论文总字数：30508字

摘 要

随着改革开放的步伐不断加快，中国与世界的联系日益密切，越来越多的外国友人来到中国工作、学习、旅游。博物馆作为民族文化的承载工具和平台，无疑是进行对外文化交流的重要资源，博物馆宣传资料的英译也成为了交流的重要媒介。本文在前人的研究基础上，以“苏州博物馆”的宣传资料为研究对象，在生态翻译学理论的指导下，以多维转换的角度，包括语言维、文化维和交际维，对博物馆的资料文本的英译进行分析研究。

关键词：苏州博物馆；生态翻译学；多维转换

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 1

2.1 Previous studies on museum texts translation 2

2.2 Previous Studies on Eco-translatology 3

3. Theoretical Framework 4

3.1 Four principles of Eco-translatology 4

3.2 The Research Objects of Eco-translatology 6

4. Analysis of Publicity Materials Translation in Suzhou Museum from the Perspective of Multi-dimensional Transformations 7

4.1 Analysis of transformation in the linguistic dimension 8

4.2 Analysis of transformation in the cultural dimension 10

4.3 Analysis of transformation in the communicative dimension 12

5. Conclusion 13

Works Cited 15

1. Introduction

The museum is not only a platform for carrying different culture, but also plays an enduring effect in cultural exchanges. As a famous scenic tourist city, Suzhou always attracts many people to visit. Moreover, Suzhou Museum is a symbolic public building in Suzhou today. It is also a bridge from tradition to future for Chinese architectural culture. It pioneers a new era of the innovation of museums. In order to let foreign tourists understand Suzhou better, Suzhou Museum provides publicity materials in both Chinese versions and English versions in each hall.

Eco-translatology is a brand-new translation concept purposed by Hu Gengshen, a well-known professor of Tsinghua University. The theory is developed on the basis of adaptation and selection. It is a holistic study of translation. So it is necessary for people to learn this Eco-translation theory.

Above all, this paper aims to analyze the English translation of publicity materials of Suzhou Museum from the perspective of Eco-translatology. As a result, this thesis will try to work out some practical translation methods to analyze the English translation of Suzhou Museum. According to the analysis, the related information of the museum can be better understood. More importantly, it is hoped that the thesis can become a new starting point not only for museums but also for Eco-translatology, which can be used for further research.

2. Literature Review

Chapter two is literature review which includes two parts. The first part is some studies on museums, especially on Suzhou Museum. The other part is some researches on Eco-translatology in China and overseas.

2.1 Previous studies on translated texts of museums

Domestic researches on museum texts start very late. After sorting out the papers collected by the author, it is found that the number of the studies of the translation problems and standardization of museum texts are the largest, followed by the methods and strategies of translation of museum texts, while the principles of translation of museum texts are relatively less studied.

Yu Chuan visited many museums and found some spelling and omission errors in the translation of these museum texts, such as inconsistent translation of the same things, grammatical errors, pseudo-equivalents, redundancy, lack of cohesion, lack of coherence, repetition of words, Chinglish and so on. He also found that many of these errors occurred in the translation of Chinese four-character cases (Yu 195-196). So when we use four-character words, we should first understand their internal meaning and express them in concise and intuitive English. Xu Xiaoyan and Tianchang found six faults in spelling, grammar, cultural differences, word meaning, translation and conciseness. And they gave some standardization suggestions (Xuamp;Tian 10-11). Dou Hongli found other faults except spelling, grammar and word meaning, such as deletion of some important information of texts and lack of information (Dou 165-168).

From the current research results, most of the studies focus on the analysis of errors in translation of museum texts, translation methods and strategies as well as translation principles. Few studies involve the causes of these errors in translation. Even in theoretical studies, only functional translation theories and relevance-adaptation theories have been mentioned. Therefore, researchers can begin from these two angles.

According to the results retrieved from the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) databases, there are 156 papers on the translation of museum texts, including 102 articles from academic journals and 54 master’s theses. After the author reorganized the collected data, it can been seen that most studies have emerged in the 21st century and the domestic research has only begun to take place in the past five years.

According to the result retrieved from the CNKI datas, there is only one paper that published six years ago on the same object - Suzhou Museum, entitled The English Translation of Guide Speech in Suzhou Museum Viewed from Variation Theory written by Li Lihua who is from Human Business College. The early studies are mainly about some broad topics. In recent years, translators are committed to making specific analysis of specific museums.

2.2 Previous Studies on Eco-translatology

Ecology is a science based on holism. The methods of studying ecology emphasize the interrelated and interactive holism (Krohne 11).

In 1973, Arne Naess, a well-known ecological philosopher, proposed “Deep Ecology” and some ecological philosophical concepts such as ecological self, ecological equality and Ecological Symbiosis (Naess 95-100). In 1995, David Griffin, an American ecological philosopher, put forward the important idea of “eco-existence”, which indicates that the philosophy of ecological existence came into being formally. Peter Newmark divided cultural intervention into five categories in the process of translation in 1988, the first of which is the ecological characteristics of translation (Newmark 95). In the book Translation and Globalization, Michel Crohn also put forward the motivation of focusing on the ecology of translation and called for a “healthy balance” between translations of different languages (Phillipson 227-232).

In China, there are few studies and discussions on translation from the angle of ecology, but some researchers have put forward the Nine Laws of Human Cultural Evolution, the first of which is “the lateral determinant rate of ecological environment” (Gu 239).

It can be seen that these studies not only provide a special perspective and pave the way for the study of Eco-translatology, but also lay a foundation for further related studies.

Eco-translatology is a science of translation originated in China. In December 2001, Hu Gengshen proposed the theory of adaptation and selection in translation. After that, China began to study translation theory independently. Later, his research forms into “Eco-translatology”.

Eco-translatology has many contents. First of all, the processes of translation - the alternating cycle of translator’s adaptation and translator’s selection (Hu Eco-translatology 11-15); secondly, the principles of translation - balance and harmony, multi-dimensional integration, multiple symbiosis and translator’s responsibility. Linking translation studies with selective adaptation theory of the biological evolution, Eco-translatology accords with the trend of the coordinated development of Humanities and natural ecology (Song 105); thirdly, the methods of translation - three-dimensional transformations, including linguistic dimension, cultural dimension and communicative dimension.

3. Theoretical Framework

3.1 Four principles of Eco-translatology

Eco-translatology includes four principles. These principles are closely related and consistent with the basic orientation, objects and contents of Eco-translatology.

3.1.1 Balance and harmony

This principle includes the balance and harmony in translation ecology and text ecology. From the perspective of text ecological balance, it includes the ecological balance of language, culture, communication and so on. As far as the balance of language ecology in the text ecology is concerned, translators should strive to maintain the balance of meaning and the styles between the source language and the target language.

From the perspective of translation study itself, on the one hand, “balance” is the most basic feature of any ecosystem in terms of Eco-translatology, and is a core concept of Eco-translatology (Hu Eco-translatology 112).

In the process of maintaining the balance between the original ecology and the translation ecology, we should not only try to maintain the balance of the original texts, but also make the translation “survive” in the new translation ecology environment.

3.1.2 Multi-dimensional integration

There are many translation methods in Eco-translatology, among which the multi-dimensional transformations, namely the “three-dimensional transformations”. The method relatively focused on the adaptation of linguistic dimension, cultural dimension and communicative dimension. Linguistic dimension lays stress on the linguistic expression of the translation. Cultural dimension attaches importance to the contextual effects. And communicative dimension takes the interpersonal purposes seriously.

Firstly, translation is the conversion process of language. Then language is the carrier of culture. And culture is the accumulation of communication. Therefore, linguistic, cultural and communicative ecology have intrinsic logical links.

3.1.3 Multiple symbiosis

According to the principles of ecology, symbiosis is a basic state of biological existence including the state of interdependence and common development among organisms. Similarly, Eco-translatology advocates the diversities of studies and the coexistence in translation. In the ecological environment of translation, in order to adapt to various changes in the ecological environment of translation at different levels, different translation can coexist because they are adapted to different translation purposes and different readers. At the same time, the coexistence of different translated texts in translation activities is not only a “natural phenomenon”, but also a normal translation behavior.

3.1.4 Translator’s responsibility

Laurence Venuti, a translation theorist, clearly pointed out the “translator’s responsibility” (Hu Eco-translatology 118). Sun Zhili, a domestic scholar, explained the duties of translators in the translation theory (Sun 14-15). The translator’s role generally presents a process from “invisibility” to “proper name” and then to “manipulation” (Wang 139).

In the ecosystem of “Translation Community”, translators are responsible for coordinating the relationships among all parties in order to practice ecological rationality, maintain ecological balance and ecological harmony. It is the translator’s duty to adapt to the ecological environment, cultivate the ecology of the target language, pay attention to the reception and dissemination of the translated texts and strive for the “survival” of the translated texts (Hu Eco-translatology 119).

3.2 The Research Objects of Eco-translatology

“Living” is the cornerstone of the development of Eco-translatology. This chapter focuses on three research objects of Eco-translatology. These are all parts of the theoretical system of Eco-translatology.

3.2.1 Translational ecology (Translational environment)

Translational ecology often exists as a whole. Translators play roles in the specific ecological environment. They are also constrained by other subjects of translation. Only in such a complete environment can translators and the target texts adapt to it. It is the foundation of the translator’s multi-dimensional adaptation and adaptive selection. As far as translation is concerned, everything except the translators can be regarded as the ecological environment of translation, and each translator is a part of translational eco-environment.

3.2.2 Textual ecology (Translation)

Textual ecology refers to the ecological environment of texts. In Eco-translatology, the original text is a text ecosystem and the translation is another text ecosystem. They all have their own different ecology, including cultural ecology, communicative ecology and so on. Eco-translatology takes “textual ecology” as one of its research objects and explores the characteristics and differences between the original text ecosystem and the translated text ecosystem.

3.2.3 “Translation community” ecology (Translators)

“Translation community” simply means the “various persons” in the processes of translation, i.e. the writers, the readers and the translators. Due to the different adaptation and choices of the subjects of the “translation community”, they should constantly adapt to and cultivate the overall ecological environment of translation. Meanwhile, the various ecosystems of translation should also adapt to each other. From the perspective of eco-translatology, only translators can coordinate the relationship among “translational environment”, “translation text” and “translation community”.

4. Analysis of Publicity Materials Translation in Suzhou Museum from the Perspective of Multi-dimensional Transformations

This chapter chooses the propaganda materials of Suzhou Museum as the corpus. Under the guidance of Eco-translatology, the thesis makes the concrete analysis of the English-translated texts from three dimensions: linguistic dimension, cultural dimension and communicative dimension.

4.1 Analysis of transformation in the linguistic dimension

This transformation embodies the essence of translation. The translator’s adaptation to linguistic dimension (i.e. linguistic form) is used in different fields and ways (Hu Eco-translatology 5-9).

4.1.1 Long and complex sentences

In Chinese, there are many complex and tedious sentences. If the translated texts are translated directly, it will be difficult to express the original meaning of Chinese, which often causes the confusion of tourists.

剩余内容已隐藏，请支付后下载全文，论文总字数：30508字