Gideon Toury and the Application of Translation Norms in The Great Gatsby 2012211058

ContentGideon Toury 1.1 Brief Introduction 1.2 General IdeaII Tourys Target-text Oriented Theory of Translation 2.1 Study of Hebrew literature 2.2 Traditional model Vs.Tourys model 2.3 Target-text oriented theoryIII Tourys Translation Norms 3.1nature of norms 3.2types of translational norms Prescriptive VS Descriptive approach 4.1 Prescriptive approach 4.2 Descriptive approach 4.3 The advantage of descriptive approach 4.4 The disadvantage of descriptive approach

1.1 Brief introductionI. Gideon Toury Professor of University of Tel Aviv

World-famous translation theorist

Works: In search of a theory of translation 1980 Descriptive Translation Studies and Beyond 1995

1.2 General ideas1. Target-text oriented theory of translation2. Translation norms 3. Descriptive translation

Hebrew literature --- a starting point ideological > literary \ aesthetic

II Tourys Target-text Oriented Theory of Translation2.1 Study of Hebrew literatureStarting point What he had found : Most texts were translated for ideological reasons not for linguistics or aesthetics; However, general lack of concern for faithfulness to the source text did not influence the identity of translated text.GOAL: acceptable translation in target culture

2.2 Traditional model vs.Tourys modelSource-text oriented theoryTarget-text oriented theoryBasis: Difference between languages. every linguisitic system and/or texual tradition differs from any other in terms of structure repertory norms of usage.Focus; cultual-linguistic contextTranslation equivalence Functional-dynamic equivalence Focus: correctness faithfulness

2.3 Target-text oriented theory (more details) Two poles : adequacy & acceptability No translation is ever entirely adequate to the original version because the cultural norms cause shifts from the source text structures. No translaiton is ever entirely acceptable to the target culture because some new information and forms will be introduced to the system.translationSource-textTarget-text

The eventual goal :In short, Toury demanded that translation theory include cultural-historical facts, a set of laws that he calls translation norms.

III Tourys Translation NormsCenter of Tourys theory The Nature and Role of Norms in Literary Translation Classification Preliminary norms ()Initial norms ()Operational norms ()

NormsBorrowed from social behaviorism the notion Norm means the regular decisions the translator normally makes to avoid dispute in the translating process.Toury classifies norms according to different stages of their occurrence in the translational decision making process.

Rules, Norms, IdiosyncrasiesFactors restraining translation source text, the language difference, the culture, the knowledge of translator

------------ ------------ rules--------- norms ---------idiosyncrasies

Preliminary norms () Involving factors such as which govern the choice of the work and the overall translation strategy. It includes the choice of translation policies and the directness of the translations. It is the macro element that affects the translators before the translating starts.

Individual translators choice to subject oneself either to the original text or target cultures linguistic and literary norms. It determines whether the translation is source-norm oriented or target-norm oriented. In other words, it concerns general choices between the adequacy and acceptability of the translation

Initial norms ()

Operational norms () Actural decisions made during the translation process. And they can be divided into matricial norms and textual-linguistic norms and are thus the micro elements affecting the translation.

In terms of initial norms, the translation attitude toward the source text is affected by texts position in the source cultures literary In terms of operational norms, all decisions are influenced by the position of------central or peripheral----held by translated literature in the target culture

Prescriptive VS Descriptive approach As we all know, the study of translation approaches is often prescriptive, such as Nidas functional equivalence and Yanfus trinity principle. They offer norms for the translator to follow. So the disadvantage of the prescriptive approach is that its only within the language circle and neglect other facts. Morever, they often want to extend itself to all the translation. Thus, the dispute is often unadvoidable.

Descriptive approachDescriptive translation studies--- they attend to process, product, and function---set translation practices in time and, thus by extension, in politics, ideology, economics, culture. As Toury mentioned, a translation will be any target language text which is presented or regarded as such in a target system, on whatever grounds.)

The achievement of descriptive approach The attribute : they all give the right place to the translation version, thus giving an end to the debate about the gauge of the translation. The basic understanding of translation :1. the partiality of translation, that is, you cant convey all the message from the SL to the TL2. the manipulation of the translation by the translator himself

The disadvantage of the descriptive approach 1.overstate the netural stance the reseachers take, but as we all know as a personel the inclinantion is unavoidable

2.deviate itself from the translation practice. Although it broadens the scope of translation study, to some extent it overshadow the importance of translation pracitce.

In translationwe can always find that the same original text will have different or even contrary translation after translated by different translatorsThe key is the translators especially when they choose and use norms which affect translation under a certain period under the influence of the translator subjectivityThat is to saythe mission of the translator is facing these norms and choosing normsTranslational strategy is the key choice

The norms on macro level of translation includes preliminary norms and initial norms in which the ST is chosen according to the target languages social and cultural background economicspoliticsreaders expectation, translation policythe translators subjectivity and so on, and the translational strategies is selected according to the choice of the translator between source cultural norms and target cultural norms with the effect of translators subjectivityMr.Wu mainly adopted the method of foreignization while MrYao used domestication as the main strategyThe two translators use one method as the main strategy and the other is also used which means no translation is totally domestication or foreignizationTheir translation works have their own merits and specialties and are the most famous versions of this novel which means they are widely accepted by the readers

The thing to do is to forget about the heatsaid Tom impatientlyYou make itten times worse by crabbing about it(Fitzgerald2005158)WuS version"YaoS version It is fluent and naturalin accordance with the Chinese language normsAnd it fully conveys the meaning of the original text

The factors affecting the translation activity on the micro level are the operational norms which are concrete translating skills and strategiesHow to translate some certain wordssentenceshow to transmit the elegant and poemlike literary and linguistic style of the original texthow to compose the target text and soonare the central problemsThe two translators both successfully convey the content and meaning of the Source text under the influence of translational norms and the influence of subjectivity

Influence at the micro levelChanges in DistributionMatrical norms govern the distribution of linguistic materialthe structure of the textThe translators do some amendments in the translation of The Great Gatsbythough they are not very big changesThere are no macro changes such as adding or omitting paragraphs or chaptersBoth the translators generally follow the original paragraph by paragraph without big changes for the language of the source text is really beautifulmoving and indispensable for the transmitting of the contentBut some places have the small but important changes to help the readers to have a better understanding of the original text

WuS versionYaoS versionYaoS version is more fluent by adding the implied meaning of the original textfor the context is that Miss Bakerfor some stupid and time wasting thingdidnt greet to Nick by action or words when they first met in TomS homebut during the conversation of others she suddenly chimed in and lightly nodded to Nickis added here to further convey the arrogant attitude and impoliteness of Miss Baker for whom nothing matters and nobody is importantThough famous and rich,she is ungracious and emptyAddition

I Was enjoying myself nowI had taken two fmgerbowls of champagneand thescene had changed before my eyes into something significantelementaland profound"(Fitzgerald200557)WuS version YaoS versioncIn the aspect of choosing wordsYao uses much more Chinese idioms which callbe found here and thereChinese idioms are traditional and typical of Chinese language which is conciseshort and rich in meaningAnd most of them used in the translation are very propertransmitting the profound meanings of the source text without changing the fluentexquisiteelegant styleWuS versions are accurateplain and conciseWhile YaoS versions have more literary grace and cater to the aesthetic standards of the 2 1 st century readersBoth of them are well accepted by readers of their own timesChoice of words

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