A Study Of Ying Ruocheng And His Drama Translation

Comparatively speaking, the history of drama translation studies is rather short, and the study of drama translation has remained a relatively underdeveloped area due to the complexity of the dramatic text. In addition, traditional translation theories hold that "fidelity to the original text" is the everlasting "absolute criteria" of translation, and the major focus of traditional translation studies is on the literary and linguistic aspects of drama translation rather than its performative aspect. Almost equally neglected is the translator, the most dynamic factor and the most determining element involved in the translating activity. Being identified as "servant" or "imitator", the translator is deprived of his own value of existence and becomes "invisible" in translation. Therefore, the subjectivity of the translator is ignored.The "cultural turn" in translation studies in the West after the 1970s brought about new perspectives and approaches. Translation studies are taking a turn from looking at translation as a linguistic operational phenomenon to viewing it as a cultural phenomenon. As a result, the subjectivity of the translator, a vital link enabling different cultures to interact, has been brought to the foreground and become a heated subject in translation studies. With the hope to contribute a little to the studies of the translator's subjectivity, the present author attempts to make a systematic study of Ying Ruocheng (英若诚) and his drama translation.Ting Ruocheng (1929—2003), a professional actor and talented director with the Beijing People's Art Theatre (北京人民艺术剧院), is also a famous figure in Chinese drama translation. And in the process of drama translation, Ying Ruocheng shows great concern for the actor and the audience, he has put forward his own theoretical thoughts on drama translation: colloquialism, brevity, intelligibility, performability and individuation of characters. Ying Ruocheng has translated more than a dozen dramatic texts, both from English to Chinese (e.g. Shakespeare's Measure for Measure) and Chinese to English (e.g. Lao She's Teahouse). Ying Ruocheng is a man of versatility, no wonder he is entitled "Mr Knowledgeable" by bis friends and colleagues. As a director, actor, translator and Vice-Minister of Culture, his knowledge of the English language and the outside world finds few competitors in China. Ying's ability to work in both the Chinese and Western mediums has made him something of a cultural salesman or ambassador.However, as great drama translator, Ying Ruocheng has not been given enough attention and due respect in the field of translation studies. Only a few theses, in recent years, have been conducted on Ying Ruocheng's drama translation, either touching upon his views on translation or analyzing only one of his translated works with a certain theory, but most of them are not detailed and systematic studies. The present author attempts to make a more thorough study of Ying Ruocheng as a great drama translator so as to have an objective evaluation of him. And by the study, the author also hopes to do something useful for the studies of translator's subjectivity and drama translation.Besides Introduction and Conclusion, the thesis has four chapters.It starts with a brief introduction to the relatively neglected study of drama translation worldwide and of Ying Ruocheng as a great drama translator in China. The structure of the thesis is also provided.Chapter One gives a general introduction to drama translation, which covers drama, dramatic dialogue, and studies of drama translation in China and in the west. From this chapter, we get to know the basic information about drama and the underdevelopment of drama translation studies.In Chapter Two, Ying Ruocheng's educational background, life experience and translation activities are elaborated so that we can have a clear understanding of him. This part informs us the great achievements of Ying Ruocheng as an actor, director, drama translator and cross-cultural "salesman".Chapter Three, based on the "skopos theory" and Ying Ruocheng's claim of striving for the "immediate effect of language", makes a tentative study of Ying's principles and concept of drama translation. Ying's theoretical thoughts on drama translation can be summarized as colloquialism, intelligibility, performability and individuality of characters.Chapter Four provides a detailed analysis of Ying Ruocheng's adaptation to the actor factor and the audience factor in stage-oriented drama translation. To actualize the strategies in his drama translation practices, Ying employs various flexible techniques such as use of dialects, incomplete sentences, simple sentence structures. Examples will be taken from some of Ying's translated works to examine the translation strategies he has adopted in pursuit of the "immediate effect of language".A conclusion is provided at the end of the thesis. With his unique background as veteran theatre professionals and the unprecedented translating process in which he works directly with the actor and director, Ying Ruocheng's translation principles shed light on the complexity of drama translations for future translators. Of course, further research work is welcome in the area of drama translation as well as the translator's subjectivity.