Translation Appreciation and Criticism of Youth Viewed on Stylistic Translation

韓雪

Abstract：Wang Zuoliang concluded the translation theories from the stylistic that pays emphasis on the vocabulary，syntax and structure of the original to reappear the essence.This paper was guided by the stylistic translation and appreciated and criticized two Chinese versions of Youth from vocabularies，syntax and structures.Comparatively speaking，the translation of Li Ming is closer to the original concerning about the style.At the same time，two translations can be improved guided by stylistic translation.

Key words：stylistic translation；vocabulary；syntax；structure

1 Introduction

1.1 Brief introduction of Youth

The essay，Youth，was written by Samuel Ullman who was a businessman，poet，and humanitarian and he also devoted to philanthropy.During the period of his retirement，he spent much time in writing and Youth was written in his senior age.Viewing from his entire life，there was no such significant event happened and he was happy to it.This attitude reflected from his works.

This essay is less than five hundreds words.Also，it is easy to understand as there is nearly no difficulty vocabularies.It was General Douglas MacArthur who facilitated the popularity of this work.It was recorded that the General hung a framed copy of a version of Youth on the wall of his office and often quoted in his speeches.Through his influence，Youth became familiar with the public.

First，Samuel used series of parallel structures.Then，he compared youth with the aged.Furthermore，he told people the reason why people grew old and how to remain youth.So，this essay was described progressively.Samuel wrote this essay with a lot of metaphors，so words are full abundant connotative meanings.And，sentences were not independent but existed with coherence and cohesion.Obviously，there are many parallel structures.More significantly，this essay was famous for quotation and has been quoted all the time for its inspiring.Thus，if there is no vocation，there is no Youth.

1.2 Stylistic Translation

In the book of Introduction to English Stylistics，Wang Zuoliang pointed out that the general style means the various styles among languages.He also said that the purpose of stylistics was to observe and describe the main language features of different styles referring to the vocabulary，syntax or structure，to better understand the original and to use them appropriately.

First，he emphasized the thoroughness of the understanding to the original.Only translators grasped the feature of the original can they translated it resemblance in spirit.Therefore，the basis of translation is the understanding.It should be learnt from the vocabulary，syntax and structure for they are basic elements in text.

Then，he advocated the adaption of style.Story should be translated readable and advertisement should be vocative.The accent of translated work should be the same as the original.So，he put forward the view that everything depends on the original，such as the depth，the tone，the style and the formal.

2 Translation Appreciation and Criticism

In China，Youth also have been well-known.Unfortunately，due to some uncertain reasons，the name of translator who translated the essay into Chinese and been best widely circulated is not recorded.So this paper chose two other translations as appreciation and criticism.One was translated by Sui Rongyi from A New Course in English—Chinese Translation.Another was translated by Li Ming from Translation Appreciation and Criticism.

2.1 Vocabulary

Unlike the poem，normally the essay is less constrained by rhyme.However，the rhythm sensation and imagination is no less than poem，which are appeared in words.What is more，choosing simple vocabulary to express the emotion is one of the styles in Youth.Two translators adopted distinct characters in translating some vocabularies.

In the first paragraph，Sui Rongyi translated “life” and “mind” into “生命”and “精神” when Li Ming translated them into “年齡”and“心境”.The former was literary translation remaining the literary meaning and format of the original.Translation “生命” is too heavy to misleading the positive accent of this essay.According to the LONGMAN Dictionary of Contemporary English，“mind” refers to thoughts or ability to think，feelings and imagining.So“精神”was inappropriate to it.The latter translated their connotative meanings.Concerning the following part of the work，Samuel described the appearance and inward of people in 20，60，and 80，which evidenced the translation of “年齡”.

Samuel wrote Youth with many pronouns，such as “it” in this first paragraph，and “this” in this second paragraph.Facing with pronoun，translators may directly use “它”“這”，and so did Sui Rongyi.But if the writer arranged this for a special purpose，then it may need another consideration.In the first paragraph，Samuel used “it” to keep the repetition of sentence structures.Hence，it is full of rhythm sensation，momentum and inspiring.But，writers usually use the successive none in Chinese.Considering differences between Chinese and English，more importantly，the style of the original，“青春”is better than“它”and “圖安逸”is better than “這”.

Sui usually used literary translation while Li used free translation，which are all available.However，Stylistic translation suggested that translator should give a full consideration to the accent of the original.

2.2 Syntax

In this essay，the parallel sentence is significant.General speaking，the syntax in this work is not hard to translation.However，two translators still worked on it distinctly.

The first paragraph is consisted with two pairs of sentences “It is not ...it is ...” Then，it ends with sentence “It is ....” The first sentence of the second paragraph says that： “Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity，of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease.” On the end of this paragraph，Samuel wrote that： “Nobody grows old merely by a number of years.We grow old by deserting our ideals.” These sentences are basically compared the negative one with the positive one and confirmed with the latter.Through these，the structure of sentences was balanced and the emotion was sublimated.

Sui Rongyi translated those sentences into “不是指……而是指；并不是指……而是指；是指……”“青春意味著在氣質上勇敢多于怯懦，冒險進取多于舒適茍安。”“人之變老不僅由于年歲的增長，我們之所以變老常常是因為放棄了對理想的追求。”It is obvious that sentences are more flexible than the original.In another word，Sui preferred content to format.The meaning was translated faithfully but the style was changed.

In another version，those sentences were translated into“并非指……而是指……并非指……而是指……是……”“青春意味著天性勇敢而不怯懦，喜好冒險而不圖安逸。”“一個人失去青春并非只是因為歲月的增長，而是由于放棄了理想。”The parallel structure was remained ratter complete.Li Ming translated those sentences more fluently and each sub-clause is more coherent as the original.Therefore，he handled the syntax better than Sui Rongyi.

The main difference between two translations is not in words but syntax among above parallel sentences.Hence，if syntax is the style of a context，the format would not be changed casually.

2.3 Structure

The total number of words in Youth is 248 with five paragraphs.So this essay has the beauty of brief and condenses.And each sentence describes different aspects of youth，but they closely related to each other.Samuel wrote it layer by layer showing the feature of essay.

In the first paragraph，Samuel defied the youth by comparing.The second paragraph talked about the controversy of humanity echoing with the final paragraph.The third was the transition section that it not only summarized the second paragraph but also foreshadowed the last section.

Sui Rongyi translated this context with 419 words longer than 374 words of Li Ming.Because the former used more paraphrases than the latter.The translation unity of two translators were small，usually the word.So they basically did not change the structure in translating，but remained it.

3 Conclusion

For an essay，the vocabulary，sentence and structure usually generate its own format.So，translator may focus on these aspects to understand the original meaning and translate the style of the original.In fact，stylistic translation also discusses the rhyme that is not quite clear in this essay，so the author did not talked about it.

The chosen translations all gave consideration to above aspects.However，the process of understanding and translation are affected by other elements，such as the preference and style of translators，the purpose of translation or the audience of texts.So they may affect the choice of vocabularies，sentences or structures.On the other hand，no matter what factors influence the translation，the style should not be changed easily.

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