The Criticism And Analysis Of The Taiwanese Chinese Version Of How The French Think In Light Of The Skopos Theory

Translation criticism is an evaluation of a translation process and the quality of a translation based on certain standards.A hot topic in the translation criticism circle is how to choose the theory used in translation criticism.The Skopos theory is an important part of translation theoretical studies in the past decades.It is enlightening for translation criticism because in the theory,target text takes precedence over the source text.The essence of the Skopos theory is that translators should choose specific translation strategies and methods based on specific translation purposes.The main idea of the Skopos theory can be condensed into three rules:the Skopos rule,the coherence rule(with a focus on intratextual coherence),and the fidelity rule(with a focus on intertextual coherence).So far most applied research on the Skopos theory has focused on its guidance on the original translation or comparison between different translations.In order to further explore how to apply the Skopos theory in translation criticism and analysis,in particular how to establish a holistic framework and provide revisions,this paper proposes a criticism and analysis framework based on the three rules of the Skopos theory.First,the criticism and analysis based on the Skopos rule focuses on the translation that is not flexible enough to reflect the deeper layer of the meaning of the source text,which can be improved by re-writing and adding or deleting information.Second,the criticism and analysis based on the coherence rule focuses on the translation that is confined by the words and syntax of the source text,which can be solved by methods including coverting Westernized Chinese translation into idiomatic Chinese and highlighting important information.Third,the criticism and analysis based on the fidelity rule focuses on the mistakes arisen from the obscurity of the source text,lack of research,lack of background knowledge or technical knowledge.These mistakes can be solved by cultivating macro thinking,expanding language knowledge,etc.In order to test the proposed criticism and analysis framework,the paper chooses a book named How the French Think:An Affectionate Portrait of an Intellectual People and the Chinese translation of it as an example for demonstration.Based on the general introduction and analysis of the source text and the translation,the paper selects some typical parts that do not accurately express the intentions of the author or realize the translation purposes,and classifies these parts according to the proposed framework.Then,the paper provides revised translations and justifications.The criticism and analysis process shows that the proposed framework guided by the Skopos theory and its three rules can effectively guide criticism and analysis process,pinpoint problems,and help improve the quality of translation.