Abstract
It has been acknowledged that studies on translation theory and studies on translatology are on different layers, two of which are in a partial–total relationship. As a part of translatological studies, translation theory serves as the rational understanding and high-level abstraction of a series of translation knowledge, such as the nature, process, principles, methods, and criteria of translation. In research on the construction of the Eco-translatological discourse system, systematic ontological translation theory should be labeled “mesolevel” research under macro-level research for the translatological system.
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Notes
- 1.
See Sect. 6.4.
- 2.
A sentence taken from the interpretation lines from China’s Rise, a full-length CCTV film.
- 3.
The difference between a translator and a translation theorist lies in the fact that the translator can come into being at any time, while the translation theorist will come in due time. Without due time, a translation theorist will not work even if he or she comes into being. As translation work is needed at any time, it is necessary that someone become the translator. The task of the translation theorist lies in reflection on the translation activity of human beings through proposing theoretical structures; revealing translation rules; and generalizing the past, directing the present, and perceiving the future. Translation theorists tend to emerge in times of great social and historical change, when translation activity prospers and thoughts on translation theory thrive.
- 4.
See Chinese Translation Dictionary compiled by LIN Huangtian, Hubei Education Publishing House, 1997, p. 167.
- 5.
See Modern American Translation Theory by Guo Jianzhong, Hubei Education Publishing House, 2000, p. 102–134.
- 6.
- 7.
See the item translator-community in the subsection titled “Sketching Eco-translatology from the Perspective of Terms” in the Preface of this work.
- 8.
As noted by Yang Zijian in an article titled “My Reflections on the Foundation of Translatology” [Journal of Chinese Translators, 1989 (4): 17–19], “Translatology is a science to research the rules of thought and methods of translation.” Feng Wenkun also holds that “the being of the translator should be the primary basis” in his article titled “On the Ontological Turn of Translation Studies and Its Connotation” (see Foreign Language Teaching Feng, 2008(4): 82–85).
- 9.
James Holmes says, “What the translator actually achieves is not textual equivalence in any strict sense of the term, but a network of correspondence, or matchings, with a varying closeness of fit. These correspondences are of various kinds, formal, semantic, and/or functional, mimetic, or analogical, and achieved at various levels of the translated text, micro-, meso-, and/or macro-structural. Defining the nature of these correspondences and minimum and maximum degree of fit should be a major task of the translation theorist” (Holmes, 1988, p. 101).
- 10.
According to the Eco-translation idea, translation is “the textual transplantation from one lingual eco-system to another.” Eco-translation has been well-explicated in an article titled “On the Exemplary Introduction of Eco-translation” (Jiang, 2013). As is held in the article, each language (including each dialect) possesses its own unique lingual ecology and cultural ecology. Each text lives in the unique lingual ecology and cultural ecology. The more the lingual ecology and cultural ecology are embodied in the text, the more difficult it is to translate that text. Eighty years ago, when Mr. Wen Yiduo saw Li Bai’s poetic lines “人烟寒橘柚, 秋色老梧桐” “correctly” translated as “The smoke from the cottage curls/Up around the citron trees, And the hues of late autumn are/On the green paulownias” by Obata, he thought that the version was dull and flavorless. Then he asked a well-known and interesting question: “Why is the English version so dull, while the original poem is of great charm?” (Wen, 1926). Then, he explained, “There is nothing wrong with the translator’s translating skills, and it is wrong for him to intend to translate such naturally wonderful poetic lines which are too beautiful and too delicate to translate. You will ruin the poetic flavor if you want to translate it!”(Wen, 1926). Wen Yiduo was talking about the problem of Eco-translation. Typical Eco-translation should either strive for the lingual-cultural ecology of the original language or that of the translated language. The former is actually related to the high degree of foreignizing translation and the latter to the high degree of domesticating translation. With many translation examples, Hu Gengshen’s Eco-translation idea has been discussed in relation to the four layers of pronunciation, vocabulary, syntax, and culture in the paper.
- 11.
See “Various Problems in Cultural Transplantation” by Fang Zao, Foreign Language Journal 1996 (1); “On Cultural Transplantation in English-Chinese Translation” by Ma Aixiang, Journal of Lanzhou Medical College, 1999 (4); “Compromise and Compensation: Cultural Transplantation in Translation” by Tan Hailing, Journal of Zhongnan Industry University (Social Science Edition), 2001(1); and “On Cultural Transplantation in Cross-cultural Translation” by Zheng Lijun, Information of Science and Technology, 2010 (26), etc.
- 12.
See Complete Works of Marx and Engels, Vol. 25, Beijing: The People’s Pressing House, 1972 edition, p. 120.
- 13.
Pang Pu proposed a premise of one as three in an article titled On One as Three, which was published in March 2003 by Shanghai Classics Publishing House.
- 14.
Recently, I read an article in which “translator-centeredness” is interpreted from a philosophical perspective. On the basis of the explanation in An Approach to Translation as Adaptation and Selection, the author highlights the core idea of “translator-centeredness” in her exploration, and, combined with the philosophical dialectical unified viewpoint, the unity of the translator with multiple roles, the unity of part and entirety, and the unity of the absolute center and relative center in translating activity are further explored (Li, 2010, p. 2).
- 15.
“Equal dialogue” refers to an attitude and a manner, while “translator’s responsibility” serves as an implementation and a result. In translation, there are many people who need to be consulted in dialogue and even more who will be interfered with or dominated, but there is only one who will take responsibility: that is, the translator.
- 16.
In fact, the multiple responsibilities of the translator are stressed in various statements such as “ethics of representation,” “ethics of service,” “ethics of communication,” “norm-based ethics,’ and “ethics of ‘commitment’” by Andrew Chesterman and “the reproduction of the original,” “accomplishment of the requirement of the commissioners,” “the social and cultural regulations conforming to the target language,” “the requirements met by the target language reader,” and “abiding by professional morals” by Sun Zhili. (See On Translator’s Responsibility by Sun Zhili, published in Chinese Translators Journal, 4th issue of Sun,2007, pp. 14–18.)
- 17.
See Foreign Languages in China, 6th issue of 2011, p. 98.
- 18.
It refers not to the concrete translation methods or deeds but to the requirement of translating or directing thoughts.
- 19.
When Prof. Song Zhiping comments on An Approach to Translation as Adaptation and Selection, he holds that although the complex translation activity has been expressed as T = A + S, yet the translator’s central role and dominant status have not been highlighted. After all, the S (selection) looks the same as “selection” in the theory of evolution, and the author keeps re-stating, “In the process of translating operation, all the activities of adaptation and selection should be decided and implemented by the translator” (2004, p. 100); therefore, if the notion of “the translator as the center” is illustrated in the formula of T = tA + tS, the dominating “human” element is added to the formula of natural science, which can not only illustrate the features of research on the humanities and social sciences but also conform to the author’s core idea of “the translation process = the translator’s adaptation + the translator’s selection” (2004, p. 180) (Song, 2009). However, I have a different opinion because (1) “adaptation” and “selection” in the translation process are implemented by the translator, and all the discussions in this book are related to the translator’s adaptation and selection; therefore, the word translator need not be added to the formula; and (2) since T is used for translation, there will be two Ts (T/t) in the brief formula if another T is confusingly used for translator. Therefore, the original formula has been retained here.
- 20.
See Huang Zhonglian: Studies on Translation Variants, Beijing, China Foreign Translation Publishing Company, Huang, 2001.
- 21.
See Hu (1991, pp. 28–32).
- 22.
“The translation essence and translation criteria are two interdependent questions, and, so to speak, are two facets of the same question” (Yang, 2012, p. 1).
- 23.
The title (How to Do Things with Words) of Longfellow J. Austin’s academic work was translated by Xu Guozhang into “论言有所为”(lun yan you suo wei). As translation is creative work, and translations possess the function of changing one’s ideas and moving civilization forward, which “can not only expand the discourse of translation theory for the renewal of the theories, but (by means of translational practice) also expand the culture of the accepted side for a better social reform” (Gentzler, 1993, p. 197), I, in imitation of the above English pattern of the term, used the term yi you suo wei for the first time in 2001 by translating it as “doing things with translations” (Hu, 2001, 2003).
- 24.
To generalize and further describe the connotations of “doing things with translations,” I once searched for the term with the Baidu search engine and found hundreds of pieces of information related to the term. However, after a careful examination of the relevant articles, I found that except for very few articles in which the term of “doing things with translations” developed by me was quoted or similar expressions (such as “to do something” or “not to do something”) were used, most such terms are related to a translated work titled “译有所为—功能翻译理论阐释” in Chinese. By contrast and analysis, “译有所为” in the title of the work is quite different from the term developed by me (see the footnotes at p. 246) in that, first, “译有所为—功能翻译理论阐释” is a translated work; its original author is Christiane Nord, a German scholar, and its chief translators are Prof. Zhang Meiifang and Prof. Wang Kefei. The original work is titled Translating as a Purposeful Activity: Functionalist Approaches Explained (“翻译即一种有目的的活动:功能主义翻译途径阐释”; “译有所为” is merely the expression used by the two translators to understand and translate the words “translating as a purposeful activity” in the title of the original work. Second, the main content of the translated work is the introduction of the functionalist theory of the German school of translation studies. Third, the translated work was published in October 2005.
- 25.
See Complete Works of Marx and Engels (Vol. I), Beijing: people’s Publishing House, 1956, p. 82.
- 26.
For instance, some persons want to learn a foreign language and engage in translation work in order to teach or guide their own children.
- 27.
See “Preface I” of On Process of Publicity Translation: Translator’s Adaptation and Selection, Beijing: the People’s Publishing House, 2010 (11), p. 1.
- 28.
Roberto A. Valdeón. Recycling in the Translation Ecosystem: the Case of Stable and Unstable Sources in News Production [P]. Paper presented at the 3rd International Symposium on Eco-Translatology. Chongqing, November 24, 2012.
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Hu, (.G. (2020). The Mesolevel: Ontological Theories of Translatology. In: Eco-Translatology. New Frontiers in Translation Studies. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-2260-4_5
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