On the Translation of the Call of the Wild

【Abstract】During translation， there are often conflicts between the content and the meaning. We cannot make an absolute conclusion of which is better. We use both communicative & semantic translation， but with different stress.

【Key word】The Call of the Wild； communicative translation； semantic translation

【作者簡介】汪珉，上海應(yīng)用技術(shù)大學(xué)外國語學(xué)院。

In the novel of The Call of the Wind the authors vivid description to Buck gives the readers an impression that this clever Buck is just like a sensitive human being. He knows the law of survival， eating or being eaten. He also knows the love of a man. He has a deep love to his master John Thornton. His affection for this man made it unable for him to leave the life of mankind.

During translation， there are often conflicts between the content and the meaning. Communicative translation emphasizes the effect of the information， while semantic translation emphasizes the content of the information. However the communicative translation often use earthy words instead of the complicated words in the source language and this often results in undertranslation. The semantic translation focuses on the details of the source language for nuances of meaning and often adds some meanings which do not exist in the source language which often results in overtranslation. New Mark thinks that communicative translation cannot always translate all the meaning of the source language， while the semantic translation cannot always play a good communicative function. He also points out that which translation method we should choose in our idiographic translation process depends on whether the semantic unit in the source language is important.

For example， the author of this novel uses parallelism methods in his novel to describe the inner feeling of Buck：

Love， genuine passionate love， was his for the first time. This he had never experienced at Judge Millers down in the sun-kissed Santa Clara Valley.…and with the Judge himself， a stately and dignified friendship. But love that was feverish and burning， that was adoration， that was madness， it had taken John Thornton to rouse. 這種愛，這種發(fā)自內(nèi)心的愛，巴克有生以來第一次感受到。這種經(jīng)歷，它在米勒法官家，在那個充滿陽光的桑塔可納納山谷中從未體驗過。……和法官本人在一起，那是一種尊貴威嚴(yán)的朋友關(guān)系。而這種熱烈的，燃燒的愛，這種瘋狂的崇拜的愛，卻是約翰桑頓激發(fā)出來的。

Here I use semantic translation to make the version close to the original text in form. The following is another example：

And here， lying by the river bank through the long spring days， watching the running water， listening lazily to the songs of birds and the hum of nature， Buck slowly won back his strength. 在這漫長的春天里，巴克躺在河岸邊，看著歡快流淌著的河水，懶懶地聽著鳥兒們的歌聲以及自然界的嗡嗡聲，漸漸恢復(fù)了體力。

Here I keep the sound effect and the length of the original text.

In some other parts I use communicative translation in order to make my version more fluent， idiomatic and easy to understand. Here I give an example：

Deep in the forest a call was sounding， and as often as he heard this call， mysteriously thrilling and luring， he felt compelled to turn his back upon the fire and the beaten earth round it， and to plunge into the forest， and on and on， he knew not where or why； nor did he wonder where or why， the call sounding imperiously， deep in the forest. But as often as he gained the soft unbroken earth and the green shade， the love for John Thornton drew him back to the fire again. 在森林的深處，有一個聲音在呼喚著他。這是種神秘的呼喚，令他渾身戰(zhàn)栗，向往不已。每當(dāng)巴克聽到這種呼喚，它感到有股力量強迫它把背朝著爐火及其周圍被踩實的土地，一頭撲進森林里，越跑越遠。它不知要奔向何處，或是為何去；它也不管要奔向何處或為何去。這種呼喚的聲音在森林深處聽起來十分急迫。可是每當(dāng)他踏上了那松軟的泥土，享受到綠蔭的遮蓋，心中便涌起了對約翰桑頓的愛，這愛又會將他拉回到爐火邊。

As a whole， the literal translation is more faithful while free translation is more idiomatical. Literal translation is part of the semantic translation and part of the communicative translation. Of course， it is impossible for us to use only one translation method during our translation process and there is neither sheer communicative translation nor sheer semantic translation. Generally speaking， we use the two methods alternately， but with different stress.

參考文獻：

[1]Jack London：The Call of the Wild[M]Aerie Books Ltd，1990.

[2]Peter New Mark：Approaches to Translation[M].上海：上海外語教育出版社，2001.