On The Feasibility Of Equivalent Dialect Translating Method In Literary Translation From English Into Chinese

The use of dialects in literature contributes significantly to the artistic merits of the works. However, it usually poses great challenge for the work of the translator. Zhang Guruo's equivalent dialect translating method in his translation of Thomas Hardy's works has always been considered as the successful case that conveys at the same time the literal meaning and the conversational implicature of the dialectal expressions in the original work. However, with the pretext of international cultural exchanges, more scholars show their suspicion of or opposition to, this method. Therefore, this thesis studies the feasibility of equivalent dialect translation in English-Chinese literature translation through the case study of Zhang's translation of Hardy's works, and puts forward on this basis some proposals on the improvement of this method to meet the needs of the reader in the new era.To study the feasibility of equivalent dialect translation, the thesis first makes a comparison between Chinese and English literatures using dialects, and then analyzes Zhang's translation of two of Thomas Hardy's representative works, Tess of the d'Urbervilles and The Return of the Native in detail. In the analysis, this thesis has applied the theory of conversational implicature and cooperative principle as the criterion. Comparisons are made to show the differences and similarities in the use of dialects in English and Chinese literatures, and to demonstrate the advantage of equivalent dialect translating method over other methods.Based on the analysis and comparison, the thesis finally reached the conclusion that in spite of the differences in their representations, the meaning as well as implicature of the dialects in the English literary works can be represented by selected Chinese dialects, in other words, it is feasible to use equivalent dialect translating method in literary translation from English into Chinese. However, improvements are still necessary to extend the intelligibility and acceptability of the translation generated by this method, including the selection of the proper dialect, the assistance of colloquialism and the use of notation.