Manipulation Of Chinese Symbols In C-E Translation Of To Live And Its Effects On China’s Images

Chinese literary plays an indispensable role in constructing China’s image since it is one of the important ways of culture transmission.As a unique part of literature,the English translation of Chinese symbols should be accurate and reflect a realistic and positive national image to readers,which poses considerable challenges to translators.As the cornerstone of culture translation school,the translation manipulation theory proposed by Lefevere points out the inevitability of rewriting in the novel translation.Under the guidance of this theory,this thesis clarifies the coding standards of Chinese symbols first,then codes Yu Hua’s novel To Live with the help of NVivo,a qualitative analysis tool,thus obtaining 516 pieces of research data.After that,this thesis visualizes the research process by illustrating the content analysis method.Finally,this thesis proposes four research objectives and five related questions to ensure reliability and validity.Through the analysis,this thesis finds that there are obvious translation manipulation traces on 516 Chinese symbols,of which 332 translation rewritings present positive manipulation effects and 184 demonstrate negative effects.Specifically,on the one hand,the translator Michael Berry achieves three kinds of positive translation manipulation effects by using various translation strategies like endnotes and explanatory to display a positive image of China fully,including:(1)actively transmitting the content of the source text;(2)promoting in-depth communication between various cultures;(3)positively shaping the poetic image of characters in To Live.On the other hand,although Michael Berry desires to achieve a reciprocal translation,the novel To Live still shows the insufficiencies in translation and mistakes in translation rewriting,which lead to negative manipulation effects,including:(1)the insufficient transmission of traditional Chinese symbols;(2)the inappropriate rewriting of the basic meaning;(3)the inefficiency to promote English language readers’ comprehension of To Live.And such effects would not be conducive to the good construction of China’s image.The reasons for these effects are the poor comprehension of specific Chinese symbols and requirements from patronage,ideology and mainstream poetic.As a result,the positive reflection of the Chinese images’ plurality in the source text is not maximally realized.It is concluded that although Michael Berry has achieved the basic purpose of cross-cultural communication by rewriting the Chinese symbols in To Live,the positive reflection on the Chinese images’ plurality in the source text is not maximally realized.Based on translation manipulation theory,this thesis summarized seven reliable pieces of advice for the translation of Chinese symbols in novels and the transmission of China’s images,which are expected to provide a reference for translating Chinese symbols in novels and constructing positive Chinese images:(A)From the perspective of patronage,we should: 1)strengthen the publicity of Chinese culture;2)increase the number of international Chinese language teachers to optimize overseas Chinese language teaching system;3)reward outstanding C-E translators.(B)From the perspective of the translator,we should: 4)recognize the basic meaning of Chinese symbols clearly and avoid vulgar expressions;5)be respectful to cultural variations and adopt appropriate translation revision strategy to keep an equivalence between the source text and target text;6)transmit source text fully and make some amplifications if it is needed;7)pay attention to constructing China’s images and adopt domestication in due time.