Equivalence-based Approach to the Studies of Translation: A Cases Study of Charlotte’s Web

碩士 === 國立彰化師範大學 === 翻譯研究所 === 101 === ABSTRACT The equivalence theory has been a vital principle in translation studies ever since its introduction. As the debate over literal and free translation did not end with a certain conclusion, the equivalence principle provides a new perspective for people...

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Main Authors: Yung-chih Cheng, 鄭詠芝
Other Authors: Dr. Hsiao-chen Chiang
Format: Others
Language:en_US
Published: 2012
Online Access:http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/72055858252421522096
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description 碩士 === 國立彰化師範大學 === 翻譯研究所 === 101 === ABSTRACT The equivalence theory has been a vital principle in translation studies ever since its introduction. As the debate over literal and free translation did not end with a certain conclusion, the equivalence principle provides a new perspective for people taking part in translation actions with a clear standard for judging the quality of translation. However, various theorists have been dedicated to the discussion, and each looks from different perspective. Briefly examining the major theories by Jakobson, Nida, Newmark and Koller, we conclude that equivalence principle is a reachable goal in translation. Then, we proceed by adopting Baker’s bottom-up approach in examining translation, and propose to use the first three levels in attaining “relative equivalence”, which are equivalence at word level, above word level, and at the grammatical level. As Baker (1992) rightly suggests, “though equivalence can usually be attained to some extent, it is influenced by a variety of linguistic and cultural factors and is therefore always relative” (p.6). To explore how the proposed model is utilized in translation practice, we choose E. B. White’s Charlotte’s Web as the research material, which is a classic of children’s literature. There are two reasons for this decision; for one thing, White’s language is comparatively simple, and yet full of play on words; for the other, the story itself presents some cultural issues, which deserves some careful examination. Two Chinese versions are chosen for the current study, which are the 1998’s bilingual version (TT1) translated by Liu Yi-hui and published by Cave Books, and the 2003 version (TT2) translated by Huang Ke-fan and published by Linking Publishing Company. As the second version was translated by Huang when she was an 11-year-old girl, this brings intriguing issues worthy of discovery, and significant difference for the selection of techniques between the adult and child translator are examined. Since Charlotte’s Web belongs to the genre of children’s literature, it is suggested that careful employment of adaptation technique is required in translating this genre under the scope of equivalence principle. The findings of the study are three-fold. First, relating to equivalence at word level, the adult translator, as assumed, shows a clear preference for adopting adaptation technique, aiming to enhance readers’ identification with the original. It is nevertheless important that such uses should not interfere with the TT readers’ opportunity to explore the new. Also, the adult translator outshines the other by adopting the particularization technique. At the second level, we find that the child translator employs more of the idioms, but in some situation, literal translation is employed to preserve the imagery of the original while the adult translator adopts less often the literal translation technique. Finally, it is found that the adult translator does a better job by reaching relative equivalence at the grammatical level. Having better understanding of the grammatical system of the two languages, the adult translator is able to aptly employ modulation technique and the like to produce natural language, and fewer grammatical mistakes can be spotted. When the grammatical level is concerned, TT2 author does show some room for improvement to fully harness the related techniques. However, taken as a whole, there has been plenty to admire in TT2, and the language itself is rather fluent. Being a preliminary study that takes a bottom-up approach to tackle translation equivalence, the higher levels regarding textual and pragmatic equivalence are not covered, and these two levels should be explored in the future. Keywords: equivalence principle, relative equivalence, Charlotte’s Web, translation of children’s literature
author2 Dr. Hsiao-chen Chiang
author_facet Dr. Hsiao-chen Chiang
Yung-chih Cheng
鄭詠芝
author Yung-chih Cheng
鄭詠芝
spellingShingle Yung-chih Cheng
鄭詠芝
Equivalence-based Approach to the Studies of Translation: A Cases Study of Charlotte’s Web
author_sort Yung-chih Cheng
title Equivalence-based Approach to the Studies of Translation: A Cases Study of Charlotte’s Web
title_short Equivalence-based Approach to the Studies of Translation: A Cases Study of Charlotte’s Web
title_full Equivalence-based Approach to the Studies of Translation: A Cases Study of Charlotte’s Web
title_fullStr Equivalence-based Approach to the Studies of Translation: A Cases Study of Charlotte’s Web
title_full_unstemmed Equivalence-based Approach to the Studies of Translation: A Cases Study of Charlotte’s Web
title_sort equivalence-based approach to the studies of translation: a cases study of charlotte’s web
publishDate 2012
url http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/72055858252421522096
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spelling ndltd-TW-101NCUE55260072015-10-13T22:12:40Z http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/72055858252421522096 Equivalence-based Approach to the Studies of Translation: A Cases Study of Charlotte’s Web 對等原則在翻譯研究上的應用與探討: 以《夏綠蒂的網》為例 Yung-chih Cheng 鄭詠芝 碩士 國立彰化師範大學 翻譯研究所 101 ABSTRACT The equivalence theory has been a vital principle in translation studies ever since its introduction. As the debate over literal and free translation did not end with a certain conclusion, the equivalence principle provides a new perspective for people taking part in translation actions with a clear standard for judging the quality of translation. However, various theorists have been dedicated to the discussion, and each looks from different perspective. Briefly examining the major theories by Jakobson, Nida, Newmark and Koller, we conclude that equivalence principle is a reachable goal in translation. Then, we proceed by adopting Baker’s bottom-up approach in examining translation, and propose to use the first three levels in attaining “relative equivalence”, which are equivalence at word level, above word level, and at the grammatical level. As Baker (1992) rightly suggests, “though equivalence can usually be attained to some extent, it is influenced by a variety of linguistic and cultural factors and is therefore always relative” (p.6). To explore how the proposed model is utilized in translation practice, we choose E. B. White’s Charlotte’s Web as the research material, which is a classic of children’s literature. There are two reasons for this decision; for one thing, White’s language is comparatively simple, and yet full of play on words; for the other, the story itself presents some cultural issues, which deserves some careful examination. Two Chinese versions are chosen for the current study, which are the 1998’s bilingual version (TT1) translated by Liu Yi-hui and published by Cave Books, and the 2003 version (TT2) translated by Huang Ke-fan and published by Linking Publishing Company. As the second version was translated by Huang when she was an 11-year-old girl, this brings intriguing issues worthy of discovery, and significant difference for the selection of techniques between the adult and child translator are examined. Since Charlotte’s Web belongs to the genre of children’s literature, it is suggested that careful employment of adaptation technique is required in translating this genre under the scope of equivalence principle. The findings of the study are three-fold. First, relating to equivalence at word level, the adult translator, as assumed, shows a clear preference for adopting adaptation technique, aiming to enhance readers’ identification with the original. It is nevertheless important that such uses should not interfere with the TT readers’ opportunity to explore the new. Also, the adult translator outshines the other by adopting the particularization technique. At the second level, we find that the child translator employs more of the idioms, but in some situation, literal translation is employed to preserve the imagery of the original while the adult translator adopts less often the literal translation technique. Finally, it is found that the adult translator does a better job by reaching relative equivalence at the grammatical level. Having better understanding of the grammatical system of the two languages, the adult translator is able to aptly employ modulation technique and the like to produce natural language, and fewer grammatical mistakes can be spotted. When the grammatical level is concerned, TT2 author does show some room for improvement to fully harness the related techniques. However, taken as a whole, there has been plenty to admire in TT2, and the language itself is rather fluent. Being a preliminary study that takes a bottom-up approach to tackle translation equivalence, the higher levels regarding textual and pragmatic equivalence are not covered, and these two levels should be explored in the future. Keywords: equivalence principle, relative equivalence, Charlotte’s Web, translation of children’s literature Dr. Hsiao-chen Chiang 蔣筱珍博士 2012 學位論文 ; thesis 143 en_US