The English Translation Of Chinese Classical Operas From The Perspective Of Performability

This research takes the first English full translation of The Peony Pavilion by Cyril Birch as the research object from the perspective of performability to explore the criteria and factors that makes the translated text performable by combining with the performable features of Chinese classical opera,which aims to explore the new connotations of performability in Chinese classical operas' English translation.The Peony Pavilion is not only one of the finest representatives of Chinese classical opera but also shares great great aesthetic values in its stage performance.Its first full English translation is finished by American Sinologist Cyril Birch,which emphasizes performability a lot.In drama translation,it is claimed that the performability lies in the verbal text and the actional text in dramatic text.The verbal text refers to the dialogues and monologues of the character,while the actional text means the actions.The translation of the verbal text requires to be concise and speakable,besides,translators should decode the actional text within it to make the text actable by the actors.The Chinese classical opera is a system of “singing”,“speaking”,“dance-acting” and “combating”.The dramatic text of Chinese classical operas consists of three main elements,changci,nianbai and kejie.Therefore,by taking the performance of Chinese classical operas into consideration,the performability in the English translation of Chinese classical operas can be concluded as following: the verbal text,changci and nianbai should be of singability,speakability,and individualization,and the actional text like kejie should be of visualization and simultaneity.Birch's translation is singable in that the poetic lines are in accordance with the music tune.It is speakable because free verse is applied and the cultural loaded words are translated literally and paraphrased,maintaining the uniqueness of Chinese culture and the fluency of the translation.Birch pays much attention to the language discourse and adapts different diction and sentence patterns to make the translation individual.What is more,the actional texts are further explored.When translating jie in the dramatic text,he adds some mental actions and uses more adjectives and adverbs to fulfill the visualization vividly,and inverts the sentences patterns to make the ci and bai are simultaneous with the actions.Birch's translation of The Peony Pavilion well reflects the new requirements of performability in Chinese classical operas' English translation,which would be a reference to the English translation of Chinese classical operas.