CONTENTS

Comparative Literature and the Cultural Turn in Translation Studies / Wang Ning 19

Qian Zhongshu’s Conception of Yi and Its Implications for Contemporary Translation Studies / Martha Cheung 27

Text Typology and Its Implications for Translation Studies / Zhang Meifang 53

A Survey on the Translation Effectiveness of Chinese Official Slogans / Dou Weilin & Zhu Ping 61

The Principles of Legal Translation / Zhang Falian 72

Explicitation in Chinese-to-English Consecutive Interpreting: A Case Study / Cheung Kay-fan 77

E/C Translation Practice: The City is Like Poetry (An excerpt from“Here is New York” by E. B. White) / Ye Zinan 86

C/E Translation Practice: The National Anthem of the People’s Republic of China / Harry J. Huang 91

English Abstracts of Major Papers in This Issue / 95

English Abstracts of Major Papers in This Issue

Comparative Literature and the Cultural Turn in Translation Studies

by Wang Ning (Shanghai Jiaotong University / Tsinghua University, China) p. 19

Abstract: To the cultural turn in translation studies, comparative literature has made tremendous contributions. For decades, translation studies had depended on an affiliation with the discipline of comparative literary studies for its own survival. And it is due to the promotion by some comparatists-cum-translation scholars that translation studies eventual came out of the shadow of comparative literature and gained its own disciplinary independence. The relationship between the two disciplines has been further changed with the ascendancy of cultural studies. Whereas comparative literature has suffered a lot within a cultural studies-dominated academic context, translation studies has benefited a great deal by situating itself between these two research areas and seizing the opportunity for realizing its own “cultural turn.” It is by no means accidental that André Lefevere and Susan Bassnett, with their dual identity as both comparatists and translation scholars, have played a key role in translation studies’ successful negotiation of the turn.

Key words: comparative literature; translation studies; cultural turn; cultural studies; discipline

Qian Zhongshu’s Conception of Yi and Its Implications for Contemporary Translation Studies

by Martha Cheung (Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China) p. 27

Abstract: Inspired by Qiang Zhongshu’s insight into the manifold meanings of yi (译,translation), this article analyzes a number of key terms used in classical Chinese discourse for denoting the concept of translation in an effort to seek out their contemporary relevancy and to fuse the traditional with the modern, the Chinese with the Western, perspectives in the subject. The author calls attention to how these terms produce different configurations of the concept ‘fanyi’ (translation), explores the theoretical significance of each of them, and offers a framework for further studying the definition of translation. Going back to traditional Chinese idea about the interplay between xu (虚, vacuity) and shi (实, concreteness), this article defines translation as a concept that is xuhan shuyi (虚涵数意), i.e., “loosely/notionally holding several meanings simultaneously.”

Key words: Qian Zhongshu; translation; definition; xuhan shuyi

Text Typology and Its Implications for Translation Studies

By Zhang Meifang (University of Macau, Macao, China) p. 53

Abstract: Text typology in Translation Studies refers to the theory developed by Katharina Reiss in the early 1970s for translation quality assessment. Based on K. Bühler’s three-way categorization of language functions, Reiss suggests that all texts be classified into three types: informative, expressive and operative. She also links the three functions to their corresponding language dimensions as well as to translation strategies. After giving an overview of Reiss’s text typology and other scholars’ suggestions, this paper tries to explore possibilities of applying the text typology theory to the study of Chinese-English translation by analyzing a number of translation cases.

Key words: text types; language functions; translation strategies

A Survey on the Translation Effectiveness of Chinese Official Slogans

by Dou weilin (University of International Business and Economics, Beijing, China)

& Zhu Ping (Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, China) p. 61

Abstract: Proper translation of Chinese official slogans is of vital importance in foreign publicity. This article aims to study the efficiency of existing translations of Chinese official slogans by way of questionnaire and follow-up interviews among and with native English speakers. The survey shows that while a majority of the slogans makes sense to the native speakers, misunderstanding and failures of understanding still exist due to ideological, cultural and linguistic differences. It also raises key points of consideration for improving translation efficiency of Chinese official slogans.

Key words: official slogans; translation effectiveness; native reader of English; survey

The Principles of Legal Translation

by Zhang Falian (China University of Political Science and Law,Beijing,China) p. 72

Abstract: Because of the unique style demanded of legal translation, it is often counterproductive to simply apply conventional translation criteria to this special genre. Legal discourse has its own characteristics and is governed by its own laws, which makes it necessary for legal translation to be guided by a unique set of principles. These include the principle of strict accuracy; of clarity and concision; of consistency and of linguistic and stylistic standardization.

Key words: legal discourse; translation; principle; inquiry

Explicitation in Chinese-to-English Consecutive Interpreting: A Case Study

by Cheung Kay-fan (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China) p. 77

Abstract: This is a discourse analysis-based case study of explicitation in Chinese-to-English consecutive interpreting. Three types of explicitation are identified and each is illustrated with examples found in the corpus under study.

Key words: consecutive interpreting; explicitation; Chinese-to-English