CONTENTS

Horizon Gaps as the Determinant of Interpretive Degree in Translation: A Perspective from Philosophical Hermeneutics / Zhu Jianping 5

Legitimate Choice of SL/TL Distance in Translation / Tu Guoyuan & Li Jing 13

Interpreting Studies in China: A Journal Articles-based Analytical Survey / Mu Lei &Wang Binhua 19

Isabelle Rabut as a Translator of Modern Chinese Literature / Lu Yang 26

Translation Norms and the Hystericization of Mastery / Douglas Robinson 45

Pedagogical Reflections on the Design of a Course in Computer-aided Translation / Qian Duoxiu 49

A Model for Comparing Parallel Texts and Its Application in the English Translation of Chinese Tourist Brochures / Li Dechao & Wang Kefei 54

C-E Translation of Special Terms for China’s Economic Reforms / Guan Zhongming 59

Translating Titles of Ancient Chinese Calligraphic Works / Yang Xiaobo 63

E-C Translation of Cognitive Metaphors / Liu Bingquan & Zhang Lei 71

On “Semantic Changes” and Translation / Cui Changqing 76

Beware of “False Friends” in Translation / Shi Jiasheng 79

E/C Translation Practice: The American Scholar (Excerpt) ( Ralph Waldo Emerson) / Cao Minglun 83

C/E Translation Practice: The Stream (Lu Yi) / Shi Zhikang 88

English Abstracts of Major Papers in This Issue 94

English Abstracts of Major Papers in This Issue

Horizon Gaps as the Determinant of Interpretive Degree in Translation: A Perspective from Philosophical Hermeneutics

by Zhu Jianping (Hunan University, Changsha, China) p.5

Abstract: In translation, the actual degree of interpretation often deviates from the ideal one required or expected by the translation criteria, and the deviation is caused by a number of horizon gaps. Since the gap between the target culture’s and the source text’s horizons determines the ideal interpretive degree and that between the translator’s and the source text’s horizons accounts for the actual degree, the gaps between the translator’s and the target culture’s horizons as well as between the translator’s and the target text’s horizons result in a deviation of actual degree of interpretation from the ideal one. The ideal degree of interpretation, as a dynamic concept, is in direct proportion to the width of the gap between the target culture’s and the source text’s horizons.

Key words: horizon gap; ideal degree of interpretation; actual degree of interpretation; translation criteria; philosophical hermeneutics

Legitimate Choice of SL/TL Distance in Translation

by Tu Guoyuan & Li Jing (Central South University, Changsha, China) p.13

Abstract: This paper looks from a hermeneutical perspective into the issue of what distance should be legitimately maintained between SL and TL in translation. It suggests that the translator decide on what deserves translating first before s/he responds sympathetically to the original text, for such an approach could best keep SL and TL at an optimum distance from each other, making it more likely to come up with a properly rendered translation.

Key words: distance; legitimacy; choice; composition; translator

Interpreting Studies in China: A Journal Articles-based Analytical Survey

by Mu Lei &Wang Binhua (Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou, China) p.19

Abstract: The boom of interpreting practice and pedagogy in China makes it even more urgent for interpreting studies, a newly-emerging subdiscipline lacking in a theoretical foundation and a systematic methodology, to look back and reflect on its own developmental history. Responding to the call, this paper surveys the journal articles on interpreting published over the past three decades. Analyzing these articles in terms of the central concern addressed, the theme developed and the research method adopted, the co-authors identify the existing problems and the developmental trends, and explore the approaches to improve interpreting studies in China.

Key words: interpreting studies in China; survey; development; trend

Isabelle Rabut as a Translator of Modern Chinese Literature

by Lu Yang ( Nanjing University, Nanjing, China ) p.26

Abstract: This essay devotes to the study of Isabelle Rabut as a translator of modern Chinese literature, including the introduction and analysis of her language ability, translation achievements, translation theory and her research on Chinese literature, which reflects the translation tendency and the reception of modern Chinese literature in France.

Key words: Isabelle Rabut; modern Chinese literature; translation; France

Translation Norms and the Hystericization of Mastery

by Douglas Robinson (University of Mississippi, USA) p.45

Abstract: The paper explores a new approach to teaching translation norms by looking at Jacques Lacan’s four discourses: of the master, the university, the analyst, and the hysteric. Gideon Toury’s norm theory is grounded in the master’s discourse, which is not surprising, because most traditional thinking about translation does involve the uncritical internalization of mastery. In his 1998 critique of Toury’s norm theory, Daniel Simeoni notes that there are many norms for translation, and professional translators often have to think critically about the nature of the task they’ve been given in order to establish which norm governs their current job: this would be the university’s discourse. But how to get students to move from the unthinking submission to the master that is typical of most translational discourse to the university’s critical thinking that is required by the modern translation marketplace? The paper suggests that the teacher must invoke the analyst’s discourse in order to guide students from the master’s discourse, through the hysteric’s discourse, to the university’s discourse.

Key words: translation pedagogy; translation norms; Jacques Lacan; master’s discourse; university’s discourse; analyst’s discourse; hysteric’s discourse

Pedagogical Reflections on the Design of a Course in Computer-aided Translation

by Qian Duoxiu ( Beihang University, Beijing, China) p.49

Abstract: This paper reflects on the teaching of a course in computer-aided translation at Beihang University for the past five years. Integrating theory and practice, the course has as its components a historical review of machine translation and computer-aided translation; a discussion on the principles of computer-aided translation research and development; an introduction to translation aids of various types, including corpus and computer-aided translation, terminology and termbank, alignment and translation memory. By sharing the design of this course with colleagues in the field, the author wishes that more translation programs would consider adding it to their curricula and their teaching practices would lead to further improvement on its design.

Key words: computer-aided translation; course; pedagogical; reflections

A Model for Comparing Parallel Texts and Its Application in the English Translation of Chinese Tourist Brochures

by Li Dechao (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China)

& Wang Kefei (Beijing Foreign Studies University, Beijing, China) p.54

Abstract: Based on Werlich’s text grammar, this paper proposes a model for comparing parallel texts for non-literary translations and applies it to a comparitive study of the textual conventions governing Chinese and English tourist brochures respectively. The findings of the study are then used as guidelines for translating Chinese tourist brochures into English. As the application shows, the model is capable of making significant contributions to the achievement of “intratextual coherence” between the target text and its parallel texts in the target culture. It deserves therefore more attention from translators and teachers of translation alike.

Key words: parallel texts; non-literary translations; hotel brochures; intratextual coherence

C-E Translation of Special Terms for China’s Economic Reforms

by Guan Zhongming (Sichuan University, Chengdu, China) p.59

Abstract: The paper finds quite some C-E translations of special terms about China’s economic reforms either inappropriate or mistakenly worded. It attributes the problem to the translators’ incompetence on the one hand, and on the other to the uniquely Chinese character of the referents or the semantic fuzziness of the signs employed in these cases. To address the problem, the author proposes four strategies, namely, adoption, borrowing, selection and innovative wording, arguing that if only the right method be adopted, those terms would turn out to be highly translatable.

Key words: term; economic reform; C-E translation; implication; characteristic; innovative wording

Translating Titles of Ancient Chinese Calligraphic Works

by Yang Xiaobo (Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou, China) p.63

Abstract: Widespread confusion and arbitrariness are currently haunting the translation of the titles of ancient Chinese calligraphic works. To address such a sorry state of practice, this paper proposes and exemplifies some applicable strategies formulated on the basis of classical principles for naming and classifying bei and tie.

Key words: Chinese calligraphy; bei; tie; translation

E-C Translation of Cognitive Metaphors

by Liu Bingquan & Zhang Lei (NanChang Hangkong University, Nanchang, China) p.71

Abstract: Metaphor had been regarded as a mere rhetorical means until the 1980s, when the publication of Metaphor We Live By enabled us to see it for the first time as a cognitive method and a mechanism for reasoning as well. Taking this new understanding as its point of departure, this article analyzes the process of metaphor translating, discusses the strategies and methods for this endeavor, and illustrates its conclusions with examples in idiom translation.

Key words: metaphor; cognitive; translation

On “Semantic Changes” and Translation

by Cui Changqing (China Foreign Affairs University, Beijing, China) p.76

Abstract: English language and literature features a special linguistic phenomenon called “semantic change,” with irrationality and abnormality as its defining characteristics. Deviating from traditional grammatical structures and conventional usages, this way of using language renders it more colorful, vivid, picturesque and expressive. A proper command of the strategies for effecting semantic changes is crucial to college-level teaching of translation.

Key words: semantic change; teaching of translation

Beware of “False Friends” in Translation

by Shi Jiasheng (Jinan University, Zhuhai, China) p.79

Abstract: The concept of “false friends” refers to the words or expressions in two languages which have the same or similar form but different meanings, or which are apparently identical but actually different semantically. This paper takes a close look at “false friends” in English and Chinese, with examples taken from the C/E reference version of the text used in the 20th Han Suyin Award for Young Translators Contest.

Key word: false friends; meaning; Han Suyin Award for Young Translators