A Study On Goldblatt’s Translation Norms In Frog

Frog,one of Mo Yan’s representative works,was translated into English by Howard Goldblatt,who is known as “the foremost translator of modern and contemporary literature”.In view of the fact that many translated works failed to obtain wide acceptance,it is necessary to study the successful factors in Goldblatt’s translation works,which can contribute to the “Going Global” of Chinese literature.Norms constitute the kernel of descriptive translation studies.Toury is the first scholar who studies translation norms systematically.He holds that all translation activities are controlled by norms.In Toury’s opinion,there are three kinds of translation norms: preliminary norms,operational norms and initial norms.This thesis studies Howard Goldblatt’s Frog from the perspective of translation norms with the method of descriptive translation studies.It attempts to answer the following questions: i).What are the translation norms represented in Goldblatt’s translation of Frog? ii).How these translation norms interact during translation? iii)How translation norms influence the selections of translation strategies?Through the research,the author draws the conclusions as follows: firstly,the preliminary norms in Frog follow the demand of target market and reflect the tendency of communication between China and the west.They also prove the necessity of direct translation.Secondly,operational norms are hidden in the selection of translation strategies in Frog.Through contrastive analysis,Goldblatt tended to employ domestication when he translated expressions with Chinese features.Thirdly,acceptability of target readers is an important element during his translation.The whole orientation of Frog is to target culture.What’s more,the three translation norms are not independent.Goldblatt’s selection on domestication makes sure the implement of preliminary norms and initial norms.In reverse,these preliminary norms and initial norms influence Goldblatt’s selection on domestication.