TITLE:
A Study on the Chinese Translation of The Chrysanthemum and the Sword from the Perspective of Toury’s Translation Norms Theory
AUTHORS:
Ying Zhang
KEYWORDS:
Toury, Translation Norms, The Chrysanthemum and the Sword
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.12 No.3,
March
11,
2024
ABSTRACT: As the
founder of descriptive translation studies, Gideon Toury proposed the famous
theory of translation norms, which has played a guiding role in the development of modern translation studies. This paper selects the classic translation of The Chrysanthemum and the Sword by
American anthropologist Benedict (2012)—the translation by Lv Wanhe,
Xiong Dayun, and Wang Zhixin from the
Commercial Press, and analyzes the Chinese translation from the
perspective of Toury’s translation norms. Taking the translation of the first
chapter as an example, the Chinese translation is analyzed from the three normative categories of preliminary norms, initial
norms, and operational norms, aiming at exploring the influence of
translation policy and translation directness on the selection of the text from
the level of translation norms and translation practice, the influence of
translation acceptability on the selection of translation strategies, and the
translator’s
selection of the overall layout of the translated text and the method of
translation, with the aim of providing certain reference and guidance to the
translation and mediation activities for foreign literary works. Therefore,
this paper will also provide certain reference and guidance for the translation
and introduction activities of foreign literary works.