“译写”策略在图片说明英译中的应用——以某高校校史展览图片说明英译为例

English Rendition of Photo Captions of a School History Museum:from Perspective of Transcreation

“译写”策略通过对原文不同程度的增译、删减和变通,提高译文的可读性与可接受性,从而有效地实现翻译的交际功能。该策略要求充分发挥译者主动性,创造性地再现原文文本内容及精神实质。高校校史展览承载着一所学校的历史文化变迁,其图片说明英译对于高校吸引外国留学生、对外传播校园文化、展现良好国际形象起着重要作用。本文以某高校校史展览图片英译为例,从汉英比较的四个维度,即二元结构与一元结构、主观视角与客观视角、动态优势与静态优势、间接表述与直接表述,分析了“译写”策略在图片说明英译中的具体应用,指出译者应在充分理解汉英差异的基础上做到深刻理解原文词义、灵活传达原文意蕴、得体译出原文风格。

As a fusion of“translation”and“creation”,“transcreation”describes copywriting content in a source text that needs to be made coherent,relevant,etc.in a new language.Advocates of“transcreation”suggest source text should be rewritten in various extents to improve the acceptability of the translated text and realize the communicative function of the translated project.The initiatives of the translators must be put to best use so that the message and essence of source text can be preserved.Dedicated to collecting,preserving artifacts and other objects of artistic,cultural,historical importance,and interpreting the evolution of an educational institution,the school history museum educate student and the public how people of the past reacted to their environment and the effects of those reactions to our past,present,and future.Vividly showing a university's educational philosophy,the English rendition of its photo captions,just like catch phrases,has a direct bearing on promoting the school among the international community.On the basis of analyzing the linguistic and stylistic features of photo captions in Chinese,this paper studies their English rendition from the following differences between Chinese and English,namely,binary structure vs.unitary structure,subjective perspective vs.objective perspective,dynamic advantage vs.static advantage,indirect expression vs.direct expression.The results show that the translation process of photo caption is a procedure in which the translator makes choices according to the specific context.On the basis of fully understanding the linguistic and cultural differences between Chinese and English,the translator should flexibly convey the nuance of the source text and appropriately deliver the style of the source text.