西方翻译理论.docx

1、西方翻译理论一. The beginning period the end of 4th century B.CBackground: Roman Empire became powerful in the world. Greek culture was very attractive to Rome.Representatives:Andronicus: Homes Odysseus, 240 B.C The first large-scale translation activity in Europe.Cicero: The first translation theorist in

2、the west in Roman period literal translation and free translation from the view of a rhetor and orator.Weakness: lake of systematic study of translation principle.Significance: introduce the ancient Greek literature into Rome even into the western world. develop Rome literature.二 From Rome Empire to

3、 early Middle AgesBackground: to meet the needs of Christian community-develop the religious culture, Scriptures was translated form Hebrew to Latin.Features: religious translation activityRepresentatives: Jerome, the Old Testament The most systematic among all ancient translators意译：Free translation

4、-literary works直译：Literal translation-the scriptures三、The Medieval TimesTranslation center form Baghdad (Syria) to Toledo (Spain)1 Syria: the 9th -10th century, founded the House of Wisdom, Greek-ArabicFeatures: word-for-word translation2 Toledo: the 11th 12th century the school to Toledo ArabicLati

5、n and SpainSignificance: to provide a solid scientific and technological basis for the European Renaissance.四、The Renaissance PeriodFeatures: from ancient literary works to major contemporary worksRepresentative：Martin Luther New Testament into Germanshifts of word orderuse of modal auxiliariesintro

6、duce of connectivessuppression of foreign terms that had no equivalent in Germanuse phrase in target language to translate words in source languageshifts of metaphor to non-metaphor or vice verse.五、From the late of 17th century to the early of 20th century Representative: John Dryden, Alexander Tytl

7、er, Arnold NewmanFeature: to cultivate a literary nature; to advance the theory of translatability and untranslatability.六、Contemporary translation studies world war Features: progress in different field a special occupation 3 including modern translation theories (1959-1972) and contemporary transl

8、ation theories (1972-nowadays)Modern translation theories (1959-1972)Representative:Roman Jakobson: On Linguistic Aspect of Translation in 1959 intralingual translation. Interlingual Translation, Intersemiotic translation.J. R. Firth & Catford: the theory of textual equivalence4 Eugene NidaContempor

9、ary Translation theories (1972-now)Representative: James HolmesThe Name and Nature of Translation studies in 1972 proposed that Translation Studies is an independent subject. Including: Deconstruction School, Post-colonialism and Feminism school.Philological SchoolTime: before the world warBackgroun

10、d: from translators translation practiceFeatures: Literal and free translation; content and style; faithfulness and aestheticsWeakness: no systematic translation theoriesResearch objects:1)Register 2) figures of speech 3)creativity of language1) Register: The relationship between a particular style

11、of language and its context of useDiachronic perspective: to observe adaptability of language from history development: neologism; archaism; old-fashioned word; old useSynchronic perspective: to analyze language usage from synchronic sequence; terminology; written language, oral language, common lan

12、guage, vulgarity, etcInterlacing perspective Function: whether translation is in accordance with ST on linguistic level and whether it reflects the character, time, and individual style of the work.2) Figure of speechComparison on figure of speech between ST and TT: to find the hidden rules and esta

13、blish regulation or criterion to guide translation and its evaluation.Three approaches to conform to criteria:Domestication: Venuti,1995 译者向目的语者靠拢Foreignization 向原语文化靠拢，把原语言中的文化信息向目的语转输丰富目的语。Literal translation+notesRepresentatives:1) John Dryden (1631-1700): British poet, translator Formed a compar

14、atively clear, comprehensive and metaphases, paraphrase, imitation. a. translation is an art; b. grasps the features of ST; c. takes the TL readers into consideration; d. translators were the slavers of the author; e. foreign words can be applied in translation Central idea: faithfulness to ST and t

15、he author.2）Alexander Fraser Tytler(1747-1814)a. Good command of both languages and try to reproduce the idea completely, to add some necessary contents and delete superfluous ones.b. Style and techniques, used in translation should be similar with that of the original.c. Translation should be as sm

16、ooth as original.d. An excellent translation should enable the readers to appreciate the beauty of the source text.3) Theordore Savory: British research after world war. Translators encounter 3 obvious problems in choosing equivalent words.a. Illusory correspondence b. Gaps in language that cant be filled in tra