Yuan Miaoxu

This article is devoted to the semantic comparison of concession expressed in the original version and the translation of the novel Fortress Besieged. As a result, it is confirmed that the vast majority of the translated texts is found equivalent to the original; with the help of aspects of cognitive perception, the reasons for the semantic assimilation are clarified, and the subjectivity of the translator’s personality in translation is emphasized.

This paper expounds the concept of variability in Chinese through discussing the classical translation theories put forward by Yanfu, trans­variation theories introduced by Huangzhonglian and the application of variational translation in literary translation as cross­cultural mediation. It concludes that since variational translation only transmits certain information selected by the translator from the original text for certain purposes, such translation may best satisfy certain readers’ needs.