A Semiotic Study To The Translation Methods Of Sichuan Dialects In Nicky Harman’s Version Of Wo Men Jia

Dialects have become a common phenomenon in literary works.Due to their strong local features,dialects in literary writings play a valuable and special role in shaping characters,rendering the environment,and laying the tone of the works.However,they bring challenges to literary translators.Yan Ge’s novel Wo Men Jia,based on a small town in Sichuan province,is rich in the use of Sichuan dialects which embodies the unique vocabulary and novel sentences of Sichuan dialects.Therefore,the novel becomes a great success when it was first published.It was translated into English by the British Sinologist Nicky Harman.Unfortunately,researches on its English translation are in a blank stage,let alone studies on the translation of its dialects.In the mid-1970 s,semiotics,as a branch of semiotics,has been introduced into translation studies to discuss problems related to translation methods,translation motivation and the differences between different translation versions.It is worth noting that there are only a handful of studies devoted to dialect translation in light of semiotics,which deserves to be explored in depth.This thesis classifies the Sichuan dialects in Wo Men Jia into six types:Sichuan idioms,appellations,swearwords,single character expressions,regionspecific expressions,and expressions for character’s actions and depictions.Employing Morris’ s semiotics on such a basis,it proceeds to discuss the methods of dialect translation through “linguistic meaning”,“designative meaning” and“pragmatic meaning”.It is found that when Nicky Harman is translating,she pays great attention to the social significance carried by the dialects by putting them back into the social and cultural contexts.Her translation is in exact conformity with the“sociality” emphasized in Morris’ s semiotics,showing that semiotics can help to explain dialect translation and dialect translation can be studied from the perspective of semiotics.When translating the linguistic meaning,Harman uses the methods of dialectal standardization,weakening translation of dialects,dialect-for-dialect translation together with literal translation and free translation.As for the designative meaning,she uses the methods of dialectal standardization,dialect-for-dialect translation,omission and literal translation.As for the pragmatic meaning,she skillfully makes uses of the methods of self-created translation and dialectal standardization.