A Comparative Study of Two Major English Translations of The Journey to the West: Monkey and The Monkey and the Monk

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hao Ji
Keyword(s):  
World Literature ◽  
English Language ◽  
Original Novel ◽  
Original Text ◽  
The West ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
English Translations ◽  
Textual Features ◽  
Journey To The West

As two major English translations of a famous sixteenth-century Chinese novelThe Journey to the West, Monkeyby Arthur Waley andThe Monkey and the Monkby Anthony Yu differ in many respects due to the translators’ different concerns and translation strategies. Whereas Waley’s translation omits many episodes and significantly changes textual features of the original novel, Yu’s translation is more literal and faithful to the original. Through a comparison of the different approaches in these two translations, this paper aims to delineate important differences in textual features and images of protagonists and demonstrate how such differences, especially the changing representation of Tripitaka, might affect English-language readers’ understanding of religious references and themes in the story. It also seeks to help us reconsider the relationship between translations and the original text in the age of world literature through a case study of English translations ofThe Journey to the West.

scholarly journals A Bibliometric Analysis of Translation Studies: A Case Study on Chinese Canon The Journey to the West

SAGE Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 215824401989426 ◽  
Author(s):  
Feng (Robin) Wang ◽  
Philippe Humblé ◽  
Wen Chen
Keyword(s):  
Bibliometric Analysis ◽  
Translation Studies ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
The West ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
English Translations ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Journey To The West ◽  
Chinese Classic

A Chinese classic novel The Journey to the West (Chinese: 西游记, pinyin: Xi You Ji) has been yielding large volumes of English renditions across genres and media in the past 120 years starting in 1895. This body of renderings gives considerable material for research on how particularly translations have been handled. To give an overview of this research, this article proposes a bibliometric analysis to sketch a map of the translation studies conducted so far on The Journey to the West. A series of queries are made: which translators are most researched; which translations are most often compared with each other; which research questions are most addressed or ignored; which theories are most applied to resolve these questions. As Rovira-Esteva et al. state, “we need maps to know where we are so as to be helped instead of unconsciously being steered by them” (p. 160). The multiple and complementary perspectives we provide in this article are constructive to identify problems and lacunas and point out future directions. The present analytical framework has been applied to English translations of a Chinese classic, but we believe it can be successfully extrapolated to other similar cases.

Translation of Persian Mystic Terms into English: A Case Study of Conference of the Birds by Attar

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (7) ◽  
pp. 552
Author(s):  
Sadaf Khosroshahi ◽  
Ahmad Sedighi
Keyword(s):  
Dominant Strategy ◽  
Literary Translation ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Direct Transfer ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Translation Strategy ◽  
English Translations ◽  
The One ◽  
Persian Translation

Translation of mystic terms or metaphors is a very important portion of rendering a text from a source language to a target language, because some of mystic terms do not exist in the target language and this point makes the translation harder. This paper aimed at identifying the translation strategies and procedures used by Darbandi and Davis (1984) in The Conference of the Birds of Attar Neishabouri. To achieve the objectives, Attar’s Persian original work (Shafiei Kadkani, 2010) was read carefully to extract mystical terms.  Then, the translated text by Darbandi, and Davis (1984) was carefully read and the corresponding English translations of Persian mystical term were found.  The original mystical terms and their Persian translation were analyzed based on Van Doorslaer’s (2007) map to find out translation strategies and procedures used by the translators on the one hand and indicate the dominant strategy and procedure in the whole work of translation on the other. The result showed that literal translation strategy (72.41%) was the most frequently used strategy and direct transfer procedure (68.96%) was the most frequently used procedure.  This paper may have some implications in literary translation and help translation instructors and translation trainees as well in translation classes.

scholarly journals Lexical Choices and Ideology in Translation: A Case Study of 'The old Man and the Sea

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (6) ◽  
pp. 258-265
Author(s):  
Maryam Najafian
Keyword(s):  
Ernest Hemingway ◽  
Real Life ◽  
The Other ◽  
Critical Study ◽  
Original Novel ◽  
Original Text ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Original Sample ◽  
Significant Difference

The present research aims at conducting a critical study of the novel 'The Old Man and the Sea' written by Ernest Hemingway (1976) and its two translated versions in Persian; one rendered by Faramarzi (2006) the other by Shahin (1979). The researchers apply a comparative lexical analysis proposed by Newmark (1988) and Venuti (1995). An attempt has been made to reveal the ideology behind the original sample words and to show how translators and the effect thereof handle it. The data of this research consists of 10 ideological laden terms selected randomly among 45 words from the original text and the corresponding Persian translations. The results of this study suggest a significant difference between the two Persian translations and the original novel. It revealed that one of the translators has attempted to 'domesticate' his translation while another has been attentive to 'foreignize' it. As for implication, it seems necessary to note that translational decisions made by actual translators under different socio-cultural and ideological settings in real life and real situations should be considered. The perlocutionary consequences resulted from adoption of such decisions are of importance.

Minority voices in literary fiction: a case study of translating multilingual practices

Multilingua ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Arja Nurmi
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Minority ◽  
Short Story ◽  
Ethnic Identities ◽  
Literary Fiction ◽  
Original Text ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Second Year ◽  
Field Of Inquiry

AbstractTranslating multilingual texts is still a new field of inquiry. Transplanting a text where the function of embraced multilingual practices is strongly related to local ethnic identities can provide challenges for translators and readers alike. This study discusses the translation strategies adopted by second-year translation students on an assignment to translate part of Patricia Grace’s short story “The Dream” into Finnish. The strategies for dealing with the Maori passages in the story varied, both in terms of how many of the Maori passages were preserved and how much intratextual translation was included in the text. The strategies were investigated both in the translations themselves and in the accompanying translation comments the students produced. The degree to which the translators showed an in-depth understanding of the nuances relevant to the representation of an ethnic minority of another culture varied. There was more sensitivity to a Finnish reader’s insufficient familiarity with the Maori language and culture than to the meaning of the representations of Maori language and culture in the original text.

Multiplicity in lieu of authority

Babel ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
pp. 579-593
Author(s):  
Josh Stenberg
Keyword(s):  
Original Text ◽  
The Past ◽  
Internet Users ◽  
English Translations ◽  
Classical Poetry ◽  
Meaning Creation ◽  
Multiple Meanings ◽  
Simultaneous Reading

Abstract Over the past two decades, internet users have been the prolific producers of online English translations of Chinese classical poetry, resulting in multiple variant translations of the same short originals. This essay gives reasons for the popularity of such translations before examining how this corpus can be approached through ‘near-simultaneous reading.’ A case study of ten amateur internet translations of a line from a well-known Tang poem shows how, regardless of the deficiencies or limits of any single internet translation, a richer and more accurate understanding of the original can be achieved through reading several in succession. Insofar as it refrains from privileging any given translation, near-simultaneous reading allows the polysemy of the original to be respected by encounters with multiple versions, and puts the onus of meaning-creation on the reader. Reading in this fashion opens new avenues for imagining the multiple meanings of an original text via variants experienced in quick succession and assembled uniquely.

Edward Warren Clark and Early Meiji Japan: A Case Study of Cultural Contact

1977 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 557-572
Author(s):  
A. Hamish Ion
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Education ◽  
English Language Education ◽  
The West ◽  
Meiji Japan ◽  
Cultural Contact ◽  
European Culture ◽  
Meiji Era

Protestantism in the early Meiji era has long interested Western students as an aspect of the encounter between Japan and expanding European culture in the nineteenth century. Edward Warren Clark (1849–1907) and other American laymen, who went to Japan as teachers and not society missionaries, played a significant role in the process during the 1870s. Edward Warren Clark is known to Western scholars of the Meiji period for his contribution to the development of English-language education and as the author of books based upon his experiences in Japan. In his letters to William Elliot Griffis (1843–1928), Clark reveals opinions concerning Japan and Japanese acquaintances, and the hopes and tribulations of teaching Western studies. These are interesting in themselves as one American's views, and they also shed more valuable light upon Japanese attitudes toward the West between 1871 and 1875. In this study of cultural contact, particular attention will be paid to Clark's evangelistic work in Shizuoka and later in Tokyo, and the influence of his Christian ideas and misconceptions upon certain Japanese, especially Nakamura Masanao (Keiu, 1832–91).

scholarly journals Repetition in Literary Arabic: Foregrounding, Backgrounding, and Translation Strategies

2010 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 753-769 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hisham A. Jawad
Keyword(s):  
Mental Image ◽  
Base Material ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Original Text ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Stylistic Development ◽  
English Translations ◽  
Item Repetition ◽  
Three Stages

Abstract The paper investigates lexical repetition in Arabic original literary texts and English translations. The empirical base material consists of a three-part autobiography (al-Ayyām, by Tāhā Hussein) and its translation (The Days). The method involves a mapping of the target text (TT) onto the source text (ST) so as to see how instances of lexical repetition are rendered into the translations and what are the strategies and norms involved in determining certain translation choices. Three types of lexical repetition are studied: lexical-item repetition, lexical-doublet repetition and phrase repetition. Lexical repetition serves two major functions, namely textual and rhetorical. The textual function concerns the potential of repetition for organising the text and rendering it cohesive, while the rhetorical foregrounds a mental image or invokes emotions in emotive language. It is observed that the translation of the autobiography’s second part is characterised mainly by the absence of lexical repetition, contrary to the translations of the first and third parts. Thus, the target text misrepresents the original author as passing through three stages of textual, stylistic development. As to the translation strategies, the findings suggest that the translators vary the ST by using different patterns of reference. Rhetorical repetition is backgrounded by at least one translator who replaces it with pervasive variation. It is argued that the ambivalence of their approaches leads to a misrepresentation of the original text (and perhaps the author) as rather uneven.The strategies for translating lexical repetition highlight the translators’ individual attitudes towards the ST’s norms and their adherence to the linguistic and cultural norms prevalent in the TL environment. On the whole, there is a variation in the degree of bias towards the norms of either SL or TL. In terms of Toury’s norms model, it may be safe to claim that the general trend of translational norms seems to lean more towards the acceptability pole than the adequacy pole, i.e., a TL-oriented strategy is opted for.

scholarly journals European Capitals of Culture

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-32
Author(s):  
Alexandros Sianos
Keyword(s):  
Soft Power ◽  
English Language ◽  
Reference Model ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
The West ◽  
Digital Repositories ◽  
Power Resources ◽  
Post War ◽  
Integration Project

Using English-language newspaper articles retrieved from digital repositories, this article examines the cultural asymmetrical encounter between Western and Eastern Europe after 1989. It argues that due to the rise of the Iron Curtain after 1948 and the post-war progress of the Western European integration project after 1950, the idea of ‘Europe’ was confined to the West until 1989. After 1989, however, the Eastern European nations were free to ‘return to Europe’, and in order to do so they followed the ‘reference model’ of the West. Taking the institution of the European Capital of Culture (ECOC) as a case study, the article demonstrates how both Western and Eastern European cities used the ECOC title as a gateway to modernity, why it acquired an extra functionality in the East as a stage where they could showcase their ‘European’ credentials, and how it gradually developed into one of the EU’s ‘soft power’ resources.

scholarly journals Names in Literary Translation: A Case Study of English Versions of the Slovenian Tale Martin Krpan

2017 ◽  
Vol 50 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 137-152
Author(s):  
Darja Mazi – Leskovar
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Literary Translation ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Cultural Character ◽  
English Translations

This article presents three English translations of the Slovenian tale Martin Krpan z Vrha (1858) by Fran Levstik and focuses on the translation of personal and geographical names with the aim of examining the application of domestication and foreignization translation strategies. The comparative analysis of the English names aims to find out if the cultural gap between the source and the target cultures has been diminishing over the years. The study also highlights the role of the chronotope that gives the work, one of the most frequently translated Slovenian texts, a distinctive cultural character.

In a strange other world. Urszula Kochanowska by Bolesław Leśmian translated into English

Tekstualia ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (7) ◽  
pp. 83-98
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Wieczorkiewicz
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Poetic Language ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Critical Comparison ◽  
English Translations ◽  
Strongly Connected ◽  
Other World ◽  
Polish Culture

The article focuses on English translations of Bolesław Leśmian’s Urszula Kochanowska, especially those by Marian Polak-Chlabicz and Krzysztof Bartnicki. The author of the article aims to achieve a critical comparison between different translation strategies ventured to conquer the diffi culties associated with translating this verse, which is strongly connected with Polish culture and literature. The close-reading of the translations is accompanied by a short outline of Leśmian’s existence in English language along with an attempt to answer the question of whether translating his poetic language is at all possible or is Leśmian’s work an evident proof (as many critics say) of the phenomenon known as untranslatability.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document