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Although the practice of translating has existed for a long time， Translation Studies was not recognized as an independent field of study until the latter part of the 20th century. Some scholars and professors of literature still contest the belief that translation studies is a coherent subject， let alone a discipline. It does not form part of linguistics， or of cultural studies. By the end of the 1940s and the beginning of 1950s， western scholars started to admit the translation is， to a certain degree， a scientific subject. Since then， the Translation Studies field has been growing rapidly，. Translation has ‘taken off’ as a result of globalization， the need for increased communication and the growing cooperation between countries. These developments have consolidated and strengthened the status of Translation Studies in the academic field.
However， being a good translator is not an easy job， it requires not only the sturdy knowledge of linguistics， but also a comprehensive grasp of various subjects. Even more than the technical skills and techniques of translation， being a good translators requires an awareness of cross-cultural communication. Culture is highly connected to practices of translation. Just as Bassnett and Lefevere pointed out：“what is studied is the text embedded in its network of both source and target cultural signs and in this way Translation Studies has been able to utilize the linguistic approach and to move out beyond it.”（1990）. Translation is not simply an automatic process； it must be comprehended in terms of cultural translation， namely， the combination of the material civilization and spiritual civilization of a society that is transmitted to the target society. “The way of life and its manifestations that are peculiar to a community that uses a peculiar langue as its means of expression” is a definition of culture by Peter Newmark（2001：94） ， which indicates that through language this media good translation could be achieved. There are many cases with its own particular culture in it which can not be translated literally. Take color as an example， red， in Chinese culture， it is the most respected color manifesting the Chinese pursuits on material and spirit with a symbol of jubilation and luck， however， in the western culture， it is a word that bears a strong derogative tincture， which would make us associate with fire， flood these crucial things， for instance， it is correct to translate the English phrase “ red activities” into “紅色的行动”here as the equivalence of the linguistic perspective is achieved according to one criteria of translation“faithfulness”. These years commonly acknowledged equivalent principle is Nida’s formal and dynamic equivalence， which， to a large extent， explains that translation is not only the rewriting of the original text， moreover， an equivalence which manifests in the target text. So it can be indicated that translators have more choices according to their experience regarding the approaches and theories. No matter what strategies are used in translation， they are applicable as long as they have the same meaning or create the same effect on the audience of the target text as the original. In this way， the receptor of the target text can totally understand what the original text conveys. Nida defines that the dynamic equivalence is to seek“the closest natural equivalent to the source-language message”（1964a：166）. And then after Nida’s work， Newmark proposed the “semantic”and “communicative” translation suggesting to narrow the gap. The communicative translation differs little in its definition with Nida’s dynamic equivalence by Newmark ： “ Communicative translation attempts to produce on its readers an effect as close as possible to that obtained on the readers of the original. Semantic translation attempts to render， as closely as the semantic and syntactic structures of the second language allow， the exact contextual meaning of the original.”（ 1981：39）.
And at the same time， the purpose of a text， which is also indispensable in translation that the translator should always bear in mind. Another theorist Vermeer developed this idea， which is named Skopos theory. Any text has a type bearing its own characteristics， so the translation of the original text must serve the same purpose as the original. The skopos theory “focuses above all on the purpose of the translation， which determines the translation methods and strategies that are to be employed in order to produce a functionally adequate result”. Therefore， the translator’s consideration of the elements of the target culture would produce wise choices to fulfill the effective functional purpose.
From the above， translation is indeed a transposition， interpretative act， and also a intertextual engagement. So how far can translation deviate from the original text？ There is no definite answer as different translators have their own style and thinking about the adoption of translation strategies. As long as the translation do not change the sense and intention that the author intended to， and make the target text reader understand， it could be counted as a good translation.
作者簡介：
许冬冬（1988～ ），汉族，贵州广播电视大学（贵州职业技术学院）教师，专业领域：英语。
However， being a good translator is not an easy job， it requires not only the sturdy knowledge of linguistics， but also a comprehensive grasp of various subjects. Even more than the technical skills and techniques of translation， being a good translators requires an awareness of cross-cultural communication. Culture is highly connected to practices of translation. Just as Bassnett and Lefevere pointed out：“what is studied is the text embedded in its network of both source and target cultural signs and in this way Translation Studies has been able to utilize the linguistic approach and to move out beyond it.”（1990）. Translation is not simply an automatic process； it must be comprehended in terms of cultural translation， namely， the combination of the material civilization and spiritual civilization of a society that is transmitted to the target society. “The way of life and its manifestations that are peculiar to a community that uses a peculiar langue as its means of expression” is a definition of culture by Peter Newmark（2001：94） ， which indicates that through language this media good translation could be achieved. There are many cases with its own particular culture in it which can not be translated literally. Take color as an example， red， in Chinese culture， it is the most respected color manifesting the Chinese pursuits on material and spirit with a symbol of jubilation and luck， however， in the western culture， it is a word that bears a strong derogative tincture， which would make us associate with fire， flood these crucial things， for instance， it is correct to translate the English phrase “ red activities” into “紅色的行动”here as the equivalence of the linguistic perspective is achieved according to one criteria of translation“faithfulness”. These years commonly acknowledged equivalent principle is Nida’s formal and dynamic equivalence， which， to a large extent， explains that translation is not only the rewriting of the original text， moreover， an equivalence which manifests in the target text. So it can be indicated that translators have more choices according to their experience regarding the approaches and theories. No matter what strategies are used in translation， they are applicable as long as they have the same meaning or create the same effect on the audience of the target text as the original. In this way， the receptor of the target text can totally understand what the original text conveys. Nida defines that the dynamic equivalence is to seek“the closest natural equivalent to the source-language message”（1964a：166）. And then after Nida’s work， Newmark proposed the “semantic”and “communicative” translation suggesting to narrow the gap. The communicative translation differs little in its definition with Nida’s dynamic equivalence by Newmark ： “ Communicative translation attempts to produce on its readers an effect as close as possible to that obtained on the readers of the original. Semantic translation attempts to render， as closely as the semantic and syntactic structures of the second language allow， the exact contextual meaning of the original.”（ 1981：39）.
And at the same time， the purpose of a text， which is also indispensable in translation that the translator should always bear in mind. Another theorist Vermeer developed this idea， which is named Skopos theory. Any text has a type bearing its own characteristics， so the translation of the original text must serve the same purpose as the original. The skopos theory “focuses above all on the purpose of the translation， which determines the translation methods and strategies that are to be employed in order to produce a functionally adequate result”. Therefore， the translator’s consideration of the elements of the target culture would produce wise choices to fulfill the effective functional purpose.
From the above， translation is indeed a transposition， interpretative act， and also a intertextual engagement. So how far can translation deviate from the original text？ There is no definite answer as different translators have their own style and thinking about the adoption of translation strategies. As long as the translation do not change the sense and intention that the author intended to， and make the target text reader understand， it could be counted as a good translation.
作者簡介：
许冬冬（1988～ ），汉族，贵州广播电视大学（贵州职业技术学院）教师，专业领域：英语。