Abstract: Based on principles of assessing translation, this paper will be devoted to an analysis about some factors influencing translation, especially personal factors of the translator, through several specific examples, thus coming to a conclusion that translation is inevitably influenced by some personal factors.
Key words: translation, principles, factors
［中图分类号］H315.9
［文献标识码］A
［文章编号］1006-2831(2012)11-0176-4 doi:10.3969/j.issn.1006-2831.2012.04.053
1. The Principles of Assessing Translation
At the end of 18th century, Prof. Alexander Fraser Tytler of Edinburgh University indicated three basic principles of assessing translation in his Essay on the Principles of Translation: 1) A translation should give a complete transcript of the ideas of the original work; 2) The style and manner of writing should be of the same character as that of the original; 3) A translation should have all the ease of the original composition(Schuttle & Biguenet, 1992: 4). American translation theoretician Nida Eugene A. also indicated his own principles of assessing translation in his Toward a Science of Translation in 1964: 1) true to the original; 2) vivid; 3) smooth and natural; 4) equivalence of response (Readers of TL must have the same response to the text with that of readers of SL despite of different means of expressions)(Eugene, 1964: 25).
2. Personal Factors Influencing Translation
Key factors influencing translation lie in the three most important areas: language, culture and the translator’s personal conditions(Steiner, 2001: 43). What we are discussing here are translations done by human beings, not machines. The translator’s professional and psychological conditions may therefore have a direct influence on the translated text. The personal factors in question, which account for many of the differences between various translations of the same source, are subtle and complex. They play a crucial role in translating and can be classified into two main types, i.e. personal competence and personal attitudes.
2.1 Personal Competence
Literary translation remains one of the few professions where formal education in the subject is not a vital qualification. Some people say that translators are born, not made. Still, maybe because of the improvements in translator training and the rise of translation studies, one no longer often hears it said that translation could not be taught, for it is obvious that many aspects of it can and need to be. It is generally accepted that there are many skills translators should possess. Thorough understanding of the SL, versatility in the TL, knowledge of both source and target cultures, being generally well-informed and skilled in acquiring new information are well established as requirements. Relative as they are, there is always scope for improvement, and the sense of continually falling short must be common among translators. It is a given fact that a translator has to be competent in SL interpretation and TL representation, and has to have special knowledge and experience in the field involved.
As for SL interpretation, a translator must be sufficiently competent to grasp the various conceptual, associative or thematic meanings of the original. Accurate or faithful translation demands perfect interpretation that is based on the translator’s command of the SL and understanding of SL culture. Many cases of mistranslation of bad translation have resulted from the translator’s inaccurate interpretation, which are attributable to his/her limited competence in the SL and SC. For example，“overt and covert translation” is badly translated into“公开和隐蔽的翻译”. Although “overt” has the meaning of“公开的”，and “covert” has the meaning of“隐蔽的”, when they modify“translation”, that phrase should be translated as“显性和隐性翻译”. The former version fails to grasp the thematic meanings of the two words: “overt” and “covert” of ST.
For TL representation, a translator must be capable of effective representation in the TL what he/she has interpreted from the ST. That is to say, he/she must be able to find or establish in the TL “the closest natural equivalent” (Nida, 1969: 12) of the SL messages. For example, “This kind of exposure may well be a point of departure for acquiring certain important intellectual and imaginative qualities; width of judgment a sense of variety of possible attitudes.” Version 1:“这种面对可能是一个为获取某些有关知识和想象力的重要素质或判断的广度和对潜在看法的多样性意识的出发点。”Version 2:“这种面对，满可以成为一个出发点，去获取某些有关知识和想象力的重要素质，获取判断的广度和对潜在看法的多样性意识。”Compared with“可能”,“满可以”is a closer natural equivalent of “may well be”. Here, “well” is perfectly translated into“满”. What’s more, the attributive of the object in version 1 is too long, which is a taboo in Chinese. However, in version 2, the long attributive is replaced by two paratactic verb phrases, which is acceptable in Chinese. So, we can infer that the translator of version 2 is more competent in TL representation than the one of version 1.This competence requires not only a good command of the TL and TC, but also the ability to write in various styles in the TL, in accordance with both the stylistic requirements of the ST and corresponding stylistic norms in the TT. It is inconceivable that a person who cannot write effectively in the TL can produce an aesthetically acceptable translation. Furthermore, experience also plays an important role in translating. Only experienced translators can skillfully and organically bring their competence and knowledge into play in SL interpretation and TL representation. Experience can overcome many difficulties, which is why “translation experience” is often one of the requirements listed in translation job postings.
2.2 Personal Attitudes
These factors involve the individual translator’s subjective orientations within a certain historical and cultural context. With different attitudinal orientations, whether aesthetic, communicative, strategic, or professional, two translators of even the same personal competence will produce very different translations(Bassnett, 2004: 62-63).
Most translators claim to care primarily about readers’ needs. Still, there are some who refuse to be steered away by readers’demands from fidelity to the artistic and cultural significance of the ST, one representative translator of which is Lu Xun, who claimed that he would “never deceive the readers”. Different attitudes towards the reader will no doubt encourage different strategic orientations, one target-oriented while the other sourceoriented, and produce distinct versions of the text with different social and aesthetic values. We can imagine an ideal translator who is faithful both to the writer and to the reader. In reality, however, very few translators approach this ideal. The great disparities in their needs and demands make it extremely difficult to satisfy all sides. In any case, it is up to the translator to decide how to cope with each of these requirements, and a strategic base of his/ her attitude toward the recipients’ response will be adopted and substantially affect the final product.
Professional attitudes simply refer to the translator’s sense of professional responsibility towards his/her work(Wilss, 2001: 55). Mistranslation often results from the translator’s irresponsibility to work. Such a translator may be reluctant to make a careful and serious analysis of the original and to consult dictionaries, encyclopedias and experts for help in solving problems. Instead, the misinterpretation or misreading is simply written into the translation, sometimes even as obvious nonsense, or in the guise of a misleadingly fluent and even elegant adaptation or paraphrase. Irresponsibility is attributable to various causes, such as low status and pay, or time limit. For example, “But neither the real difficulty of these decisions, nor their true and disturbing challenge to each individual, can often be communicated through the mass media.” is wrongly translated into “但是，无论是这些决定的实际困难，还是他们对每个人真实并令人不安的挑战，都通常可以通过大众传媒来沟通。”The translator of this version carelessly takes “neither…nor…” as “either…or…”, thus a wrong translation is unavoidable. The right version should be “但是，通常既不能通过大众媒体来传达这些决定含有的实际困难，又不能通过它们来报道这些决定对个人产生的真实但令人不安的挑战。”Another example, “…that he should hear the argument of the adversaries from his own teachers,…” Version 1: “…他应该听取来自自己老师们的对手的观点…” Version 2: “…他应该从自己教师那里听到对手的观点…”. Because of time limit for this translation assignment and irresponsibility, the translator of version 1 puts“the argument of the adversaries from his own teachers” as “the argument of the adversaries of his own teachers”, therefore the translation is undoubtedly improper. Version 2 is a right translation. Generally, those who view their translation activity as an art, special interest or duty will be more responsible, while those who translate just for money may be less so. Undoubtedly, responsibility plays a crucial role in the translating process and the translation quality. Usually, the word “commission” is used to refer to the assignment of a job, but becoming committed to one’s work is more than a promise to hand over a finished product on a given date. Commitment is an important element: without it, the translator works half-heartedly, or whole-heartedly for the sake of money, but often without pleasure in the text, while at its best, translation can be an act of love. Personal involvement does have a positive effect on the result. This involvement would seem to arise from the translator’s early work as a reader.
3. Conclusion
Success of any translation may be gauged in terms of the extent to which the translator has successfully taken into account the factors demanded by the client. Thus, translation factors turn out to be the felicity conditions for each act of translating. Times have changed, and dogmatic statements by translatologists seem to have given way to multifarious factor demands made by clients according to different needs on different occasions. But the principle has remained the same: no translator can translate without reference to a particular factor set that he/she is expected to go by in a given case.
Bibliography
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Steiner, George. After Babel: Aspects of Language and Translation[M]. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2001: 43.
Wilss, Wolfram. The Science of Translation: Problems and methods[M]. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2001: 55.
