Multi-versions of Chinese Classics Under the Same Title—A Case Study on English Translation of Slow Slow Song

HU Ping

Heze Medical College,Heze,274000,China

[Abstract]Only when translators adapt to and select the translational eco-environment at different levels,can the phenomenon of multiple versions under the same title occur.Due to their different translation purposes and target readers,there exists the possibility of symbiosis.In the process of translation,translators constantly make adaptations and selections in the translational eco-environment,adopt different translation strategies and methods,and finally produce different translation forms,representing their own unique beauty,taking on the scene of "a hundred flowers bloom,a hundred schools of thought contend".This paper only extracts three English versions of the Slow Slow Song to expound the translation phenomenon under the same title guided by translator's adaption and selection of linguistic factors and subjectivity.This translation phenomenon is a diachronic and synchronic dislocation mode of translation across the time and space,which adapts to the timing and trend,and weeds through the old to create the new to make sure that the language and culture of the original language can be reproduced.So to speak,this model gives the translation new life and the continuation of the life of the source text.Multiple versions under the same title can provide Multiple versions under the same title with a referential significance so that they can go beyond and innovate on the basis of preceding versions.

[Keywords] Multiple versions under the same title;coexist;Slow Slow Song

I.Introduction

Multiple translation under the same title refers to the translation activity in which different translators produce different translations of the same work after "adapting" and"choosing" the translation ecological environment.From the perspective of time,this activity can be divided into diachronic and synchronic translation under the same title.It’s a trans-spatial and asymmetrical translation model.Therefore,the translation of the same topic can be regarded as a trans-temporal dislocation of translation activities that coexist both diachronic and synchronic.In this translation activity,it will be those in different times,different cultural backgrounds or different stages of the same title in the same time,with the passage of time,the change of the age,the original content of the ideological content of the new era.Translators will 'create' their own forerunners,who constantly modify our concepts of the past and future,change the ancient to adapt to the present,constantly and repeatedly modify,filter and recombine the same work to reproduce the original in new forms,inject fresh blood into the original translation,so that the life of the original can be continued.Thus,the translation under the same title has been marked by the stigma of all times.Therefore,translators must not be passive and passive imitators,but try to adapt themselves to the trend of the development of all ages.Translators who undertake the translation under the same title should keep pace with the age.Their translations should innovate and develop in inheritance,survive and become effective in development,make the original texts and translations show the characteristics of the times,conform to the trend of the development of the age,and realize the symbiosis and coexistence of multiple translations.

In the process of translating a poem under the same title,the translator must consciously adapt himself to the translation ecological environment with the poem as the typical element.“In humanistic activities,the subject has the nature of ‘individual subject’.Everyone has a different aesthetic sense,perspective,social background,cultural tradition,education level,life experience and emotional experience.They have their own preexisting,prescient and prophetic basis.Hence,different people who translate the same book often produce different versions;Different people will have different interpretations of the same passage.”(Lu,2001:9)Today,we should not only talk about cultural exchanges,but also cultural integration.This is because the world is a world of diverse civilizations.Diversity leads to exchanges,mutual learning and development among civilizations.Similarly,our translation activities under the same title should also be diversified and colorful due to exchanges and mutual learning.Only through exchanges and mutual learning,can we produce diversified translations.In view of this,we should adopt an open attitude towards different translations,make progress in the new era and promote the translation of the same title to inject more new vitality and diversified cultural elements into different translations of the same work.

Li Qingzhao,a poetess in the Song Dynasty,wrote a poem called “Slow Slow Song”,which has been widely read at home and abroad.This poem was written in her later years after she crossed over to the South,when the Northern Song dynasty fell.The poem describes what the poetess sees and hears in the scene of autumn.After suffering the misfortune of the country,the death of her family and the loss of her husband,the poetess finds it diきcult to soothe her sorrow,she takes advantage of this bleak scene to express his sad and lonely mood.This poem makes readers feel her sorrow,depressed.According to incomplete statistics,there are more than 20 English translations of “Slow Voice“.This paper analyzes the English translations of “Slow Slow Song” by Lin Yutang,Xu Yuanchong and Xu Zhongjie,and try to interpret them from the perspectives of adaptation and selection of linguistic factors,cognitive context and subjectivity.

II.The adaptation and selection of translators to linguistic factors

Translation serves as a bridge of communication between different cultures and nations.“The translato's adaptation is first of all the adaptation of language factors,and adaptation to language is also adaptation to the meaning of language.Because the process of communication is a process of choosing words according to one's intention and deriving meaning from language ”(Liu,2002:52-53).Poetry usually shows its broad and profound artistic conception with concise language.Shi Yingzhou,a famous translator of poetry,once pointed out that in terms of form,translated poetry should follow the original poem's character,syntax,structure,style,meter,rhyme,rhythm and spirit.At the beginning of“Slow Slow Song” ,the unique sound effect of seven groups of overlapping characters and double rhymes vividly depicts the poet's sad feelings.The oblique rhyme system is used throughout,which brings melodious feeling to readers’ hearing.Lin Yutang pays attention to the expression of poetic image and rhythm.He starts with seven words “so” and seven adjectives starting with “d”.The/s/and plosive/d/create the poet's sorrow and sadness for the loss of his country and husband.It is wonderful that alliteration is used in the choice of rhythm,aiming to achieve the effect of alliteration of the original poem.Although the literal equivalence between wording and the form of the original is realized throughout,the connotation covered by“尋尋覓覓”has not been fully manifested.Poetess’ loss and loneliness after several fruitless ending has not been revealed.Xu's version adopts “aabb”rhyming,which emphasizes the faithful pursuit of rhyme pattern on the basis of faithful content,which is a typical rhyming translation method.Alliteration and couplet rhetorical devices are used to achieve the aesthetic effect of sound and form.

Xu takes the form of “aabbccdd...” ,his version adopts couplet throughout,that is,every two acts of a pair,a rhyme,two lines of a rhyme.Although it has rhyme,it is actually in the form of prosaic style.The whole text gives readers a feeling of forced rhyme.The “meaning” of the original text is preserved,but it lacks the beauty of “sound” and the beauty of "form".The two stanzas have different rhymes,which strive to be faithful to the original text in content and vary in meter,but they are poor in style.Since the original text is a poetic form,if excessive insistence on rhyme will lead to the harm of “meaning” due to “rhyme”,so that the original poetic quality of flavor can not achieve good poetic effect.

III.Translator's subjectivity manifested in English translation

The “intervention” of the translator's subjectivity is based on the translation theory of “deconstruction”,which emphasizes the appearance and status of the translator's role in translation.This is a divergent thinking of the translator in translation,which dissolves the structure,shows its components,facilitates the discovery of problems.It is conducive to making the new combination of internal and external factors,breaking the closure,towards pluralism for translation,seeking foe the liberation of the translator and the translation(Hu,2004:30).The translator's intervention eliminates the centrality of the original author and the original text,and highlights the centrality of the translator,who interprets the original text.Translators' lack of “personality traits” and “self-advertisement” is one reason for their low status(Robinson,1991:XVI).In Xu's translation,“尋尋覓覓”is rendered into “I know not what it is”,which is obviously the translator's understanding and interpretation in the translation process,which extends the literal meaning beyond words and adds the translator's subjective consciousness and emotion to the original content.“梧桐更兼細雨、到黃昏、點點滴滴?！眎n this Chinese line,it mainly describes the dull sound of rain to express the poetess’ gloomy mood.The silence of the drizzle is described here.The English verse borrows from the onomatopoeia,namely “Keeps on droning:pita-pat,pit-a-pat...” .It is the translators who spread their own thinking,and the vivid description of the “rain” can make the translation achieve a good auditory effect,as if people were truly in this situation.The translator used onomatopoeia to describe the sound of rain in a more vivid and dynamic way.Finally,at the end of the Chinese stanza “這次第怎一個愁字了得?”It expresses the poetess’ extreme grief and sorrow.The poetess saw the desolate autumn scenery,dreary autumn rain sound,but all this kind of scenery superposition together cannot express by a simple ”sorrow” word.Thees three kinds of translations have different understandings of sorrow,which are respectively translated as“sad”,“grief” and “miserable” respectively.It can be seen that the translators have different understandings of the gloomy and sad mood of the poetess in the original poem,which is undoubtedly not a strong illustration of the translators' subjectivity based on the original poem.In the vigorous cultural context,with the awakening and exaltation of the translator's subjective consciousness,both personal and contemporary languages are manipulated by the translator with a clear subjective consciousness.After selection,cleaning,modification,filtering,emphasis and recombination,the translated text comes to life.Through the reproduction and experience of language and culture,it constitutes the continuation of the life of the original text.(Sun,2003:9)

IV.Conclusion

Just like biodiversity in natural ecology,the diversification of translation theories and the “symbiotic coexistence” of different translations have gradually become a normal trend in the development of translation studies.Multiple translation theories and different translated texts are constantly evolving in the ecological environment of translation,“survival of the fittest”.The translator should adapt himself to the environment of translation ecology,on the basis of respecting the ideological content of the original text,change the ancient and adjust to the present,give play to the subjectivity of the translator,reproduce the original text,and inject new connotation of the times to the original text and the translation,so that the beauty of each version,coexistence and symbiosis of multiple versions can be found.