鲁迅短篇小说《故乡》英译文本的认知学解析

A Cognitive Analysis on the Translation of Lu Xun's Gu Xiang

在认知学视角下,翻译是基于自身认知与体验、对原文进行再现的活动。作为鲁迅先生现实主义代表作,《故乡》是一部反映中国社会现实与人性的力作,研究其英译本在中国文化走出去的背景下显得尤为重要。本文立足于认知翻译观,选取代表性译作中对"故乡"这一概念以及环境描写、人物描写的认知与理解进行分析,认为:译者体验和认知的不同会导致译本的一些差异,但作为认知主体之一的译者依然要受到其他参与翻译活动的认知主体的制约,尊重原文所表达的客观世界和认知体验是每位译者必须遵从的伦理要求。

From the perspective of cognitive study, translating is a process of reproducing the source text in accordance with the translator’s cognition and experience. As a representative realistic literature of Lu Xun, Gu Xiang is also an artwork that depicts a real Chinese society and humanity and therefore it is of vital importance to study its English versions with Chinese culture being spread overseas. Basing on the cognitive translation theory, this essay selects some representative translations to analyze the cognition and understanding of the concept “Gu Xiang” as well as that of the descriptions of both environment and characters in the work. It is concluded that the different experience and cognition of translators may result in the different versions. However, the translator, as a main body in cognition, is limited by other cognitive participants in the translation activity and should follow the ethics of respecting the objectivity in source text and the cognitive experience of the author.