中国电子游戏文本的汉译英研究-以《太吾绘卷》的英译实践为例.docx

分 类 号：学校代码：11106学 号：201311210327本 科 生 学 士 学 位 论 文中国电子游戏文本的汉译英研究以太吾绘卷的英译实践为例A TENTATIVE STUDY ON ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF CHINESE VIDEO GAME TEXTS: THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION PRACTICEOFTHE SCROLLOF TAIWU所在院（系）： 外 语 学 院学 生： 金彦成指导 老 师： 李 虹研究起止日期：2018年9月至2019年6月二一九年六月A Tentative Study on English Translation of Chinese Video Game Texts: the English Translation Practice of the Scroll of TaiwubyJin YanchengA ThesisSubmitted to School of Foreign Languages ofGuangzhou Maritime Universityin Partial Fulfillment of Requirements for the Degree ofBachelor of ArtsSupervised byProfessor Li HongJune, 2019AbstractThis thesis discusses the backgrounds, factors of success, decision-making process, and difficulties involved in the functional translation theory and its ways of use in video game translation. Based on the functionalist translation theory, this paper systematically explores the Chinese to English translation of the popular Chinese video game The Scroll of Taiwu, so as to summarize some useful translation methods used during the translation. The paper concludes that functional translation is a suitable translation method for the English translation of The Scroll of Taiwu, and the development of the video game translation and localization industry will greatly benefit China in terms of spreading cultural influence and soft power in the future.Key words: functional translation; The Scroll of Taiwu; soft power摘要本文分析了功能翻译理论产生的背景、成功的因素、决策过程和难点。并通过对流行的国产电子游戏太吾绘卷进行英译实践为例，探讨了功能翻译理论在电子游戏翻译和本地化中的应用方法。本文认为功能翻译是一种适合于太吾绘卷英译的翻译方法，也是游戏翻译和语言翻译的发展方向。 从文化影响力和软实力的传播来看，未来的游戏翻译和推广产业发展将给中国带来巨大的利益。关键词：功能翻译；太吾绘卷；软实力CONTENTS1. Introduction.12. Literature Review and Theoretical Framework.22.1 Literature Review.22.2 Functional Translation Theory.32.2.1 History and Background.32.2.2 Functional Translation Decision-Making Process.32.3 Factors and Challenges of Video Game Translation.4 2.3.1 Global Background.42.3.2 Challenges Involved in Video Game Translation .52.3.3 Factors of Successful Game Translation.6 2.3.4 Game Translation Procedure.63. A Case Study of The Scroll of Taiwu.73.1 Game Background.73.2 Game Content.83.3 Game Translation.83.3.1 Introduction to Current Version.83.3.2 Difficulty Faced.93.4Game Text Translation Methods.93.4.1 Information Translation.93.4.2 Terminology Translation.103.4.3 Dialogs Translation.124. Prospect of Video Game Translation.145. Conclusion.15Bibliography.16Acknowledgments.17A Tentative Study on English Translation of Chinese Video Game Texts: the English Translation Practice of The Scroll of Taiwu1. IntroductionThe fast-changing development of electronic technology and software technology in the world today drives the continuous innovation of video games. At present, video game translation is still in the initial stage and belongs to a new research field. From an international perspective, video game localization is still in the process of development and lacks necessary contents in terms of implementation and importance. However, people from both video game industry and outside of the industry have drastically changed their views toward video game translation in the recent years, and video game translation is becoming an increasingly more important feature.Various translation theories have developed over the years. However, as old translation and mechanical translation theories are lacking in accuracy in translating the fast-developed informative texts in video games, functional translation becomes one of the most suitable translation theories in video game translation. A functional translation approach is a purpose-oriented theory which focuses more on the meaning and understanding of the translated text instead of a solely word-to-word translation. It avoids clumsy, unidiomatic, and false translation while keeping as much originality of the source language as possible.However, there are still difficulties and barriers involved in video game translation. During the English translation process of the game The Scroll of Taiwu, one of the major difficulties is its new ideology and vocabularies to western people. This game presented a fascinating WuXia world with rich Chinese tales and histories. Nonetheless, in western countries, most people grew up with totally different logics and backgrounds, and the WuXia universe is something totally new and special for them. A successful English translation should allow players to be able to associate themselves with the game content when they hear a new word, or people may get lost in those strange translated terminologies. Game translation requires professional skills, especially for a game like The Scroll of Taiwu. A successful video game translation requires translation services that combine both translators and technical expertise. In addition to continuing to improve the English translation, it is also necessary to pay attention to the role of emerging industries such as video games in inter-cultural communication. In order to make Chinese culture show its advancements and dynamic on the world stage and expand its influence in the international community, the video game industry could be a perfect media to achieve this goal. Like the editor of ChinaGeeks.orgC. Custer said: “If China really wants soft power it should be making video games.” (Ruset, I. 2012)2. Literature Review and Theoretical Framework 2.1 Literature ReviewAt present, video game translation is still in the initial stage in China, but the topic of the functional translation theory and its ways of use in different media have been thoroughly studied. The thesis The Enlightenment of Translation Function Theory by Xiaowei, Chen, provides us with an in-depth explanation of the development and use of functional translation theory. However, the article does not have much concern about the topic of the use of functional translation in video game translation. A Preliminary Study of Wushu TranslationbyYingxi, Xie introduces the common English translation examples and ways of approaches on many Chinese traditional martial art terminologies, which provides a great reference in the case study of the English translation of the Wuxia game The Scroll of Taiwu. In terms of the researches abroad, the topic of video game localization and translation has proven to be plenty because of their relatively longer development period of the video game translation and localization industry. Karin systematically described the difficulties involved in video game translation and strategies of a successful game translation and localization in his articles. Sánchez makes a detailed study of the procedure of video game localization. However, the cases in his article are mainly mobile games, whereas the case in this paper is a PC game. Overall, despite the more technologically advanced translation tools and methods, many difficulties are still involved in many aspects of the current game translation and localization. The thesis will explore the practical application of functional translation theory in the field of video game translation by analyzing the English Translation Manual made by Zhi for the Chinese video game The Scroll of Taiwu as a case study.The study of the English translation of video games is of great significance in the case of extending translation theory and the promotion of Chinese culture. However, the number of researches on video game translation is still limited, and more scholars are urgently required to conduct extensive and in-depth research in this field. As a result, this thesis topic is practical and meaningful. 2.2 Functional Translation TheoryLanguage barriers have been a major problem that hinders people from different countries and groups to communicate and understand each other. Therefore, many scholars have taken great efforts in the development of an efficient and accurate translation theory, and functional translation theory is one of the most significant theories.2.2.1 History and BackgroundMost western linguistics in the 1950s and 1960s were major discipline of translation. Therefore, at that time, the translation theories mostly emphasized the linguistic equivalence, which means the original source will have the absolute privilege over the translated text. However, when using such a mechanical or word-to-word translation theory to translate text, it often involves errors and mistakes, making it not an ideal translation theory. This deficiency in mechanical translation was getting more significant at the beginning of the 1970s when the information age started. As such old translation theory did not suit the development of informative text translation, a new translation theory started to attract attention and came into peoples view the functional translation theory.Functional translation or functionalism is a broad term consisting of many translation theories along the way. The first functionalist approaches to translation were made in Germany during the early 20th century by Skopos. According to this theory, the translation should not be solely based on the original text itself or the translator him/herself but should be determined by the purpose of the translation. This idea of purpose-oriented translation later became one of the central ideas of functional translation. With the Skopos theory being the foundation of the functional translation theory, the dynamic or functional equivalence theory by American scholar Eugene A. Nida and text-type classifications by English scholar Peter Newmark and Katherina Reiss also both played important roles during the development of functional translation theory (Zheng, W. 623：626).2.2.2 Functional Translation Decision-Making ProcessFor any translation company and translator, when they translate certain text, their goal is to convey the meaning of the source language to the target language. During translation, a translator will go through several decision-making processes and may face many contradicting principles, especially when it is a purpose-oriented translation. Translators often have to ask themselves many questions, such as “What is the status of the text of source language?” “What part of its feature must be translated and what part should not be translated?” “May the translated texts go against the source language use?” One useful method to answer these questions and figure out the choice of translation is to use the text-type classification. According to this classification made by Katherina Reiss based on functions of language, texts are classified into 3 groups: information-oriented texts or priority of content, extension-oriented texts or priority of form, and imperative texts or command-oriented. Although in some cases, these functions could overlap, and texts could include several functions, the translator will make a decision primarily based on the texts type and priority, either it is content, form, or command. Another important factor that translators often have to concern is the audience. The audience can be generally categorized into two types, first is the type of audience according to intellectual capacity, and second is the type of audience according to various sensitivities. For the first type, a determination is made as to the level of complexity of language in translation. For the second type, translation is viewed as a part of the broader field of anthropological semiotics, which means this type of translation must consider and take into account of the culture, religious, and linguistic sensitivities and taboos of the audience of the target language (Dooga, J. 77:91). The last factor to consider during translation is the purpose and goal of the translation. The translator has to balance the intentions of the translation and the original materials while having the ideal expression of the text in mind, and then decide the type of transition that will serve the purpose.Overall, a functional approach allows the source language to convey its grammar and syntax to the target language to avoid clumsy, unidiomatic, and false translation while keeping a fresh and intact syntax for the translated text. 2.3 Factors and Challenges of Video Game TranslationAt present, there are a set of mature translation methods in literature, business, academic and other fields, but there are only a few scholars involved in video game translation. Machine translation is widely used in the process of video game translation, which makes it difficult for players to understand the cultural connotation of the game. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a set of translation models for games.2.3.1 Global BackgroundGlobalization is a driving force of the new production and innovation of various commercial products, including the gaming industry. Video game localization is required when a game software or hardware is going into a new region or country or trying to appeal to customers from a new region or country. The localization process involves various changes to the game, including art assets, new packaging, and manuals, new audio, transforming hardware, cutting due to censorship, and most importantly, text translation (2019). The goal of video game localiza