A Study on the Back-Translation of LinYutang’s My Country and My People

一一一一一一一一翻译研究本栏目责任编辑：梁书A Study on the Back-Translation of LinYutang ’s My Country and My PeopleFU Xue-mei(Huazhong University of Science and Technology,Wuhan 430074,China)Abstract:The version back-translated by Lin ’s friend Huang Jiade in 1930s promoted My Country and My People to new heights and won the authority.For the sake of readers ’benefits,Huang applied domestication to reconstruct Chinese culture embodied in Lin ’s work.This thesis is intended to study Huang Jiade ’s version of My Country and My People from the perspective of Skopos Theory.Guided by the three Skopos Rules,Skopos,fidelity and coherence,the author will analyze the domestication strategy ap-plied by Huang Jiade.The author finds out that Huang applied substitution,amplification and omission to domesticate the origi-nals for respective purposes.The author also hopes to cast a light for the latter researchers on improving the back-translation of cultural-elements in this kind of special literary works.Key words:My Country and My People;Skopos Theory;domestication 中图分类号：H315.9文献标识码：A 文章编号：1009-5039(2016)17-0128-02If Lin ’s composition opens a window to the readers in western world displaying the new and old China,Huang Jiade ’s version opens a door for a book that once rafted in other countries going back home.The target readers have changed,the native Chinese people are the main receivers.In Skopos Theory,the status of tar⁃get readers is stressed,the skopos of Huang Jiade ’s version is to in⁃troduce My Country and My People back into China.Accordingly he applied the domestication strategy throughout the version.In de⁃tails,the author will illustrate the translation techniques such as substitution,amplification,omission.For another,Amplification and omission techniques applied to domesticate intercultural elements meeting the need of Chinese readers.These translation techniques are relatively flexible which are typically followed by Skopos rule.In addition,it is obvious that Huang keens on concise and ele⁃gant sentence patterns of Classical Chinese in order to adapt to the language style in 1930s,andthe “literariness ”of Huang ’s language can match Lin ’s reputation.Literature translation require that thet⁃ranslator needs not only accurate translation,but also needs to translate the author's writingstyle,that is to say,the author ’s style is the standard to measure whether the translator doesthe work well or not.The following will explain how Huang domesticated Lin ’s work guided by Skopos Theory.1SubstitutionSubstitution translation or borrowing translation is an effective approach in translation.It is often used in translating the culture-loaded elements that are not familiar to every person in the target culture.Sometimes translators can borrowidiomatic expressions in local culture to translate foreign elements which maybe strange to target readers.In some cases,they can ’t be literally translated or free translated.But there are equivalent words in the target lan⁃guage that can substitute them and reach the function of culturecommunication.In fact,localizing and nationalizing the foreign cul⁃ture are the purposes of substitution translation.When Lin first published My Country and My People in America,his first goal was to refresh the vision of China in foreigners ’mind.In order to make Chinese culture understood by people in different culture environ⁃ment,he must foreignize things particular in China.Accordingly,when Huang back-translated it to mother country,he has to local⁃ize the elements once foreignized by Lin,especially when he trans⁃lated the poems in Chinese specific-culture.Here are some typical examples:Example1:Lin:I have just bought me a five-foot knife,I swing it with a gleaming cadence.I fond it three times a day,I won ’t change it for fifteen maidens.(Lin,2001:24)Huang:新买五尺刀，悬著中梁柱。

一日三摩掌，剧于十五女。

(Huang,2008:26)“Foot ”is a measure unit in European Countries,and “尺”on⁃ly used in China.One Chinese “尺”equals to 1.094feet.“five-foot ”in Lin ’s original is more than “五尺”in Huang ’s version,which seems to obey the fidelity rule in Skopos Theory,or transla⁃tor could choose “五英尺”and attach footnotes.However,this liter⁃altranslation may broke the poetic beauty and influence the read⁃ers ’readability.Instead,Huang kept the original “五尺”to meet reader ’s need and keep the intended meaning the writer wanted to conduct.The examples listed above are all classic expressions in Chi⁃nese history or in nowadays and known to most of target readers—local Chinese people.The substitution applied by Huang is not on⁃ly exactly loyal to the original text,but also realizes the purpose of keeping the Chinese culture as it is.For terms like “chest-binding jacket （肚兜）”,in which if “jacket ”was translated as “夹克”,it would not be as suitable as “肚兜”,because “肚兜”is special in收稿日期：2016-07-05修回日期：2015-07-15作者简介：付雪梅，女，云南保山人，研究生，研究方向：汉语国际教育。