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A Cognitive Poetic Approach to the Image Translation of Er-shi-si Shi-pin
Issue:
Volume 8, Issue 2, June 2022
Pages:
41-46
Received:
18 March 2022
Accepted:
6 April 2022
Published:
14 April 2022
DOI:
10.11648/j.ijalt.20220802.11
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Abstract: This paper examines the cognitive process in image translation of Er-shi-si Shi-pin from the perspective of genitive poetics. Er-shi-si Shi-pin is a unique and important work in the history of Chinese poetics, which discusses knowledge of poems in the form of image-loaded poems. Translating this work into English is of great help in promoting the cultural exchange between the East and the West. However, the work is difficult to translate as it uses many cultural-specific images. The images in Er-shi-si Shi-pin bare the poetic ideas of Si Kongtu, and are the basic pattern of poetic discourses in the late Tang. Translating them into English requires translators to have relevant cognition structure and translation experience, and the ability to apply different cognitive methods. Based on the framework of cognitive poetics, this paper adopts three approaches to analyze image translations of Er-shi-si Shi-pin, namely category recognition, literary schema and cross-space mapping. It is found that category recognition, functioning as the basis of other cognitive activities, is the starting point of understanding the images in the original work. And categorization is followed to connecting the images to existing knowledge of the translators, which leads to diverse comprehension of the original work. Then, the mappings among diverse cognitive domains enable the translator to choose appropriate expressions. These findings could contribute to the translating of other Chinese ancient works and to the studies of cultural translation in general.
Abstract: This paper examines the cognitive process in image translation of Er-shi-si Shi-pin from the perspective of genitive poetics. Er-shi-si Shi-pin is a unique and important work in the history of Chinese poetics, which discusses knowledge of poems in the form of image-loaded poems. Translating this work into English is of great help in promoting the c...
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On Narrative Markers in the Narrator’s Voice in the English Translation of Sanyan
Issue:
Volume 8, Issue 2, June 2022
Pages:
47-53
Received:
25 March 2022
Accepted:
13 April 2022
Published:
22 April 2022
DOI:
10.11648/j.ijalt.20220802.12
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Abstract: Sanyan is a collection of classic Chinese vernacular short stories in the Ming Dynasty, in which unique narrative markers are often used to help the development of the story as well as the discourse. In their English translation of Sanyan, Shuihui Yang and Yunqin Yang preserve essential points of the overt narration and overt commentary, so as to outline the storyteller’s efforts to create the simulated context and clearly organize the structure of narrating process. Nonetheless, other insignificant narrative markers are deleted or replaced due to redundancy and conflicts with the English norms, as they are concerned with details of a character or inessential background information. With the usage of first person pronouns and the replacement with deixis, the translators manage to narrow the distance between the narrator and the reader. Hence, the Yangs’ translation not only gives an alien sense of the Chinese vernacular story, but also makes the narrative text more concise and flexible for the target reader.
Abstract: Sanyan is a collection of classic Chinese vernacular short stories in the Ming Dynasty, in which unique narrative markers are often used to help the development of the story as well as the discourse. In their English translation of Sanyan, Shuihui Yang and Yunqin Yang preserve essential points of the overt narration and overt commentary, so as to o...
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A Systemic Analysis of Translation of Case-Grammar in the French Translation of Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God
Gbadegesin Olusegun Adegboye
Issue:
Volume 8, Issue 2, June 2022
Pages:
54-61
Received:
28 June 2021
Accepted:
16 July 2021
Published:
28 May 2022
DOI:
10.11648/j.ijalt.20220802.13
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Abstract: Literary critics, prose analysts, literary theorists, translation scholars, comparative linguists and stylists have till now viewed Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God in the spirit of culture, history, comparative language and racial discourse. Analyzing translation of case-grammar in the French translation of the novel has not received any noticeable attention. This study centers on the systemic analysis of case-grammar in the French translation of Arrow of God (La fleche de Dieu) The objectives are to: (i) identify various case-gaps in Arrow of God and examine how their translations affect the meaning of the original message, (ii) assess the role of grammar in the reproduction of social and cultural meanings in the French translation of the text, (iii) analyze the translation of case-gaps using systemic grammar of Michael Halliday to appraise the translator’s liberty of the literature. Working through types of case-gaps by Peter Newmark, the study draws about ten examples from the original text and its French translation. Systemic Functional Grammar of Michael Halliday is adopted to x-ray how the language of Chinua Achebe in Arrow of God is treated as systems and not as rules in the translation of the novel into French. The study views case-grammar as a “meaning potential” in translation studies. Grammatical systems play a major role in the construal of meanings of meanings at cultural, stylistic and linguistic levels of a sociological literature such as Achebe’s Arrow of God and its French translation. The study concludes that grammar is nothing but a transmitter of meaning in translation and that transmission is contingent upon proper understanding of different levels of use of language in literature, case-gaps inclusive.
Abstract: Literary critics, prose analysts, literary theorists, translation scholars, comparative linguists and stylists have till now viewed Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God in the spirit of culture, history, comparative language and racial discourse. Analyzing translation of case-grammar in the French translation of the novel has not received any noticeable at...
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The Synergy Between Fan Translation and Podcast Storytelling in Disseminating Chinese Canonical Literature: A Case Study on Romance of the Three Kingdoms Podcast
Issue:
Volume 8, Issue 2, June 2022
Pages:
62-70
Received:
4 June 2022
Accepted:
20 June 2022
Published:
27 June 2022
DOI:
10.11648/j.ijalt.20220802.14
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Abstract: The recent decade has witnessed a growing scholarly attention on fan translation due to its shaping force in community building and identity formation. Traditionally perceived as a sub-field of cultural studies, fan translation has been studied mostly inside popular culture as a kind of activism to combat conformity. However, despite aiming its products at non-elite recipients, fan translation does not merely focus on source texts from popular culture. Being remediated into podcast storytelling, fan translation is also facilitating the introduction of Chinese canonical literature into Anglophone world, a long-standing challenge faced by governmental efforts such as state-sponsored translation projects. Drawing insights from research on fandom, podcasting and oral storytelling, this article carries out a case study on Romance of the Three Kingdoms Podcast, an English retelling of a Chinese classical novel, to investigate how fan translation is integrated with podcast storytelling to improve the reception of canonical texts among the masses. The article argues that a successful mélange of adapted textual features, acoustic varieties, as well as the mediality of podcast in fan-translation-based podcast storytelling has helped to established a fandom of listening to classical literature and the cultural capital of its fans, a phenomenon rarely seen in traditional translation.
Abstract: The recent decade has witnessed a growing scholarly attention on fan translation due to its shaping force in community building and identity formation. Traditionally perceived as a sub-field of cultural studies, fan translation has been studied mostly inside popular culture as a kind of activism to combat conformity. However, despite aiming its pro...
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On Two Chinese Versions of Maugham’s The Moon and Sixpence: From the Perspective of the Paratext
Issue:
Volume 8, Issue 2, June 2022
Pages:
71-76
Received:
13 June 2022
Accepted:
24 June 2022
Published:
30 June 2022
DOI:
10.11648/j.ijalt.20220802.15
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Abstract: Since its first introduction to China in the era of the Republic of China (1912-1949), William Maugham’s masterpiece The Moon and Sixpence has been translated into Chinese in more than sixty versions, most of which are accompanied by rich paratexts. However, little attention has been attached to the translation of the work. This study takes two Chinese versions of The Moon and Sixpence, namely, Fu’s version and Chen’s version, as its objects and delves into the hermeneutic function of the respective paratexts of the two Chinese versions. It is found that paratexts of both versions have the potential to destruct, play down, and even suppress the meaning of the translated text to some degree. The former version features a cooperative interpretative relationship between the main text and the paratexts, with intertextuality achieved among those different types of paratexts. In contrast, the latter version features unbalanced multi-voice interpretations of the text with various paratexts constructed by different agents. The result of the study reveals that the paratext is not subservient to the main text. It offers insights into how the type and number of paratexts may have a negative effect on the interpretation of the translated text, which has been overlooked in translation studies.
Abstract: Since its first introduction to China in the era of the Republic of China (1912-1949), William Maugham’s masterpiece The Moon and Sixpence has been translated into Chinese in more than sixty versions, most of which are accompanied by rich paratexts. However, little attention has been attached to the translation of the work. This study takes two Chi...
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