On The Reproduction Of Mental Elements In Translation

Translation is a kind of interlingual transfer, or the communication between one language and another. Since mental elements are the content conveyed by language, and language is the material husk of mental elements, in the process of translation, the transfer of mental elements is unavoidable. Mental elements include the following: concept, proposition, emotion, and intention. So, the reproduction of mental elements refers to the reproduction of concept, proposition, emotion, and intention. Because of the different characteristics of mental elements, we should adopt different strategies to reproduce them.This thesis is a study of the reproduction of mental elements based on the viewpoint that translation is reproduction.The introduction of this thesis introduces its research direction and specifies its research range. In addition, it points out its theoretical basis and gives a brief account of its points of view.The first chapter puts forward the viewpoint that translation is reproduction. This viewpoint is based on the definitions of translation given by translators at different time of all over the world.The second chapter discusses the reproduction of concept and proposition. I hold that proper methods should be adopted with the reproduction of both concept and proposition.The third chapter concerns the reproduction of emotion. It points out that the reproduction of emotion is the transfer of the emotional coloring of the source language. This chapter begins with some examples for analyzing the difficulty and translatability of reproducing emotion. After analyzing the translatability of emotion, I discuss the strategies ofreproducing emotion from the angle of art and aesthetics. There are two ways of reproducing emotion: one is to construct a mental pattern similar to that of the original author so as to cause the translator's sympathetic response; the other one is for the translator to exploit his or her initiative and go beyond the original, and then come back to his or her self-consciousness to reproduce the emotion of the original.The fourth chapter, which is the core of this thesis, is about the reproduction of intention. Intention includes informative intention, communicative intention and aesthetic intention. People's using language is for the purpose of conveying intention. Therefore, the primary task of the reproduction of mental elements is to reproduce intention. In order to reproduce intention accurately, we must follow certain strategies and adopt proper methods. A lot of translation examples are given in this chapter to illustrate the methods of reproducing intention directed by strategies of foreignization and domestication.The methods of reproducing intention directed by the strategy of foreignization are the following: literal translation, literal translation with notes, and equivalent translation of form and content. And the methods directed by the strategy of domestication—omission and adaptation—are discussed in this chapter. At last, I point out that after he or she understands the intention of the original, the translator should use various means to reproduce the informative intention, the communicative intention and the aesthetic intention of the original without being confined to the form of the original.The fifth chapter addresses the order of priority in reproducing intention. According to the relations between concept, proposition, emotion, and intention, there must be a priority principle of the reproduction of mental elements. Many examples are also given in this chapter to prove that the translation of intention should take precedence in the process of reproducing mental elements. This principle means that...