论文总字数：47480字

摘 要

对等理论作为评价翻译的重要标准之一，有着很长的历史。另一方面，民俗文化在中国文学著作翻译中占据重要地位，需加以研究。

根据以上理论，本文以《茶馆》为例，从对等理论的视角，在民俗文化的三个方面——物质生活民俗、社会组织民俗和民间语言——各选取了几个在翻译上有细微差别的例子，来分析对比《茶馆》的两个英译本，从而讨论探究民俗文化的翻译能否真正达到对等，进一步探讨用何种方法达到对等，在对等理论中哪一个层次应放在首位。

通过列表统计、定义研究、对比分析等方法，本文研究得出，《茶馆》的两个英译本相比较，英若诚的译本较为对等。但民俗文化涉及方面众多，翻译时很难达到真正的对等。在对等理论的四个层次中，我们应把含义对等放在首位，其次是形式对等。并且可以通过直译、意译、加注等方法尽量达到翻译的对等。

关键词：《茶馆》，对等理论，民俗文化，翻译

1. Introduction

1.1 Background

As an important translation criterion, equivalence has a long history. The English translation theorist Tytler, who is the first one to put forward the conception of equivalence, wrote in his A Brief Introduction to Translation Theory in 1790: I would therefore describe a good translation to be that in which the merit of the original work is so completely transfused into another language, as to be as distinctly apprehended, and as strongly felt, by a native of the country to which that language belongs, as it is by those who speak the language of the original work. And the most well-known theory of equivalence is without doubt Nida’s “functional equivalence” which was stated in The Theory and Practice of Translation. He said “Translating consists in reproducing in the receptor the closest natural equivalence of the source-language message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style”.

On the other hand, with the cultural globalization led by economic globalization, cultural communication among countries around the world seems to be indispensable and more urgent. And as literature is a vital aspect of culture, it becomes increasingly significant to transfer precisely the cultural component in literary works. However, there exist cultural shocks between every two countries such as eating habits, idioms and the like, which bring great difficulties to translation.

For example, Chinese culture is extensive and profound, of long standing and well established. The Chinese folklore with a more than 5-thousand-year history is of much attraction and interest, but cannot always be understood by foreign countries. Folklore can be described as traditional art, literature, knowledge, and practices that are passed on in large part through oral communication and example. The information thus transmitted expresses the shared ideas and values of a particular group.

According to The outline of Folkloristics written by Zhong Jingwen, folklore is divided to eleven major categories: material production, material life, social organizations, festivals, etiquette, folk belief, folk science and technology, folk oral literature, folk language and folk art. Studies on folklore can not only give us a better understanding on Chinese culture, but also express the meaning more accurately when translation.

Teahouse is a household play in China and occupies an important position during the history of Chinese play, which was written by Lao She who is a Chinese novelist and playwright and was named as a “people’s artist”. It told a long story of Yutai Teahouse that witnessed half century history in Beijing and covered more than sixty characters. Currently Teahouse has two English versions---one is translated by Ying Ruocheng and the other is by John Howard-Gibbon.

1.2 Purpose of the Study

According to the eleven categories of Chinese folklore which are divided by Zhong Jingwen, this essay picks three categories---material life, social organizations and folk language, and makes a detailed comparison of the two English versions of Teahouse from the perspective of equivalence, aiming to explore whether we can achieve real equivalence during translating folklore? If we can, which methods can we use to make it? And if not, which level of equivalence should we put first? Through the study of these questions, we hope to deepen the understanding of translation and translation theory, especially the equivalence theory, and thereby enhance the translation by using the translation theory into future practice.

For another, studying on folklore may help us have a better understanding on Chinese culture. And combined with relevant translation skills, we want to discuss how to express the meaning of culture in literature more accurately from the perspective of equivalence when translating and furthermore promote Chinese culture through better literary translating versions.

1.3 The Format

This essay mainly consists of five chapters.

Chapter One is introduction, giving a brief introduction about literature review, including the study of equivalence, folklore and Teahouse, then is the purpose and format of the essay.

Chapter Two gives some detailed literature review of equivalence studies, studies on folklore and previous studies on English versions of Teahouse, which gives us a much clearer conception about what the essay studies.

Chapter Three is a comparative study of the Chinese folklore between the two English versions of Teahouse concerning three categories of folklore---folk language, material life and social organization.

Chapter Four is about the significance of the study.

Chapter Five is the conclusion.

2. Literature Review

2.1 Equivalence Studies

As an important translation criterion, equivalence has a long history. Many translators and translation theorists have contributed a lot to the development and improvement of this theory. The first one who put forward the theory of equivalent effect in history is the English translation theorist Alexander Fraser Tytler. He stated in his A Brief Introduction to Translation Theory in 1970 that a good translation is to completely transfer all the advantages in the literary work of original language to this of another language, which let people in the country of target language can distinctly apprehended and strongly feel what people in the country of source language do. That is to say, a good version ought to have equivalent effect in societies of different languages as the original work do.

The English translator E.V.Rieu firstly put forward the conception of equivalence principle.

R.Jakobson, a Russian linguist, pointed out that equivalence in difference consists of the basic problem of language studies and is also the key problem of linguistics (On Translation, 1959). And he paid much attention on the asymmetry of different languages and the difficulty to achieve equivalence of language information. As far as he’s concerned, translation is about seeking for equivalence between different languages.

Eugene Nida, an American translator and translation theorist, put forward the famous “dynamic equivalence” which is also called “functional equivalence” from the perspective of linguistics and according to the nature of translation. In this theory, he defines translating as “consisting in reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source-language message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style” (The Theory and Practice of Translation, 1982). The “equivalence” in his theory refers to four aspects: 1. words equivalence; 2. syntactical equivalence; 3. textual equivalence; 4. stylistic equivalence. Among the four aspects, Nida points out “meaning is the most important and then is the form” (The Theory and Practice of Translation, 1982).

2.2 Studies on Folklore

Folklore, according to the definition of Zhong Jingwen in his book The outline of Folkloristics, is culture of life which are created, shared and inherited by the multitude of a nation or a people. Folklore originates in the need for people to live in a society, which is gradually shaped, spread and changed in a particular nation, age and region and is served for the multitude’s daily life. And it has the characteristics of collectivity, inheritance and transmissibility, stability and variability, genreness, normalization and serviceability.

Modern Chinese folklore begins with the establishment of the office of ballad collection in Beijing University in 1918, which has 98 years of history as yet. In such a long period of history, the development of Chinese folklore is sometimes smoothy and sometimes in trouble. And Chinese folklore has enjoyed a boom since 21^st century, such as the large amount of foundations of folklore institutions, the development of education about folklore, progress on collection and research findings of folklore and so on.

According to The outline of Folkloristics written by Zhong Jingwen, folklore is divided to eleven major categories:

1) Material production: are the folk items which are created, shared and inherited by the multitude of a nation or a people. It includes: agricultural folklore, folklore of hunting, nomad and fishery, folklore of artisan, and folklore of business and transportation.

2) Material life: includes diet, clothes, living, building, instruments and so on.

3) Social organizations: are all kinds of organizations which are developed in traditional Chinese society and have close relationship among members, including families, guilds, confraternities, secret religions and the same.

4) Festivals: are conventional days that fit with anniversary seasons and have some specific customary activities.

5) Etiquette: are some important ceremonies of life, such as birth ceremony, coming-of-age ceremony, wedding and funeral.

6) Folk belief: is a set of ideas of worship of divinities, customary behaviors and relevant ritual systems, which are formed in the long history.

7) Folk science and technology: are mostly from the bottom of society, for example, astronomy originates in the observation of astronomical phenomena among the popular.

8) Folk oral literature: is the culture of language and part and parcel of people’s spirit culture. It is popular among the multitude and reflects the multitude’s life, thoughts and feelings.

9) Folk language: refers to the oral language that expresses people’s thoughts and bears the weight of folk culture, which mainly consists of idioms and common saying.

10) Folk art: is the art creativity among people of middle, lower levels of society, including music, dance, painting and traditional opera.

11) Folk entertainment: is the folk activity with the purpose of recreation and relaxation and at the same time has a fixed pattern.

2.3 Previous Studies on Teahouse and Its Two English Versions

Lao She, whose original name is Shu Qingchun, was born in Beijing in1899 of Man nationality. He is one of the most outstanding contemporary Chinese writers of realism and well-known playwright who is titled as “Great Master of Language” and “People’s Artist”. His works are mostly based on the life of the common people and lower classes in Beijing, such as Camel Xiangzi, The Yellow Storm and Teahouse. But unfortunately, Lao She was persecuted by “Gang of Four” during the Cultural Revolution and was drown himself in Taiping Lake in Beijing.

As one of Lao She’s representative works, the three-act play Teahouse was written in 1957. The play is set in a typical, old Beijing teahouse named Yutai which tells a story that covers half a century and 57 main and minor characters. It chooses three life scenarios of three different ages---first is after the failure of Reform movement of 1898 led by Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao at the end of Qing Dynasty; and then at the early Republican period, the civil war years and Japanese aggression and occupation of old China; the last is after the victory of the Resistance War against Japan in1945 when the KMT secret agents ran rampant in Beijing. It represents the opposition and conflicts of people of all social standings in China at that time and reveals the fate of semi-colonial and semi-feudal China. Teahouse is the first Chinese play that has been staged abroad and wins the praise as a “Miracle” on the oriental stage.

At present, Teahouse has two English versions. One is translated by Ying Ruocheng, who is a gifted actor as well as dramatic translator and director. He is the commissioner of Chinese Dramatist Association and was the vice minister of Ministry of Culture. He has translated Teahouse, Family, Death of a Salesman and so on and also played a leading role in Camel Xiangzi, Teahouse, Death of a Salesman and other classic plays. Therefore we can say that he is the only international Chinese star at that time.

John Howard-Gibbon who is a Canadian is a world renowned translator and Chinese literature scholar. Until recently he held the position of deputy-editor-in-chief of China Daily which is the largest and most authoritative English–language newspaper in China. He has translated many works from Chinese, notably Lao She's Teahouse and Chen Ran's A Private Life.

3. A Comparative Study of the Chinese Folklore between the Two English Versions of Teahouse

As has been mentioned before, through the comparison of the two English versions of Teahouse under the perspective of equivalence, this essay is aiming to know how to translate folklore in literature accurately, whether it is possible to achieve real equivalence when translating folklore as well as which element is most important of equivalence, thus enhancing our understanding of translation and the translation theory of equivalence, and at the same time promoting Chinese culture over the world.

As we’ve known, folklore was divided to eleven major categories according to The Outline of Folkloristics written by Zhong Jingwen, which are material production, material life, social organizations, festivals, etiquette, folk belief, folk science and technology, folk oral literature, folk language and folk art. This essay picks up three categories that are material life, social organizations and folk language to compare the two English versions of Teahouse. Let’s see two tables.

Table 1. Form Equivalence and Meaning Equivalence

Table 2. Translation Strategy

Throughout Teahouse, we find 22 examples of material life, 12 examples of social organizations and 97 examples of folk language in all (detailed examples and its versions are listed in Appendix). From Table 1, we can see that both Ying Ruocheng’s version and John Howard-Gibbon’s version choose to achieve meaning equivalence more than form equivalence in the three categories. And from Table 2, we can know that in the folklore of material life and social organizations, both translators prefer literal translation than liberal translation; while in the folk language, they choose liberal translation much more than literal translation, which need our careful consideration.

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