guage by equivalent textual material in another language”. Nida (1965:45) says that “translating consists in reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source language massage , first in term of meaning and secondly in term of style ”. And Barhudarov (1975:23) states

19、that “translation is a process in which the parole of the language is transferred into the parole of another with the content, i.e. meaning unchanged”. Duff (1989:5) thinks that “translation of conveying message across linguistic and cultural barriers; it is an eminently communicative activity”.The

20、aforementioned definitions have described what is being done in the process of translation from different angles. However many other translation theorists think that translating should be better considered as a semiotic transformation. As Ludskanov (1975:5-8) thinks,Semiotic transformations are the

21、replacement of the signs encoding a message by signs of another code, preserving (so far as possible in the face of entropy) invariant information with respect to a give system of replace.It can be seen that translation is better be considered as an info-transferring activity. In the present dissert

22、ation, the author thinks alike with Nida, the famous American translation-theoretician, and takes his definition as the one he follows.1.1 Theories and Histories of Translation Since we have a definition of translation to follow and a rough understanding of it. A brief historical overview of transla

23、tion theory and the practice will be of great help and play a special role during the discussion in the present essay. As mentioned earlier, translation has a long history and of great complexity as language and any other branch of literature. Here is a brief historical overview of translation theor

24、y and practice to help the further discussion on the process of translation. 1.1.1 Translation and Translation Theory Study Abroad In Europe the first translator whose name has been recorded was the Greek slave Livius Andronicus, who put the Odyssey into Latin verse. Very possibly he was not the fir

25、st writer who actually made a translation, but his effect is of interest because of its long survival.Later, the early Latin authors Naevius and Enis made translation of Greek plays, which made a great construction on the early translation.Several centuries later, we are brought to a group of transl

26、ations which have a historical significance by the influence they exerted on European scholarship. Then, by the twelfth century the art of translation touched heights which it may since have equaled but has not surpassed.The age of the first Elizabeth was also the first great age of translation in E

27、ngland, even as the age of the second Elizabeth is the second such era of copious translation. In the last decade of the eighteenth century there was published one of the rare dissertations on the art of translation.The translators of the nineteenth century include several great names, and among the

28、m the first to be mentioned must be Thomas Carlyle. And, Byron, Shelley and Longfellow also need to be mentioned. Since the end of World War II facts about the practice of translation have been obvious. The first is that the complaint of Ritchie and Moore can no longer be upheld: even a superficial

29、study of the literary review-pages of newspapers or magazines reveals the publication of ambitious, scholarly translations of all kinds. The second is the strength of the interest in classical literature.1.1.2 Translation and Translation Theory Study in ChinaRoughly, there are four waves on translat

30、ion in China, and they are Donghan Dynasty to Tang and Song Dynasties, late Ming Dynasty to early Qing Dynasty, and Opium War to “The May Fourth” period, characterized by the translation of sutra, technology and Western theories respectively. By now, with the advent of networking and integration of

31、the global economy, the fourth wave of translation is appearing. This wave is unparalleled in terms of scale, scope, quality as well as contribution to the development of the Chinese society comparing with the first three waves. The emergence of this wave is an important chance for carrying out refo

32、rm and openingup policy and speed up the renaissance of national economy.And during the long translation history, many translators and translation-theoretician came forth and presented their widely divergent or general alike opinions of principles on translation. The following several ones are taken

33、 here as examples. Firstly, whenever principles or criteria of translation are under discussion in China, Yan Fus “three-character guide”, which was first proposed in 1898, would evoke controversy, namely, the principle of “faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance”(信、达、雅). And, some people propose

34、some new principles or criteria of translation of their own. Two of the various popular theories are most influential: spiritual conformity (神似) and sublimed adaptation (化境). The former, proposed by Fu Lei, emphasizes the reproduction of the spirit of the flavor of the original, while the latter, ad

35、vocated by Qian Zhongshu, focuses on the translators smoothness and idiomatic Chinese version for the sake of the Chinese readers. Another one that is worth mentioning is Zhang Guoruos (张谷若)“translate native ST (source language) using native TL (target language)”. He proposed that translation should

36、 maintain the style of SL.II LanguageYou must note that the dissertation of this paper is translation. Then what does translation deal with? Language! That is to say, language and translation are closely related to each other. Since we have had a discussion on what translation is and have known that

37、 translation is both art and science dealing with languages, the analysis and description of translation-processes must make considerable use of categories set up for the description of language and linguistics.2.1 Definition of Language“The human being is a social animal, and the chief mechanism fo

38、r maintaining the bonds of society is language.” said Gonglas Brown. This reminds us the importance of language as the chief mechanism for maintaining the bonds of society. Then, what is language? On one hand, some famous linguistics treated language as sets of symbols. In his Philosophy of Language

39、, Alston (1964:59) defines language as “a system of symbols”. Saussure also treated language as a sign-system, and his work in linguistics has supplied the concepts and methods.On the other hand, language is often considered as arbitrary. This is a prominent characteristic of language. That is to sa

40、y, there is no reason other than the convention among speakers of English that a dog should be called dog, and indeed other language has different names (for example, Chinese gou “狗”, Japanese inu “”).Also, language can be used to discuss a wide range of topics. This is a characteristic that disting

41、uishes linguistic communication from animal communication. The dances of bees, for example, can be used only to communicate the location of the food sources. While the language learning-abilities of apes have surprised many people. Nida (1965:56) says,Language consists of more than the meanings of t

42、he symbols and the combination of symbols; it is essentially a code in operation, or, in other words, a code functioning for a specific purpose or purposes. Thus we must analyze the transmission of a message in term of a dynamic dimension. This dimension is especially important for translation, sinc

43、e the production of equivalent messages is a process, not merely of matching parts of utterances, but also of reproducing the total dynamic character of the communication. Without both elements the result can scarcely be regarded, in any realistic sense, as equivalent.Here in this paper “language” h

44、as nothing to do with animal communication. And the author borrows others ideas and takes language like this:Language is made up of codes the set of meanings, information. Language is a system of meanings, information and the carrier of information.An understanding of the concept and the nature of t

45、he language enables us to better know what are involved in our translational activities, how we are to perform these activities and what is to be focused in the process of translating. 2.2 Characteristics of Language According to modern linguistics, the characteristics of language are as follows:(1)

46、 each language is made up of meaning components; (2) the same meaning component will occur in several surface structure lexical items; (3) one linguistic form can be used to represent several alternative meanings; and (4) each language has its own way of organizing the meaning components into words

47、and phrases. For example, in English, boy, which is a THING, as a single lexical item. However, it is made up of several meaning components human being, male, and young. The following figure would enable you to see it clearerly.Boy Figure 1Human Male Young2.3 Functions of LanguageDifferent languages

48、 would construct differently the same experience. But on the other hand, any language has to serve various purposes on different occasions. By serving different purposes, language manifests itself in different functions. The functions of language are indicated when the impact on the receptor is take

49、n into consideration. Language has six functions according to the famous translation theorist Peter Newmark from a translational perspective. They are the expressive, the informative, the vocative, the aesthetic, the phatic and the metalingual functions. And still other classifications employ differ

50、ent categories and use different terms. For example, in Linguistics. A Course Book by Hu Zhuanglin, they are overlapped as informative, interpersonal function, performative, emotive function, phatic function, recreational function, and metalingual function. And in term of practice, the functions of

51、language can be summarized as “to chat, to think, to buy and sell, to read and write, to greet people, etc” (胡壮麟等 2001).Anyway, they share a lot in common about the basic functions of languages. For most people the informative function is the major role of languages. Languages are the instrument of

52、thought and people often feel need to speak their thoughts aloud, for instance, when they are working on a math problem. The use of language to record the fact is a prerequisite of social development. This is indeed an important function of language. And Halliday (1975:56) notes thatlanguage serves

53、for the expression of content: that is, of the speakers experience of the real world, including the inner world of his own consciousness. In serving this function, language also gives structures to experience, and help to determine our way of looking at things, so that it requires some intellectual

54、effect to see them in any other way than which our language suggests to us. You may note that Halliday employs the word “content” in his dissertation and explains it as “that is, of the speakers experience of the real word, including the inner world of his own consciousness”. The author thinks alike

55、 and takes “the speakers experience of the real world” as a set of information. So the author says language serves for the experience of set of information that record the real world.III The Process of Translation: the Transferring of Information3.1 What do Others Say? The process of translation, as

56、 Gorlee thinks, is assimilated to semiotics, or sign activity. Toury (1986:1121) also thinks that “although the process of translation obviously its product in time, it turns out that from the semiotic point of view, the product, and especially its position and functions in the target system should

57、be assigned precedence over the progress.” According to Roger T. Bell (1991:60-75), the process of translation may be categorized mainly into three stages: (1) analysis or reading the ST (source text), (2) preparing to translate and (3) synthesis or writing the TT (target text). In the first stage,

58、three kinds of analyses have to be done, namely, semantic analysis, syntactic analysis and pragmatic analysis. After an adequate analysis, the translator is preparing to translate. At this stage, the translator has to make decisions about their alternatives and their strategic options before they co

59、me to the writing of the TT. These alternatives or strategic options can be presented as the following extremes of five continua:(1) To reproduce either the forms or the ideas:(2) To retain the style of the original or adopt a different style; to retain or abandon the source language text form;(3) T

60、o retain the historical stylistic dimension of the original or render it in contemporary form;(4) to produce a text which reads like an original or one which reads like a translation (but as far as possible, neither adds nor deletes content);(5) to add or omit words, phrases, clause or to attempt to

61、 transfer everything from source to target text.Having made the decision to translate, the translator then is to do the final job to replace the source language with target language.The above stages will of course differ because of the differences in term of taste and personal background of translat

62、ors.3.2 The Process of Translation is that of Decoding and Encoding MessagesAs we have talked earlier, language is a system of meanings, information and the carrier of information. Language carries “content” of the speakers experience of the real word, including the inner world of his own consciousn

63、ess. According to these, the author treats the process of translation in other way. In this part, two terms from information theory are introduced decode and encode.Lets take a very simple sentence as example,Tom likes apple.Tom likes apple.One certain kind of fruit, not any kind else.What Tom doesT

64、he ones name is tom.Tom is very possible but not definitely a humanFigure 2Shown in the figure 2, this sentence (source language) carries “content” that Tom (very possible but not definitely a human) likes (what he does) apple (a kind of fruit). The ST includes the following information (messages): (1) there