从功能对等理论看新闻英语的汉译Chinese Translation of News English Under the Guidance of Functional Equivalence Theory

Chinese Translation of News English Under the Guidance of Functional Equivalence Theory从功能对等理论看新闻英语的汉译内 容 摘 要作为拓宽人们视野，了解国际社会的一种方式，新闻英语是人们日常生活中不可或缺的一部分。它不仅使人们了解世界更促进了彼此的交流。新颖，实用，精确，简练，这些特点都使得新闻英语倍受欢迎。但由于分属两大不同语言体系，即中西文化之间的巨大差异，对新闻英语的汉译构成了挑战。因此找到一种合适的理论用于指导新闻译者的翻译工作势在必行。尤金奈达的功能对等理论价值颇高，影响颇深，对翻译实践产生了重大影响。它强调意义，同时指出绝对意义的对等是不存在的，译者应尽其所能实现功能对等的最大化。此外，它强调对文化的翻译。而直译、意译一直以来就为翻译界所推崇。在功能对等理论的指导下，不难看出在词汇、句型、修辞和文化四方面直译、意译方法也很适用于新闻英语的汉译。关键词：新闻英语；功能对等理论；翻译方法 AbstractAs a way of broadening ones horizon to know international community, news English plays a significant part in our daily life. It provides a chance for people not only to know the world but also communicate with each other. With its novelty, concreteness, accuracy, brevity, news English is very popular nowadays. However, belonging to two different linguistic families, Chinese and English are of great differences from each other, which constitutes a big challenge for Chinese translation of news English. Hence, finding an appropriate theory to guide the translators becomes a very urgent task. Eugene A. Nidas functional equivalence theory has been highly valued and has influenced the practice of translation in general. It emphasizes that meaning should be the first thing to be considered in translation. Also, it points out that absolute equivalence is impossible. What the translators can do is to produce the closest functional equivalence as much as possible. Besides, it emphasizes translation of culture. While literal and liberal methods have long been valued for the translation circle. Under the guidance of functional equivalence theory, it is not hard to see that they are appropriate for Chinese translation of news English in the aspects of vocabulary, sentence pattern, rhetorical device and cultural impact. Key Words：news English; functional equivalence theory; translation methods ContentsIntroduction.11 A Brief Introduction to News English.21.1 Definition of News English31.2 Classifications of News English41.2.1 Hard News.41.2.2 Soft News51.2.3 Feature Story61.3 Characteristics of News English72 A General Introduction to Functional Equivalence Theory82.1 Definitions of Functional Equivalence Theory82.2 Principles of Functional Equivalence Theory.102.3 Implications of Functional Equivalence Theory112.4 Advantages of Functional Equivalence Theory.123 Translation Methods of News English Under the Guidance of Functional Equivalence Theory.133.1 Literal Method.133.2 Liberal Method.153.2.1 From the Aspect of Vocabulary163.2.2 From the Aspect of Sentence Pattern.173.2.3 From the Aspect of Rhetorical Device.183.2.4 From the Aspect of Cultural Impact20Conclusion23Notes.24References.25IntroductionTime flies. We are living in an epoch in which science and technology are developing rapidly meanwhile information plays an important part in economy and cultural prosperity of all nations. Facing the present epoch, no nation can develop without communication with others. Actually, as a means to bridge different cultures, news English plays a very important role in promoting economic globalization and cultural development. With Chinas entry into the World Trade Organization, Beijings successful host of Olympic Games and the near coming World Exposition in Shanghai, news English is bound to play an even more important role in peoples daily life. News English sprang up in China at the beginning of the 1980s. With the deepening of reform and opening-up, it becomes prosperous at the end of the 1990s. However, when it comes to translation work, only a tiny fraction of news English has been translated. Still, only a tiny fraction of news English has been reported or printed by broadcast or newspaper. Therefore, the current study will focus on the translation of news English.At present, a number of scholars have done researches on the translation of news English. They devote themselves to this study and make every effort to find an appropriate theory and explore some methods for Chinese translation of news English. However, news English is heavily cultural loaded, which constitutes a big challenge for them. Given this, their work on Chinese translation of news English calls for the coming of an applicable theory guiding translators.Time is ever developing; so does the translation circle. In the early 1980s, Nida was introduced to translation circle. He has been well-known for his translation principle referred to as “dynamic equivalence” or “functional equivalence”. According to Nida, translation consists in reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalence of the source language message, first in terms of meaning and second in terms of style. Considering all this, it is not difficult to see that Nidas functional equivalence is very suitable for Chinese translation of news English. The primary purpose of this thesis is making an attempt to analyze functional equivalence and apply it to the Chinese translation of news English so as to overcome difficulties encountered by translators.1 A Brief Introduction to News EnglishWith the speeding up of economic development, people around the world have realized the importance of knowing each other. While news English plays an important role for exchanges of different countries economically and culturally. Thus we need to know some basic knowledge about news English. Since news reports can bring out issues of news timely and effectively in a limited time and space, people can know events that have happened all over the world in a short period of time. In the following part, emphasis will be laid on discussing something about news English.1.1 Definition of News EnglishWhen it comes to the definitions of news, different people have different ideas. But each of them has his or her own focus. According to Cambridge International Dictionary of English(1995:1072), news is “information or reports about recent events, or a television or radio program consisting of such reports.” From this definition we can see that the focus is on “recent events” instead of outdated trifle affairs and the media of news can be a newspaper, television or radio program.According to Oxford English Dictionary(2004:1162), news is “information, esp., when published or broadcast, about important or interesting recent events; such events themselves as a subject of report or talk. Also, newly received or noteworthy information about matter of personal, local, etc, interest.” From this we can see that this definition is more comprehensive than the one above. It has included information about matter of personal, local, interest, etc. Certainly, both of the two definitions put emphasis on recent events, which is the core element of news.Through the above definitions, it is clear that there isnt a fixed definition for news. It is the same as the definition of news English. News English generally refers to the English used in the news reports articles, owning news features, satisfying the requirements of news reports and news spreading. 11.2 Classifications of News EnglishBased on the factualness, that is, fact or information contained in the news materials, America and British journalistic theory classifies genres of news into three grades: hard news, soft news and feature story.The first grade is news report also called hard news with strongest factualness. The third grade is soft news with feature of weakest factualness and strongest entertainment. The middle grade is feature article or feature story (its short form features) combining features of both factualness and entertainment; it classifies into two types: newspaper features and magazine features. At the same time, magazine features include interviews, personal profiles, weekly essays and opinion pieces. Of course, this is only a rough classification, for there must be some overlaps among them. In the following part we will hold a brief discussion about hard news, soft news and feature story.1.2.1 Hard NewsIn the book titled Newspaper Writing and Reporting by Itule and Anderson, hard news is defined in detail “Hard news events, such as killing, city council meetings and speeches by leading government officials, are timely and are reported almost automatically by the media.” 2 From this we know that hard news refers to news report of serious and timely events that are featured with factual report. Hard news aims to convey information quickly. With timeliness as its main emphasis, it is often called straight news, direct news or spot news. It includes some unexpected events, disasters, conflicts, political wars, important speeches and so on. As to writing of hard news, the form of inverted pyramid is often adopted. That is to say, the most important information appears first, followed by secondary information and other details.1.2.2 Soft NewsIn the book titled Newspaper Writing and Reporting by Itule and Anderson, soft news is defined in detail “Soft news events, such as a lunch to honor a retiring school custodian or a car washed by fourth-graders to raise money for a classmate with a cancer, are not usually considered immediately important or timely to a wide audience. These events still contain elements of news and the media often report them.”2According to the definition, we know that soft news refers to feature or news report that is of human interest. The subject matter is not as timely or important as hard news but it is by no means tedious. Soft news is mainly for entertainment and it appeals to the readers from the angle of emotion rather than intellect or reason. Stories of soft news are written in various styles and often appear as anecdote and vivid description. As to writing of soft news, it doesnt follow a strict form as hard news and the style is more at random. In short, hard news is still the cornerstone of American journalism, but more and more media are using a softer approach which covers everyday stories. Hard news will affect readers directly instead soft news is meant to arouse peoples interest and educate them, making them angry, laugh, surprise or teach them a lesson.1.2.3 Feature StoryIn the previous part, we have known something about hard news and soft news. Surely they are very important in news report. In the following part, we will further our discussion about feature story.Feature story is nearer to soft news than to hard news but normally differs from standard news in the following aspects. Firstly, it emphasizes anecdotes and case histories, telling stories and describing episodes in someones life. Secondly, it has a detailed description of the setting in which the story takes place. Thirdly, it features a narrative, story-telling style. Fourthly, it has a softer lead, perhaps a description, anecdote or story that doesnt suspend too long to let the reader know what the article is about. Fifthly, it allows a going-in-depth approach because of having more time to develop sources and search out information. Finally, feature story has a different sense of organization, often giving a full introduction of a section before moving on to the next phase.1.3 Characteristics of News EnglishNaturally, as the carrier of news and English, news English is objective and fair. The general characteristics of news English are accuracy, novelty, concreteness, brevity, popularity and lifelikeness. 1) Accuracy: It is the kernel of journalistic languages. The principal purpose of news report is to truly inform readers what is going on; inaccurate language will inevitably result in distortion of news content. So words selected and sentences constructed should convey the exact meaning of the original text.2) Novelty: This means news should inform readers of something new and unusual. There is a well-known saying that “It is not news when a dog bites a man, but absolutely news when a man bites a dog”. Though this saying is a little absurd, it is the usual case that readers attention tends to be drawn on new and fresh experience. 3) Concreteness: The narration of events and description of scenes in a news report should be expressed by concrete words and concrete information. Only in this way can reporters guarantee the authenticity and credibility of the report.4) Brevity: In most cases, the space provided for each medium is always limited, which decides that news languages should be brevity. Redundancy such as superfluous words or sentences should be averted all the time.5) Popularity: Influenced by the belief of building a harmonious society, reporters have been trying their best to make the news language more understandable for ordinary people. Through this way, people at different levels can take part in country affairs more than usual. Its also benefit for the reality of a democratic society.6) Lifelikeness: In order to move its receptors, news language has to be vivid, lively, and dynamic obtaining information from life.2 A General Introduction to Functional Equivalence TheoryWhen we talk about translation, we will not forget Eugene A. Nida. As one of the most influential contemporary theorists in the field of translation in the last century, Nida made great contributions to the translation studies in the western countries. Before 1980s, Chinese translators were familiar with traditional Chinese theories, such as Yan Fus three-character principle of translation, i.e. faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance. Later, Nidas theory was introduced into China, which made great influence upon Chinese translation theory. In the following part we will put emphasis on his functional equivalence theory. 2.1 Definitions of Functional Equivalence Theory“Functional equivalence” is one of Nidas major contributions to translation circle. It comes from the concept of “dynamic equivalence”. In such a translation (dynamic equivalent translation) one is not so concerned with matching the receptor-language message with the source message, but with the dynamic relationship, that the relationship between receptor and message should be substantially the same as that which existed between the original receptors and the message. 3Later, “dynamic equivalence” is replaced by “functional equivalence” to emphasize the concept of function and to avoid misunderstanding of the term “dynamic”. In Language, Culture and Translation, Nida writes:Such a view of functional equivalence implies different degrees of adequacy from minimal to maximal effectiveness on the basis of both cognitive and experiential factors. A minimal, realistic definition of functional equivalence could be stated as the readers of a translated text should be able to comprehend it to the point that they can conceive of how the original readers of the text must have understood and appreciated it. Anything less than this degree of equivalence should be unacceptable. A maximal, ideal definition could be stated as the readers of a translated text should be able to understand and appreciate it in essentially the same manner as the original readers did. 4The maximal definition implies a high degree of language-culture correspondence between the source and target languages so as to produce in receptors the capacity for a response very close to what the original readers experienced. The two definitions of equivalence reveal that the minimal level is realistic, whereas the maximal level is ideal. For Nida, good translations always lie somewhere between the two levels. 2.2 Principles of Functional Equivalence TheoryIn order to achieve the closest natural equivalence, Nida said in his book Language, Culture and Translating the following principles for producing “functional equivalence” had better be followed seriously by every translator or researcher.1) If a close, formal translation is likely to result in a misunderstanding of the designative meaning, (a) certain changes must be introduced into the text of the translation or (b) the literal translation may be retained and a footnote explaining the likely misunderstanding must be added.2) If a close, formal translation makes no sense, i.e. is totally obscure in designative meaning, certain changes may be introduced into the text unless the source text is purposely obscure, in which case the obscurity may be retained, and a footnote explaining the nature of obscurity may be very useful and in most instances fully justified.3) If a close, formal translation is so semantically and syntactically difficult that the average person for whom the translation is being made is very likely to give up trying to understand it, certain changes are warranted, although it may be useful to indicate the nature of such changes in an introduction or in footnotes. 4) If a close, formal translation is likely to result in serious misunder- standing of the associative meaning of the source text or in a significant loss in a proper appreciation for the stylistic values of the source text, it is important to make such adjustments as are necessary to reflect the associative values of the source text.5) The manner in which a translation is to be used has a significant influence upon the extent to which adjustments are to be made. 6) The fact that a source text must be translated in such a way as to occur with accompanying codes usually requires a number of adjustments on all levels: phonology, lexicon, syntax and discourse. 52.3 Implications of Functional Equivalence TheoryNida said in his book Language, Culture and Translating that the six principles for production of functional equivalent translations have a number of very practical implications, which will be of great significance for Chinese translation of news English. Some of the implications are as follows:1) The greater the differences in the source and target languages, the greater the need for adjustments.2) The greater the differences between the source and target languages, the greater the need for adjustments. In general, however, the differences in culture give rise to more important adjustments than the differences in language.3) The more distinctive (whether idiosyncratic or elevated) the style of the source text, the greater the number of adjustments. 62.4 Advantages of Functional Equivalence TheoryNidas theory of functional equivalence has several advantages in the translation of news English, which will be discussed in details as follows:1) It is not hard to see that many translators used to follow strict formal equivalence in order to be “faithful” to the source text. Their focus is on the form of source text. As a result, the readers may find the target text obscure or even unintelligible. While functional equivalence theory emphasizes that meaning should be the first thing to be considered in translation, which indicates that functional equivalence theory gives more freedom and flexibility to the translator. In fact, the translator doesnt have to stick to the form of the source text sometimes. As long as the meaning can be understood by the target readers without confusion, his translation is successful.2) By “closest equivalence”, it means that “equivalence” cannot be achieved in its mathematical meaning of identity bu