StudyonYuGuangzhong’sFlexibilityandOppositionofTranslationese

【Abstract】Yu Guangzhong， a well-known Chinese scholar， promotes his thoughts in his book Yu Guangzhongs Comment on Translation.This paper analyses his thoughts of flexibility and opposition of translationese and prove significances of his thoughts by making a comparison of two English versions of The Old Man and the Sea.

【Key words】Yu Guangzhong； flexibility；opposition of translationese；

1.Introduction

Yu Guangzhong is a well-known scholar in the 20th century.Being proficient in both Chinese and English， he has a good command of Chinese and western literature.According to the historical information， when the translations of foreign literature interfered in Chinese literature， the problem of Europeanization language emerged.In The Art of Flexibility， he opposes the ideas that “translation is treason” or “translation is like a woman， elegant but unfaithful”.In his idea， translation is like marriage and is an art based on mutual compromise （Yu， 2000）.He disagrees with the over-westernization and translationese， so the flexibility in his mind is that westernization should be complementary with easternization to achieve a balance.

This article aims at analyzing differences of the two Chinese versions of The Old Man and the Sea and indicating that Yus proposal for promoting flexibility and opposing translationese has significantly practical effect on the translation strategies in translating English into Chinese.

2.The Representations of Flexibility and Opposition of Translationese

In the article Writer， Scholar and Translator， Yu states that it is crucial to represent the style of the original text in the translation.However， the target text should not be overwhelmed by the original text.As we all know， the absolute equivalence between the two languages is hard to be achieved by the translators because of the differences in spelling， grammar， rhetoric features， ways of reasoning， aesthetic values and cultural backgrounds.Thus a good translation is like clothes which should be custom-made rather than ready-made （Yu， 2000）.This is a kind of flexibility.Then how to achieve this flexibility and avoid the translationese？ Here， the author will analyze it from the following aspects.

2.1 On the Word Level

As Yu says， if the writer is God， then the translator is a wizard.It is his responsibility to deliver the language of God to the common people.The significance of translation lies in the way that conveys the “oracle” most suitably instead of enigmatically.Namely， translator is the bridge between God and common people， so it is essential for translator to make a flexible arrangement.Here， the author analyzes the flexibility in the word level and show Yus effort to avoid the translationese.

E.g.1 The old man could see him clearly with the light that came in from the dying room.

1.老人靠着外面射进来的残月的光线， 清楚地看见他。（Wu，p.44）

2.借着落月透进来的清光，老人一眼就看到他。（Yu， p.23）

Wu translates the original sentence clearly with every English words corresponding with the Chinese expression.He changes the adjective words into “的” and adverbs into “地”.There are also many such translations in his book.This translation， in Yus eyes， is the translationese.In his article《论的的不休》，he analyses this kind of translation and states that using less “的” is the beginning of the translator to be rescued because some translators make over use of “的” to monopolize all types of adjectives（Yu ，2000）.In some situation， some “的” can be avoided if they are dealt agilely.Yu follows his proposal so readers can discover his effort of the word order.Yu puts “落月” before the modifier ，thus “的” can be omitted.The author thinks “一眼” is very expressive which reflects the clearness of the moon light.Compared with the first version， the second is more suitable for the Chinese expression.

E.g.2.Everything about him was old except his eyes and they were the same color as the sea and were cheerful and undefeated.

1.古老，显得喜洋洋而不服输。（Wu，p.27）

2.苍老，活泼而坚定。（Yu， p.3）

Here， the author talks about the flexibility of choosing words.Looking at the underlined parts， they are all adjectives but two translators use different Chinese words.“Old” can be used to modify people or other things.However， here it reflects the characteristics of the man， thus “苍老” is more precise than “古老” for the former indicates the suffering of the man in the novel.Besides， Wu uses the literal translation which can be seen from “cheerful and undefeated”.His translation is not rearranged while Yu chooses “活泼” and “坚定” to take the place of the two adjectives.The two parallel phrases make the sentence rhythmed.

2.2 On the Sentence Level

As Yu analyses the sentence features of Hemingway in the preface in The Old Man and the Sea （2011） which translated by himself， they are concise， tight and short.The paragraph is short， too.Hemingway always separates the long sentence into two and then begins with “but” and “and”.So when Yu is translating， he tries his best to deal with the original texts flexibly.Here， the author gives some examples.

E.g.3.He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream.

1.他是个独自在湾流中一条平底小帆船上钓鱼的老人。（Wu，p.27）

2.那老人独驾轻舟，在墨西哥湾暖流里捕鱼。（Yu ， p.3）

The original sentence has many modifiers， such as adjective “an”， “old” and attributive clause which leaded by “who”.Wu puts all the modifiers before the topic “老人” while Yu separates it into two simple sentences.The second is more similar to the style of the source text.The two words “an”， “a” show the quantity， so does the word “alone”.The first version uses “个”， “独自” and “一条” to instead the three words in the original.To some extent， it is very faithful.However， the first version is a little long and prolix.Also， it is hard to read.Seeing the second， it seems that Yu does not translate the three quantity words， however， he uses “那” and “独” which vividly show the state of the old man.Besides this， Yu is flexible for the use of the idiomatic Chinese expression “独驾轻舟”.“捕鱼” is more faithful than “钓鱼” here.

Conclusion

As the author has analyzed， Yu carefully follows his own theory on translation and tries to make the translation as he describes in his articles.No matter from the word level or sentence level， flexibility and opposition of translationese make great contribution to the translation from English to Chinese.In other words， Yu is trying to work out a translation which can both retain the favors of the source text and sound idiomatic to the target reader.

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作者简介：周楚（1990-），四川成都人，硕士在读。研究方向：翻译理论与实践。