Translation Style Research Articles

The Catcher in the Rye by J. Salinger

Gender aspects have been attracting linguistic attention for quite a while now, raising discussions about the so-called male and female languages. However, the effect of gender on translation remains understudied. This research featured expressive vocabulary in Jerome Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye and its Russian translations performed by Rita Rait-Kovaleva (1960) and Maxim Nemtsov (2008). The objective was to determine the effect of gender on translation. The authors believe that the translator’s gender may affect literary images and modify the author’s message. They conducted a comparative analysis of the way translators of different genders transferred stylistically-marked and emotional vocabulary, colloquialisms, slang, and jargon into Russian. The standard methods of analysis, synthesis, comparison, generalization, systematization, and description revealed some differences in the translation styles, the image of the main character, translation pragmatics, and Salinger’s rather remarkable style. Rita Rait-Kovaleva seemed to soften some harsh statements, neutralize emotional aspects, and avoid colloquial vocabulary by using equivalents, which did not quite fall into the stylistic framework. Her Holden Caulfield turned out to more educated, intelligent, confident, emotional, and gentle. Maxim Nemtsov adhered to a single strategy: he did his best not to deviate from the original. In his attempt to preserve colloquialisms and substandard vocabulary, he often gave neutral words stylistic markers, emotional coloring, or a negative connotation. However, he managed to maintain the original syntax.

Comparison of the English Versions of Poem Lu Zhai

Chinese classical poetry, as a treasure of Chinese culture, has always attracted numerous translators. Translating classical poetry not only requires accurately conveying the artistic conception and expression of the original work, but also requires flexible application of translation techniques to adapt to different language and cultural backgrounds. Poetry translation is a difficult point in the translation of literary works, and poetry is known as “literature in literature”. Its form is brief but its meaning is profound, “words are here and meaning is there, words are full and meaning is infinite”. This article will take the classic Chinese classical poem “Lu Zhai"”as an example, and use the method of literature review to collect and analyze G W. Translated versions by two translators, G.W. Robinson and Xu Yuanchong. Firstly, a comprehensive reading and understanding of the two versions were conducted. Secondly, by comparing the translation styles of the two versions, we compared rhyme, image, sentence as well as arrangement. Through these comparisons, the article draws conclusions about the different stylistic characteristics of the two translators. This study is of great significance in revealing translators’ understanding and expression of classical poetry.

A Corpus-based Comparative Study of Translation Style of Five English Versions of Xiao Yaoyou

This study utilizes a corpus-based approach to investigate the translation style of five English versions of Xiao Yaoyou, the first chapter of Zhuangzi, at three levels: lexical, syntactic, and philosophical and cultural lexis. By comparing and analyzing the corpus data, the paper examines different linguistic traits among five versions. It shows that versions translated by earlier translators tend to be more complex and more formal with a higher standardized TTR, a higher degree of mean word length and average sentence length. In contrast, recent translators have chosen rather simpler and concise vocabularies, which makes their version exhibit a higher degree of readability in rendering the original text. The analyses of philosophical and cultural terms shed light on the academic experience and cultural considerations that account for the similarities and differences between these versions.

Text complexity and translation styles from the perspective of individuation: a case study of the English translations of Pipa Xing

This study aims to investigate the translation styles from the perspective of text complexity and to elucidate underlying factors contributing to the formation of stylistic differences based on individuation. Using SysFan and SPSS22.0 as tools, a combined quantitative and qualitative approach is employed to comparatively analyze the lexical density and grammatical intricacy across the renowned ancient Chinese poem Pipa Xing 琵琶行and its nine English translations. The findings reveal that while the translations exhibit comparable levels of lexical density, disparities in complexity primarily manifest in terms of grammatical intricacy, reflecting distinct text features: spoken, written, and mixed spoken and written, as well as varying degrees of hierarchical and narrative features. The variations in translation styles are intricately linked to the individuation process undergone by translators. The translator’s individuation process is modeled to show how a translator mobilizes the meaning resources in the repertoire, which is constrained by the allocation of the cultural reservoir, to re-instantiate the source text in the translated text, while constructing affiliation with the target-reader community. Different translators’ allocated repertoires ultimately shape their conscious or unconscious choices in terms of lexicogrammar, thereby generating translated texts characterized by diverse styles.

A Corpus-Based Study on the Translation Style of Four English Versions of Fu Sheng Liu Ji

ABSTRACT Based on a parallel corpus of Chinese-English texts, this article utilizes corpus tools to examine the translation styles of four versions of Fu Sheng Liu Ji from three levels and nine variables. It is found that different translators have different perspectives and focuses when dealing with the same source text, thus presenting different translation styles. At vocabulary level, Sanders’ translation has the highest lexical density, Black’s translation has the richest lexical variation, and Pratt’s translation has the lowest lexical richness. At the sentence level, Lin’s translation fluctuated more obviously in the use of alternating long and short sentences, while the changes in Sanders’ translation are less obvious, and Pratt’s translation has the lowest average sentence length, which means this version tends to use more short sentences to translate the original text. At the level of discourse, Black’s translation has a more compact plot and a tighter contextual connection, making the translation more readable and narrative. The distinct styles of the four translations are mainly due to the difference in the translators’ aims and their historical backgrounds.

A Corpus-based Comparative Study on the Consistency of Writer's Style and Translator's Style

A Corpus-based Comparative Study on the Consistency of Writer's Style and Translator's Style

Activity versus Descriptivity: A Stylometric Analysis of Two English Translations of Hongloumeng

This study examined the translation style of David Hawkes and the Yangs (Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang) in their English translations of Hongloumeng, a Chinese Great Classic, by considering the hybrid register nature of fiction. The activity index, a measure from quanti-tative linguistics that calculates the ratio of verb occurrences to the sum of verb and adjec-tive occurrences, was used to analyze the active-descriptive equilibrium patterns across the two Hongloumeng translations and the two sub-registers of fiction. Our analysis is based on a corpus that separates fictional narration and dialogues from the first 80 chapters of the two Hongloumeng translations. The study found that, overall, dialogues tend to be more active than narration and Hawkes’ translation was characterized by a greater level of activity com-pared to the Yangs’ version. Subsequent analysis revealed that Hawkes' translation dis-played a higher level of activity in fictional dialogues while demonstrating a more descrip-tive approach in fictional narration. The results suggest that Hawkes’ translation adheres more closely to the typical stylistic conventions of fiction writing in English. The stylistic differences between the two translations of Hongloumeng are believed to be a result of a combination of factors, including the translators’ language and cultural backgrounds and their choice of translation strategies and approaches, which may have contributed to the var-iations in the final translated products.

Characterization of Business English Translation Styles Based on Semantic Contrastive Analysis

Abstract Language genre is a form of language expression formed by certain people from specific purposes in a particular context, and no form of language expression can exist independently of genre characteristics. The study adopts the space vector model to digitally represent the potential semantics of business English translation. By constructing a translation-word matrix and applying the TF-IDF method to calculate the weights of the elements in the matrix, the study proceeded to perform a singular value decomposition of the matrix. This process helps to extract the features of corpora similarity in business English translation, which in turn completes the construction of a language model for business English translation. The study selected a business English translation corpus for instance analysis. The data results show that in the interaction and information feature analysis, the mean values of ECQ (interaction feature quantitative value) features are higher than TCQ (information feature quantitative value) in three different periods, with the differences of 0.0992, 0.0534 and 0.043 respectively. Regarding the standardized scores of the stylistic features, 24 stylistic feature indexes meet the standardization requirements, accounting for 75% of the total indexes. This finding provides an essential basis for understanding the differences between Business English and other stylistic features. The research in this paper has significant application value for professionals in business English translation.

Exploring Translator Style Using Word Alignments

How the source text is rendered in the target language reflects a translator’s linguistics choices, which is informative of the translator’s style. Leveraging computational techniques, the present research seeks to explore translator style through word alignments derived from an entire corpus. The text material is two Chinese translations of Virginia Woolf’s novel, Jacob’s Room, by translators Pu Long and Wang Jiaxiang. Using a Transformer-based model, alignments are automatically extracted from parallel texts. A Support Vector Machine classifier is trained to test whether the alignments are indicative of the translators’ styles. Chi-square feature selection is then performed to identify the most distinguishing alignments for closer examination. Results indicate that Wang favours more explicit and literal translations, while Pu utilizes more concise, diverse, and idiomatic expressions. In addition, Wang’s translation is closer to the original, while Pu’s is more distant. This method enables us to provide a wide range of qualitative and quantitative evidence, and also observe differences not readily apparent when examining the target text alone.

A Study of Modern Poetry Translation under the Perspective of Discourse Function: T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land in Multiple Translations as an Example

From the discourse function perspective of Halliday's Systemic Functional Linguistics, this paper compares and analyzes two Chinese translations of The Waste Land by Zhao Luorui and Zha Liangzheng (Mudan), exploring how the different translations creatively interpret and reconstruct the original text in accordance with the cultural context and aesthetic preferences of the target language. It further investigates how this reconstruction impacts and shapes the target readers' understanding and acceptance process. The study reveals that the translators' distinct orientations in translation strategies lead to significant differences in the translations regarding expressive effects and readers' experiences. Zhao's translation effectively maintains the discourse structure and linguistic style of the original text through a conservative and traditional translation approach. Conversely, Mudan's translation notably enhances the readability and acceptability of the translation with a flexible and innovative translation style. Overall, the latter translation is better suited to the aesthetic habits and cultural background of Chinese readers.

Translator Stylistics: A Corpus Analysis of Two English Translations of Traditional Chinese Medicine Classic Da Sheng Bian

Da Sheng Bian, a significant work on obstetrics and gynecology that emerged in the early Qing Dynasty, was initially published as “A Treatise on Midwifery” in 1842 by William Lockhart, a British missionary to China. In 1894, John G. Kerr, an American missionary, translated the text as “The Tat Shang Pin”. This paper conducts a comparative study of the two English translations using a self-constructed English-Chinese parallel corpus of Da Sheng Bian. The study explores the translation styles of the two translators by examining the token-types ratio and frequency at the lexical level, mean sentence length at the syntactic level, and the use of conjunctions at the discourse level. The observed differences in translation styles between the two translations are analyzed in relation to the translators’ backgrounds and translation strategies.

Genre and Translation Style in Chinese Translation of Hollywood Blockbuster Movie Titles in Mainland China and Hong Kong

The title of a movie is the first to attract the audience's attention. Poorly translated movie titles may result in a “low box office”, as translators in different countries have their styles and preferences in translating film titles, which might eventually result in different translations of the same movie title and cause confusion to the audience. This qualitative research used exploratory induction to investigate the influence of genre and translation style on the Chinese translation of Hollywood blockbuster movie titles in Mainland China and Hong Kong. Titles of 300 Chinese movies produced between 2001 and 2020 were purposefully selected from the top 50 Hollywood movies in the adventure, horror, and action genres. Genre was found to be slightly effective in the choice of translation style and strategies. Among the three genres, horror was found to have the greatest influence on the choice of translation strategy. It was concluded that translators from Mainland China were more conservative in title translation compared to translators from Hong Kong, whose attempt was to create innovative translations. The findings may have some theoretical and practical implications for film translators, book translators, advertising translators, translation trainers, and trainees.

The Multidimensional Analysis of the Translator Style in English Translations of The True Story of Ah Q

This research investigates the characteristics of the translator style in five English translations of The True Story of Ah Q, with particular attention paid to lexicons, syntax and overall text structure. The primary goal is to examine patterns between translation versions as well as identify subtle variances that exist among translation versions. By employing Multidimensional Analysis techniques, we delve deeper into the concept of Translator Style. Explore their choices and patterns across translation projects. Our findings illustrate elements that define a translator style at a level, such as syntactic structures and overall text composition in The True Story of Ah Q. This study emphasises the significance of translators and scholars of translation studies recognising how translator styles impact translated text. Further research should be undertaken to gain more insights into translator styles and their effects; furthermore, findings from such research could also be integrated into translation training programs to promote greater appreciation of translation as an art form.

Style in speech and narration of two English translations of Hongloumeng

Abstract This study examines the style of two English translations of Hongloumeng, by David Hawkes, and Xianyi Yang and Gladys Yang. It makes use of multidimensional analysis to identify how the two translations differ in their sub-registers (narration and fictional speech). The results reveal that the Yangs’ translation of narration is relatively more narrative and context-independent, whereas Hawkes’ is more active and context-bound. Similarly, Hawkes’ translation of fictional speech is more conversational and interactional and tends more towards the orality scale with a strong emphasis on the involvement of fictional characters. In contrast, the Yangs’ translation of fictional speech tends to be more informational and explicit. These stylistic differences reflect the translators’ conscious and/or unconscious choices, which are attributable to their language backgrounds, translation strategies, and cultural stances. By taking sub-register variation and the functions of linguistic features into consideration, the article outlines a new approach to investigating translation style.

Simultaneous Interpretation of Religious Quotes Used in Selected Speeches by Barack Obama

Simultaneous interpretation is a common style of translation used in media, especially in political events. It requires training, experience, and mastery of various skills, including listening, comprehension, retrieving, reformulating, and creating accurate translations. The paper analyzes English transcripts of original texts and Arabic transcripts of interpreted texts, broadcast live on Arabic TV channels. The paper focuses on two speeches by former US President Barack Obama. The objective of utilising religious terms in most political texts is not to deliver a religious message, but rather to create a rhetorical and pragmatic plan that leaves a pleasant impression in the minds of the audience. The examples of the simultaneous interpretation of utterances with embedded messages in political discourse illustrate that implicatures, which do not convey a corresponding message to listeners of interpreted texts similar to that transmitted to recipients of original texts, may result in dissimilitude between the impact of the original message and that of the interpreted one. This incompatibility may lead to differences in audiences' attitudes.

Retranslated Chinese classical canon Journey to the West: a stylometric comparison between Julia Lovell’s retranslation and Arthur Waley’s translation

Abstract Journey to the West (西游记; Xi You Ji) is one of the best-known classic novels in Chinese literature, and it has been translated into English by various notable translators. This study compares the retranslation of the novel by Julia Lovell published in “Penguin Classics” in 2021 with Arthur Waley’s translation in “Penguin Classics” in 1973. Employing a stylometric approach to compare the styles of the two translations, it uses the corpus tools of word lists, keyword analysis, and function word analysis. The results reveal distinct stylistic differences in the translators’ styles, including lexical density, sentence length, and function words, which point to different translation strategies employed by the two translations of this classic Chinese novel. The book reviews published so far indicate that Lovell’s version has been well received by contemporary Anglophone readers and that the changes in this retranslation may have helped to explain the recanonization of the original classic. This study provides new insights into the understanding of the differences between translation and retranslation, and thus has implications for the fields of translator style studies and stylometry research.

Development of one translator’s style: A corpus-based investigation of Allan Barr’s style of translating Yu Hua’s works

This paper examines the evolution of translator Allan Barr's style and methodology. Regarded as the primary English translator of Yu Hua's works for fifteen years, Barr's corpus is examined in order to catalogue the development of his translation style. This corpus consists of Yu Hua’s Huanghun li de Nanhai and Siyue Sanri Shijian and their translations Boy in the Twilight: Stories of Hidden China (2003) and The April 3rd Incident: Stories (2018). The mixed-methods approach was applied to analyze Barr's idiosyncrasies in translating Direct Speech (DS) presentations at different stages of his career using the revised S-type model. A quantitative analysis identified a translator’s changing preferences in translating DS. The subsequent qualitative analysis addressed the translation strategies of (Free) Direct Speech and Barr's preferred position of report clauses at different points in time. The results suggest that Barr's translation styles were more influenced by his assumptions and attitude towards the implicit target readers and then dominated his stylistic choices, leading him to be more loyal to the source text and the author in his later translation and more inclined to present the literary world of the source text with less interference and interpretation by the translator. The implications proposed that the development of the translator’s style may be due to the promotion of the author’s familiarity with the literary field of the target language, the influence of the norms of the source language in which the translator is immersed in translation practice, and his increasing knowledge of style.

Representation of Zadie Smith’s Individual Style in Original Text and Translation

Author’s individual style and its preservation in translation are a relevant issue of translation practices. This research is the first attempt in domestic linguistics to study Zadie Smith’s individual style and its manifestation in translation based on M. Yu. Mukhin’s analysis model. The methodology involved the methods of semantic interpretation, comparative analysis, content analysis, quantitative calculations, and linguistic analysis based on the conceptual profile model. The study featured Z. Smith's novel On Beauty and its translation performed by O. Kachanova and A. Vlasova. The analysis revealed the most frequent linguistic and stylistic means and denotative spheres and classes, e.g., such lexical means as simile, interjection, metaphor, allusion, and lexical repetition; various phonographic means, e.g., capitalization, graphic imagery, excessive punctuation, and graphon used to portray a wide variety of accents, etc. The official Russian edition conveyed the actual meaning and the lexical speech portraits by an effective use of various translation transformations, e.g., word order, lexical substitution, compensation, etc. In most cases, literal translation proved to be appropriate as it preserved the metagraphemic of the original text. However, the graphic fixation of the characters’ speech not always found its reflection in the translation text.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF PROF. V.N. KOMISSAROV’S TRANSLATION THEORY IN СHINA

V.N. Komissarov as a famous theoretician in the sphere of translation was introduced to his Chinese colleagues in 1984, when modern translation theory just started in China. For forty years now, his translation theories have been disseminated, adopted, and developed. V.N. Komissarov’s major works, including Questions of Translation Theory in Foreign Linguistics (1978), Linguistics of Translation (1980), Translation Theory (Linguistic Aspects) (1990) and Modern Translation Studies (1999), have been reviewed in Chinese academic journals. His last monograph, Modern Translation Studies (2004), was translated into Chinese. Chinese translation studies introduced his theoretical ideas in the sphere of translation, such as the nature of translation, translation equivalence, translation models, translation correspondences, translation norms, translation pragmatics, textological aspects of translation studies, cultural and sociological aspects of translation studies, translation teaching methodology, etc. Certain ideas, such as pragmatic translation adaptation, have been further developed. In general, V.N. Komissarov’s theoretical viewpoints have been studied and summarized in many scientific papers and various works, which contributed to the development of Chinese translation theory. Moreover, his translation thoughts are widely used by Chinese scholars for theoretical research and the training of future translators. Some of V.N. Komissarov’s views are applied to the study of the function of cultural translation, translation adaptation, the definition of translation, translation of the national style of speech and other theoretical problems. The scholar’s theory of translation is most often used to address a variety of issues in translation practice. The most influential theory is undoubtedly the theory of translation equivalence. While using this theory, numerous master theses and translation reports analyze issues in both fiction and information translation, as well as problems in interpretation and audiovisual translation.

Eli’s “Heavy Eyes” in LXX 1 Kingdoms 3:2 and Euripides’ Alcestis

Abstract Septuagint Kingdoms, the Greek translation of Samuel-Kings, has an ambiguous linguistic reputation. While scholars sometimes note natural linguistic features, its isomorphic and literal translation style is typically emphasised. This ambiguity has apparently caused several scholars to misinterpret LXX 1 Kgdms 3:2, which uses the verb βαρύνω in reference to the failing eyesight of the priest Eli. When examined against other evidence, notably Euripides’ Alcestis, Kingdoms is shown to use a natural though poorly attested Greek expression meaning “go blind.” This paper demonstrates the natural idiomatic use of βαρύνω in 1 Kgdms 3:2 and shows its value in refining our understanding of “heavy eyes” in other non-translation Greek texts. More broadly, it promotes the reading of the LXX against the wider history of the Greek language.