Now and Then: Strategic Variation in the Translations of Culture-Specific Items Across Time

[[abstract]]本研究之目的乃是探討文學作品中翻譯文化詞彙時所使用之翻譯策略。首先，本研究從七本英文小說中收集一百個文化詞彙，並將所收集之詞彙分為：1)非物質文化詞彙；2)物質文化詞彙；及3)成語與俚語等三類。本研究運用六個翻譯策略為準繩以分析此三類文化詞彙在西元兩千年之前與之後分別採取哪些翻譯策略。之後，針對西元兩千年之前與之後所採取的翻譯策略進行比較，以探討文化詞彙在不同時空裡所採取的不同翻譯策略。最後，本研究採用Venuti所提出的歸化/異化策略，以及Even-Zohar所主張的多元系統論 (polysystem)理論為框架，以探討小說在西元兩千年之前、後地位與翻譯策略之互動關係。 本研究採用量化分析，以調查各類不同的文化詞彙翻譯中，最常與最少使用的策略，以瞭解文化詞彙翻譯於西元兩千年之前、後的歸化與異化程度。根據研究結果顯示：1)西元兩千年以前，最常以外來語的方式翻譯非物質及物質文化詞彙，最少使用的翻譯策略則是文化替代詞。在翻譯成語與俚語上，最常使用策略的是意譯，最少使用的則為省略。2) 西元兩千年後，在翻譯非物質文化詞彙時，外來語仍是最常使用的策略，而最少使用的策略也仍是文化替代詞；然而，在物質文化詞彙的翻譯上，最常及最少使用的策略則變成意譯及省略。在翻譯成語及俚語上，意譯與文化替代詞同為最常使用的策略，最少使用的策略則為省略。3) 平均數據結果顯示，西元兩千年前的翻譯中，異化的程度比歸化的程高，西元兩千年後的翻譯中，歸化的程度則比異化的程度高。此外，針對數據結果之質化分析顯示，隨著時間的改變，翻譯策略也可能隨之改變。因為時間的不同以及文本在目標文化所佔地位的不同，譯者可能會使用不同的策略來翻譯同一個文化詞彙。在polysystem的架構下，我們可以得知，相對於西元兩千年前，台灣小說的地位在兩千年後有逐漸衰退的現象，故歸化程度較以往高。 此研究結果符合Even-Zohar的多元系統論(polysystem)，此理論主張文本在整個文學系統裡所佔的地位會影響到譯者所使用的翻譯策略。因此，翻譯時不能只考慮到語言的層面，時間和文本的地位也是在很重要的因素。 關鍵字：文化詞彙、翻譯策略、歸化、異化、多元系統論[[abstract]]Now and Then: Strategic Variation in the Translations of Culture-Specific Items Across Time ABSTRACT The purpose of the study is to investigate the strategies of translating culture-specific items (CSIs) in literary works I first collect one hundred CSIs from seven English novels and then categorize them into nonmaterial items material items and idioms and slang I then use six translation strategies to analyze how these CSIs are treated in their translated novels published before and after the year 2000 in Taiwan After that a comparison between pre-2000 and post-2000 CSIs translations helps explore how CSIs are translated with different strategies in different times Finally Venuti’s domestication and foreignization strategiesb and Even-Zohar’s polysystem theory are employed to explore the relevance of translation strategies to the changing status of novels in Taiwan This study undertakes a quantitative analysis to investigate the most frequently and least frequently adopted strategies of translating each category of CSIs so that we may understand the different degrees of domesticating and foreignizing between the CSIs translations before and after the year 2000 Some major findings are summarized as follows: 1) Before the year 2000 the most and the least frequently adopted strategies are the use of loan word and cultural substitution in the translations of nonmaterial and material CSIs while paraphrase and omission are the most and the least frequently used ones in translating idioms and slang; 2) after the year 2000 the most and least frequently used strategies in the translations of nonmaterial CSIs remain the use of loan word and cultural substitution However in translating material CSIs the most and the least frequently used strategies have changed to paraphrase and omission In translating idioms and slang both paraphrase and cultural substitution are equally the most adopted strategies and omission is still the least adopted one in this category and; 3) the overall statistic results reveal that the degree of foreignization is higher in pre-2000 translations while post-2000 translations show a higher degree of domestication Additionally the qualitative analysis of the findings implications indicate that translation strategies change as time changes and translators use different strategies to translate the same CSI due to the different times and the different status of the translated text Thus within the frame of polysystem theory we may conclude that the status of novel in Taiwan has declined after the year 2000 and this results in the higher degree of domestication than before The results of this research concur with Even-Zohar’s polysystem theory that the choice of translation strategies is subject to a change in the status of the translated text in the entire literary system Thus apart from the linguistic aspect it is also important to take time factor and the status of the translated text into account when we discuss the translation strategy Keywords: culture-specific items translation strategy domestication foreignization the polysystem theor