从功能目的论探讨莫言《蛙》的英译(2)
1.2Research Issue
Mo Yan is not only prized for literature translation and dissemination of contemporary China with a pioneering role, his works also have a profound impact on the Chinese literary works to the world.
The reason why Mo Yan can win the award is literary, political, economic, as well as the film and media networks, and so on. Nonetheless the most important reason is the problem of translation. (Nord, 2001) Mo Yan is a native author and he always uses Chinese to describe his inner word and create his works, but this kind of writing method limits the development of his work. Just some Sinologists can read them and understand the main ideas of his works. So Howard Goldblatt’s translations help his works become more popular and acceptable in the world market.
So this paper, guided by German Functionalist theory, is aimed at the translating method of translation of Mo Yan’ Frog.
1.3Methodology
The paper is aimed at observing the translation of Frog by using the German Functionalist theory. Skopos theory is the most important principle in the German Functionalist theory.(Dollerup, 2007)
In accordance with Skopos theory, during the process of translating we should obey the following three rules: coherence rule, loyalty principle, and skopos rule. Skopos rule means the highest rule, and it requires that during the whole translation process and translation product, the purpose of translation decides the choice of translation strategies.
1.4 Research Value and General Purpose
Theoretically, the functional theory has been developed for a long period and constant testimony of the lasting theory has continually improved it continuously.
Adaption is an idiomatic means of expression in target language to translate the source language, while the Alienation is focused on saving the original taste and flavor of source language. Adaption is for the readers of target language in order that they can completely understand the work. (Thomas, 2003)
And alienation, it makes us see our surroundings from a totally new perspective, and it tries to interpret the literary translation by keeping the core concept of source language, and it is a kind of translation which is established on the foundation of source language. Its core concept is the purpose of translation, but at the same time, the relationship among original author, the translator, and target reader must be harmonized (Nida, 2006).
2 Literature Review
2.1 Mo Yan’s Frog and the translator Howard Goldblatt
Mo Yan's works are epic historical novels characterized by hallucinatory realism , containing elements of black humor. A major theme in Mo Yan's works is the constancy of human greed and corruption, despite the influence of ideology.
Mo Yan always stands in the perspective of people to write and to describe the story and the fate of people. He not only writes rural farmers' misery in the twentieth Century of North China, but also reflects their indomitable vitality hidden under the misery and hard life. At the same time, Mo Yan pays more attention to the depth of human inquiry, almost efforts are devoted into every work to reveal the light and darkness of the soul of human. (Nord, 2001)
The book describes the unusual and magnificent life of my aunt, a village doctor. Aunt’s father is a surgeon in the Eighth Route Army, and he enjoys a great reputation in the Jiaodong area. Aunt inherits the skills of her father after his death. At the beginning, the country implemented new methods, soon she replaced the position of “flingersmith“ by using the new law to deliver a baby.
Aunt has delivered thousands of baby while there were still thousands babies whose lives were ended in her hands. One-couple-one-child family planning policy is a kind of way to evaluate the value of my aunt. She has spent her whole life to the career of one-couple-one-child family planning policy. This novel reflects rural fertility history through representing the experience of a village woman doctor. We can see the complicated and arduous historical process of a country of controlling the sharp increase of population and carrying out national policy.