On the Responsibility of a Translator :

A Case Study on Three Body Problem

By

Huang Jieying

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

For the Degree of Bachelor of Arts

Department of Translation

School of Languages and Cultures

Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology

December, 2015

On the Responsibility of a Translator :

A Case Study on Three Body Problem

Huang Jieying

Department of Translation

School of Languages and Cultures

Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology

Abstract: Unlike original works, translation, as a recreation, is relatively under great limitation. Although in translation circles the restrictions imposed on translators have been loosed a little, the main principle “fidelity” still maintains untouchable. However, translation is a highly complicated social activity, which is influenced by social environment, cultural difference, purpose of translation, and the interest and receptivity of target readers etc. And translator, as a bridge of two contexts and cultures, plays a significant role of taking huge responsibility of connecting two civilization and society. So what kind of responsibility should translators undertake during the translating progress? We will research Sun Zhili’s The Translator’s Responsibilities and use The Three-Body Problem as an example to make a discussion.

Key words: The Three-Body Problem; science fiction; Sun Zhili; the translator’s responsibilities; translation ethics

摘 要

与创作不同，翻译作为“二度创作”，相对而言受更大的局限。尽管近些年来，翻译学界对于译者的自由度有所放宽，但“忠实”作为翻译的重要原则仍然处于不可动摇的地位。然而，翻译作为一种非常复杂的社会活动，受社会环境、文化差异、翻译目的、读者兴趣和接受能力等多方面的制约。而译者作为两个文本、两种文化间的桥梁，起着举足轻重的作用，同时也承担着巨大的文化、社会责任。那么，在译介作品的过程中，译者需要承担哪些翻译职责呢？本文将从孙致礼的《译者的职责》出发，以刘宇昆译作《三体》为例展开相关探讨。

关键词：《三体》；科幻小说；孙致礼；译者职责；翻译伦理

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Background Knowledge of Translation Ethics 1

3. The Three-Body Problem 2

3.1 On the Author of The Three-Body Problem 2

3.2 On the Translator of The Three-Body Problem 3

4. Influence of Translator’s Responsibilities on The Three-Body Problem Translation 3

4.1 Representing the Original Text 3

4.2 Accomplishing the Requirements of Clients 4

4.3 Conforming to the Sociocultural Standard of the Target Language 6

4.4 Satisfying the Need of Target Language Reader 7

4.5 Abiding by Professional Ethics 8

5.Conclusion 8

References 9

1. Introduction

Although the ethic is in the category of socialism, it possesses great value about moral philosophy, because what it focuses on is the codes of conduct and social norms that people should abide by. Translation, as an intercultural interaction, is strongly associated with ethics. So to speak, ethic thought has been running through the translation practice of the West and China. Translators abide by some special values consciously or unconsciously. Thus different translation schools in different times worship different translation ethics. Translation ethics study the principle and norms followed by different translators in different times from the perspective of social ethics, which explains the reason the responsibilities of translators could be concluded according to the ethics of translation. On the responsibilities of a translator, on the basis of Chesterman’s five ethics of translation: ethics of representation, ethics of service, ethics of communication, norm-based ethics, and ethics of “commitment” (Chesterman, 2001), Sun Zhili classified the responsibilities of translators into the five following aspects: representing the original text, accomplishing the requirements of clients, conforming to the sociocultural standard of the target language, satisfying the need of target language reader, and abiding by professional ethics (Sun, 2007). This essay takes Sun’s five responsibilities of translators to probe if Ken Liu (刘宇昆), the translator of The Three-Body Problem, has accomplished the realization of those five responsibilities during the process of translating.

2. Background Knowledge of Translation Ethics

Conventional philosophy of translation always puts fidelity on the first place no matter in West or East. The principle of “fidelity” gives the original text a supreme status, which means when translating every word in the original text shall be able to be found from the target text. However, translation is an extremely sophisticated activity, easily influenced by policy, culture, and era, which means there is no way to make a completely accurate translation. Although “fidelity” itself plays a crucial role in translating, it’s not the only standard of distinguishing good translation from poor one. With the further development of the translation field, it’s gradually admitted that absolute fidelity is over-ideal and non-existing, and only by translators’ initiative can translation be well finished. Furthermore, the initiative of translator relates to the values of translator himself/herself, which leads to the ethics of translators. In 1944, Rosemary Arrojo put forward the idea that the core of translation problem should be transferred to ethics of translation from the fidelity principle (Kathleen Davis, 2004: 90), or to put another way, the responsibility of translator.

3. On The Three-Body Problem

In 2014 the immediate warm reception after The Three-Body Problem’s publication in US leads to Westerners’ enthusiasm of Chinese science fiction. Besides winning 2015 Hugo Award, The Three-Body Problem was also nominated by Nebula Award, Locus Award, Campbell Award and Prometheus Award, which are all international awards for fantasy fiction. There is a popular commend that “After a hundred years’ development of Chinese sci-fi, we finally got The Three-Body Problem” (Yin, 2015: 21). We can see that The Three-Body Problem is now a huge success. Aliette de Bodard, Nebula Award-winning author of “Immersion”, once praised “A tour de force walk through Chinese and world history. The Three-Body Problem merges virtual realities, alien invasions, and exciting science, and manages to make them all fresh.” (The Three-Body Problem, 2014) “Utterly, utterly brilliant. The Three-Body Trilogy is nothing short of a masterpiece.” (Ibid.) so did Lavie Tidhar, World Fantasy Award-winning author of Osama praise.

3.1 On the Author of The Three-Body Problem

The author of The Three-Body Problem is Liu Cixin（刘慈欣）, whose main job is senior engineer and side job is writer. As this year’s hottest sci-fi writer in China, Liu Cixin has continuously won nine years Galaxy Award since 1999 the first time he published science fiction, Galaxy Award being considered the highest award for science fiction in China. In 2010 he finished The Three Body Trilogy (the whole series, three parts) and won that year’s Galaxy. In 2014 the first part of The Three Body Trilogy has been translated into English and won 2015 year’s Hugo Award. It is said that the translated second and third part of The Three Body Trilogy are going to explode the English-language market and hit another world sci-fi awards. Liu Cixin has successfully achieved the greatest honor in the history of Chinese sci-fi. Professor Yan Feng（严峰）of Chinese Department, Shanghai’s Fudan University, once commended, “I have no doubt he (Liu Cixin) raised Chinese Science Fiction to the world-class level all by himself.”(Han, 2014: 1)

3.2 On the Translator of The Three-Body Problem

剩余内容已隐藏，请支付后下载全文，论文总字数：27306字