Nida

Why Nida in China?
His theory was the most influential translation theory among all the modern western translation theories introduced and remained a hot topic in China for almost two decades. Chinese translation scholars have taken great interest in his theory for his translation theory is based solidly on developments of contemporary linguistics, communication theory, information theory, semiotics and anthropology. making the translation research open to various perspectives and providing us with useful enlightenment in establishing new translation theoretical mode.
Nida's View of Translatability
Nida's translatability theory is based upon his two premises: the freedom of languages as symbols and the existence of the universal human experience.
Nida's View of Translatability
"Linguistic symbols are semantically free to expand, to contract, to shift their contents, to die, and to be revived. This freedom is of inestimable value, for only through such freedom can persons employ symbols in new combinations or use them to describe objects which are new to the experience of speech community"(Nida 1964:49).
[1]傅雷. 论文学翻译书[A]. 载罗新璋. 翻译论集[C]. 北京：商务印书馆, 1984：694 [2]毛荣贵. 新世纪大学汉英翻译教程[M]. 上海：交通大学出版社，2002： 280
Nida's View of language
(1) Each language has its own genius, and to communicate effectively one must respect the genius of each language; (2) Anything that can be said in one language can be said in another, unless the form is the essential element of the message; (3) To preserve the content of the message the form must be changed (Nida and Taber 1969:3-5).
Nida's Viewபைடு நூலகம்of Translatability
All human beings share a common cultural experience which transcends the seeming difference that exists between peoples speaking different languages and living in different cultural backgrounds. This universal human experience is the underlying base that makes human communication possible. So Nida's translation theory is based upon the assumption of the existence of universal human experience in which languages operate as a communication code to describe human experience.
A Map of Principles of Correspondence
Nida：another representative of western approach to translation--- exhaustiveness in analysis and elaboration 傅雷先生:“东方人与西方人之思想方式有基本分歧， 我人重综合，重归纳，重暗示，重含蓄；西方人则重 分析，细微曲折，挖掘唯恐不尽，描写唯恐不周”[1] 杨振宁教授：中国的文化是向模糊、朦胧及总体的方 向走，而西方的文化是向准确而具体的方向走。
Nida's View of Culture
2) A language’s partial reflection of a culture A culture of society is reflected in certain aspects of a language, but primarily in its optional features, i.e. in certain of its hierarchies of vocabulary and in the priorities given to various discourse patterns. But a language does not, however, reflect the culture in its phonology or syntax, which are largely fixed and arbitrary and must be such in order to function more or less automatically (Nida 2002:80). For translators: they should consciously avoid close reproduction of the syntactical structures of the source language, and aim at a natural rendering in the receptor language.
Nida's View of Culture
1)Biculturalism of the translator The meaning of verbal symbols on any and every level depends on the culture of the language community. Language is a part of culture, and in fact, it is the most complex set of habits that any culture exhibits. Language reflects the culture, provides access to the culture, and in many respects constitutes a model of the culture. the cultural contexts of words are the keys to understanding the meanings of texts(Nida 2002:272-273).
Nida's View of Translatability
Through a detailed study of the nature of meaning, Nida finds that language can prove to be an adequate tool to express all and any aspects of human experience. the mapping of experience by language is limited to specific cultures and people do not talk about things of which they are not aware. However, when some part of their experience arises from a covert level to an overt level, they are able to speak it just as they can describe new objects that enter into their experience. (Nida 1964:50)
Nida and His Translation Theory
Western thinking on translation I
Eugene Nida
Eugene A. Nida is one of the most distinguished contemporary translation theorists and linguists in the west. His theory of translation developed from his own practical work from the 1940s onwards when he was translating and organizing the translation of Bible. two major works in the 1960s: Towards A Science of Translating (1964) and the co-authored The Theory and Practice of Translation (Nida and Taber 1969)