Application Of Gestalt Theory In Children's Literature Translation

Children's literature translation has drawn more and more attention from society in recent years.Meanwhile,many theories have been applied to analyze translation for children.This thesis employs interdisciplinary approach and makes a combination between Gestalt Theory and children's literature translation.The texts selected in this thesis are Zhao Yuanren's version of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland,Ren Rongrong's translation of Charlotte's Web,and Zhang Jianping's version of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.The theory in this thesis is focused on three gestalt laws of perceptual organization: law of proximity,law of continuity and law of simplicity.Law of proximity is used to analyze explicitation of word meaning in children's literature translation.Law of continuity is in accordance with explicitation of logical relation.And simplicity law is relating to explicitation of form in children's literature translation.The conclusion is made that law of proximity is indispensable for translators to determine the meaning of individual word in children's literature translation.The meaning of every word is assigned by the context,whether it is a noun,an adjective or a verb.Coherence in children's literature translation should be clear enough for young readers,which cannot be realized without law of continuity.Continuity law guides translators to adjust cohesive devices and sentence structure in translation.Law of simplicity reminds translators to avoid complexity and pay more attention to the form of children's language.Using reduplication words and simple sentences in the act of translating for children reduces the distance between texts and readers.The purpose of this thesis is to emphasize the idea of “translating for children”,whose needs and interests should be fully respected and carefully considered.In short,this thesis explores the application of three gestalt laws in children's literature translation in the hope of providing references for relevant studies in children's literature translation.