A Comparative Study Of The Book And The Web Versions Of The English Translation Of Louis Cha's Lu Ding Ji:A Perspective Of Science Of Communication

With its intriguing plot and storyline,creative imagination about the Kungfu skills,commendable chivalrous spirits,arrangement of revenge for the nation and kinfolks as well as sentimental love stories of the heroes,Chinese martial arts fiction enjoys a continuing popularity among readers.What's more,the Chinese culture factors like Chinese food,Chinese way of thinking as well as Chinese spiritual world described in martial arts fiction are rich and vivid.The entertainment nature of Chinese martial arts fiction makes it a particular genre in Chinese literature and a very unique chapter of Chinese popular literature and culture.Louis Cha,better known as Jin Yong,is a master of Chinese martial arts fiction,and Lu Ding Ji i.e.The Deer and the Cauldron is regarded as the most important novel of Cha's,which displays the entertainment nature of martial arts fiction in an extremely splendid way.At present,there are at least two versions of the English translation of Lu Ding Ji.One is the book version rendered by John Minford,a famous sinologist and literary translator with a good reputation of translating Chinese literary works.The other is the web version rendered by Jin Yong's fans abroad.The aim of this thesis is to do a comparative study of these two versions from the perspective of science of communication.In this process,the paper focuses on addressing the following two questions: 1.How is the web version different from the book one in the subject,target,content,channel and effect of communication? 2.What can we infer from these two different modes of communication for translating Chinese popular literature to the outside world?Taking Lasswell's 5W model as the theoretical frame,this study adopts different research methods like literature research method,comparative research method and theoretical research method.Together with the resources procured on the internet,the study finds out that the translator of the book version is quite professional and his translation has a high value in literature and translation studies.However,it has a quite high requirement on its readers and the translator has abridged a lot during the process of translation,plus the communication mode of the book version is simple and in a low level,its subject and target is confined to a certain field and its communication effect is restricted.Compared to the book version,the web version is much more flexible in communication mode and its communication subject and target are quite active.Its communication channels are rich and wide.What's more,the content of the web version stays closely with the original text and the translators of the web version keeps prompt interaction with their readers.Through the comparative study,this thesis aims to appeal that on the one hand,the two communication modes should be valued the same way in the process of translating Chinese literature,especially Chinese popular literature to the outside world and on the other hand,the important role that the web version plays should never be neglected,especially in modern society.