Ah Q Zheng Zhuan’s Retranslation Viewed From the Translator’ Skopos

滕麗梅

【Abstract】This paper attempts to do researches into retranslation of literary works from the perspective of Skopos theory， taking three English versions of Ah Q Zheng Zhuan as research objects. Studying retranslation of literary works from the perspective of Skopos theory is persuasive and can help to recognize the phenomenon of literary retranslation comprehensively and deeply to some extent.

【Key words】literary retranslation; Skopos; Ah Q Zheng zhuan

1. Introduction

With respect to English versions of Ah Q Zheng Zhuan， the two most popular ones at present are the version translated by Yang Xianyi & Gladys Yang as The True Story of Ah Q and the version translated by William A. Lyell as Ah Q—The Real Story. The latest English version is translated by Julia Lovell in 2009. This paper chooses these three English versions as case studies because the three translators live in different ages and they have different socio-cultural backgrounds， thus determining the three different translation Skopos.

2. The three translators translation strategies according to their different translation Skopos

Translation Skopos determine translation strategies. Depending on different situations and his own purpose， the translator can choose the most appropriate strategy he thinks.

Lyell is in favor of providing plenty of notes which are very detailed and substantial enough in is translation， which is just as his translation Skopos—the translator should provide sufficient historical materials in order to let those unfamiliar with Chinese culture understand the target text. With reference to Lovells translation， She believes “a translation that avoids extensive interruption by footnotes and endnotes can offer a more faithful recreation of the original reading experience that a version whose literal rendering of every point dictates frequent， disrupting consultation of extra references.” Comparatively speaking， Yangs version is between the two. Yang Xianyi insists that the translation must be loyal to the original text instead of having its own interpretation or too much creativity.

3. Example and analysis

The following is one example including sufficient explanations.

Source text： 我要給阿Q做正傳，已經不止一兩年了。但一面要做，一面又往回想…（Lu， 2004， p. 48）

Yangs version： For several years now I have been meaning to write the true story of Ah Q. But while wanting to write I was in some trepidation… （Yang & Gladys， 1980， p. 66）

Lyells version： For at least a couple of years now， Ive had it in the back of my mind to do a biography of Ah Q， but whenever its come right down to it， Ive always had second thoughts… （Lyell， 1990， p. 101）

Lovells version： For some years now， Ive been wanting to set down for posterity the story of Ah-Q， but time and again have quailed before the difficulty of the task… （Lovell， 2009， p. 79）

In this example， Lyell uses lots of words that are common in modern American English， such as “a couple of” and “had it in the back of my mind” which are smooth and natural enough and at the same time achieve his translation Skopos， that is， to translate Ah Q Zheng Zhuan in modern American English and let more and more contemporary readers appreciate the content and style of the Chinese language. Nevertheless， the same source text is translated by Yang Xianyi into elegant and pure standard English， such as， “for several years now” and “have been meaning to” which are entirely different from the English in Lyells version， yet are in accordance with Yangs translation purpose， that is， to be faithful to the original text as much as possible. For Lovell， he uses English words like “time and again” and “have quailed before the difficulty of the task” which belong to domestication translation， in order to reorganize the structure of the original sentences and thus achieving Lovells translation purpose， that is， to make the target readers understand the target text easily.

4. Conclusion

No matter what kinds of translation strategies have been adopted， the achievement of translation Skopos is the final aim. Since the three translators have different translation Skopos， they have to employ different strategies to achieve their aims and give different translation versions， thus showing the necessity of literary retranslation.

References：

[1]Lovell，J.（Trans）.The Real Story of Ah-Q and Other Tales of China[M].London：Penguin Group，2009.

[2]Lyell.A.W.（Trans）.Diary of A Madman and Other Stories[M].Honolulu：University of Hawaii Press，1990.

[3]Yang Xiayi，& Gladys Yang（Trans）.Selected Works of Lu Hsun（3rd edn.）[M].Beijing：Foreign Language Press，1980.

[4]段于蘭，覃成強（Duan，Yulan & Qin，Chengqiang）.英漢科普文本的功能差異及翻譯策略——功能翻譯理論對科普文本翻譯的啟示[J].外語教學，2011（01）：104-107

[5]魯迅（Lu，Xun）.阿Q正傳·鑄劍[M].北京：人民文學出版社，2004.