A Study On Approximation Of Chinese Idiom Translation

This dissertation approaches the principles and strategies of idiom translation byexploiting the wealth of existing English translation of Chinese idioms. The study wasmotivated by the following four factors:1) As an integral component of the languagesystem, idioms in various forms are extensively used in almost all types of texts andcontexts;2) the intricate semantic relationships within an idiom highlight a mixednature of motivation and arbitrariness in meaning formation;3) while comparableidioms can be found across languages, idioms often pose challenges in translation andtherefore merit in-depth study;4) idiom translation in isolation as in the case ofdictionaries is often different from translation in a context, and it is intriguing to findout the reasons behind. The examples have been primarily sourced fromChinese-English dictionaries of proverbs, Chinese-English dictionaries of idioms aswell as Chinese and English versions of China’s ancient, modern and contemporaryliterary works.The point of departure of the study is that any translation must follow theultimate principles of loyalty and expressiveness or accessibility, with the firstprinciple addressing the translator’s orientation towards the source text, and thesecond principle addressing the translator’s orientation towards the target text and thereadership. However, such a seemingly simple structure involves many elusivevariables in translation practice. For instance, Xu Yuanchong (1991:2–9) putforward six key elements in the art of translation, namely, world, author, original text,translator, translated version and readership (of the translated version), to which YangZijian added two more elements: readership of the original text (1994:92) andtranslation process (2002:7). Equally applicable to the translation of idioms, theseelements indicate a complex network to be taken care of. As different elements havevarying impacts on translation quality, the assessment of their respective weights in idiom translation lies at the heart of the theoretical model developed in thisdissertation.While linguistic commonality makes translation possible, differences posechallenges. As English and Chinese both follow an SVO syntactic structure, directtranslation is somewhat facilitated. However, given the huge differences in otherlinguistic aspects, lack of comparable idioms and the need for cultural considerations,all-round equivalence in idiom translation is few and far between, thus necessitatingfree or partial translation, which is even more so when factors such as translationpurposes, target readership, patronage, ideology and original text quality come intoplay. Therefore, a more practical theoretical model should typically seek toapproximate the meaning of the original text through translation. By makingnecessary compromises, such an approximation-oriented model is a flexible systemwith limited tension. Driven by the principle of loyalty, the translator would followthe centripetal force generated by the original text. However, the translator is alsosubject to the centrifugal force created by other factors. In such a context,approximation marks the effort to reach an optimal point of balance between thecentripetal and centrifugal forces. It can be inferred that qualified translation is aflexible continuum full of options ranging from direct translation to free translationand further to partial translation, as the translator breaks away from the centripetalforce of the original text to accommodate other necessary factors. While it is unlikelyfor any option to achieve perfect equivalence, the translator is expected to maneuverwith various options only within an acceptable range in order not to deviateessentially from the original text.Based on previous research results and modern semantic theories, the author, byintegrating inductive and deductive approaches, proposes a theoretical framework forguiding idiom translation (see Chapters2-3), and then addresses approximationthrough direct translation, free translation and partial translation respectively (seeChapters4-6). It is noteworthy that the linguistic dichotomy of language and speech isalso leveraged to shed light on idiom translation, as static meaning (in the case oflanguage) only provides basic information for understanding and translating an idiom whilst dynamic meaning (in the case of speech) leads to many more choices intranslation. In a specific context, idiom translation focuses on the underlyingpropositional meaning, rather than the superficial lexical or sentential meaning.Where propositional (or referential) meaning coincides with sentential (or systematic)meaning, approximation in terms of both form and function can be achieved.Otherwise, the propositional (or referential) meaning shall prevail over sentential (orsystematic) meaning, leading to functional approximation alone. For translation abovethe sentential level, the pragmatics dimension shall be taken into account, includingthe illocutionary force. As a rule, referential meaning at the lexical level issubordinate to propositional meaning at the sentential level whereas propositionalmeaning is subordinate to pragmatic meaning. The smaller the translation unit is, themore likely it is to realize both formal and functional equivalence. The proposedmeaning selection mechanism attempts to capture meaning selection at various levels,by which semantic approximation with the original text is achieved throughtranslation.In addition, the dissertation also delves into the alternative idiom translation indifferent text genres. Due to salient features of a particular text genre in the targetlanguage, the translator has to rise above the restrictions of the original text and adaptthe translation to conform to the features in the target language and meet the targetreaders’ expectation. Generally speaking, scientific or political texts call for moredirect translation than publicity texts. In addition to pushing forward theoreticalfrontiers for idiom translation to a certain extent, approximation principles andstrategies discussed here can also serve as valuable reference for translation ingeneral.Three creative points are presented in the dissertation:1. The traditionalequivalence translation theories and modern adaptation translation theories arephilosophically balanced to render a proper range for qualified translation by a unifiedexplanation.2. A typical translation strategy is identified for each of the threecategories of idioms, i.e. direct translation of compositional idioms, direct or freetranslation of metaphorical idioms and free or selected translation of integrated idioms which are classified based on the degree of semantic transparency.3. Translation bothin isolation and in context is explained through a variety of linguistic theories such assementics, syntax, pragmatics etc., and a multivariant and complementary theoreticaltranslation model is established----approximation translation.