摘 要

动态对等理论是美国语言学家、翻译理论家尤金·A·奈达的著名代表理论之一。《冰与火之歌》是由美国作家乔治·R·马丁所著的严肃奇幻小说系列。本文主要以《冰与火之歌：权力的游戏》中文译本为例，从动态对等理论角度出发，通过具体的译例来分析译作，针对原文的语言特点，分析译者翻译策略及其中文译本成功之处。

关键词： 翻译；《冰与火之歌：权力的游戏》；动态对等论

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Demonstration 2

2.1. Dynamic Equivalence theory 3

2.2. A Song of Ice and Fire: A Game of Thrones 5

2.3. Analysis of the Chinese translation from Dynamic Equivalence theory 6

2.3.1. Adherence to the principles 6

2.3.2. Embodiment of the features 8

2.3.3. Violation to the theory 8

2.3.4. Evaluation 10

3. Conclusion 10

Works Cited 12

Bibliography 13

An Analysis of Chinese Translation of A Song of Ice and Fire: A Game of Thrones Based on Dynamic Equivalence Theory

1. Introduction

With the rapid development of globalization, Fantasy Literature has been worldwide popular, and more foreign literary works are attracting Chinese’s readers’ attention. Under such circumstance, translation of literary works plays an indispensible role in the cultural exchange.

Dynamic equivalence, also known as Functional Equivalence, is one of the most popular theories developed by a legendary American linguist and translation theorist, Eugene A. Nida. Nida advocates that “Translating consists in reproducing in the receptor language, the closest nature equivalent of the source language message, first in terms of meaning, and secondly in terms of style”(Nida and Taber 53). This theory is not only a revolution to translation, but marks a new era of linguistic study and research because it provides a new standard of translation and stresses the function of language.

A Song of Ice and Fire, a series of epic fantasy novels written by American novelist and screenwriter George Raymond Richard Martin, has been warmly welcomed around the world currently. Though initially published without great fanfare, the books in the series have sold very well and have been translated into more than 20 languages. In China, the series of A Song of Ice and Fire translated by Tan Guanglei and Qu Chang have attracted much attention and the Chinese versions of A Song of Ice and Fire are considered to be of high quality, for its language is both beautiful and lively.

There are many comments and studies on A Song of Ice and Fire from critical articles or essays in newspapers and on the internet, some of which have been edited in volumes and books. The studies of A Song of Ice and Fire mainly focus on the analysis of characters, themes, Martin’s writing style and point of view, narrative strategy, like POV Narrative Strategy: On George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire written by Wang Xue from Minzu University of China; while the studies of Chinese version of A Song of Ice and Fire is few, except that Wu Shuang’s An Analysis of the Chinese Version of A Song of Ice and Fire: A Game of Thrones from Skopos Persective can be searched in CNKI (www.cnki.net).

In the study of translation, the dynamic equivalence theory has been taken very frequently home and abroad in recent decades. Although a large multitude of research has been dedicated to translation activity from the perspective of dynamic equivalence theory, the research on the Chinese translation of A Song of Ice and Fire from the perspective of dynamic equivalence theory is untouched, which adds innovation to the thesis.

This thesis mainly takes the Chinese translation of A Song of Ice and Fire: A Game of Thrones as a sample for case study and analyzes the characteristics of the original text and the techniques the translators used based on dynamic equivalence theory. The first part of this thesis is a brief introduction. The second part is the main body of the whole thesis, in which it introduces the theory and study objects, after which comes the analysis and examples with supporting details, which is the most significant section. Finally, there is a conclusion as an ending of the whole thesis.

2. Demonstration

In this chapter, the dynamic equivalence theory will be introduced and the characteristics of the original text, A Song of Ice and Fire: A Game of Thrones, will be analyzed, from which, it can be seen how the translators used the techniques from the dynamic equivalence and made the Chinese version so beautiful and attractive as to be accepted by most readers, that is to say, the reacts of readers of the receptor language on the translation are close to the reacts of readers of the source language on the original.

2.1. Dynamic Equivalence theory

Eugene Albert Nida (November 11, 1914 – August 25, 2011) is one of the most productive linguists and influential translation theorists in the 20^th century. One of his most notable contributions to translation theory is dynamic equivalence, also known as Functional Equivalence.

2.1.1. The origin and development of Dynamic Equivalence theory

As to dynamic equivalence theory, many famous scholars and specialists have studied this theory and promoted the development and enrichment of it. Nida stated his innovative theory clearly in two books, one of which is Towards a Science of Translating that was published in 1964. He first put forward the concept of dynamic equivalence in this book and focused on the combination of theory and practice. The other book is The Theory and Practice of Translation that was written in collaboration with Charles Taber and published in 1969. He emphasized practice, developed and detailed the term of “Dynamic Equivalence” and made it easier to understand. He also gave a definition of translating in “The Nature of Translating” as “the closest nature equivalent of the source language message” (Nida and Taber 12). Nida advocated that the closest natural equivalence includes three essential terms: equivalent, natural and closest.

2.1.2. Basic principles of Dynamic Equivalence theory

In order to judge what should be done in specific instance of translating, it is important to establish following principles.

(1). Priority of contextual consistency over verbal consistency

Since words have different meanings in different contexts and in different languages, it is inevitable that the choice of the right word in the receptor language to translate a word in the source language text depends more on the context than upon a fixed system of verbal consistency.