功能对等视角下《红高粱》英译研究

发布时间：2016-08-04 07:51

Chapter One   Introduction  

1.1   Purpose of this Research 
Mo Yan, the Nobel Prize winner of 2012, is a distinguished writer in China and has  gained  a  wide  readership  and  great  reputation  in  the  west.  Red  Sorghum  is  Mo Yan’s masterpiece and the most representative root-seeking work, the researches on which reach the climax since its publication in 1993. This thesis aims to explore the translating art in Howard Goldblatt’s translation of Red Sorghum through a detailed analysis  of  the  original  work  and  its  English  version  from  the  perspective  of functional  equivalence  theory.  It  will  make  clear  how  the  translator  achieves  the equivalence in translation and at the same time sheds some revelation to the “going out” of Chinese modern literature. 
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1.2   Significance of this Research 
There  are  a  large  number  of  researches  on  translation  on  the  basis  of  the functional  equivalence  theory,  but no  study  on  the  English  version  of Red  Sorghum in  the  view  of  the  functional  equivalence  theory  has  been  made,  which  has  its  own significance. The  current  studies  on  Red  Sorghum  are  conducted  from  the  perspectives  of linguistics  and  literary  theories  and  most  of  them  mainly  focus  on  its  Chinese original. A few studies are made on the translation of novel from other perspectives, e.g.  post-colonial  theory,  rewriting  theory  and  so  on,  but  no  study  is  from  the perspective  of  the  FET.  Therefore,  in  order  to  set  a  good  example  for  the  future studies  of  related  theories  and  provide  guidance  for  the  study  and  application  of translation strategies, it is of great significance to study Red Sorghum on the basis of functional equivalence theory. 
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1.3   Methodology of this Research 
With  the  research  purpose  in  mind  ,  the  author  of  this  paper  mainly  applies  the following methods: Firstly, I refer to many materials like related books, journals, papers, articles and network resources to collect useful information for the thesis.Secondly, I read and makea comparative study between the original work Hong Gao  Liang  Jia  Zu  and  its  English  version  Red  sorghum  carefully  to  understand  the content and style of the work. Thirdly,  I  study  Nida’s  functional  equivalence  theory  so  as  to  comprehend  it thoroughly and accurately and then summarize the essence to give a brief introduction in Chapter Three in this thesis.Fourthly, I choose some representative examples from the translated version and then  make  elaborate  analyses  on  them  to  find  the  translating  methods  adopted  in translation.Lastly, based on the above illustration, I draw the conclusion. 
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Chapter Two   Literature Review  

2.1   Introduction to Red Sorghum and its English Version 
Mo Yan, a well-known Chinese writer, whose real name is Guan Moye, was born in a farmer family in 1955 in Gaomi county of Shandong Province in northern China. “Mo  Yan”,  which  means  “don’t  speak”  in  Chinese,  is  his  pen  name.  He  attended primary  school  in  his  hometown  and  was  actually  forced  to  drop  out  because  of China’s Cultural Revolution. He was sent to the countryside where he had to perform manual  labor  for  many  years.  In  1976,  Mo  Yan  joined  the  PLA(China’s  People’s Liberation  Army)  and  held  the  posts  of  monitor,  librarian,  teacher  and  secretary.  In 1981,  he  started  his  writing  career.  Mo  Yan  is  a  prolific  writer  who  has  published about 120 short stories and novels in Chinese, among which Hong Gao Liang Jia Zu (Red Sorghum), Tian Tang Suan Tai Zhi Ge ( The Garlic Ballads ), Feng Ru Fei Tun ( Big Breasts and Wide Hips), Jiu Guo ( The Republic of Wine), Sheng Si Pi Lao ( Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out ) are some typical ones and had been translated into English by Howard Goldblatt.The original novel Hong Gao Liang Jia Zu includes five chapters: Red Sorghum, Sorghum Wine, Dog Ways, Sorghum Funeral and Strange Death. This novel was first published in 1987 and it is Mo Yan’s first work which was translated into English and ran commercially in the west. Its English version is called Red Sorghum. Later, it has been  translated  into  more  than  twenty  languages  and  becomes  a  best-seller.  As  a representative of Mo Yan’s “ root-seeking” works, Hong Gao Liang Jia Zu expressed the  author’s  complicated  love-hate  emotion  towards  his  hometown,  Gaomi  county, which  also  serves  as  the  setting  for  almost  all  his  novels  and  the  inspiration  for  his writing.  In  the  novel,  Mo  Yan  tells  us  a  common  peasant  family  story  during  the Anti-Japanese War in Northeast Gaomi Township from the first person point of view and  describes  a  group  of  sorghum  heroes  who  are  the  combination  of  both  evil  and goodness by means of breaking the traditional time order and logic. 
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2.2 Previous Studies on Red Sorghum 
In 1993 when the translated version of Hong Gao Liang Jia Zu got published in America, it became a best-seller and won a good reputation at home and abroad. From then  on,  many  people  began  to  do  researches  on  Red  Sorghum.  According  to  search data  from  ,  there  are  a  lot  of  journal  articles  and  theses  about  the original  novel.  However,  researches  on  Howard  Goldblatt’s  translation  of  Red Sorghum are much less. So far, current studies on Red Sorghum can be mainly divided into the following four kinds. A  lot  of  researches  on  Red  Sorghum  are  conducted  from  the  perspective  of translation  theories,  which  include  post-colonial  translation  theory,  semantic translation theory, eco-translatology, rewriting theory and so on. This type of research mainly studies the translation strategies and methods adopted by Howard Goldblatt. Zuo  Miaomiao  (2008)  from  Guizhou  University  studied  the  receptions  and variations of Red Sorghum in America under the guidance of post-colonial translation theory.  By  analyzing  the  receptions  and  the  variations  of  Red  Sorghum  from characteristics, plots and narrative mode, the author found out that Howard Goldblatt is inevitably affected by his ideology and poetics and his translation is reader-centered. Besides, the translator have to consider the potential readership and the market, which will lead to variations in translation.  
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Chapter Three   Theoretical Framework   ........ 10    
3.1   Nida  and  His  Main  Works  ....10    
3.2   The Functional Equivalence Theory ........    10       
3.2.1   Development  of  Functional  Equivalence   ....10                    
3.2.2   Principles  for  Achieving  Functional  Equivalence  ........12 
Chapter  Four   Translation  Methods  Applied  in  the  Translation ....14    
4.1   Literal  Translation........14    
4.2   Free  Translation....20                  
4 .3   Amplification........ 23    
4.4   Omission........ 2 4    
4.5   Transliteration........ 27 
4.6 Replacing....28 
Chapter  5   Conclusion....31    
5.1 Findings of the Study........ 31  
5.2 Limitations of the Study and Suggestions for Further Research .... 32 

Chapter Four   Translation Methods Applied in the  English Translation of Red Sorghum 

4.1    Literal Translation

Literal translation refers to an adequate representation of the original, and it is a kind  of  translation  method  in  which  more  attention  is  given  to  preserve  the  SL wording  intact  than  to  produce  a  naturally  reading  TL.  It  tries  to  reproduce  both  the ideological  content  and  the  style  of  the  original  works  and  retains  the  figures  of speech and the main structures or patterns as much as possible. The literal translation can  not  only  make  the  target  readers  understand  the  translation  easily  but  also  preserve the original meaning and style. There is no doubt that literal translation can achieve  the  maximal  functional  equivalence.  So  the  literal  translation  method  is widely used in the English version of Red Sorghum in order to achieve the functional equivalence.  There  are  many  examples  in  Red  Sorghum  that  have  been  literally translated.Here, Douguan was in a hurry to catch the crabs, but Uncle Arhat stopped him so as  not  to  scare  away  the  crabs.  The  idiom  “心急喝不得热粘粥”  here  indicates  that when  doing  things  one  should  be  patient  and  impatience  may  lead  to  failure.  This idiom  is  similar  to  “haste  makes  waste”  and  “a  watched  pot  never  boils”  in  English. The  translator  adopted  literal  translation  to  gain  equivalence  in  meaning  of  the original novel, which can be easily understood by the target readers. 

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Conclusion

Nida’s  functional  equivalence  theory  has  long  been  widely  used  and  applied  in the practice of literary translation since its publication in the 1960s. In this thesis, the author makes a detailed study on Howard Goldblatt’s translation of Red Sorghum and explores  translation  methods  that  achieve  equivalence  in  meaning  and  style  of  the original from the perspective of functional equivalence theory. In this part, the thesis will  give  a  general  summary  of  the  current  study,  with  its  main  findings  and limitations for further study.  First  of  all,  through  a  detailed  analysis  between  the  original  and  the  English version,  the  author  sees  that  faithfulness  is  the  main  principle  that  Goldblatt  follows during  the  translating  process.  He  preserves  the  original  flavor  of  the  source  text  to the  greatest  extent.  In  the  translation,  Howard  Goldblatt  employs  various  translation methods like literal translation and free translation to achieve equivalence in meaning and  style.  However,  Nida’s  functional  equivalence  theory  is  not  confined  to  the equivalence  in  meaning  and  form.  Instead,  it  emphasizes  the  response  of  the  target readers.  So,  when  handling  a  variety  of  conflicts  caused  by  cultural  differences,  the translator  applies  different  translation  methods  such  as  amplification,  omission, transliteration  and  replacing  to  make  the  translation  more  readable  and  accessible  to foreign readers. 
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The reference (omitted) 

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