从社会符号学翻译法看汉语成语英译过程中的功能对等

Socio-semiotic Approach to Translation and Functional Equivalence in Chinese Idiom Translation

现代语言学及其相关学科的发展对翻译理论与实践产生了深远的影响。以社会语言学和符号学为基础的社会符号学翻译法 ,强调翻译是一种跨语言、跨文化、跨社会的交际活动 ,翻译的过程就是在译语中寻求功能对等的过程 ,在意义和功能上尽量做到忠实于原语。成语是非常独特的语言表达方式 ,因而也常常成为翻译中的一个难点。本文从语言的定义、语义三角关系、以及语言的功能与意义等三个不同角度 ,讨论社会符号学翻译法在汉语成语英译过程中寻求功能对等的实际应用价值 ,并认为汉英成语翻译是语言之间由微观语言结构到宏观语言结构 。

The development of modern linguistics and its related disciplines has exerted far reaching influence on translation theory and practice. The socio semiotic approach, based on socio linguistics and semiotics, stresses that translation is a cross cultural, cross social, and cross linguistic communicative activity, and that the process of translation is one that searches for functional equivalence in the target language, in order to be as faithful as possible to the source language both in meaning and in function.Idiom is a very peculiar form of expression of a language and, therefore, often becomes a difficult point in translation. The author in this paper tries, from the three different perspectives of definition of language, semiotic triangle, and the meaning and function of language, to discuss the practical application value of socio semiotic approach to translation in the search for English functional equivalence of Chinese idioms. The author believes that Chinese English idiom translation is an inter lingual approximation process both from a micro linguistic structure to a macro linguistic structure and from a static form to a dynamic form.