晚清外交翻译中的操纵与概念象似性——以约翰·泰勒总统致道光帝的书信翻译为例

Manipulation in Diplomatic Translation in the Late Qing Dynasty and Conceptual Iconicity-Illustrated with the Translation of President John Tyler’s letter to Emperor Tao Kuang

晚清时期的外交翻译体现了较为明显的译者操纵现象。有别于以往从意识形态和诗学规范角度对译者操纵的研究,本文从认知视角阐释并论证了概念象似性作为译者操纵背后的认知动因,结合1843年美国约翰·泰勒总统致道光帝书信翻译中的操纵现象,分析并指出操纵的实质是译者对原文概念进行延伸并使之靠近读者的心理认知,而这种概念距离和心理距离之间的象似关系也将在翻译过程中引导着译者的操纵行为。

Diplomatic translation in the late Qing Dynasty reflects relatively obvious phenomena of translators’manipulation.Differing from previous studies on the manipulation from the perspective of ideology and poetic norms,this paper explains and demonstrates conceptual iconicity as the cognitive motivation for translators’manipulation from a cognitive perspective.Through the analysis of the translation of a diplomatic letter from President John Tyler of the United States to Emperor Tao Kuang in 1843,this paper points out that the nature of manipulation is the extension of the source text concepts to target language readers’cognition.The iconicity between conceptual distance and mental distance will also guide translators’manipulative behavior in the process of translation.