Abstract
As a classic modern Chinese novel, Lao She’s Luotuo Xiangzi has been widely introduced to readers outside China, which has promoted the development of translation and the dissemination of Chinese literature. This paper compares the two English versions of Luotuo Xiangzi translated by Evan King and Howard Goldblatt and their translation strategies on the basis of the four dimensions of the adaptation theory: context, structure, dynamics, and salience of consciousness in the process of adaptability. Three conclusions could be drawn from the study: (1) the adaptation theory can be used as a criterion for evaluating the practical activity of translation and analyzing translation strategies. Personal and social factors can influence the translator’s translation strategies; (2) Evan King used such strategies of foreignization as literal translation and transliteration in translating cultural words and phrases. Influenced by the social consciousness of the target language country, King used retranslation by adding and deleting some storyline. Howard Goldblatt used a combination of foreignization and domestication, which is in line with his translation idea of being faithful to the original and close to the reader; (3) the Chinese cultural characteristic imagery and sentence patterns with colloquial features of the original are retained in both versions, and Goldblatt’s version is more concise in language. However, both versions have played important roles in the dissemination of Chinese literature and the development of translation.
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How to cite this paper
A Comparative Study on the Translation Strategies of Two English Versions of Luotuo Xiangzi from the Perspective of Adaptation Theory
How to cite this paper: Ziying Cai, Wen Zhou. (2025) A Comparative Study on the Translation Strategies of Two English Versions of Luotuo Xiangzi from the Perspective of Adaptation Theory. Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Science, 9(5), 993-1000.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/jhass.2025.05.022