Dialect, Voice, and Identity in Chinese Translation: A Descriptive Study of Chinese Translations of Huckleberry Finn, Tess, and Pygmalion. Jing Yu

Dialects are closely connected to specific regional and social contexts (Montini and Ranzato 2021). In English literature, the use of dialect serves as a powerful tool for character portrayal and highlighting social disparities. By using different dialects, speakers not only express their own unique voices but also underscore their marginalized identities in contrast to the dominant group that uses the standard language. Thus, dialect becomes a medium through which otherness is represented and marginalized identities are asserted (Bandia 2015). This matter becomes even more intricate and demanding when it is explored in the context of translation (Sánchez 1999), as it involves not only the representation of different voices but also the use of strategies, methods, and paradigms that contribute to the reproduction, adjustment, and even reconstruction of the cultural, social, and ethnic identities associated with the dialects. Dialect, Voice, and Identity in Chinese Translation delves into the translation of English dialects and the formation of identities for characters who speak them. It is probably the first monograph to examine how English dialects in British and American novels have been rendered into Chinese through the lens of Descriptive Translation Studies. Through an interdisciplinary approach and methodology, the volume provides a descriptive analysis of 277 Chinese translations of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Tess of the d’Urbervilles, and Pygmalion over the past 90 years. Using both qualitative and corpus-based analysis, it systematically examines the main strategies and tendencies used by translators when dealing with the Dorset dialect, African American Vernacular English (AAVE), and cockney in different periods. Furthermore, it explores the social factors that influence these strategies and tendencies, revealing that the translation of dialects is influenced by how the target society and culture perceive and acknowledge the dialectal groups and their positions. The study demonstrates that the translation of English dialects becomes a means through which translators continuously negotiate, manipulate, and reconstruct the various identities of the Other from a foreign culture within the target language society.