Abstract
Based on comparisons of results from similar research, it is noticed that corpus statistics such as type-token ratio, mean sentence length and patterns of reporting structure are not very effective in differentiating different translators’ styles. It is proposed in this chapter that, apart from the translator’s style resulting from their unconscious use of the target language regardless of the source texts (i.e., the T-Type), studies of translator’s style should also take account of their purposeful strategies for coping with particular language patterns in the source text/language which show some consistency in all their translations (i.e., the S-type). The study in this chapter investigates the styles of three English translations of the Chinese novel Luotuo Xiangzi respectively by Jean James, Shi Xiaojing and Howard Goldblatt, focusing on the renderings of discourse presentation. The results show that the three translators differ significantly in their renderings of particular forms of Chinese discourse presentation which can be taken as an indicator of the S-type translator’s style.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The pre-linguistics period of translation studies refers to the period before linguistics is applied to translation studies.
- 2.
In the examples, the ambiguous forms of Chinese discourse presentations in the source text are underlined. In Goldblatt’s version of Luotuo Xiangzi, translations of the ambiguous forms of Chinese discourse presentation are mostly italicized. It is obvious that the translator has noticed the difference between Chinese and English in this respect.
- 3.
The mean sentence length in Olohan (2004: 80) is 135.08 originally, which must be a mistake.
- 4.
Three Sisters is translated by Goldblatt in collaboration with Sylvia Li-Chun Lin.
References
Baker, Mona. 2000. Towards a methodology for investigating the style of a literary translator? Target 12(2): 241–266.
Boase-Beier, Jean. 2006. Stylistic approaches to translation. Manchester: St. Jerome.
Bosseaux, Charlotte. 2001. A study of the translator’s voice and style in the French translation of Virginia Woolf’s The waves. In CTIS occasional papers 1, ed. Olohan Meave, 55–75. Manchester: Centre for Translation and Intercultural Studies, UMIST.
Bosseaux, Charlotte. 2004. Point of view in translation: A corpus-based study of French translations of Virginia Woolf’s To the lighthouse. Across Languages and Cultures 5(1): 107–123.
Bosseaux, Charlotte. 2007. How does it feel? Point of view in translation: The case of Virginia Woolf into French. Amsterdam: Rodopi.
Chesterman, Andrew. 2004a. Beyond the particular. In Translation universals: Do they exist? ed. Mauranen Anna and Kujamäki Pekka, 33–49. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Chesterman, Andrew. 2004b. Hypothesis about translation universals. In Claims, changes and challenges in translation studies. Selected contributions for the EST congress, Copenhagen, 2001, ed. Gyde Hansen, Kirsten Malmkjær, and Daniel Gile, 1–13. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Frawley, William. 1984. Prolegomenon to a theory of translation. In Translation: Literary, linguistic and philosophical perspectives, ed. William Frawley, 159–175. London: Associated University Press.
Goldblatt, Howard. (Trans.). 2010. Rickshaw Boy: A novel. New York: Harper Perennial.
Holmes, David I. 1985. The analysis of literary style—A review. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series A (General) 148(4): 328–341.
James, Jean M. (Trans.). 1979. Rickshaw: The novel of Lo-t’o Hsiang Tzu. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
King, Evan. (Trans.). 1945. Rickshaw Boy. New York: Reynal and Hitchcock.
Lao, She. 1952. Luotuo Xiangzi [Camel Xiangzi]. Shanghai: Shanghai Chenguang Press.
Leech, Geffrey, and Mick Short. 1981. Style in fiction: A linguistic introduction to English fictional prose. London: Longman.
Malmkjær, Kirsten. 2003. What happened to God and the angels: An exercise in translational stylistics? Target 15(1): 37–58.
Newmark, Peter. 1981. Approaches to translation. Oxford: Pergamon Press.
Olohan, Meave. 2004. Introducing corpora in translation studies. London: Routledge.
Olohan, Meave, and Mona Baker. 2000. Reporting that in translated English: Evidence for subconscious processes of explicitation. Across Languages and Cultures 1(2): 141–158.
Saldanha, Gabriela. 2011a. Style of translation: The use of foreign words in translations by Margaret Jull Costa and Peter Bush. In Corpus-based translation studies: Research and applications, ed. Alet Kruger, Kim Wallmarch, and Jeremy Munday, 20–35. London: Continuum.
Saldanha, Gabriela. 2011b. Translator style: Methodological considerations. The Translator 17(1): 25–50.
Semino, Elena, and Mick Short. 2004. Corpus stylistics: Speech, writing and thought presentation in a corpus of English writing. London: Routledge.
Shen, Dan. 1991. Ye tan Zhongguo xiaoshuo xushu zhong zhuanshuyu de dutexing [On the idiosyncrasies of modes of speech presentation in Chinese Narrative Fiction]. Journal of Peking University (Philosophy and Social Science Edition) 28(4): 76–79, 82.
Shi, Xiaojing. (Trans.). 1981/2004. Camel Xiangzi. Beijing: Foreign Language Press.
Winters, Marion. 2004a. German translations of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The beautiful and damned: A corpus-based study of modal particles as features of translators’ style. In Using corpora and databases in translation, ed. Ian Kemble, 71–78. Portsmouth: University of Portsmouth.
Winters, Marion. 2004b. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Die Schönen und Verdammten: A corpus-based study of loan words and code switches as features of translators’ style. Language Matters 35(1): 248–258.
Winters, Marion. 2007. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Die Schönen und Verdammten: A corpus-based study of speech-act report verbs as a feature of translators’ style. Meta 52(3): 412–425.
Winters, Marion. 2009. Modal particles explained: How modal particles creep into translations and reveal translators’ styles. Target 21(1): 74–97.
Zhao, Yiheng. 1987. Xiaoshuo xushu zhong de zhuanshuyu [Reporting speech in fictional narration]. Literature and Art Studies (5): 78–87.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Huang, L. (2015). Discourse Presentation Translation as an Indicator of Translator’s Style: A Case Study of Lao She’s Luotuo Xiangzi and Its Three English Translations. In: Style in Translation: A Corpus-Based Perspective. New Frontiers in Translation Studies. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-45566-1_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-45566-1_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-662-45565-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-662-45566-1
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawSocial Sciences (R0)