The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the idea of equivalence in Chinese modern translation theory. The concept of equivalence is a central concept in translation theory and is defined as a measure of semantic similarity between texts in different languages. In 1954, a Chinese journal published a paper, which introduced the concept of translation equivalence proposed by A. B. Fedorov. Thereafter, this theory has raised enough concern by many scholars from China. In being embraced by generation after generation of Chinese scholars of translation, equivalence is clearly discernible on the terminological level of Chinaʼs discourse on translation. We do some statistical analysis for a lot of papers themed with equivalence in CNKI. The results show that the concept of equivalence has undergone a process of change in translation studies in China. This is evidenced by the fact that discussion on the applicability of the theory has continued up until now. The results of statistics of keywords in papers themed on “translation” and “equivalence” in CNKI show that new terms were generated and the system of terms of Chinese translation theories has been established on the basis of this theory. The results of this study suggest that a holistic translation theory is being gradually developed in China by integrating the Chinese traditions of translation with Western advanced translation theories.
本文旨在探讨中国现代翻译理论中的对等思想。对等概念是翻译理论中的一个核心概念,是衡量不同语言文本之间语义相似度的一个尺度。1954年,中国一家期刊发表论文,介绍了费多罗夫提出的翻译对等概念。此后,这一理论引起了国内许多学者的关注。中国科学杂志数据库中关于等价问题的科学文章统计数据表明在中国翻译理论的发展中,“等值”一词得到了新的内涵。关于这一理论适用性的讨论一直持续到现在。对CNKI中“翻译”和“等值”主题论文的关键词统计结果表明,在这一理论的基础上产生了新的术语,并建立了中国翻译理论的术语体系。本文的研究结果表明,中国的翻译传统与西方先进的翻译理论相结合,正在逐步形成一种整体的翻译理论。