An Investigation into the Case of Multi-interpretation in Poetry Translation

In translating poems, it is very common that different people have quite different versions of the same poem. This paper therefore intends to expound upon the underlying factors from the perspective of Hermeneutics,by exploring the relationship between the textual meaning and the textual significance of a poem, as well as the relationship between the author's intention and the textual intention of a poem, aiming to explain the key element in translating poems—multi-interpretation.

Filling in the blank:towards a semiotic account of poetry translation

Poetry is often seen as the ultimate challenge for a literary translator.Why it is so and how in reality translators manage to accomplish this feat remain to be explored.This article contributes a new way of understanding poetry translation by re-theorizing the practice with reference to the concept of blank-sign.In the light of the blank-sign,we see poetry as a genre rich with meaning-charged blank-signs and poetry translation as a"blank-flling"endeavour to seek relevance for the poem in the target sociocultural context while craftily leaving its overall poetic"blankness"intact for meaningful reading and contemplation.We illustrate this idea with the Spanish translation of two contemporary Chinese poems,with a focus on discussing the challenges with regard to communicating the culture-laden images and the intertextual connections in the original poem.Based on our preliminary findings,we highlight the value of the study of blank-signs in poetry translation and the need for translators to draw insights from cross-linguistic analysis to inform their practice.This semiotic account offers insights into how poetry translation can be alternatively conceptualised and has implications for practitioners involved in poetry and translation.

A Study on the Reproduction of Artistic Conception in Translation of Chinese Classical Poetry from the Perspective of Reception Aesthetics Theory

Chinese classical poetry has long been known for its unique artistic conception of mixture of sentiments andscenery, the conception beyond image and the refinement out of rhyme. From the perspective of receptionaesthetics theory, this paper analyzes translation strategies of the classical poetry, probes into the problems thatretaining “indeterminacy” and satisfying the readers “horizon of expectations” when translate Chinese classicalpoetry. It is necessary to keep enough aesthetic space, and to give full play to the translator’s aesthetic creativitywhen translate Chinese classical poetry, so as to reproduce the artistic conception of Chinese classical poetry.

A Tentative Study of Translation Evaluation System of Chinese Classical Poetry Form: From the Perspective of Functional Linguistics

Chinese classical poetry is the special form of literature. The translated texts of various qualities hinder the foreign read-ers from appreciating of CCP and even from correctly understanding of the Chinese unique culture, which presents obstacles to thetransmission of Chinese great culture. Tentatively establishing an evaluation system of CCP from the perspective of functional lin-guistics,based on three meta-functions proposed by Halliday, by applying the translation evaluation system, the quality of six trans-lated versions of 清明, a poem by Du Mu are assessed. By this case study, it is intended to prove the feasibility and practicability ofthis translation evaluation system, and then provide the suggestions on bettering the translated versions.

A Study of Robert Morrison’s Translation of Chinese Poetry

The translation activities of Robert Morrison,the first protestant missionary to China,exert a profound impact on the following missionaries of their missionary efforts and Chinese Studies.Morrison’s translations of Chinese poetry,mainly cited as examples of certain cultural context,are scattered in various publications,and are not yet systematically studied.This paper aims to integrate and analyze Morrison’s translations of Chinese poetry,summarize their linguistic features,thereby providing insight into the studies on translation of the early missionary sinologues in China.

The Application of Dynamic Equivalence and its Limitations in Translation for Poetry

This essay explores the notion of dynamic equivalence proposed by Nida and its practical usage as well as limitations in translation for poetry,and all the examples are drawn from the Story of the Stone,translated by David Hawkes from Chinese into English.

The Cognitive Linguistic View on the English Translations of Metaphors in“Rainy Alley”

The English translation of modern and contemporary Chinese poetry can help“Chinese culture go abroad”,which has far-reaching influence on the culture communication.Therefore,the accurate understanding of the metaphors in poetry is extremely necessary.This paper takes Dai Wangshu’s poem“Rainy Alley”and its English translations as the research subjects,and explores the different understandings of metaphors in Chinese and Western cultures from the perspective of cognitive linguistic.This paper finds out that the translation of metaphors in poetry should always base on the“emotion”so as to accurately translate the poetry.

A Study on Relevance Reconstruction in Xu Yuanchong’s English Renditions of Ancient Chinese Poetry From the Perspective of Relevance Theory

On the pragmatic view,the proper use of pragmatic strategies can help to improve the quality of translation.Sometimes by searching for new relevance,the translator can address to the problem of cultural differences and even translation acceptability.In this paper,the author aims to explore relevance reconstruction in Xu Yuanchong’s English renditions of ancient Chinese poetry from the perspective of Relevance Theory to examine the importance of relevance reconstruction while achieving optimal relevance.The author hopes to give reference to the research about the translation of ancient Chinese poetry.

A Comparative Study of the Poem Translation Styles of the German Translation of A Dream of Red Mansions From the Perspective of Corpus-Translatology

Poetry is an integral part of the artistic framework of A Dream of Red Mansions,and plays a crucial role in shaping the atmosphere,portraying characters,and reflecting social reality,therefore it has both unique artistic charm and research value.This paper takes Kuhn’s and Schwarz’s translation of A Dream of Red Mansions as the research objects,selects 19 poems that both translators have translated to make a corpus,uses the software LancsBox to compare the translations from three levels of vocabulary,syntax,and text,in order to provide a new interpretation dimension for the translation research of A Dream of Red Mansions and enrich the application of the corpus-based method in the field of translation research of Chinese classics.

A Comparative Study of Two English Versions of Jiang Xue Based on Functional Equivalence Theory

Chinese ancient poetry is artistically beautified with extraordinarily subtle artistic images, conceptions and rhythms.How well the translator knows and understands the linguistic and cultural differences between Chinese and English and the source poem in terms of its author, writing background and intended artistic conceptions, and what translating strategies the translator adopts will have a great impact on the translated version. Based on Nida's "functional equivalence" theory as the theoretical basis of the study, two different English versions of five-character jueju"Jiang Xue were chosen as the research objects, and studied from two perspectives, namely romantic charm including artistic images and conceptions and artistic form including language employed and rhythms to examine whether the two English versions have reproduced the source poem as it was. It was pointed out in the paper that achieving the functional equivalence between the source language poem and the translated version in terms of artistic images, language style and rhythm allows the possibility of the target language reader comprehending the translated version to the point that they can conceive of how the source language reader must have understood and appreciated the source poem.

Translation and Poetry:Preface to Lost in Translation,the collection of poems and translations by Yihai Chen

The American poet Robert Frost(1874-1963)suggested that poetry gets lost in translation,an opinion that unfortunately has been widely publicised.This view,of course,is a conceit:not only does poetry NOT always get lost in translation,often it is through translation that poetry flourishes.For translation is one of the principal ways in which a literature can reinvigorate itself,can look outwards at other forms of writing and discover and then develop those forms.

Collisions of the Past with the Present： Translation, Texts, and History

This article begins by articulating a new perspective on the translation of Chinese poetry, arguing that the most important of the three well-known ＂difficulties＂ in the translation of Chinese poetry outlined by Yan Fu 严复 （1854-1921）--namely, faithfulness （xin 信）, conveyance （da 达）, and elegance （ya 雅）--should in fact be the one that is least often discussed, da. The author principally interprets da as ＂conveying＂ the mood and then the meaning of the original work into the target language. This position is then illustrated by specific examples from Lu Xun＇s （1881-1936） emotive and highly allusive classical-style poetry, engaging issues regarding its annotation, exegesis, and translation which have arisen in Chinese literary and scholarly circles. The author suggests that since the deployment of affective images has often been designated as an essential and distinguishing characteristic of Chinese poetry, the translation of Chinese poetry into Western languages must make an effort to engage with the original images--not simply resorting to paraphrases or substitutions--and concludes that poetry in translation can and does have important and lasting effects on the literature of the target language.