A Brief Comment on the Translation of The Elephant

A Brief Comment on the Translation of

The Elephant

Abstract: The paper provides the reader with the commentary on the translation of The Elephant written by Aravind Adiga.It consists of introduction, content and the translation techniques mainly applied in translating the short story: omission, conversion and diction.

Key Words:omission,conversion,diction

1.Introduction to the author

Aravind Adiga was born in Madras (now Chennai ) on the October,1974.Aravind Adiga who holds dual Indian and Australian citizenship worked as a financial journalist, interning at the Financial Times. He was employed by TIME, where he remained a South Asia correspondent for three years before going freelance. During his freelance period, he wrote The White Tiger which won the Booker Prize. He currently lives in Mumbai, India.

2. Introduction to the story

The Elephant,is a story of a middle-aged man (Chenayya) who live by pulling his cart day after day and year after year, rain or shine.He lives a difficult simple life.The dirty white sarong is his only garment.Just suppose he can get two rupees for each trip, and there are three trips a day on average. That means he can make six rupees a day. But once he deducts the money for lotteries, and liquor, he is lucky to save two. He cannot make ends meet. Sexual activity is one of the most basic human physiologies. What’s worse, he just can't satisfy his basic physiological needs. To him, sex is an extravagant hope. He is tired of this kind of terrible life. He wants to be wealthy and live a decent life. Due to his poverty, he doesn’t dare to get married despite that he once thought he should. Because he doesn’t know what future he will bring his children into. He has faith in luck. If your father is a nobleman, you are a born

nobleman. If your father is a poor wretch, you will be a poor man all your life. There is no doubt about it. As is known to all, a poor man has no chance to change his

fate.He could not have been anything else. It’s written. That is to say, he has to accept it.Indeed, he suffers from great pains. He absolutely wants to change all these damn things. But who should he turn to for help? Nobody.He is helpless. He tries to find a job in a factory. Before he comes to the factory, he is excited. On the way to the factory, he is in the hope of getting the job. In the factory, his sweet dream falls through once and for all. Because the big man let him down; the factory and the society also let him down. What’s worse, the whole world let him down. He must return to Ganesh Pai's shop and repeat doing the humdrum job. That’s the real life for

09英教本二B班 095104102034 林晓燕

him. He is best suited to work there. He needs to resume his life. So to bear these awful sufferings is a must.

3. Translation techniques mainly applied in the story

Eugene A. Nida and Taber stated emphatically (1969:12),“Translation consists in reproducing in the target language the closest natural equivalence of the source language message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style”. In order to be loyal to the content and language in the source article, I employ three main translation techniques in translating the short story, namely omission, conversion and diction. 3.1. Omission

Omission in translation is to cancel some dispensable, wordy words.There is no absolute translation.In English-Chinese translation, we need to get rid of some unnecessary words to make a happy translation. The aim of omission is to be precise and to the point.

A. He was cycling, as always, with his butt elevated off the seat, his spine inclined at sixty degrees.

与往常骑车时一样，他屁股在坐垫上来回跳跃，上身向前倾斜六十度。 The word “with” in this sentence is a preposition.It shows an accompanied

condition.While doing translation,the word “with” has been canceled.What’s more,I translate a connected series of actions into “来回跳跃”和“向前倾斜” to parallel the other units in the sentence.To some extent,it manifests Chenayya's quick and skillful in movement.

B.He was so pleased with himself for this that he smiled. 他对自己所做的一切感到非常满意。他笑了。

We often identify the phrase “…so…that” with its Chinese meaning “如此……以至……”.If we translate this sentence as “他对自己所做的一切感到如此满意以至于他笑了”，it may seems ridiculous.So,in order to make the translation readable and fluent,I choose not to translate the phrase “…so…that”.Therefore,the translation becomes more clear,logical,and comprehensible.

C. He stared at her plump breasts, at the dark tip of her cleavage that showed through her blouse, at her garishly painted lips. 他盯着她那丰满的双乳，那透过短上衣若隐若现的乳沟上方以及那艳唇看。 We know at a glance that the verb phrase “stare at” modifies three objects,namely “breasts”, “the dark tip of her cleavage” and “lips”.In order to avoid repetition,I decide to omit the same linguistic form “stare at”in this sentence.I translate only one “stare at” into Chinese“盯……着看”.So,the other two are canceled.In this way,we can make it more concise and more intelligible. 3.2. Conversion of Parts of Speech

Conversion of parts of speech, one of the frequently adopted translation

techniques, means the change of parts of speech. Conversion of parts of speech can improve the quality of translation.

09英教本二B班 095104102034 林晓燕

A. “There's a lot of work today,Chenayya，” the Tamilian boy said，“Make sure you go the quick way——over Lighthouse Hill.”

“今天有大量的工作要做，陈纳亚。”泰米尔小男孩说，“你得抄近路—— 越过灯塔山。”

The word “over” is a preposition.But Chinese “越过” is a verb.That is to say,we have changed its part of speech from a preposition to a verb.In Chinese,there is verb-object collocation.Whereas in English, there is not only verb-object

collocation,but also prep.-object.So here,we change the part of speech to be up to Chinese expression and to make the translation fluent.

B. “People buy for fifteen, sixteen years before they win, Chenayya,”the lottery seller said, by the way of consolation. “陈纳亚，那些人在他们中大奖之前都买了十五六年，”售票员边说边安慰道。 In the light of the suffix “-tion”,we are sure that the word “consolation” is a noun.While translating this sentence,I make a little change.I translate it into “安

慰”.The Chinese “安慰” can be a noun,also can be a verb.Here,it stands side by side with the verb “说”.So “安慰” is a verb too.In a word,the noun “consolation” has been translated into a verb.As a result,it makes the sentence structure more compact. C. He held out his notepad, with its squiggles and zigzags and numbers, as proof of his claim.

他递过来他的笔记本，上面有难认的笔迹、波浪线和数字来证明他刚才所说的话。

Here the word “proof” is a noun,because it follows “as”.Yet, “证明” in translation is a verb.This change can make what he said more powerful. 3.3. Diction

Polysemy is a significant language phenomenon, and it appears widely in every language. So it is with English.While doing translation,we can choose the right

meaning of a word or a phraze according to the part of speech,the context or the usage of Chinese collocation.

A. Chenayya stared at the water bowl; he noticed how its sides were lobed to make them look like lotus petals, and how the artisan had even traced the pattern of a trellis around the bottom of the bowl.

陈纳亚凝视着小碗；注意着怎样使得碗边呈叶状，看起来像莲花花瓣；制碗工匠如何把碗底周边的图案描绘出来。

The word “trace” can be used as a noun.It also can be a verb.Here,it is a verb.As a verb, “trace” means: (1)to follow,track;(2)to seek;(3)to draw,sketch;(4)to

copy,reproduce,duplicate....Here, “pattern” means “design”.So,I think its meaning should be the third one or the fourth one.To look further,I fix its meaning on the third one.

B. Mr. Pai motioned for him to hand over the cash. 柏先生示意他该交货款了。

According to the dictionary, “motion” means “to move”.But here,it shows its basic meaning “giving a sign”.

C. They took turns buying small bottles of country liquor, which they shared amongst themselves, getting giddy quickly and belting out Kannada film songs off key.

09英教本二B班 095104102034 林晓燕

他们轮着来去买几小瓶乡下酿制的烈酒。大伙一起分享。很快就变得醉醺醺的了。接着，跑调地和着埃纳德语电影歌曲。

The phraze “take turns” has two meanings.One is to take something in turns.The other is to turn corners when you round curves.Because the alley they moved to is just behind the store.To get to the store,they only need to round one corner.And “-s” is added to “turn”.If “turns” means “corners”,there must be more than one corner.So here,the meaning of the phraze“ take turns” should be “to take something in turns”. D. He sat down, and none of the guards asked any questions, thinking he was waiting to pick up some goods. 他在门口坐了下来，没有保安问他问题，因为他们都认为陈纳亚是在等着捡东西罢了。

If you look up the phraze “to pick up some goods” in a dictionary,you will find its meaning “to purchase some goods”.In this context,Chenayya (a cart puller),has little money. What he is able to afford is a few lotteries and some liquor,or something like that.What's more,he is just outside the factory.Obviously,the more suitable meaning of it should be “to collect some goods”.

IV. Conclusion

Translation is an activity of reproducing in one language the ideas which has been expressed in another language. As a translator, you are duty-bound to be faithful to the original in terms of meaning and style, and meanwhile you are supposed to strive for the expressiveness and intelligibility of the translated text.However,it is difficult to convey delicate shades of meaning in a translation. Clearly,the translator is supposed to make a flexible use of such translation techniques as omission,convertion,

diction,etc. when necessary.A good translation is not easy,but I will try my best to have readers understand my translation.

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5. 范仲英，An Applied Theory of Translation,外语教学与研究出版社，1994-6