Abstract

“The most distinctive trail of human translation is its creativity, for translation involves choices that are not determined by pre-set rules” (Delisle 1988:37). This talk discusses what can be termed a creative translation and applies some cognitive concepts from Fillmore’s scenes and frames, and Schank’s thematic organization points (TOPs), to explain translation phenomena such as shifts in linguistic structure, in semantic focuses and in pragmatic realizations of the texts. Examples of translations for discussion mainly come from the author’s translation teaching at the University of Macau. Some of the students’ translations and their discussions are collected from the on-line teaching platform “Moodle”, which include both literary and non-literary texts. It is expected that the research result will render some insights for the training of translators.

Speaker’s bionote

Dr. Zhang Meifang is Professor of Translation Studies and Master of Cheong Kun Lun College of the University of Macau. She received her PhD in Translation Studies at Hong Kong Baptist University. She taught or undertook research at Sun Yat-sen University, University of Hong Kong, London Middlesex University, University of Cambridge before or after she joined the University of Macau. Prior to the appointment of College Master, Prof Zhang was head of the English Department of the University of Macau, in which she taught and supervised BA, MA and PhD students. Her research interests include discourse and functional approaches to Translation Studies, media and political discourse and translation, translation teaching pedagogy. Prof. Zhang is a founding member and President of Macau Federation for Translators and Interpreters. She is an expert member and council member of the Chinese Translators’ Association, and council member of China Association for Comparative Study of Chinese and English; a member of the National Committee of Language Services for The Belt and Road Initiative, and executive member of the APTIF Joint Committee. She serves as Co-editor in Chief of Babel: International Journal of Translation (an SSCI & AHCI journal), and serves on several editorial boards of indexed or refereed journals of translation studies.