The art of translating Singapore Chinese short stories : a case study of "The Lady in the Trishaw at dead Man’s Alley"

• Main Author: Chew, Lee Cheng (Zhou Liqing)
• Other Authors: Wang Shengyu
• Format: Theses and Dissertations
• Language: English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: Humanities::Language
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/78875
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This study has explored how the translation process of Singapore short stories could be carried out, such that the cultural aspects of the source text are preserved in the target text considering that the background of the translator could affect this process. Using a three-phase translation process, this study finds literary translation to be very dependent on the understanding of the translator of the source culture (SC) and language, as otherwise, the picture conjured may not be fully accurate. Moreover, this process gives an added perspective to the translator as a source reader (SR) against text-to-text comparison. In spite of the burdens shouldered in the three-phase translation process, this study finds that the aesthetic value of the ST would be more easily appreciated, resulting in a more polished translation, as well as improving the target language skills of the translator and enabling the translator to become more sensitive to the linguistic and cultural issues in the ST. This study could be useful for future research into literary translation criticism and the study of a translator's style. Should the corpus generated in the three-phase process be properly computerized for both qualitative and quantitative analysis, the translation of literary works would be more pragmatically possible. In view of such a possibility, the translation of Chinese Singaporean Literature may indeed be more prolific in the future, overcoming the boundaries between the past, present and future, and among languages and cultures.