The recent collection of articles, The Art of Translation [Masterstvo perevoda], follows publication of two other books on the subject, The Problems of Translation of Creative Writing [Voprosy khudozhestvennogo perevoda] and another work also bearing the title The Art of Translation.

The Theory and Practice of Translation

Synonymy is a realization of semantic paradigmatic relationship. It exists both in English and Chinese. On the basis of English synonyms, this paper makes a comparison between sources, types, affective meanings, stylistic colors, collocation meanings, distribution and syntactic functions to disclose the similarities and differences which plays an important role in improving language competence.

Contrastive Studies of English and Chinese Synonyms

The poet Li Po, A.D. 701-762

This paper is to explore the applicability of the concept of text complexity within systemic functional linguistics to the analysis of translational stylistics. Text complexity is measured in terms of grammatical intricacy and lexical density. The case study concerns four English translations of the Platform Sutra, which is itself a composite text consisting of the Chan master Huineng's personal narrative, public sermons, ritual instruction and conversations with students. Text complexity of the four translations is analysed both intertextually and intratextually. Intertextually, degrees of text complexity of Huineng's words in different translations are compared; intratextually, the variation of text complexity of Huineng's words in different registers within one translation is investigated. Differences among translations are interpreted in terms of the translating purposes and strategies, as well as the translator's attention to the inherent heterogeneity of the source text.

Text complexity as an indicator of translational style: A case study

This article is a comparison on the recreating of the image of a “chaste wife” in two English translations of Chinese ancient poem Jie Fu Yin from the perspective of systemic functional linguistics (SFL). The linguistic choices of the poet and translators are measured from transitivity under experiential meaning of ideational metafunction. It has found that Hart tends to follow a creative and imaginative translation, thus creating a more enthusiastic even passionate image of a young “chaste wife” in a direct and explicit way, while Fletcher presents a clam and tender image of a mature “chaste wife” in a relatively implicit way. Besides, both translations reproduce the theme about love, but losing the political theme. It is argued that in translation, the lexico-grammatical choices will lead to variation in meanings and recreate different images of a same character, and the seemingly unconscious choices can be better understood based on the context of translation.

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Recreating the Image of a “Chaste Wife”: Transitivity in Two Translations of Chinese Ancient Poem Jie Fu Yin

This article investigates the image of a “chaste wife” recreated in two English translations of ancient Chinese poet Li Po’s Changgan Xing from the perspective of systemic functional linguistics (SFL). Based on three metafunctions of SFL, respectively ideational, interpersonal and textual, the linguistic choices of the poet and translators are measured from the transitivity and text complexity on what the wife does and how she organizes her thoughts; from the mood and modality on how she interacts with her husband, and the theme and rheme on how she unfolds and foregrounds her concerns. Since translating is a process of making choices, the analysis shows that both translations reproduce the first and second level of poetic themes about love in the original poem but lose the third political theme. Besides, Pound tends to follow an imaginative and creative translation, thus recreating a bashful and innocent image of a young “chaste wife” in a direct and explicit way, while Waley aims at literal translation and presents a more courageous and considerate image of a mature “chaste wife” in a relatively complex and implicit way. It is argued that the context of translation, including the translator’s knowledge of the source language, translation strategies and intended readers, plays an important role in the translator’s seemingly unconscious choices of interpreting and presenting poetic themes, thus recreating different images of a same character.

https://www.journals.aiac.org.au/index.php/IJCLTS/article/download/5779/4136

Shilong Tao

Papers

Recreating the Image of a “Chaste Wife”: A Multi-functional Analysis of Two Translations of Li Po’s Changgan Xing