An E-C Translation Study Of Personifying Effects In The Perspective Of "Faithfulness,Expressiveness And Closeness"

Personification,as a figure of speech,is quite common and appreciated in literary works,but it is rather rarely seen in translation that a great number of words should be used in a single book personifying animal behaviors.Birds,as part of the animal kingdom,are considered to be a very intimate species with people in many aspects.The translation study of the words personifying them can enrich the ways and methods in literary translation and also help people get closer to nature.With such an intention,the author of the novel,Wake Robin,makes a full use of personifications in describing birds living in the forests.Their lovely movements,beautiful sounds,and affective characteristics are vividly depicted,for the most part,with personifying verbs,adjectives and adverbs.Then,how do we translate them and let them,after translation,retain the same flavor and effects?This presents a big challenge.The author of this paper will compare two translated versions of the novel made by Cheng Hong and Miao Ge focusing on the translation of words that personifies birds in the perspective of "faithfulness,expressiveness and closeness".Combined with specific examples,the author of this paper will analyze the translated words so as to determine whether they are fit for purpose,in producing,at best,the original meaning intent and effect.If fitting,the author of this paper will give a summary;if not,the author will point out reasons and accordingly give a revised translation.By contrasting and analyzing the texts,the author of this paper found that in translating the verbs personifying birds,the translator should,after ensuring their closeness,directly select the corresponding words with personifying effect in the target text.Meanwhile,considering the differences bet.ween English and Chinese,and based on the meaning of words in the source text-not just its apparent meaning,the translator ought to take into account both the natural attributes of birds and their similarity to those of humans,in order to choose the most suitable verbs with appropriate application of personifying effects.For the translation of coordinate adjectives,it is better to maintain the same structure as that of the source text and properly adopt the four-character Chinese idioms so as to enhance the personifying effect of the target text.With regards to adverbs that express strong feelings,the translator can add words and convert the formation of words to express the emotion through personification.In short,the translator should take a comprehensive consideration of the words he or she selects and of the practical situation of the novel,so as to make the words in the target text characteristic of birds as well as of human beings.Thus,a dynamic equivalence will be kept of the personification effects between the target text and the source text.