鄒玥俐

（芊言翻譯（北京）有限公司，北京100085）

0n the Translation o f Nicknam es in Ou tlaw s o f the M arsh from the Perspective o f Functional Translation Theo ry

鄒玥俐

（芊言翻譯（北京）有限公司，北京100085）

According to the Functional Translation Theory which derived from Germany in the 1970s,the purpose of the entire translation behavior determ ines the basic principle of any translation process.?By analyzing translation of the heroes'nicknames in Sidney Shapiro's translation of Outlaw s of the Marsh from the perspective of Functional Translation Theory,this paper aims to illustrate intercultural translation obstaclescaused by the collision between eastern and western cultures,from which enlightenment aboutcross-cultural translation can be gained.

Functional Translation Theory;Outlaw sof theMarsh;N ickname Translation

一、Introduction

With the increase of comprehensive national power and improvement of China's international position,China’s influence is rapidly rising.The process of economic and cultural globalization impels communication and collision between eastern and western cultures,andmore andmore foreigners begin to show unprecedented enthusiasm for classical Chinese culture.As the charm of classical Chinese literature is irresistible,translation of classical Chinese literature proves to be more and more important.Yet,as for what translating strategies should be applied in concrete translation,there has been a long-lasting debate.Functional Translation Theory has great instructional significance to English translation,and eventually facilitatesspreading ofclassicalChinese literatureacross theworld.

二、FunctionalTranslation Theory

Function Translation Theory originated in Germany in the 1970s,with Katharina Reiss being the founder.?According to the German psychologist Carl Buhler,language has three functions: informational function,expressive function,function of calling feelings.?Reiss connected the three functions with the category of language and text typology,establishing the total contact between various types of texts and methods of translation.“Reiss's student Hans Vermeer set up the most important theory of the functional school,‘Skopostheorie’.This German word comes from the Greek word‘skopos’,which means‘purpose’,‘target’,‘function’”(Liu Junping,2009:377).And later Justa Holz-Mattanri and Christiane Nord improved this theory.

The core concept of Functional Translation Theory is that the essence of translation is cross-cultural communication activity with a purpose.?During the process of translation,realization of expected function in target language culture should be regarded as the first principle.The expected purpose and function of translation decides the methods and strategies of translation.In other words,specific methods and strategies of translation should be chosen according to the specific purposeof translation.

三 、The App lication of Functional Translation Theory in Nicknam e's Translation

Nickname is a common cultural phenomenon in both Chinese and English-speaking nations.Charles Dickens said in his novel A Child's History of England:"almost every famous person had a nickname in those rough days."In the long history,Chinese and English have formed nicknames with respective culturalmeanings.? Butbecause of the differentevolution of differentnationalgeography, history,ethnic psychology,religious belief and traditional culture, nicknames of Chinese and English-speaking nations embody obvious national characteristics in cultural mindset,which leads to the difficulties in the translation process.The traditional translation study is often limited to linguistic level,emphasizing on the equivalence of meaning and function.?The most important evaluation standard of translation effectis that translation is faithful to the original.?However, with so many differences between two languages and cultures,the equivalence of form and content is impossible.?This is the major reasonwhy this paper turns to Functional Translation Theory.

（一）Shapiro'sTranslation of the Heroes'N icknamesin Outlaws of theMarsh

Asone of the fourgreatestChinese literature classics,Outlawsof the Marsh,by well-known novelist Shi Naian in the early Ming Dynasty,is the first chapter novel written in vernacular in China's history.In the novel,Shi Naian gave every hero a special nickname according to the historicalstory,orbased on amyth or a legend.After the author'smeticulous choice,nicknames and characters eventually perfectly matched.These nicknames reflect not only the author's aesthetic views,but the nationalaesthetic psychology at that time.The nicknames in this novel are rich in cultural connotations.Some cultures are national,and there is no corresponding word or similar cultural concept of the word in another language,which is amajor difficulty for translating.

Outlawsof theMarshwas introduced into Europeand the United States in the 19th century.Now it has been translated into variouslanguages,and hasmany English versions.In the English version of Sidney Shapiro,he translated the heroes'nicknames by using differentstrategies,which reflectshis careful consideration in weighing the linguistic and cultural transformation and effectof the nicknames.

Aseffectsof translation is the lifeblood of literature translation,it can be seen that the process of translating the heroes'nicknames in Outlaws of the Marsh is the process of producing results from the communication between eastern culture and western culture.Reiss and Nord,the representatives of Germany function school,support that translation has its purpose and purpose produces function.For the achievement of function,any translation method is acceptable. Thatmeans translation can be flexible.In the following text,various translationmethodsofnicknames,including paraphrasing,free translation,and equivalence translation in Shapiro's translation of nicknames,willbe examined from the perspective of Functional Translation Theory.

1.Paraphrasing

When the sourceword is basically equivalent to a targetword in form,meaning and function,direct translation is usually used by translators.But since this is the translation aboutwritings in ancient Chinese,there are some differences in words and sentence structure between ancientandmodern Chinese.Asa result,even contemporary Chinese cannotunderstand them absolutely,which increases the difficulty of translation.In this situation,if direct translation cannotwell express the contextualeffects,paraphrasing can be considered foruse. Translatorshave to figure out themeaning of the ancientChineseword first,and then translate it into the contemporary word which can be accepted and understood bymodern readers.

Forexample,before translating"火眼狻猊","翻江蜃",and"母大蟲(chóng)",we need to understand themeaning of these ancient Chinesewords first.

"狻猊"is the Sanskrit name of the lion in Buddhism.?In the ancient Chinesemyth,he is the fifth son of Dragon.?He likes silence and fireworks and hatesmoving.?In the novel,Deng Fei is just like a wild lion with crimson eyeswhich look like fire and bushy whisker. Shapiro accurately translated the nickname into"the Firery-eyed Lion".

National Languages?The Language in Jin(1986:2766)notes that"The smallone is called'clam';the big one is called'蜃'.Both belong tomussel"So"蜃"is a kind ofbig clam.That'swhy Shapiro translated"翻江蜃"into"theRiver Churning Clam".

Here"母大蟲(chóng)"cannotbe translated into"the Big Female Insect",because"大蟲(chóng)"in ancientChinesemeans tiger,and Shapiro properly translated itinto"the Tigress".

2.Free Translation

Free translation refers to translation in accordance with the gist the original instead ofword forword.?Thismethod is usually used in the situation where huge cultural differences existbetween the original language and the target language.?From the pointofcross-cultural translation and cultural communication,free translation emphasizes the different cultural systems'relative independence of the original language and the target language.Besides,free translation makes translation clearand precise,lessambiguousand easier to understand for foreign readers.

The translator used themethod of free translation,as shown in translation of the threebrothers'nicknames:"立地太歲"阮小二,"短命二郎"阮小五and"活閻羅"阮小七.

To some extent,nicknames also reflect the feudal superstition beliefof the common people at that time sinceall the nicknamescome from ominous gods who scare the common people.Jin Shengtan (1985:77)said:"合兄弟三人渾名，可發(fā)一嘆。蓋太歲，生方也；閻羅，死王也；生死相續(xù)，中間又是短命，則安得有不著書(shū)自?shī)?，以消永日?"Instead of translating their nicknames into"the Taisui Standing on the Ground","the short-lived Erlang","the Living Yama",he translated them into"the Ferocious Giant","the Reckless Rash","the Devil Incarnate",which accurately reflect the three brothers'nature:Ruan the Second is cruel,violent and savagely fierce;Ruan the Fifth is impertinentand reckless;Ruan the Seventh is very aggressive.The translation of their nicknames serves as a foil to their rebelliousand inviolable images.

3.FunctionalEquivalence Translation

Eugene Nida,an American translation theorist,put forward FunctionalEquivalence Theory on the basisof the translation practice ofBible.Namely,“from semantics tostylesofwriting,touse the closest and the most natural equivalent word in the target language to represent the information of theoriginal language”(Nida,2001:91).

The so-called"functionalequivalence translation"is to translate aword with a particular cultural color in the original language into a word in the samemeaning without cultural color in the target language.?Some words in the original language come form specific culturaland historicalbackground.Therefore,if the foreign readers have no background knowledge,itwill be difficult to understand the true meaningof thesewords.When the target language cannotwellexplain a word in the original language,functional equivalence translation should be used.Simply speaking,translation shouldmeet the readers' needs.Thatmeans the translator can choose some similar cultural imagery in the target languagewhen the element in the source language aremissing in the culture of target language tomake iteasily acceptable for targetaudience.

For example,"麒麟"(Kylin)is amythical animal in ancient Chinese.It looks likea deer,with ahorn on thehead and a tailwhich is just like oxtail.However,there isno same kind ofmythical creature inwestern culture,so equivalence translationwasused.Shapiro chose a similarword"Unicom"as the equivalent since they do have some common character,whichmakes iteasy forwestern readers to understand.Similarly,"尉遲",an official title ofancientChina has no equivalentword in English,either.Therefore the translator chose the word"General".

（二）Query on Shapiro'sTranslation of the Heroes'N icknames

Although Shapiro'translation isgenerally accepted,there are alsosome queries,such as the translation about some vague Chinese words,translation ofnameswhich are unique in ancientChinese culture,etc.;actuallymostof them can be justified by Functional Translation Theory,which sets up a basis for use of flexible translation methodsand strategies.

Certainly,no translation can ensure perfection,and Shapiro'sOutlawsof theMarsh is no exception.For instance,Shapiro translated "大刀"into"the Big Halberd".However,in English dictionary "halberd"is a kind of ancient Chinese weapon combined by spear and battle-axe.Guan Sheng,amaster of strategy,is a descendantof Guan Yu who was a famous valiant general during the Three Kingdoms period.Guan Sheng's nickname comes from theweapon which he uses.That is a broadsword,called"Black Dragon-CrescentMoon Broadsword",which had been theweapon ofGuan Yu.However,halberd isabsolutely anotherweaponwhich is different from broadsword.

四、Inspiration of FunctionalTranslation Theory

The Functional Translation Theory hasmomentous current significance for conducting the practice of translation,and at the same time,it gives a theoretical basis for the excellent translation verified by practicebutagainstsome translation standards,making people begin to reevaluate translation methods,such as abridgement,adaptation,interpretation,etc.,which are necessary for the anticipative function of the translation,butare notadvocated traditionally.Actually,those special translationmethodswillbringa strikingeffect,ifused appropriately.

The analysisof the translation and itseffectofheroes'nicknames show that the basisof translation isunderstanding and conjecture according to the personalities and behavior of the figures.Therefore,the translatorsshould regard the translation targetsasa partof the specific environment,history,culture and choose the proper target words andmethods of translation in order to express the fullmeaning of the sourcewords.

Target language and source language agree with each other and depart from each otherat the same timeon function.Different translatorswillnot translate in the sameway and there are never two identical English versions from different translators.Because of the intra-linguistic and inter-linguistic differences in the view of untranslatability,the thorough translation is impossible.But ifwe understand untranslatability from the purpose and the anticipative function of translation,itwillnotbe a problem since various kinds of translation methods and strategies can be used freely,even those untraditional translationmethods,based on the Functional Translation Theory.

五、Conclusion

In translation of nicknames,not only the literalmeaning needs considering,the extended meaning should also be reflected to some extent,fornickname itself is theexpression of internalpersonality and external features of the figure.In addition,translators should put the nickname in the specific culturalenvironmentand synthesize various factorswhichmay influence the translation and finally form the perfect translation by the comprehensive analysis,making the effectand function ofnickname display incisively.

Chinese culture isextensive,profound and time-honored.?Nicknames are a kind of reflection of Chinese culture.?Translation of nicknames in classical Chinese literature requires translators notonly to deftlymaster language and skills,but also to understand cultural differences,which will facilitate the spread of Chinese culture,and help foreign readers have a better understanding of Chinese culture. The Skopos Theory liberates translation from the original,annotates translation activities from the view of translators and readers and brings a new revolution in the circle of translation theory.Functional Translation Theory cannot solve all the problems in translation and alsohas itsown deficiencies,butitdoesofferusanew idea tounderstand and study translation.

In conclusion,Functional Translation Theory whose basic standard is the purpose of translation providing a new methodology for cross-culturalunderstanding and translation,allows us to translate in variousmethods such as paraphrasing,free translation,equivalence translation,ellipsis,etc.according to the purpose,ensuring that culture can be smoothly transmitted through cross-culturalbarriers.

[1]Etymologisch.Teachingand Studyof Language3.Guangdong:CommercialPress[J].1986.

[2]Liu Junping.A General History of Western Translation Theory[M]. Wuhan:Wuhan UniversityPress,2009.

[3]Nida.Languageand Culture:Contexts in Translation[A].Shanghai:Foreign LanguageEducation Press,2001.

[4]Shi Naian.Outlaws of the Marsh,trans.Beijing:Foreign Languages Press.2004.

[5]金圣嘆.第五才子書(shū)施耐庵水滸傳[M].鄭州:中州古籍出版社,1985.

H059

A

1005-5312（2015）20-0264-03