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

1、英语论文Translation Context of The Adaptation Theory on Euphemism Transalation 3Translation Context of the Adaptation Theory on Euphemism Translation1. IntroductionEvery society, every speech community and every social class has their euphemism of various kinds. As a kind of language, it is widely used

2、in human communication. So it is not surprising that many famous literary works contain a lot of euphemisms. Since euphemism has been playing an important role in human relation and cross-cultural relation, the issue of euphemism translation is becoming more and more important.So far, there have bee

3、n some achievements about euphemism translation theories and translating techniques in the academic circles. For instance, Eugene. A. Nida, a famous American translation theorist, declared “Dynamic Equivalent principle”; Nord, Christiane declared “Purpose-oriented Translation Principle”; Grice also

4、mentioned “Cooperative Principle” and Leech declared “Politeness Principle in Translation”. Apart from the research of these related theories, there are some euphemism translating techniques emerging accordingly in recent years. As usual, Literal Translation, Free Translation, Lending Translation an

5、d Flexible Translation are four common translating techniques. Now Spanish translator Javier Franco Aixelas theory about culture-specific items and levels of equivalence have been present to the public; also there is a new translating technique put forth by Jef Verschueren, which is called the theor

6、y of adaptation, now widely accepted by the public. As Jef Verschuerens translating theory is thoughtful and flexible, it may have a promising future in translating field. With regard to present research of translating theories and techniques, it is far from enough in euphemism translating. Therefor

7、e, it is possible to find a better euphemism translating technique in the light of Verschuerens adaptation theory.2. General introduction about euphemism2.1 Definition and function of euphemismEuphemism, one rhetoric term in English, is “euphemismos ” in ancient western rhetoric. The word euphemism

8、comes from the Greek eu (good) and pheme (speech or saying), meaning literally “to speak with good words or in a pleasant manner”. It is usually used to preserve decency when referring to unpleasant things (Vickers, 1988:407). In current English dictionaries, euphemisms are defined as follows: subst

9、itution of an inoffensive term for one considered blunt of offensive.(American Heritage Dictionary, the 3rd edition, 1992); word, etc. used in place of one avoided as e.g. offensive, indecent, or alarming.(Oxford Concise Dictionary of Linguistics. Shanghai Foreign Languages Publishing House, 2000, 1

10、2); a euphemism is used as an alternative to a dispreferred expression, in order to avoid possible loss of face (Allan & Burridge, 1991). These definitions show us a fact that there are some things in life that should not be stated truthfully-that there are times when it is necessary, even wise, not

11、 to “call a spade a spade” but to use some better-sounding name.2.2 Importance of the translating of euphemismWith the development of the inter-cultural communication, the translating of euphemism is bound to be more and more important, so the significance of the translating of euphemism from the fo

12、llowing aspects should be further illustrated. Firstly, the translating of euphemism helps readers to understand the culture of the source language. Every culture has its own language; meanwhile language can offer an insight into the culture. So when the language learners want to grasp a language we

13、ll, what they need most to learn is also the culture that is embodied in the language. (郭锦桴, 1993: 29) This is true with the learning and mastering of euphemism. Actually，euphemism translating helps to reveal what people in the source language culture really think in a euphemistic way, and to show t

14、o the outside world lots of deep-seated modesty, which is hiding in their sub-consciousness. Secondly, euphemism translating helps to enrich the culture of the target language. Translating conduct usually can touch the very inner of the target language culture, by giving the target language a shakeu

15、p and sharpening so that it becomes sensitive and alive again (Wang Zuoliang, 1987: 127-128) Now, an example “yen” will be given as follows. The “yen” is transliterated from a Chinese expression “瘾” (euphemistically referring to addiction). Consequently, it adds a brilliant expression “to have a yen

16、 for something” to English language. Such similar examples are also available in other countries language, that is, the target languages culture becomes colorful after borrowing other countries different forms of language, including euphemism. Here the example above is a borrowed vocabulary, which r

17、eally enriches the English language culture by enlarging its vocabulary. Thirdly, euphemism translating helps to fulfill cross-culture communication. In the cross-cultural communication, people from different cultures may come across many problems and difficulties when their communication contains m

18、any euphemistic expressions. So it is not surprising that it is hard for people who do not belong to the source cultures to understand the euphemism of the target language, let alone the appreciation of them. However, euphemism translating can solve these problems and help people to understand each

19、other well so as to fulfill cross-cultural communication. 3. Present situation and problems in euphemism translating3.1 Inadequacy of euphemism translationAs euphemisms are closely related to culture, they are diversified in form and meaning, so that people of the target language who are not familia

20、r with the source language culture find it rather difficult to understand the euphemisms, needless to say translating of them. In this part, the present problems in translating of euphemism will be discussed.The first problem is mistranslation of euphemism. As we know, languages have their universal

21、 property and unique character. It is not surprising to notice that some seemingly corresponding translations eventually cause discomfort or even antipathy among the target language readers, because of the translators oversight for not being able to tell a taboo from a euphemism. Here are some examp

22、les: in a hotel, a captain says, “taking good care of a disabled guest”. Its corresponding Chinese is “热情照顾行动不便者”. It seems that everything goes well. However, there is something needed to improve. The word “handicapped” sounds offensive to native English speakers, for such a expression hurts their

23、feelings in public. Therefore, the offensive and displeasing “handicapped” can be replaced with “disabled”, which sounds milder with keeping the original meaning. The above example is a mistranslation of a spoken euphemism. Another example is a mistranslation of a written euphemism on an advertised

24、medicine called “轻身减肥片”. A translator put the name as “Obesity-Reducing Tablet”. Semantically speaking, there is nothing wrong. But the word “obesity” may be offensive to the buyers and give them a feeling of being overweight in public, so few of them would like to show favor towards the medicine al

25、though it may have a remarkable effect.The second one is about the loss of original rhetoric flavor of the source language. In translation, many experienced translators regard the “faithfulness” as a great important principle. Actually when translating, a translator should try the faithfulness not o

26、nly in content but also in style, for it is equally significant to retain the original rhetorical flavor of the source language. This is true with the translating of euphemism, which carries some special flavor such as being novel, humorous, witty and elegant. But sometimes this unique flavor of eup

27、hemism is often lost when translated between English and Chinese. Some examples will illustrate this point. One example is the translation of a slangy euphemism “classy-chassis”. It is a rhythm euphemism indicating an extremely attractive figure. In Chinese it means “优美的身段”. However, although the Ch

28、inese translation expresses the content of the source language, it fails to retain the source languages style, that is, the original flavor of delicate phonetic beauty of the source language vanishes as soon as it is translated into Chinese. Hence, it is a failure of keeping the original rhetoric fl

29、avor of the source language in euphemism translating. Another one is the translation of a pun-like euphemism “understandings”. It is a humorous expression consisting of the plural form of a compound word (“under” plus “standing”) with the euphemistic meaning of “legs”. In Chinese it represents “腿”,

30、but no humor and thinking in images can be sensed from its Chinese translation. From the two examples, it can be seen that it is difficult to preserve the rhetorical flavor of the source text, especially when there is no equivalent expression available in the target language, thus it causes a great

31、problem in euphemism translating.The last one is that vivid euphemisms are reduced to ordinary ones due to lack of equivalents. It is obvious that some euphemisms are more than vivid such as the euphemistic expressions in the following sentence: A both vertically and horizontally challenged guys is

32、in want of a horizontally accessible companion. In this sentence, “vertically challenged”, “horizontally challenged” and “horizontally accessible” are humorous euphemisms referring to “short”, “stout” and “easy” respectively. When it is translated into “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”, though there is n

33、othing wrong grammatically and semantically, the translating is far from satisfactory, because the whole sentence of the target text is balanced in structure, interesting in content and humorous in tone, all of which can not be sensed again in its Chinese translation, so that it can hardly arouse the readers interest to read. One more example, people w