英语论文Translation Context of The Adaptation Theory on Euphemism Transalation 3.docx

英语论文Translation Context of The Adaptation Theory on Euphemism Transalation 3.docx

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英语论文TranslationContextofTheAdaptationTheoryonEuphemismTransalation3

TranslationContextoftheAdaptationTheoryonEuphemismTranslation

1.Introduction

Everysociety,everyspeechcommunityandeverysocialclasshastheireuphemismofvariouskinds.Asakindoflanguage,itiswidelyusedinhumancommunication.Soitisnotsurprisingthatmanyfamousliteraryworkscontainalotofeuphemisms.Sinceeuphemismhasbeenplayinganimportantroleinhumanrelationandcross-culturalrelation,theissueofeuphemismtranslationisbecomingmoreandmoreimportant.

Sofar,therehavebeensomeachievementsabouteuphemismtranslationtheoriesandtranslatingtechniquesintheacademiccircles.Forinstance,Eugene.A.Nida,afamousAmericantranslationtheorist,declared“DynamicEquivalentprinciple”;Nord,Christianedeclared“Purpose-orientedTranslationPrinciple”;Gricealsomentioned“CooperativePrinciple”andLeechdeclared“PolitenessPrincipleinTranslation”.Apartfromtheresearchoftheserelatedtheories,therearesomeeuphemismtranslatingtechniquesemergingaccordinglyinrecentyears.Asusual,LiteralTranslation,FreeTranslation,LendingTranslationandFlexibleTranslationarefourcommontranslatingtechniques.NowSpanishtranslatorJavierFrancoAixela’stheoryaboutculture-specificitemsandlevelsofequivalencehavebeenpresenttothepublic;alsothereisanewtranslatingtechniqueputforthbyJefVerschueren,whichiscalledthetheoryofadaptation,nowwidelyacceptedbythepublic.

AsJefVerschueren’stranslatingtheoryisthoughtfulandflexible,itmayhaveapromisingfutureintranslatingfield.Withregardtopresentresearchoftranslatingtheoriesandtechniques,itisfarfromenoughineuphemismtranslating.Therefore,itispossibletofindabettereuphemismtranslatingtechniqueinthelightofVerschueren’sadaptationtheory.

2.Generalintroductionabouteuphemism

2.1Definitionandfunctionofeuphemism

Euphemism,onerhetoricterminEnglish,is“euphemismos”inancientwesternrhetoric.ThewordeuphemismcomesfromtheGreekeu（good）andpheme（speechorsaying）,meaningliterally“tospeakwithgoodwordsorinapleasantmanner”.Itisusuallyusedtopreservedecencywhenreferringtounpleasantthings（Vickers,1988:

407）.IncurrentEnglishdictionaries,euphemismsaredefinedasfollows:

substitutionofaninoffensivetermforoneconsideredbluntofoffensive.（AmericanHeritageDictionary,the3rdedition,1992）;word,etc.usedinplaceofoneavoidedase.g.offensive,indecent,oralarming.（OxfordConciseDictionaryofLinguistics.ShanghaiForeignLanguagesPublishingHouse,2000,12）;aeuphemismisusedasanalternativetoadispreferredexpression,inordertoavoidpossiblelossofface（Allan&Burridge,1991）.Thesedefinitionsshowusafactthattherearesomethingsinlifethatshouldnotbestatedtruthfully----thattherearetimeswhenitisnecessary,evenwise,notto“callaspadeaspade”buttousesomebetter-soundingname.

2.2Importanceofthetranslatingofeuphemism

Withthedevelopmentoftheinter-culturalcommunication,thetranslatingofeuphemismisboundtobemoreandmoreimportant,sothesignificanceofthetranslatingofeuphemismfromthefollowingaspectsshouldbefurtherillustrated.Firstly,thetranslatingofeuphemismhelpsreaderstounderstandthecultureofthesourcelanguage.Everyculturehasitsownlanguage;meanwhilelanguagecanofferaninsightintotheculture.Sowhenthelanguagelearnerswanttograspalanguagewell,whattheyneedmosttolearnisalsotheculturethatisembodiedinthelanguage.（郭锦桴,1993:

29）Thisistruewiththelearningandmasteringofeuphemism.Actually，euphemismtranslatinghelpstorevealwhatpeopleinthesourcelanguageculturereallythinkinaeuphemisticway,andtoshowtotheoutsideworldlotsofdeep-seatedmodesty,whichishidingintheirsub-consciousness.Secondly,euphemismtranslatinghelpstoenrichthecultureofthetargetlanguage.Translatingconductusuallycantouchtheveryinnerofthetargetlanguageculture,bygivingthetargetlanguageashakeupandsharpeningsothatitbecomessensitiveandaliveagain（WangZuoliang,1987:

127-128）Now,anexample“yen”willbegivenasfollows.The“yen”istransliteratedfromaChineseexpression“瘾”（euphemisticallyreferringtoaddiction）.Consequently,itaddsabrilliantexpression“tohaveayenforsomething”toEnglishlanguage.Suchsimilarexamplesarealsoavailableinothercountries’language,thatis,thetargetlanguage’sculturebecomescolorfulafterborrowingothercountries’differentformsoflanguage,includingeuphemism.Heretheexampleaboveisaborrowedvocabulary,whichreallyenrichestheEnglishlanguageculturebyenlargingitsvocabulary.Thirdly,euphemismtranslatinghelpstofulfillcross-culturecommunication.Inthecross-culturalcommunication,peoplefromdifferentculturesmaycomeacrossmanyproblemsanddifficultieswhentheircommunicationcontainsmanyeuphemisticexpressions.Soitisnotsurprisingthatitishardforpeoplewhodonotbelongtothesourceculturestounderstandtheeuphemismofthetargetlanguage,letalonetheappreciationofthem.However,euphemismtranslatingcansolvetheseproblemsandhelppeopletounderstandeachotherwellsoastofulfillcross-culturalcommunication.

3.Presentsituationandproblemsineuphemismtranslating

3.1Inadequacyofeuphemismtranslation

Aseuphemismsarecloselyrelatedtoculture,theyarediversifiedinformandmeaning,sothatpeopleofthetargetlanguagewhoarenotfamiliarwiththesourcelanguageculturefinditratherdifficulttounderstandtheeuphemisms,needlesstosaytranslatingofthem.Inthispart,thepresentproblemsintranslatingofeuphemismwillbediscussed.

Thefirstproblemismistranslationofeuphemism.Asweknow,languageshavetheiruniversalpropertyanduniquecharacter.Itisnotsurprisingtonoticethatsomeseeminglycorrespondingtranslationseventuallycausediscomfortorevenantipathyamongthetargetlanguagereaders,becauseofthetranslator’soversightfornotbeingabletotellataboofromaeuphemism.Herearesomeexamples:

inahotel,acaptainsays,“takinggoodcareofadisabledguest”.ItscorrespondingChineseis“热情照顾行动不便者”.Itseemsthateverythinggoeswell.However,thereissomethingneededtoimprove.Theword“handicapped”soundsoffensivetonativeEnglishspeakers,forsuchaexpressionhurtstheirfeelingsinpublic.Therefore,theoffensiveanddispleasing“handicapped”canbereplacedwith“disabled”,whichsoundsmilderwithkeepingtheoriginalmeaning.Theaboveexampleisamistranslationofaspokeneuphemism.Anotherexampleisamistranslationofawritteneuphemismonanadvertisedmedicinecalled“轻身减肥片”.Atranslatorputthenameas“Obesity-ReducingTablet”.Semanticallyspeaking,thereisnothingwrong.Buttheword“obesity”maybeoffensivetothebuyersandgivethemafeelingofbeingoverweightinpublic,sofewofthemwouldliketoshowfavortowardsthemedicinealthoughitmayhavearemarkableeffect.

Thesecondoneisaboutthelossoforiginalrhetoricflavorofthesourcelanguage.Intranslation,manyexperiencedtranslatorsregardthe“faithfulness”asagreatimportantprinciple.Actuallywhentranslating,atranslatorshouldtrythefaithfulnessnotonlyincontentbutalsoinstyle,foritisequallysignificanttoretaintheoriginalrhetoricalflavorofthesourcelanguage.Thisistruewiththetranslatingofeuphemism,whichcarriessomespecialflavorsuchasbeingnovel,humorous,wittyandelegant.ButsometimesthisuniqueflavorofeuphemismisoftenlostwhentranslatedbetweenEnglishandChinese.Someexampleswillillustratethispoint.Oneexampleisthetranslationofaslangyeuphemism“classy-chassis”.Itisarhythmeuphemismindicatinganextremelyattractivefigure.InChineseitmeans“优美的身段”.However,althoughtheChinesetranslationexpressesthecontentofthesourcelanguage,itfailstoretainthesourcelanguage’sstyle,thatis,theoriginalflavorofdelicatephoneticbeautyofthesourcelanguagevanishesassoonasitistranslatedintoChinese.Hence,itisafailureofkeepingtheoriginalrhetoricflavorofthesourcelanguageineuphemismtranslating.Anotheroneisthetranslationofapun-likeeuphemism“understandings”.Itisahumorousexpressionconsistingofthepluralformofacompoundword（“under”plus“standing”）withtheeuphemisticmeaningof“legs”.InChineseitrepresents“腿”,butnohumorandthinkinginimagescanbesensedfromitsChinesetranslation.Fromthetwoexamples,itcanbeseenthatitisdifficulttopreservetherhetoricalflavorofthesourcetext,especiallywhenthereisnoequivalentexpressionavailableinthetargetlanguage,thusitcausesagreatproblemineuphemismtranslating.

Thelastoneisthatvivideuphemismsarereducedtoordinaryonesduetolackofequivalents.Itisobviousthatsomeeuphemismsaremorethanvividsuchastheeuphemisticexpressionsinthefollowingsentence:

Abothverticallyandhorizontallychallengedguysisinwantofahorizontallyaccessiblecompanion.Inthissentence,“verticallychallenged”,“horizontallychallenged”and“horizontallyaccessible”arehumorouseuphemismsreferringto“short”,“stout”and“easy”respectively.Whenitistranslatedinto“一个身材不高，有点发福的男子想找一个随便的女子当伴侣”,thoughthereisnothingwronggrammaticallyandsemantically,thetranslatingisfarfromsatisfactory,becausethewholesentenceofthetargettextisbalancedinstructure,interestingincontentandhumorousintone,allofwhichcannotbesensedagaininitsChinesetranslation,sothatitcanhardlyarousethereader’sinteresttoread.Onemoreexample,peoplew