Book Report

Author: Liu Zhongde
About The Author: Mr.Liu Zhongde is Professor of English in Foreign Languages Department, Hunan Teachers University. His main works are ¡°The Study of the English Word ¡®AS¡¯¡±, ¡°Random Talk on Translation¡±, ¡°Ten Lectures on Literary Translation¡±, ¡°Ema¡±, ¡°Uncle Tom¡¯s Cabin¡± and so on.

Main Content of this book:

Lecture 1 Nature of Translation

Translation is not only a science with its own laws and methods but also an art of reproduction and recreation. Translation is a science with its own peculiar laws methods, a science related to lexicology, grammar, rhetoric and other branches of linguistics; translation is an art because a translator should have an understanding of literature and art, rhetoric and aesthetics, or he or she can¡¯t accomplish the task of reproduction of the original.

Lecture 2 Principles of Translation

Three principles of translation put forward: faithfulness, expressiveness, and closeness. Mr. Liu defines them as follows: faithfulness, to be faithful to the content of the original; expressiveness, to be as expressive as the original; closeness, to be as close to the original style as possible.
Lecture 3 Faithfulness of Translation

Faithfulness is the generalization of the three principles of translation. That¡¯s to say, true translation demands that the translator be faithful to the content, language and style of the original. By faithfulness to the content and style of the original the translator must be true to its whole text, not to metaphase individual phrases or sentences.

Lecture 4 Literal Translation and Free Translation

Literal translation and free translation have been ¡°twin sisters¡± ever since the work of translation came into being, and we should use the method of literal translation and the method of free translation in a flexible and realistic way and with the former as the primary and that it would be absolutely wrong to favor one and disfavor the other.

Lecture 5 Commonly-used Methods of Translation

This lecture focuses on some common methods of translation, cited as follows: 1 corresponding sentence patterns; 2 rearrangement of word order; conversion of parts of speech; 4 proper addition or omission; 5 necessary repetition; 6 with the help of ¡°ÓÐÈË¡±£» 7 by means of either ¡°×£¡± or ¡°Ô¸¡±; 8 making use of extraposition; 9 mutual transformation of affirmative and negative expressions; 10 translation of passive voice

Lecture 6 How to Translate English Attributive Clauses

A translator should observe the laws and methods of translating various kinds of attributive clauses. Mr. Liu offers some important skills of translating all kinds of attributive clauses.
Lecture 7 Image-Rendering and Sentence-Division
in Translation from Chinese into English

Four methods of rendering images and figures of speech: 1) the method of literal translation, 2) the method of transformation of images, 3) the method of free translation to convey the meaning the original images contain and 4) the method of transliteration.
The rest part concerning sentence division is omitted here.

Lecture 8 Translatability of Literary Style

All languages are basically the same in function, and as far as the wording and style of a whole piece of translation are concerned, there are objective criteria to go by. The ideological content, linguistic expression and stylistic characteristics of a literary work constitute a unified entity, and the translator should reproduce the three elements as a whole. The translatability of literary style of the original work has been testified and guiding principles. All literary translators are expected to uphold reproduction of the original style as their common goal and strive for it all their lives.

Lecture 9 Problems of Translation Poems

Mr. Liu holds that it is possible but quite difficult to translate poems satisfactorily and successfully. First of all, there exist many things in common among men, that is, all human beings are endowed by nature with the same mind that has the same function so that they can commune with one another. As a sequence, poetry is understandable, enjoyable and translatable. Secondly, the translatability of poetry has already been demonstrated by quantities of historical facts. But a translation of a poem is more or less different from the original one, thus it is difficult to translate a poem without any loss in semantics and images.

Lecture 10 Translation of English Poetry into Chinese

I. The Influence of the Translation of English Poetry on the New Poetry in China
The May 4th Movement gave birth to quite a few of schools of poetry, such as school of romantic, school for the masses, school of short poems, school of symbolism. All these schools and their representatives were more or less inspired and influenced by foreign poems. Even after the May 4th Movement the Chinese poetry was still influenced by the foreign.
II. Research on the Methods of Translating English Poetry
Before the May 4th Movement, English poems were rendered into Chinese in the form of pre-Tang poetry and ci and qu. Since the May 4th Movement of Literary Revolution put forth the proposition of ¡°promoting writing in the vernacular and opposing those in classical Chinese¡±, remarkable progress has been made in the work of translating English poetry both in language and in form, that is, more and more people translate in the vernacular and pay attention to keeping close to the form of the original.

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Mr. Liu Zhongde gives me an overview of literary translation in his work ¡°TEN LECTURES ON LITERATURE TRANSLATION¡±. What is translation? What is the nature of literary translation? I get a basic idea after reading this book. Translation is, as Mr. Liu holds, is both a science and an art. Maybe its nature is more extensively, but it is a guiding principle under which I do some researches on translation till I find anther more complete definition. I¡¯ more interested in the translation of literature style and images, because this kind translation is not only challenging but also creative. Mr. Liu gives me an affirmative answer to the question if literature style can be translatable, and I will put it in practice. The translation of poetry may be the most challenging and creative work, and because of this, I feel it most attracting. I would like to read more books or articles on translation in the near future.


Meng Qiang
2003-11-10