City of Heaven on Earth - Essay Example

Chinese Translation Project: Summary and Analysis The Suzhou Botanical Gardens (A Summary for Tourists) [203 words] Suzhou, literally "City of Heaven on Earth" in the Chinese language, is one of China's famous historical cities. Suzhou's four big botanical gardens, which have a fine reputation, exemplify quality. Constructed between the 16th and 18th centuries, its fine design, is reflected as an example of the pristine ideals and nature of Chinese culture. Regarded for its beautiful scenery, the botanical garden was named as one of the top ten scenic spots in China in 1985. Historically, Suzhou has been the economic center of civilization south of the Yangtze River. Suzhou's botanical gardens are representational of traditional Chinese thought-as evidenced through the name of the main hall, the carvings, the decoration, and the plants. Maintained in the garden is all of the original Chinese calligraphy, which has extremely high cultural relevancy. The rules and regulations of the courtyard in ancient times became evident upon further research. One need not leave the city walls to enjoy the scenery. The Suzhou botanical gardens are magnificent in their artistic conception. The gardens have fine construction, with majestic artwork that connotes and exemplifies the cultural treasures of China. The Suzhou's numerous historic gardens are models of Chinese thought and representative of traditional Chinese culture and values. Analysis. Discuss the problems and issues arising in your translation process, e.g., understanding of the ST, textual comprehension, shifts of meaning, cultural elements, vocabulary and research, Skopos and function of the TT, etc. Apply the translation theories you have learned to your analysis. [1235 words total] Understanding of the ST. Whoever wrote this selection speaks in a high register of Chinese. The written Chinese is very eloquent and words are carefully selected. As is mentioned in the text, the Suzhou botanical gardens are, as the text demonstrates, very beautiful wonders to behold. It is evident from the text that the Suzhou botanical gardens are the focal point of the text. The reason this information was presented as a tourist guide was because the language used in the text seemed to indicate that this information would have been most helpful to visitors, people who, perhaps had never seen the Suzhou botanical gardens before and/or people who knew little about its history. The text obviously illustrates the great care put into the Suzhou botanical gardens by its designers. The text speaks about how the economic center of civilization south of the Yangtze River has been Suzhou, historically. Not only this, but the Suzhou botanical gardens are evidence of traditional Chinese thought-as evidenced through the name of the main hall, the carvings, the decoration, and the plants. Maintained in the garden is all of the original Chinese calligraphy, which has extremely high cultural relevancy. Textual Comprehension. Some words in the translation were used that obviously went together because they are common words used together in the ST. According to Hatim and Munday (2004), "Since Nida's work on referential and connotative meaning, there have been significant developments in the analysis of lexical patterning. One of the most important has been in the area of collocation. Collocation refers to the way that words are typically used together" (pp. 249). It is important to try to identify language that is used both in the source language and the target language in order to gauge which words are commonly used together so the translation will make sense. "Clearly, translation requires the strength of collocation to be identified in the ST and conveyed satisfactorily in the TT[i]t has been studied extensively in more recent years[i]t has grown in importance with the growth of corpus linguistics[, ] particularly relevant [for translators to] viewsearch termsshowing [the significance] of collocates" (Hatim and Munday, 2004, pp. 249). Shifts of Meaning. According to Munday (2001), translation shifts are small linguistic changes occurring in the translation of the ST to the TT (pp. 55). There are four different types of shifts, according to Munday (2001): structural shifts, class shifts, unit/rank shifts, and intra-system shifts (pp. 61). The examples of each can be found in this passage. Structural shifts include words that are translated in chunks where there are problems with grammatical structure. For example, take the chunk literally translated "Here was usually beautiful by the scenery, the botanical garden elegant is well-known the world" In this instance, the adjective beautiful does come before the noun scenery, however the preposition by is in the way. The translation should read something like, "Usually having beautiful scenery, the elegant botanical garden is well-known the world over." In this case, the word elegant (an adjective) came after the word garden, a faux pas in translation. Class shifts occur as well. In this previous example, the phrase "beautiful by" could be considered to be a class shift because it comprises a shift of one part of speech to another. Unit shifts happen as well where the translation equivalent in the target language is at a different rank to the source language. Intra-system shifts occur when languages have similar systems but the translation involves a non-corresponding term, such as the word lofty art, when in reality what the speaker means to say, translated, is high (aristocratic) art. Cultural Elements. Many translators of Chinese are already from the culture of the ST being translated. Translators are impressionists who paint a landscape with words. However, when the TT is the language of the one being oppressed (those who are Chinese), the text can take on a new type of meaning. "Rather, the [translation] process is one where the language of the Other [, the Chinese person,] comes to encode messages which are not readily decoded by the monolingual reader whose referential world continues to exclude, ignore, and deny the existence of other referential worlds that are crucial to a more 'global' rather than 'colonialist,' 'imperialist' reading of the text" (Venuti, 1992, pp. 122). Some of the ways that elements of the garden are described give the translator (and, subsequently, the reader) a sense about the Suzhou botanical gardens that, in fact, there is a heightened awareness of majesty surrounding this place. This is basically because of some of the language used describing the delicacy and the care used in the formation of the calligraphy, the tending of the gardens, and other small details which make the story of the Suzhou botanical gardens come alive. The Chinese is translated in a manner that show the cultural elements of the Chinese translator. Vocabulary and Research. The vocabulary used in this selection is somewhat advanced. Of course, there are a few phrases in quotations that had to be translated, including the phrases City of Heaven on Earth, and south of the Yangtze River, land of plenty. In particular, the vocabulary became more difficult when translating the text that dealt with the artistry of the Suzhou botanical gardens-specifically, when describing the high (or "lofty") art as evidenced by the Chinese calligraphy engraved in stone, the cultural value of the art as a historical relic, and many other features of the botanical gardens that were of key importance. The vocabulary used in the selection denotes the scholarship of someone who has done in-depth research about the Suzhou botanical gardens and appreciates the importance of these gardens, in relation to Chinese history and culture. The ongoing cultural legacy that the Suzhou botanical gardens embodies is sure to have a great effect on the reader of this passage for a long time to come. Skopos and Function of the TT & Application of Translation Theories. Skopos theory deems that there is more than one way to analyze a text. This is no less true when it comes to translating Chinese texts. According to Karoubi (2009), "The originality of the foreign text is thus compromised by theconcept of textuality. Neither the foreign nor the translation is an original semantic unity; both are derivative, consisting of diverse linguistic and cultural materials, making meaning plural and differential" (pgh. 11). Apparently, translation from this specific viewpoint is catching on. "As regards [to Skopos theory in translating Chinese texts], it seems that the translation teachers in Hong Kong, themselves witnessing to a flourishing of the discipline in the last two decades, who have taken up the challenge in introducing [these] ideas to their students" (Chan, 2004, pp. 46). Further, it is impossible to necessarily come to a definite conclusion sometimes about what a text is subtly trying to say, rather than just having one core meaning. Karoubi (2009) states, "In the same way, neither the author nor the translator as a reader of source text possesses the authorial power to definitely determine the meaning; and the 'authority' will always remain collective due to endless circle of signification" (pgh. 11). Chinese translators have subtly begun the process of being more open-minded in terms of translation theories. "In the past decade, translation programs in Hong Kong (as in the West) have borne witness to a massive invasion of [certain] ideas, and the teaching of translation theory has undergone drastic changes" (Chan, 2004, pp. 46). Conclusion. In conclusion, the Chinese translation about the Suzhou botanical gardens was done in order for tourists to have access to information about them. The elements present in the translation lend to the exemplification of Chinese culture. This includes the art, calligraphy, and carvings present in the gardens. The Suzhou botanical gardens are an amazing example of everything that is beautiful about Chinese culture, and this is reflected in the way this passage is translated. REFERENCES Chan, T. (2004). Twentieth-century Chinese translation theory: modes, issues, and debates. USA: John Benjamins. Hatim, B., & Munday, J. (2004). Translation: an advanced resource book. USA: Routledge. Karoubi, B. (2009). Ideology and translation with a concluding point on translation teaching. Available at: http://www.translationdirectory.com/article233.htm. Munday, J. (2001). Introducing translation studies: theories and applications. USA: Routledge. Venuti, L. (1992). Rethinking translation: discourse, subjectivity, ideology. USA: Routledge. Read More