Service Awareness in Translation: A Case Study of English and Portuguese Translation of Mo Yan’s Fengru Feitun
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1411.10Keywords:
service awareness, translation, Mo Yan, Big Breasts and Wide Hips, Peito Grande, Ancas LargasAbstract
“Service awareness” refers to translators’ clear understanding of who they are serving, how they are supposed to serve, and what they are serving for during the translation process. This paper, based on first-hand examples, examines Goldblatt’s English translation and Martins’ Portuguese translation of Mo Yan’s masterpiece Fengru feitun [Big Breasts and Wide Hips] from the perspective of “service awareness in translation”. The present paper finds that both the English translator and the Portuguese translator have good “service awareness” in their translations. Their “service awareness” is mainly reflected in the abridgments and rewritings of the source text at the structural, cultural, and lexical levels. These modifications have improved the readability of the translations. In other words, the translators have offered good “services” to their readers. This study analyzes the reasons behind the abridgements and rewrites.
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