Abstract

This paper examines the phenomena of over-translations and under-translations in the novel The Garlic Ballads in the perspective of functional translation theory. This novel is written by the Chinese writer Mo Yan and translated into English by the American translator Howard Goldblatt, which is given a warm welcome by Westerners. However, over-translations and under-translations exist in quantities in the English translation which are seemingly translation deficiency. By the means of close reading, the research tries to reveal: (1) both over-translation and under-translation are unable to be avoided, and therefore they cannot be regarded as translation deficiency; (2) the English translation of The Garlic Ballads is made more expressive by appropriately applying the over-translation and under-translation strategies. In this sense, hopefully, the study will be of help to remove the deep-rooted misunderstandings about over-translation and under-translation in the academic community in China.

Keywords: The Garlic Ballads; over-translation; under-translation; equivalence

Contents

Abstract

摘  要

1. Introduction-1

1.1 The Rationale and the Significance of the Proposal-1

1. 2 Research Background-1

1. 3 Research Question-2

1. 4 Theoretical Framework-2

1. 3. 1 Functional Translation Theory-2

1. 3. 2 The Definitions of Over-translation and Under-translation-3

1. 5 Research Methodology-3

2. The Function of Over-translation and Under-translation in the Respect of Lexical Equivalence-3

2. 1 Developing Vividness-3

2. 2 Developing Conciseness-4

3. The Function of Over-translation and Under-translation in the Respect of Syntactical Equivalence-5

3. 1 Producing Conciseness-5

3. 2 Producing Intelligibility-6

3. 3 Constructing Expressiveness-6

4. The Function of Over-translation and Under-translation in the Respect of Semantic Equivalence-7

4.1 Producing Semantic Explicitness-7

4.2 Developing Semantic Vividness-9

4. 3 Producing Semantic Foreshadowing-9

4. 4 Developing Stylistic Terseness-10

5. The Function of Over-translation and Under-translation in the Respect of Stylistic Equivalence-11

5. 1 Developing Faithfulness-11

6. Conclusion-12

7. Limitations-13

References-14