A comparative study of translator style on fox story in English translations of Liao Zhai Zhiyi
《聊斋志异》狐精故事英译译者风格对比研究

摘要

本研究以文本细读法为研究方法，考察《聊斋志异》翟理斯译本和闵福德译本中《画皮》、《娇娜》、《贾儿》、《婴宁》、《莲香》篇章有关狐精的文化负载词翻译风格、叙事风格和注释风格。研究发现：翟译本狐精名称文化负载词翻译以异化策略为主，保留中文拼音特色，有利于中国语言文字的传播；闵译本以归化策略为主，挖掘名称背后的中华文化元素，向西方读者呈现名称所蕴含的深层含义。在叙事风格方面，翟译本因动作描写不够精确，导致狐精故事人物形象塑造略逊于闵译本，最终影响翟译本译文故事叙事的完整度。在注释方面，囿于维多利亚时代的保守社会风气，闵译本更加注重狐精文化背景与历史语境的分析；而出版于21世纪的闵译本，既关注狐精文化背景，也关注狐精情感和心理变化。

Abstract

This study employs a close reading method to examine the culture-loaded words translation style, narrative style, and annotation style related to the fox spirits in the five stories such as The painted Skin, Grace and Pine, The Merchant’s Son, The Laughing Girl, Lotus Fragrance from Chinese classic “Liao Zhai Zhiyi (Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio)” as translated by Herbert Giles and John Minford. The findings reveal that Giles’ translation predominantly adopts a foreignization strategy, retaining features of Chinese pinyin in the translation of culture-loaded words for fox spirits, which is conducive to the dissemination of Chinese. In contrast, Minford’s translation primarily utilizes a domestication strategy to dig deep into the Chinese elements behind the name of the foxes, presenting the deeper meanings embedded in the names to Western readers. Regarding narrative style, Giles’ version falls slightly short in character development due to less precise action descriptions when compared to Minford’s translation, finally impact the completeness of the narrative of fox stories in Giles’ version. In terms of annotations, Gile’s translation places greater emphasis on analyzing the cultural background and historical context of fox spirits due to the limitation of the conservative social morality of the Victorian Age, while Minford’s version, published in the 21st century, focuses more on the emotional and psychological changes of the fox spirits.