On The Examination Of Problems Existing In Chinese Translation Studies And Suggestions To Its Development-From Polysystem Perspective

Polysystem theory, proposed by Itamar-Zohar, takes translation as a part of a larger polysystem of culture of human being. Under the framework of Polysystem, translation phenomena are located in a larger cultural context, and descriptive translation studies are advocated with the important concept of translation norms. The theory had a great influence on western translation studies. However, for rather a long time, it was overlooked by the Chinese translation circle. This thesis aims to examine some problems in Chinese translation studies and give suggestions for its further development from Polysystem perspective. After an introduction to the Polysystem theory and its development, the thesis gives a brief and historical survey of Chinese translation studies and concludes three problems existing in it, namely, over-emphasis on faithfulness; the focus on practical and technique-oriented prescriptive translation studies and confusions at different levels in Chinese translation studies. And then the thesis examines these problems from Polysystem perspective and finds that these problems can be explained or resolved with the Polysystem theory. Through analysis of fundamental reasons of these problems, the thesis points out two bottlenecks hindering the further development of Chinese translation studies: a narrow research scope and the only focus on prescriptive methodology. To break through these bottlenecks, the thesis draws two suggestions enlightened from the Polysystem theory: to expand the research scope of translation studies from a textual level to a cultural level and to include a descriptive methodology in translation studies. Finally a case study of two versions of Hongloumeng with the theory of translation norms by Toury is done under the Polysystem framework to prove the utility and advantages of descriptive translation studies in a cultural context.