ReflectionontheNatureofTranslationasaPractice

招曉杏

【Abstract】Translation criticism helps translators find out the merits and demerits of different translation versions which facilitate their reflection on the nature of translation as a practice. In this essay， the writer will compare two English versions of Li Qingzhao's Sheng Sheng Man. By analyzing the two versions， it aims to shed light on what translation as a practice is about.

【Key wrods】

I. Introduction

In recent years， translation criticism has been attached more and more importance to. And Peter Newmark puts in his book A Text book of Translation：

Translation criticism is an essential component， because it painlessly improves your competence as a translator； secondly， because it expands your knowledge and understanding of your own and foreign language， as well as perhaps of the topic； thirdly， because， in presenting you with options， it will help you to sort out your ideas about translation. （1988：184）

This essay is to comment on two English versions of an excerpt from Sheng Sheng Man with functional equivalence and the skopos theory. By comparing the English versions translated respectively by Lin Yutang and Xu Yuanchong， it aims to deepen readers' understanding of Sheng Sheng Man and reflect on the nature of translation as a practice.

II. Literature Review

A. Introduction to Li Qingzhao

Li Qingzhao， a remarkable female poet in the Song dynasty， was recognized as a personage of the Euphemistic School in Chinese poetry. Her works are characterized by a depth of meaning and a graceful style of natural simplicity. She beheld that Ci poetry should be elegant and set great store by the rhythm of Ci poetry.

B. Introduction to Sheng Sheng Man

As one of the most acknowledged Ci poetry by Li Qingzhao， Sheng Sheng Man expressed her grief over the miserable fate of her country and herself by describing what she saw， heard and felt in a sad late autumn.

The most striking features of this Ci poetry is the usage of reiterative locution. The tonal patterns of the alternate level and oblique tones， lingual words and words pronounced with dental sounds set the sad tone for this Ci poetry.

The reiterative locution of 14 characters at the beginning describes the inner world of a lady who is looking for something even unknown to her. With a rise in tone， the first four characters“尋尋覓覓” unfolds a lady who is wandering alone. These four characters also arouse readers to wonder what it is that she is searching for. And through the fall in tone in “冷冷清清”， the four characters depict the dismal environment and her sorrow. While with changes from level to oblique and then level in tone， the six words “凄凄慘慘戚戚”display her deepest sorrow concealed in her heart when finding nothing.endprint

In the past few decades， Li Qingzhao's Sheng Sheng Man has been translated into English by translators. Many essays analyze its English versions from the perspective of aesthetics. Some others use linguistic theories or feminist translation theories to comment on the translation. But none of them analyze the translation with two translation theories at the time， which might shed light on translation as a practice.

III. Theories Applied in Comments

A. Functional Equivalence by Eugene A. Nida

As early as 1964， Eugene A. Nida proposed in his book Toward a Science of Translation the concept of “dynamic equivalence”which represented a shift from the focus on correspondence in lexicon and grammar between the source and target languages to one on the readers' responses. Later in 1980， he rendered it into “functional equivalence”， which provided a much sounder basis for discussing translation as a form of communication.

It's necessary to point out that such equivalence can only be understood in terms of proximity. In other words， it implies various degrees from a minimal definition to maximal effectiveness. The ideal description is as follows：

“The readers of a translated text should be able to comprehend it to the point that they can conceive of how the original readers of the text must have understood and appreciated it.”（Nida， 1993：118）

His viewpoint encourages translators to assess translation not only from the perspectives of meaning， grammar and style， but also from the overall effect the translated work poses on target readers.

B. The Skopos Theory

Functional theories of translation were put forward in the 1970s in Germany. In her book Possibilities and Limitations in Translation Criticism， Katharina Reiss provided the early form of functional theories of translation. Later， Hans Vermeer， put forward the skopos theory， which can be simplified as “the end justifies the means”（Nord， 2001：124）， to liberate translation from the restrictions of the source text.

The skopos theory holds that translation is a form of human action and it has a purpose to fulfill.

It is not the ST or its effect or function that operates the translation process， as is postulated by equivalence-based translation theory， but the prospective function or skopos of the TT. （ Nord， 1991： 9）

In light of this， the skopos theory advocates that the intention of translation determines strategies for achieving intended goals. In the process of translation， translators should take into consideration the requirements of the initiator， commissioner， writer of the original work， the target readers and the intention， etc， to decide which strategy they will choose.endprint

V. A Comparative Study of Two English Versions of Sheng Sheng Man

Geoffrey N. Leech， a professor of linguistics and modern English language， believes that the significance of poetry lies in its meaning and stylistic marker. Meaning can be translated and interpreted from the angle of perception. And stylistic marker is the beauty formed because of language deviation. Therefore， “from the perspective of perception， poetry can be paraphrased and it is a prevalent class action to use various words to reproduce its sense or cognitive content.”（Translated， Sapire： 220-225）

However， because of the obscurity of stylistic marker， people have different understandings toward the same text. The translation of the 14 characters of Sheng Sheng Man will be analyzed as follows.

The original work is：

聲聲漫 李清照

尋尋覓覓

冷冷清清

凄凄慘慘慽慽

The English version by Lin Yutang：

Forlorn

So dim， so dark，

so dense， so dull，

so damp， so dank，

so dead！.

The English version by Xu Yuanchong：

Grief beyond belief

I look for what I miss，

I know not what it is，

I feel so sad， so drear，

So lonely， without cheer.

A. Comment on Lin Yutang's translation of Sheng Sheng Man

a. The background of Lin Yutang

Lin Yutang was hailed as one of the most influential writers in China with good mastery of Chinese and English. He tended to introduce Chinese culture to the Western world by writing books in English. When translating poetry， he deems that the artistic conception or poetic imagery should be the priority and then comes the choice of words.

b. His purpose in translating Sheng Sheng Man

In view of Lin Yutang's background， it can be assumed that the translation of Sheng Sheng Man is to introduce the Ci poetry to readers in the Western world so that they can appreciate the Chinese culture through the translation. In light of this， Lin Yutang's translation should focus on how to enable readers to understand the meaning of Sheng Sheng Man and conceive of the poetic imagery of this Ci poetry.

c. Analysis of his translation based on the skopos theory and functional equivalence

In the source text， Li Qingzhao uses reiterative locution of seven different words to express her inner world. In the target text， though he fails to reproduce the same constitution of words， Lin Yutang uses seven different adjectives and also 14 characters to achieve the same effect. Besides， he applies alliteration by using seven 'so's beginning with the plosive /s/ and seven adjectives beginning with the plosive /d/， which is similar to the sound and rhythm effect of the source text.endprint

His choice of the seven adjectives is precise which convey what this Ci poetry tries to get across. And the meaning of these adjectives is progressive， enabling readers to feel the solitude and hollowness of the author. By describing the environment the author is situated in， it stimulate reader's imagination of what the author sees and how she feels. The poetic imagery is formed in the reader's mind through imagination with these adjectives.

However， the deficiency of this translation lies in the tone reproduction. Though these seven adjectives reproduce style， meaning and poetic imagery， the tone is not feminine enough which leads to the absence of the author in this Ci poetry.

Because the translation， to some extent， has unfolded the style， meaning and poetic imagery of this Ci poetry to readers， offering them a chance to appreciate Chinese literature， it can be regarded as successful from the perspectives of the skopos theory and functional equivalence.

B. Comment on Xu Yuanchong's translation of Sheng Sheng Man

a. The background of Xu Yuanchong

Xu Yuanchong's educational background endowed him with good proficiency in Chinese and English. In the process of translating classical Chinese poetry， he sticks to his translation theory of “Three Beauties”： beauty in sense， beauty in sound and beauty in form. （Translated， Xu， 1984：69）

b. His purpose in translating Sheng Sheng Man

Based on the his background， it is assumed that Xu Yuchong aims to introduce the Classical Chinese poetry to the Western world. And because of his usual translation practice， he sticks to his principle of creating beauty in sense， sound and form in the target text.

c. Analysis of his translation based on the skopos theory and functional equivalence

Different from Lin Yutang's version， Xu Yuanchong's version focuses more on the reproduction of the feelings of the poetess. The original text does not have subject which makes the Ci poetry implicit. In the translation， Xu Yuanchong adds the subject “I” which makes the meaning of this Ci poetry more explicitly. By reading the verbs and adjectives， target readers can understand what the poetess is doing and how she feels and why she feels so. In light of this， his translation has conveyed the meaning of this Ci poetry to the target readers.

Besides， Xu Yuanchong translates the 14 characters in four lines. He uses the rhyme of aabb and the structure of so+adjective three times to create the beauty in sound and form. In the third and fourth line， he uses repetitive sentence structure and consonance to emphasize the beauty in sight and sound.endprint

However， the original text does not have the meaning of “without cheer”. So the phrase in the last line gives the impression of rhyming for the sake of rhyme. Although this translation is understandable to the target readers， the translation fails to reproduce the unique style and poetic imagery of this Ci poetry.

Even though Xu Yuchong has enabled target readers to comprehend the source text and appreciate the beauties in sound， sense and form to some extent， target readers cannot appreciate the artistic conception of the original text. His intention of introducing this Ci poetry to the Western readers can be described as not as successful as the one by Lin Yutang regarding to the reconstruction of style and poetic imagery.

VI. Conclusion

From the analysis of the two versions of these 14 characters in Sheng Sheng Man， it is obvious that translation experience and language proficiency play a crucial role in translation. They not only enable the translators to comprehend the source text and rend it in a way that the target readers can understand， but also provide a large pool of words for the translators to choose from. And due to the differences in experiences， educational backgrounds， translation experience， intentions and the focus in translating， translators will reproduce various versions of the same source text. Consequently， the nature of translation as a practice is to express what the source text imprints in the translator's mind formed differently by their unique experience， educational backgrounds， translation experience， intention and focus in translation.

References：

[1]Eugene A.Nida：Language，Culture，and Translating[M].Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press，1993.

[2]Nord，Christiane.2001.Translating as a Purposeful Activity： Functionalist Approaches Explained[M].Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.

[3]Peter Newmark：A Textbook of Translation[M].Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press，first published 1988

[4]薩丕爾.語言論，轉引自袁錦翔.名家翻譯研究與賞析[M].長沙：湖南教育出版社.1990.

[5]許淵沖.翻譯的藝術[M].北京：中國外文出版社，1984.endprint