留学生论文网

Contents
 

摘要 ............................................................................................................................................ I

Abstract ........................................................................................................................ II

Chapter One Introduction........................................................................................ 1

1.1 Research background ........................................................................................... 1

1.2 Research hypothesis ............................................................................................. 2

1.3 Research methodology ......................................................................................... 3

1.4 Research significance ........................................................................................... 4

1.5 Thesis structure .................................................................................................... 5

Chapter Two Literature Review .............................................................................. 7

2.1 Difficulties in translating culture-loaded words................................................... 7

2.2 Achievements in translating culture-loaded words .............................................. 8

2.3 Limitations existing in translating culture-loaded words................................... 11

2.4 Summary ............................................................................................................ 11

Chapter Three Theoretical Framework ................................................................ 13

3.1 The Adaptation Theory ...................................................................................... 13

3.1.1 Using language: a process of making choices ............................................ 14

3.1.2 Three properties of language ...................................................................... 15

3.1.3 The contextual correlates of adaptability .................................................... 17

3.2 Feasibility  of  applying  the  Adaptation  Theory  to  the translation  of

culture-loaded words ................................................................................................... 21

3.2.1 Translation as a process of continuous choice-making ............................... 21

3.2.2 Principles of translation .............................................................................. 23

Chapter Four Data Collection ............................................................................... 26

4.1 Comments on Fu Sheng Liu Ji and its two English versions ............................. 26

4.1.1 Comments on Fu Sheng Liu Ji 27

4.1.2 Comments on the two English versions of Fu Sheng Liu Ji ....................... 28

 

 

I

 

 

4.2 Data collection 30

 

4.2.1 Criteria for data collection 31

 

4.2.2 Process of compiling the database 32

 

4.2.3 Findings from the database 32

 

Chapter Five Data Analysis 50

 

5.1 Translating ecological culture-loaded words 50

 

5.1.1 Transliteration 51

 

5.1.2 Transliteration plus a note 52

 

5.1.3 Transliteration plus a generic word 53

 

5.1.4 Literal translation 54

 

5.1.5 Literal translation plus a note 57

 

5.1.6 Free translation 58

 

5.1.7 Amplification 59

 

5.2 Translating material culture-loaded words 61

 

5.2.1 Transliteration 61

 

5.2.2 Transliteration plus a generic word 62

 

5.2.3 Transliteration plus a note 62

 

5.2.4 Literal translation 63

 

5.2.5 Literal translation plus a note 64

 

5.2.6 Free translation 65

 

5.2.7 Paraphrase 66

 

5.2.8 Substitution 66

 

5.3 Translating social culture-loaded words 68

 

5.3.1 Transliteration 68

 

5.3.2 Transliteration plus a note 69

 

5.3.3 Transliteration plus a generic word 71

 

5.3.4 Literal translation 71

 

5.3.5 Literal translation plus a note 72

 

5.3.6 Free translation 73

 

5.3.7 Substitution 74

 

 

II

 

 

5.3.8 Paraphrase ................................................................................................... 75

5.3.9 Omission ..................................................................................................... 75

5.4 Translating religious culture-loaded words ........................................................ 76

5.4.1 Transliteration ............................................................................................. 76

5.4.2 Literal translation ........................................................................................ 77

5.4.3 Literal translation plus a note ...................................................................... 77

5.4.4 Substitution ................................................................................................. 78

5.4.5 Free translation............................................................................................ 79

5.4.6 Paraphrase ................................................................................................... 80

5.5 Translating linguistic culture-loaded words ....................................................... 81

5.5.1 Blending ...................................................................................................... 81

5.5.2 Paraphrase ................................................................................................... 81

5.6 Summary ............................................................................................................ 82

Chapter Six   Factors Influencing the Translator’s Adaptation Orientation ...... 85

6.1 The quality as the translator ............................................................................... 86

6.2 The intention of the translator ............................................................................ 87

6.3 The assessment of the translator on the target reader’s cultural background .... 88

6.4 The overlapping areas and different parts in two cultures ................................. 90

Chapter Seven   Conclusion ..................................................................................... 92

7.1 Major findings .................................................................................................... 92

7.2 Limitations ......................................................................................................... 94

7.3 Suggestions for future research .......................................................................... 94

Bibliography ............................................................................................................... 96

Appendix 1 .................................................................................................................. 98

Appendix 2 ................................................................................................................ 119

Acknowledgements .................................................................................................. 120

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

III

 

 

摘 要

 

 

 

随着中国国际地位的提升，越来越多的西方人对中国的传统文化表现出极大的兴趣。

 

研究中国传统文学作品的英译有利于进一步提高中国传统文化在世界范围内的影响力。

 

然而，中西文化的巨大差异使汉英翻译困难重重。这首先表现在词汇翻译的层面，譬如

 

文化负载词的翻译。

 

在《浮生六记》中存在着大量的文化负载词，涉及到生活的方方面面。它们反映了

 

中国的传统文化特点，同时也给跨文化交流及汉英翻译造成了障碍。探讨这些文化负载

 

词的翻译有着重要的现实意义。因此，作者以维索尔伦的顺应论为理论指导，用林语堂

 

（1999）以及白伦和江素惠（2006）的《浮生六记》英译本中文化负载词的翻译为个案，通过建立小型数据库，采用定性分析和定量分析相结合的方法，从文化语境顺应的角度对文化负载词的英译进行探讨。

 

在顺应论的视角下，翻译是一个不断做出选择的动态过程。这个过程包括对于源语作品的选择、需要传达的意义的选择以及翻译策略和方法的选择。本文作者着重讨论了译者在文化负载词翻译过程中对于翻译策略和方法的选择，认为译者在解读源语词汇时应顺应源语文化以求做出正确的理解，在转换时应顺应不同的文化语境采取不同的翻译策略和方法。具体来说，如果在目的语文化中完全不存在对应项，则采用顺应于源语文化的翻译方法，即音译和直译；如果在目的语中能够找到对应的概念，则采用顺应于目的语文化的翻译方法，即音译加概括词、音译/ 直译加注、意译、释义、增译、替代、省略以及融合。这个过程当中译文读者作为翻译活动中的重要参与者译者必须考虑其接受能力和期待。此外，译者的素质、对于目的语读者的文化背景的判断等因素也影响着译者对于翻译策略和方法的选择。

 

通过数据分析发现，两个英译本采取了相似的翻译策略，即以顺应目的语文化为主，顺应源语文化为辅。虽然直译和音译的使用频率较高，但顺应目的语文化的各种翻译方法得到了更为广泛的使用。总而言之，这两个译本在传播中国传统文化中所所采取的翻译策略和方法为译者提供了很好的借鉴。

 

 

 

关键词:《浮生六记》；顺应论；文化语境；翻译策略和方法

 

 

 

 

 

I

 

 

On Translating Chinese Culture-loaded Words into English in Light of the Theory of Adaptation to Cultural Context: A Case Study on the Two English Versions of Fu Sheng Liu Ji

 

 

 

 

 

 

Abstract

 

 

 

 

With the promoting of China’s international status, more and more foreigners have great interests in learning Chinese traditional culture. Studies on the translation of Chinese traditional classics into English can help improve the influence of the Chinese traditional culture in the world. However, the wide gap between Chinese and the western culture produces great difficulties in translations. And this is obviously shown in translations on the lexical level, i.e. the translation of culture-loaded words.

 

In the classic of Fu Sheng Liu Ji, there are a large number of culture-loaded words concerning every aspect of life. They reflect the characteristics of Chinese traditional culture as well as casue much hardship in cross-cultural communication and the translations from Chinese to English. Thus, research on the translation of these culture-loaded words is of great practical significance. So, the author of this thesis adopts Verschueren’s Adaptation Theory as the guidance, uses the English versions by Lin Yutang, Leonard Pratt and Chiang Suhui respectively as the case study, with the assistance of the mini-database and the mothedology of the combination of quantitative analysis and qualitative analysis, from the perspective of the Theory of Adaptation to Cultural Context.

 

Within the framework of the Adaptation Theory, translation is also a choice-making process, which includes the choice on the source text, the information the translator intends to convey and the translation strategies and methods. The author focuses on the choice of translation strategies and methods when translating

 

 

II

 

 

culture-loaded words. The author holds that in the stage of interpreting, the translator should base on the source culture to make a full and correct understanding of the source items, while in the stage of transferring, the translator should adapt to various cultural contexts to adopt proper translation strategies and methods. Specifically, if the translator can not find a counterpart in the target language at all, she/ he can adopt the methods adapted to the source language culture, i.e. transliteration and literal translation; if the translator can find a target item to a certain degree of equivalence, she/ he can use the methods adapted to the target culture, i.e. transliteration plus a generic word/ note, literal translation plus a note, free translation, paraphrase, amplification, substitution, omission and blending. But the acceptance and requirements of the target reader should always be taken into consideration since they are an important role in translation activities. Besides, other factors such as the translator’s quality, the assessment on the target reader’s cultural background also influence the translator’s choice on translation methods.

 

Based on the analysis of the database, the author finds that both versions give priority to the target culture. Although transliteration and literal translation are frequently used, the methods adapted to the target culture are used more widely. In a word, the translation strategies and methods adopted to convey Chinese traditional culture provide a good reference for translators.

 

Li Zhi (Foreign Linguistics and Applied Linguistics)

 

Supervised by Professor Ge Lingling

 

 

 

Key Words:Fu Sheng Liu Ji; the Adaptation Thoery; cultural context; translationstrategies and methods

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

III

 

 

 

Chapter One Introduction

 

 

 

 

This chapter guides a brief introduction to the thesis, which includes research background, research hypothesis, research methodology and research significance as well as thesis structure.

 

1.1 Research background

 

With the increasing growth of international standing and influence, China has attracted more and more attention all around the world. So there is a growing demand of westerners for learning the Chinese language and culture. Many schoalrs declare that it is a favourable occasion to push Chinese culture into the outside world. Thus, translations between Chinese and English have become much more urgent and important.

 

As a cross-communicative activity, translation deals with not only the transformation of languages, but also the mode shift in cultural information. It is due to that culture is a complex concept that covers a wide range including social and ecological settings, patterns of behavior and thought, etc., and there exists culture gap between two languages, compared with how to transfer a particularly linguistic structure or form of a language into another language, the process of resolving the cultural problems in translation seems to be tougher. Since there are great differences between Chinese and the western culture, it seems that translations become more difficult.

 

The difficulties first can be reflected on the lexical level, i.e. the translation of culture-loaded words. In every given language exist a large number of culture-loaded words and these culture-loaded words are pervasive in literary works. They reflect the unique cultural information of a language community directly or indirectly. Thus, their translation should be related to the specific cultural contexts. If the translator pays little attention to the cultural contexts of these culture-loaded words, it will cause the loss of the cultural information or the misunderstanding of the western readers, and the translation will turn out to be a failure. Up till now, many scholars have done relevant reserches on the translation of

 

 

 

 

1

 

 

 

culture-loaded words. However, most scholars only focus their attention on discussing the advantages or disadvantages of domestication and foreignization, or just discuss some specific methods of translating culture-loaded words; few of them associate their researches with the cultural context by taking the Adaptation Theory as the theoretical framework.

 

So the author of this thesis hopes that this tentative study on the treatment of Chinese culture-loaded words in English translations from the perspective of the Theory of Adaptation to Cultural Context, with the considerations of factors influencing the translator‟s adaptation process, can establish a thorough and systematic framework to guide English translation of Chinese culture-loaded words.

 

1.2 Research hypothesis

 

Nowadays, with the rapid development of cross-cultural communication and the promoting of China‟s international status, more and more foreigners have great interests in learning Chinese culture. As translation acts as an important means to exchange culture, to promote translations is becoming much more urgent especially in the present times. Since culture-loaded words can best reflect social and cultural information, the translation of them seems to be more important and difficult.

 

The Adaptation Theory proposed by Jef Verschueren (1999) provides a new angle of studying pragmatics as well as translations. Verschueren holds that “using language must consist of the continuous making of linguistic choices, consciously or unconsciously” (Verschueren, 1999: 55), and “contextual correlates of adaptability potentially include all the ingredients of the communicative context with which linguistic choices have to be interadaptable” (Ibid: 66). Since translation is a kind of cross-cultural activity, the language choice in translation is a dynamic process of adaptation, and the adaptation should vary especially in terms of different communicational circumstances and the objects involved in this activity. As a word has distinctive meaning according to different contexts and among the various contexts cultural context is a major one, studying the adaptation to cultural context in the translation of culture-loaded words is of great importantance. Thus, in the framework of the Theory of Adaptation to Cultural Context, the translation of culture-loaded words is also a

 

 

 

2

 

 

 

choice-making process, and with the aim to maximumly achieve the success of cross-cultural communiction, different cultural contexts should be considered carefully. Moreover, since translation is a complicated activity which involves several objects, including the two languages and cultures, the source author and the source reader, the translator and the target reader, the relevant factors influencing the translator‟s choice on translating strategies and methods also deserve great attentions.

 

1.3 Research methodology

 

Since the purpose of the study is to primarily find out the practical laws of strategies and methods in translating culture-loaded from Chinese to English, it could hardly only be quantified or analyzed with numbers. Therefore, the author of this thesis adopts a quantitative analysis combining qualitative analysis as the research methodology for the whole thesis. Specifically, classification, comparision, synthesis, and summarization are adopted in the thesis. The research methods of this thesis can be summarized as follows:

 

Firstly, the author tries to give a brief account of culture-loaded words and its translation achievements, and discuss some problems existing in the present research.

 

Secondly, the author, inspired by Verschueren‟s Adaptation Theory, from the perspective of cultural context, attempts to set up a pragmatic theoretical framework for the translation of culture-loaded words.

 

Thirdly, for conducting quantitative analysis, the author chooses the original book FuSheng Liu Ji and its two English versions (Six Chapters of A Floating Life by Lin Yutangpublished by Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press in 1999 and Six Records of aFloating Life by Leonard Pratt and Chiang Suhui published by Yilin Press in 2006) as thestudying samples, and the culture-loaded words in the book are categorized and the translation methods are summarized in the mini-database for a future comprehensive and critical analysis. Then for a qualitative analysis, the author analyzes the translation strategies and methods from the perspective of the Theory of Adaptation to Cultural Context to explain why the translators adopt one kind translation method or another.

 

Lastly, the author discusses the relevant factors which also exert impact on the

 

 

 

 

3

 

 

 

translator‟s choice of translation strategies and methods.

 

1.4 Research significance

 

English and Chinese represent and reflect the western and Chinese culture respectively. Since there exists a wide gap between both cultures, translations turn out to be a great challenge. And how to remove cultural barriers to achieve successful cross-cultural communication via translation is a big issue. This study is intended to extend the application of adaptation to the research of translating culture-loaded words. In view of this, the study is both theoretically and practically significant for the following considerations:

 

Firstly, the present study emphasizes the adaptation to various cultural contexts in Chinese and the western culture, which is crucial for the precise transformation of cultural information and the acceptance of the target reader. In a broader perspective, this thesis may also make some contribution to the cross-cultural communication and let foreign readers understand and appreciate Chinese culture.

 

Secondly, the application of the Adaptation Theory in translating culture-loaded words stated in this thesis provides broader space for the translation studies of culture-loaded words. Since how to remove cultural barriers in the translation of culture-loaded words is of great importance in translation studies, more and more scholars have realized it and yielded some results. However, few researches are conducted from the angle of cultural context. The study aims to offer some guidelines for an explanation and analysis on English translations of Chinese culture-loaded words within the framework of the Theory of Adapation to Cultural Context.

 

Thirdly, research findings of the application of the Adaptation Theory to English translations of Chinese culture-loaded words may help us to explain many phenomena and promote the understanding of current strategies and methods in translation practice.

 

Furthermore, this study may set up a pragmatic theoretical framework to investigate culture-loaded translation from Chinese to English and provide some principles in choosing the appropriate translation strategies and methods in translating culture-loaded words, which may contribute a lot to the practice of translating culture-loaded words. Through theoretical

 

 

 

4

 

 

 

deduction and data analysis, the author provides some translation principles by analyzing the various situations of adaptation in cultural context and illustrating how the translators choose appropriate strategies and methods in order to achieve their communicative purposes.

 

1.5 Thesis structure

 

This thesis is composed of seven chapters.

 

Chapter one is the introduction chapter, in which research background, research hypothesis, research methodology, research significance and structure of the thesis are introduced.

 

Chapter two glances at the literature review of translating culture-loaded words. Since the former researches on this area have their own limitations in some way, the Theory of Adapation to Cultural Context, a new pragmatic perspective, may provide the author a theoretical framework for studying the translation of culture-loaded words.

 

Chapter three is necessarily theoretical, in which the Adaptation Theory is introduced in brief and the aspects relevant to the present thesis are explained in detail.

 

Chapter four is devoted to data collection, which concerns a quantitative analysis. The reasons why the present author adopts the Chinese classic Fu Sheng Liu Ji and its two English versions as a case study are also included in this chapter. And the research findings from the database are presented.

 

Chapter five is basically qualitative, i.e. the application of the Theory of Adapation to Cultural Context into translating Chinese culture-loaded words in Fu Sheng Liu Ji. It mainly deals with translating the five kinds of Chinese culture-loaded words in detail in the framework of the Theory of Adapation to Cultural Context, and abundant illustrations are taken from the two English versions of Fu Sheng Liu Ji.

 

Chapter six mainly discusses the factors which influence the translators‟ choice-making about translation strategies and methods, i.e. the quality as a translator, the intention of the translator and so on. Therefore, the choice of translation strategies and methods is quite a dynamic matter.

 

The last chapter is the conclusion part which contains major findings of the thesis.

 

 

 

 

5

 

 

 

Limitations and future research suggestions of the thesis are also pointed out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6

 

 

 

Chapter Two Literature Review

 

 

 

 

Vocabulary, as the basic element of language, reflects the change of the life and thoughts of a society most sensitively, and it also can function as “Cultural Lable” of a social group or an individual (Bao Huinan, 2001: 10). A large number of culture-loaded words which reflect the western culture, such as “Trojan horse”, “crocodile tears”, “democracy”, “socialism”, “telephone”, “vitamin”, have entered Chinese culture since the May 4th Movement in 1919. At present, these words have been part of Chinese language, which not only enlarge Chinese vocabulary and enrich the way of expressions, but also affect the renewal of people‟s thoughts and the change of people‟s life, promoting the development of the social civilization. Nowadays, with the vitalization of the national culture and enhancement of the national strength, the influence of Chinese culture to the western and world culture is becoming increasingly important, so more and more culture-loaded words reflecting Chinese culture are being integrated into the western and world culture. Therefore, how to translate culture-loaded words seems to be more significant especially in the present time.

 

To accomplish the study of translating culture-loaded words from a new perspective, it is very necessary for us to look back on and summarize its difficulties, current research achievements and the limitations in the translation. Therefore, in this chapter, a literature review of translating culture-loaded words is introduced in detail.

 

2. 1 Difficulties in translating culture-loaded words

 

As is stated above, vocabulary, as the basic element of a language, can function as “Cultural Lable” of a social group or an individual. There are a large number of culture-loaded words, which practically reflect every aspect of culture. The translation of these words definitely presents even more difficulties for the translator. Because, compared with words denoting universal concepts, they involve not only factors of linguistic differences but also cultural differences. For example, “黄梅时节”(huang mei shi jie) refers to a rainy reason in Chinese, which usually happens in the middle-lower reaches of the

 

 

 

 

 

7

 

 

 

Yangtze River, in the mature period of plum (usuually during late spring and early summer). Chinese readers can easily comprehend its connotative meaning because they share the cultural background information. But if “黄梅时节”is literally translated into “plum season”, western readers will be thrown into bewilderment because they do not have the same weather characteristic. This is a case about ecological culture. As for social culture, in China, there exist “红卫兵”(Hong Wei Bing), “臭老九”(Chou Lao Jiu), while in America, there is “K. K. K”. And social values and religious beliefs may be implicit, as Chinese people believe in Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism while Christianity has spread its enormous influence in the western countries, especially in Britain and America. As a result, the translator is permanently faced with the challenge of communicating cultural elements particular to the source culture to the target reader.

 

The difficulties posed by cultural differences for translators have long been recognized. Nida, for instance, reminds every translator that “for truly successful translation, biculturalism is even more important than bilingualism, since words only have meanings in terms of the culture in which they function” (Nida, 2001: 82). Among diffculties of this variety, culture-loaded words present the most immediate problems for translators to resolve before they can proceed with the translation task. We may say that, as may have been experienced by every translator, achieving an accurate lexical translation is really a painful and time-consuming process in translating.

 

2. 2 Achievements in translating culture-loaded words

 

The treatment of cultural factors is always a big issue in translation. And many scholars have done relevant researches on this issue.

 

The author of this thesis made a data retrieval about periodicals and papers on CNKI (www.cnki.net), with “culture-loaded words” and “translation” as the keywords, and found that there are about 108 essays discussing this issue from 1999 to 2009. By analyzing these essays, we can find that Chinese scholars have made explorations in the field of translating culture-loaded words from different angles, and most of them take famous classics, especially Chinese traditional classics as case studies, such as A Dream of Red Mansions（《红楼梦》）,

 

 

 

 

8

 

 

 

The Art of War（《孙子兵法》）, Mozi（《墨子》）, The Scholars（《儒林外史》）, Fortress Besieged （《围城》）, Moment in Peking（《京华烟云》）and so on. These essays can be classified into the followig two parts.

 

One part is the discussion about principles and specific methods of translating culture-loaded words (total 66), some of which are around domestication and foreignization. For example, Liu Wei (2006) holds that they are contradictory in surface but supplementary in essence, and overemphasizing either of them is one-sided and unscientific. He also proposes the relevant factors the translator‟s choice of translation strategies depends on and states that only by comprehensively considering these factors can the translator choose the optimum strategy and effectively transfer the cultural information of the culture-loaded words and expressions. Zhang Lina (2007) studies the translation strategies of culture-loaded words in Fortress Besieged and finds that foreignization is employed by the translators as the main translation strategy and domestication as the complementary strategy.

 

The other part is the study of translating culture-loaded words from different angles with different theories (total 42). These theories include: the relevance theory, skopos theory, functional equivalence, hermeneutic perspective, Bassnett‟s cultural translation theory, discourse power theory, language and culture, cross-cultural communication, socio semiotics, reception aesthetics, cognitive schema and register theory, etc.

 

Zhao Hongjian (2004) tries to discuss trademarks from the perspective of the relevance theory and ventures a general criterion governing the translation of culture-loaded words: when translating this category of lexical items, choose the procedure that is consistent with the search for optimal relevance. With this criterion, translators will become aware of the importance of the cognitive environment, not only with regard to the content to be translated, but with regard to the nature of the whole act of communication in which they are involved.

 

Zhou Yang (2007) undertakes a comparative study of the translation of culture-loaded words of Hongloumeng in the light of skopostheorie and believes that the translator should adopt different translation strategies and methods in accordance with different purposes to reach the translation effect required by defferent translation purposes.

 

 

 

 

9

 

 

 

Huang Liyun (2008) draws some insights from Nida‟s “functional equivalence” theory on translating culture-loaded words. The author mainly discusses the translation of culture-loaded words which contains unequivalent denotative meaning and associative meaning in the two English versions of The Art of War. Meanwhile, she discusses “cultural transfer” in the translation of culture-loaded words from the perpectives of cultural functional equivalence and degree of the readership‟s appreciation.

 

Chen Qiuna (2008) researches on the translation of culture-loaded words from the perspective of Hermeneutics. The author conducts a qualitative discussion and concludes that the comprehensive usage of “Three-dimensional” translation model can make the translation of culture-loaded words more cautious, comprehensive and effective.

 

Deng Hongshun (2009) studies the translation of Chinese culture-loaded words in the context of globalization from the perspective of Foucault‟s discourse power theory.

 

In some works, the translation of culture-loaded words also has recieved wide attention. For example, Chen Hongwei，by illustrating the cultural connotations of images and forms, points out that “it is often necessary to change images and forms according to the mental culture mirrored by the target language in order to achieve faithfulness of the target language culture to the source language culture in translation” (quoted from Guo Jiangzhong, 1999: 251). Guo Jiangzhong (1999) explores the translation of culture-specific concepts and concludes that both foreignization and domestication can play their respective roles in the target text in the translation process if the translator bears in mind the different purposes of translation, type of texts, the intention of the author and readership.

 

With regard to the relevant research abroad, many scholars have been actually involved in the research of translating culture-loaded more or less when they discuss the translation on the lexical level in the aspect of meaning. Peter Newmark clearly puts forward that his componential analysis can be adopted “in translating cultural words that the readership is unlikely to understand” (2001: 119).

 

To sum up, translating culture-loaded words has achieved profound achievements in China. And all these findings provide a support for the future study.

 

 

 

 

10

 

 

 

2.3 Limitations existing in translating culture-loaded words

 

As is mentioned above, in the past decade some scholars and translators have done a lot of research in the study of translating culture-loaded in China and have obtained invaluable results. However, there are still some limitations in the research.

 

On the one hand, in the translation of culture-loaded words, a large number of strategies and methods have been put forward from different perspectives by translation theorists and translators. However, most of them are suggested on the micro-level, such as componential analysis, transference, cultural equivalence, calque, paraphrase, etc., which are similar to each other to some degree. Effective and helpful as these strategies and methods generally are, they failed to provide a comprehensive and unified theoretical framework for the treatment of culture-loaded words, which is most needed by translators. So, even armed with those methods, we are still confused about when and why we use those methods in practical translation.

 

On the other hand, even though different theories are used into the study of translating culture-loaded words, few of them are from the fundamental angle of cultural context. Even they have, there is no guidance theory in such an aspect on culture-loaded words. In the translation practice at present, translators usually identify the characteristics of certain context firstly, and then choose different lexical translations to cope with them. No theory has been established to guide the process from the perspective of adaptation. In this thesis, the author tries to take the Adaptation Theory proposed by Verschueren as our guidance theory to the translation practice of culture-loaded words.

 

Of course, other limitations exist in translation practice now. The author just takes two main points here to unfold the views relevant to the present thesis. In this thesis the author will try to use Verschueren‟s theory to explain and solve these problems.

 

2.4 Summary

 

Translating culture-loaded words is becoming more and more important in cross-cultural communication. The great conflict in translating culture-loaded words is to convey the

 

 

 

 

 

11

 

 

 

original exotic flavor and avoid the bewilderment of the target reader. Around this big issue, many scholars have done a lot of work and made profound achievements. However, the problems of translating culture-loaded words still exist. Most of the studies are around discussions of different translation methods without theoretical foundations and few of them are from the perspective of cultural context.

 

Therefore, on the basis of the former studies, this research is carried out to make a step further in a more systematic and united way by adopting the Theory of Adaptation to Cultural Context as the theoretical basis. In the framework of the Theory of Adaptation to Cultural Context, the translation of culture-loaded words is a choice-making process and different cultural contexts should be considered carefully to achieve the translation purposes. This thesis attempts to give a detailed analysis of the translation of culture-loaded words in two English versions of Fu Sheng Liu Ji with the assistance of a mini-database. The author of this thesis expects to offer a useful and valuable guidance to the choice of translation strategies and methods of culture-loaded words.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12

 

 

 

Chapter Three Theoretical Framework

 

 

 

 

This research employs the Adaptation Theory as its theoretical framework. Section 1 introduces the Adapation Theory in general; Section 2 focuses on the feasibility of the Theory of Adaptation to Cultural Context into translating culture-loaded words, in which the Adaptation Theory and its relationship with translation are explained, and the main points in this theory applied into the thesis are elaborated.

 

3.1 The Adaptation Theory

 

Considering traditional areas of pragmatic research have many concerns in common, Jef Verschueren, in his book Understanding Pragmatics published in 2000, put forward an idea of pragmatics as a general functional perspective on language. The postscript of the book says, “looking at pragmatics in its broadest sense, it covers the whole range of social, cultural and cognitive aspects involved in constructing meaning through language use”. And Verschueren claims that pragmatics as a general cognitive, social and cultural perspective can be applied to study any linguistic phenomenon in its full complexity. On the basis of this new perspective, Verschueren proposed the Adapation Theory. The theory describes language use as the continuous making of linguistic choices. It also lists three properties of language, i.e. variability, negotiability and adaptability, which are needed to understand the process of “making choices”. Using adaptability as the starting point, the theory defines four angles to pragmatic descriptions and explanations of using language, namely, contextual correlates of adaptability, structural objects of adaptability, dynamics of adaptability, and the salience of adaptation processes.

 

As soon as it was proposed, the Adapation Theory has received considerable attention and many scholars have evaluated it, including Qian Guanlian(1991, 2000), He Ziran (1999), Huang Yan (2001), Liu Zhengguang and Wu Zhigao (2000), and Chen Chunhua (2003) or so (quoted from Li Yuansheng, 2007: 123-124). It has also been exerting great influence on many fields such as discourse and syntax analysis, pragmatic strategies, literature

 

 

 

 

13

 

 

 

composition and appreciation, second language acquisition, advertising language, trademark language, and translation studies.

 

Before we achieve an overall comprehension of the theoretical framework in the thesis, it is necessary for us to understand some fundamental notions Verschueren brings forward such as making linguistic choices, three properties of language and contextual correlates of adaptability.

 

3.1.1 Using language: a process of making choices

 

In the process of adaptation, Verschueren first views the process of using language as making choices and he notes the importance of the process of “making choices” as the base-line description of language use (Verschueren, 2000: 58). In detail, he states that “using language must consist of the continuous making of linguistic choices, consciously or unconsciously, for language-internal (i. e, structural) and/or language-external reasons. These choices can be situated at any level of linguistic form: phonetic/ phonological, morphological, syntactic, lexical, semantic. They may range over variety-internal options, or they may involve regionally, socially, or functionally distributed types of variation” (Ibid: 55-56).

 

In order to clarify what is stated above and prevent further mis-understandings, Verschueren‟s explanations are summarized as follows (Ibid: 56-58) : First, he claims that choices are indeed made at every possible level of structure. For example, a genre has to be chosen and sentences have to be constructed; when speaking, intonation patterns are selected and words are formed from the range of phonological and/ or phonetic options. And more often than not, choice-making at different levels is simultaneous. Second, speakers do not only choose forms, they also choose strategies. Choosing strategies may require specific choices on a wide range, such as language, style, terms of address, lexicon in general, etc. Third, the term “making choices” may be misleading in the sense that it may invariably suggest a conscious act. The processes we are talking about, however, may show any degree of consciousness. Some choices are made very consciously, or completely automatically. Fourth, choices are made both in producing and in interpreting an utterance, and both types of choice-making are of equal importance for the communication flow and the way in which

 

 

 

14

 

 

 

meaning is generated. Fifth, a language user has no freedom of choice between choosing and not choosing. Once language is used, the user is under an obligation to make choices, no matter whether the range of possibilities can fully satisfy the communicative needs of the moment. Sixth, choices are not equivalent. It can be illustrated by distinguishing marked choices from unmarked choices. Finally, choices evoke or carry along their alternatives. In other words, any choice of a form motivated by its placement along any dimension of meaning not only designates that specific placement but conjures up the entire dimension as well.

 

3.1.2 Three properties of language

 

In his further discussions on making choices, Verschueren claims that at least three hierarchically related key notions contribute to make sense of the process of making choices. They are variability, negotiability and adaptability. Their definitions are provided respectively as follows:

 

“Variability is the property of language which defines the range of possibilities from which choices can be made. Negotiability is the property of language responsible for the fact that choices are not made mechanically or according to strict rules or fixed form-function relationships, but rather on the basis of highly flexible principles and strategies. Adaptability is the property of language which enables human beings to make negotiable linguistic choices from a variable range of possibilities in such a way as to approach points of satisfaction for communicative needs” (Verschueren, 2000: 59-61).

 

Variability is generalized to the entire range of variable options that must be assumed to be accessible to language users for them to be able to “make choices” (Ibid: 59). It is not limited to one or several specific levels of language use, but is extended to the actual language use as a whole and can be perceived in every case of everyday language use by everyone. It should be noted that if the utterer and the interpreter do not share the same range of variability and fail to be aware of the potential alternatives of the choice the progress of the conversation may be affected. Variability provides the possibility for the users to make the negotiable choices.

 

 

 

15

 

 

 

Negotiability illustrates the flexibility of language use. None of the language process is fixed. An utterer‟s choosing one from two or more utterances that share nearly the same meaning is determined by his or her practical intents/ purposes and the communicative context rather than by principles and rules of language use. On the other hand, the interpreter‟s interpretation of this chosen utterance is restricted by the related context and the communicative atmosphere. Negotiability also implies indeterminacy of various kinds (Ibid: 60). Language users have to make choices even if there is no way of making a good choice. In the real cases of communication, the choices will be or is able to be made with the flexible principles and strategies of communication. If the choices do not seem fully appropriate to the current purposes, it may ultimately expand the usability and meaning of the chosen forms (Ibid: 61). This is the indeterminacy on the side of the language producer. Indeterminacy is similarly true with regard to the side of the interpreter. Indeterminacy is also involved because choices, once made, which can be continuously renegotiated both on the production and on the interpretation side (Ibid: 61). This illustrates the dynamics of language use. To summarize variability and negotiability together, we can say that using language is the process of continuous choice making from a wide and unstable range of variable possibilities in a manner which is not rule-governed, but driven by highly flexible principles and strategies, as well as permanently negotiable (Ibid: 61). Adaptability is the core of making choices.

 

With variability and negotiability accounting for the possibility of choice-making, adaptability is the ultimate aim and result of choice-making. In the book, some clarifications have been discussed concerning adaptability. It is important to notice that adaptability should not be interpreted unidirectionally (Ibid: 62). In fact, circumstances also get changed by, or adapted to, the choices that are made, while language choices are made in accordance with pre-existent circumstances (Ibid: 62). For example, systems of politeness that are shaped by social relationships also simultaneously shape the latter.

 

The three key notions including “variability, negotiability, adaptability” correlate with each other. They have the strict order. Variability is the premise. Negotiability provides the possibility for making choices. Without variability and negotiability, there would be no

 

 

 

 

16

 

 

 

adaptability. It is adaptability that links variability and negotiability together and constructs them into a functioning framework. Verschueren thought these three notions were fundamentally inseparable (Ibid: 62). Their hierarchical ranking is but a conceptual tool to come to the grips with the complexity of pragmatic phenomena, it has no content without both variability and negotiability.

 

3.1.3 The contextual correlates of adaptability

 

For a better pragmatic description and explanation, adaptability can be dealt with from four inter-related angles of the meaningful functioning of language, i.e., contextual correlates, structural objects, dynamics and salience of the adaptation process. Contextual correlates of adaptability relate to the process that making choices has to adapt to the communicative context. Structural objects of adaptability contain the making of communicative choices at every possible linguistic structure as well as principles of structuring. Dynamics of adaptability refer to the adaptive processes in interaction. Salience of the adaptation processes means the status of the adaptation processes in relation to the cognitive apparatus (Verschueren, 2000: 69). The first two explain what adaptability is to be achieved for, and the last two account for how it is achieved. Thus what pragmatics studies is to understand the meaningful functioning of as a dynamic process operating on context-structure relationships at various levels of salience.

 

Since this paper attempts to study the relationship between context and translation from the adaptation-theoretic perspective, the “contextual correlates of adaptability” should be given a detailed account. According to Verschueren, “contextual correlates of adaptability potentially include all the ingredients of the communicative context with which linguistic choices have to be interadaptable. The range goes from aspects of the physical surroundings (e.g. distance as an influence on loudness of voice) to social relationships between speakers and hearers and aspects of the interlocutors‟ state of mind” (Ibid: 66). To make this definition clear, Verschueren sketches a general picture of what is involved and the ingredients of the communicative context as follows:

 

 

 

 

 

17

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is widely acknowledgedly that “language use is always situated against a complex background with which it is related in a variety of ways ” (Ibid: 75). In the process of language use, the utterer (U) and the interpreter (I) as the above visual presentation shows are the focal points because the contextual aspects can start to play a role in language use unless they have somehow been actived by the language users‟ cognitive processes (Ibid: 77). And every aspect of context within the lines of vision (the lines converge in U and I) can function as a correlate of adapability in the process of adapation (Ibid: 77). These aspects enjoy a wide range from the physical surroundings to social relationships between speakers and hearers and aspects of the interlocutors‟ state of mind. When analyzing the figure, we find out that U and I inhabit different worlds. However, in the field of these differences there is overlap which can be taken to explain why the worlds of U and I are changeable and interadaptable, even if every element of this common ground may look different. Besides, the choice-making processes or the adaptation processes are influenced not only by the utterer and the interpreter engaged in the speech event, but also the ones who are relevant to the content of the speech event.

 

 

 

 

18

 

 

 

As the figure indicates, the utterer makes production choices, while the interpreter makes interpretation choices (Ibid: 77). The communication between the both is definitely mind from mind (Ibid: 87). On the one side, the utterance needs to interadapt with the utterer‟s mental world. On the other side, the choices made are always adapted to the utterer‟s assessment of what the mental world of the interpreter looks like (Ibid: 89). The factors of the mental worlds of the utterer and the interpreter both include personality traits, emotional involvement, patterns of beliefs, wishes and desires, motivations and intentions (Ibid: 88). Apparently, it is impossible to take all these factors into account, if so the communicative problems and conflicts will be completely elimilated. Anyway, choices have to be made. Choices even have to be made with respect to which interpreter‟s assumed mental states the utterance should be most tuned into (Ibid: 89). So, the linguistic choices have to interadaptable to the utterer‟s states of mind as well as the interpreter‟s.

 

As for the social world, Verschueren states that most social factors have to do with properties of social settings or institutions (Ibid: 91). Besides, within some settings and institutions, such as only a judge being able to pass a sentence to a suspect, many linguistic choices depend on relationships of dependence and authority, or power and solidarity between the language users relevant to the speech event (Ibid). Meanwhile, Verschueren describes “culture” as a favourite social-world correlate to linguistic choices in the pragamatic literature, and “cultural” dimensions include the contrast between oral and literate societies, rural versus urban patterns of life, or a mainstream versus a subcultural environment (Ibid: 92). Other social dimensions of variability with which linguistic choice-making is interadaptable include social class, ethnicity and race, nationality, linguistic group, religion, age, level of education, profession, kinship, gender, sexual preference, and so on (Ibid). The adaptability of language to the social world is truly pervasive. The utterer makes linguistic choices in accordance with the specific aspects of the social world, while the interpreter also depends on these aspects to explain certain linguistic choices.

 

Verschueren‟s account for the ingredients of the communicative context ends with the physical world. The physical world contains the temporal reference and spatial reference

 

 

 

 

19

 

 

 

(Ibid: 95-96). When talking about temporal reference, Verschueren believes “time” is a relative notion interfering with a lot of considerations rather than an absolute value in relation to language, and temporal reference can be divided into event time, time of utterance time and temporal order (Ibid: 95-97). With regard to spatial reference, Verschueren states the relevance of space as contextual correlate of adaptability stretches beyond mere spatial reference, and he also proposes some kinds of spatial references, namely, absolute spatial relations, intrinsic orientations, and utter pace or reference space (Ibid: 98-99). Besides, Verschueren holds that the relativity of temporal and spatial reference is primarily a function of the positioning of language users in the “world” (Ibid: 100). In many cases, the interlocutors‟ position in the physical world is important in dertermining certain linguistic choices and their meanings (Ibid). These positions include the utterers‟ body postures, gaze, physical appearance (including clothing), physical conditions (such as exhaustion, illness or drunkenness) and biological property (Ibid: 100-101).

 

The above discussions are concerned with the communicative context. Verschueren also discusses the linguistic context functioning as the linguistic channel which includes contextual cohesion, intertextuality and sequencing (Ibid: 103-104). Cohesion refers to the overtmarking of relations within a discourse or text (Ibid: 103). Intertextuality means the text is restricted by topic, textual type, style, etc (Ibid: 106). Sequencing asks for the linear ordering of the constituent parts of communication (Ibid: 108).

 

Verschueren also mentions the concept of “the generation of context”. Context is regarded as a parameter in language study, not purely presupposed and static, but generated in language use, and thereby restricted in various ways (Ibid: 109). Though in principle every possible ingredient of a speech event can show up as a contextually relevant element to be taken into account, not all those ingredients are relevantly mobilized on every occasion (Ibid). In other words, out of a virtually infinite range of possibilities, contexts are created by the dynamics of interaction between utterers and interpreters in relation to what is „out there‟ (Ibid). As a result, there are boundaries to relevant context, even if they are not stable and permanently negotiable (Ibid).

 

 

 

 

20

 

 

 

In short, we have mainly illustrated the main points of the Adaptation Theory, especially the adpation to context, which is the very theoretical basis for the remainder discussion. Now, let us see how to apply this theory to translation and then the translation of culture-loaded words.

 

3.2 Feasibility of applying the Adaptation Theory to the translation of culture-loaded words

 

Translation practice has a history of two thousand years, during which its theoretical studies never stopped and have achieved quite a lot of significant insights. As for the definition of translation, different scholars hold differing views. Nevertheless, the nature of translation can be regarded as the reproduction or representation of the source language message which concerns the translator‟s interpretation to the source text and the meaning of the source text restructured in the target text. Pragmatics is a discipline that deals with the language in use and the relationship between the language and the language user that focuses on the study of the use and interpretation of language. Since both pragmatics and translation share the research objects, pragmatic theories can be used for reference to translation studies. In fact, many scholars have done many researches from a pragmatic view on translation studies and some more pragmatic findings have been produced, including deixis, presupposition, discourse markers, etc. All these findings have surely provided a lot of useful insights about the various phenomena in translation. The problem is that all these topics are actually different ways of speaking common phenomena rather than different phenomena, as Vershueren suggests. Thus, viewing pragmatics as a general picture on language, Vershueren‟s Adaptation Theory can help us establish a systematic and unified framework on translation studies.

 

3.2.1 Translation as a process of continuous choice-making

 

As the Adaptation Theory states, linguistic communication consists of continuous making of linguistic choices, consciously or unconsciously, for language-internal and language-external reasons. Just like all the linguistic communicative activities, translation can

 

 

 

 

21

 

 

 

also be understood as a complicated choice-making process with the considerations of language-internal and language-external factors and with the involvement of the translator‟s degrees of salience.

 

In the process of translating culture-loaded words, the translator should make choices by taking linguistic and cultural factors into account. Because how to deal with the various cultural factors is the most important and difficult problem in culture-loaded translation, the thesis mainly discusses the adapation process between the source culture and the target culture. Before that, we should bear in mind that adaptation is a highly flexible movement.

 

The translator, as the active subject of translating action, has a dual role in the middle position of the adapation process and makes certain linguistic choices adaptable to the source culture and the target culture.

 

Firstly, since the meaning of a word may be distinctive in different contexts of culture, when decoding the source text, translators are supposed to rely on the source cultural context to make out the correct meaning conveyed by the source language. The translator should distinguish the basic meanings and implied meanings of each culture-loaded word. In this stage, as for literature translation, the source text author‟s intended meaning also should be taken into account. Then the translators should make the linguistic choices correspondingly in order to get the implicature of the source text and reshape it in completely different contexts of the target language.

 

Secondly, the translator should get knowledge of the target culture and compare the cultural environment of the source culture and the target culture to find the different parts between them. Undoubtedly, if the translators fail to take the target cultural context into consideration, the transformation of the source text can‟t achieve success in the target text.

 

Thirdly, due to linguistic and cultural differences, exact equivalents are hardly found in translation. So, when transferring the source language into the target language, the translators also have to decide what information should be conveyed to the target reader and make appropriate choices of translation strategies and methods to assure the acceptability by the target reader and to reach the expectation of the target reader, i.e. to bridge the cross-cultural

 

 

 

 

22

 

 

 

distance between the source text and the target reader. In this point, we can assume that adaptation, which means exploiting unique motivations in the contextual correlates that would be highly valued by the target reader, can help to diminish the cultural barrier in translation to a certain degree of equivalence. In a word, if there is no equivalent at all in the target language, the translator can adopt the translation methods adapted to the source culture; if the translator can achieve equivalence in the target language to some extent, the translation methods adapted to the target culture are tended to be used. We should bear in mind that the acceptance and requirement are always important factors that influence the translator‟s choice on translation methods. In chapter five, the author of this thesis discusses the common and applicable methods used in translating the five kinds of culture-loaded words in Fu Sheng LiuJi in the framework of the Theory of Adapation to Cultural Context as a case study.

 

All in all, it has been proved that the equivalence or contextual effects can be achieved in different cultures by different degrees of making adaptation. And the translation of culture-loaded words is not always adapted to the target culture. As have been discussed above, the source text author, the source reader, the translator, the target reader are all active participants in translation actions. So, many contextual factors should be taken into consideration. These factors affect the translator‟s choice of translation methods. In chapter six, we focuses on the main factors that influence the translator‟s choice of translation strategies and methods.

 

 

3.2.2 Principles of translation

 

Translation as a cross-cultural communicative activity concerns not only linguistic differences but also cultural differences between two languages. When there is a big gap of linguistic reality and cultures between the source text and the target reader, no matter what kind of translation stragtegies the translator chooses, it is hard or impossible to achieve complete faithfulness or equivalence between Chinese culture-loaded words and those of English. So, cross-cultural translation can only be conducted to achieve the maximum equivalence to the source text. Based on this point, Liao Qiyi proposed three guiding principles in translating culture-loaded words:

 

 

 

23

 

 

 

(1) The reproduction of the original meaning is superior to that of the original form;

 

(2) The translator must take the original context into consideration when making linguistic choice in translating;

 

(3) The key implied meaning of the original word must be transferred into an explicit one in the translated version (Liao Qiyi, 2000: 236, my translation).

 

Meaning and form are the two inseparable constitutes of language. In the translation practice, translators always try to keep the original meaning as well as the original form of the word in the source text, but the differences between the two cultures bring about numerous difficulties. And the translator has to decide which one to choose between the form and the meaning, or make some adjustment to maintain both of them, according to both the source culture and the target culture. Anyway, in translating culture-loaded words, maintaining the original meaning in the target text holds the top priority. Translating word for word, blindly or mechanically, can only cause the loss in meaning, even the misunderstanding of the target reader.

 

The second principle implies that making linguistic choice must be adapted to the specific context. A word may contain several meanings, but not all the meanings have to be choosen in the target text. In a specifc context, the word only has one meang, i.e. the meaning most suitable to the specific context. Thus, for the translation of culture-loaded words, at the stage of interpreting, the translator is required to adapt the interpretation of the source text to the source culture. And the context within the text also can not be ignored, because the meaning of a word can only be exactly and fully presented in the relevant sentence, paragraph, chapter even text which exerts an influence on it. The intention or spirit of the source text also deserves the translator‟s attention. At the stage of the transferring, the translator should adapt the translation to the target culture to make sure what kind of meaning of the word needed to be conveyed to the target reader.

 

The last principle requires that the translator‟s linguistic choice-making process must take the target reader‟s acceptability or cognitive environment into consideration. The receptor‟s understanding on the meaning and form of the information depends on his/ her

 

 

 

 

24

 

 

 

own cultural presuppositions to a large extent. The source author always produces the specific expressive way to convey the information, according to her/ his own language and cultural background. Because the source reader shares the common cultural presupposition with the source author, the source reader can understand all the information through the form of the word as well as the style of the source text as the author of the source text expectd. However, the target reader is not familiar with the cultural presuppositions enjoyed by the source reader. They can only understand the meaning of the translated word based on their own cultural presupposition. Thus, when there are great cultural differences between the source word and the translated word, the associative meaning from the corresponding word will be very different from the target reader to the source reader if the word is translated literally. To compensate such differences, the translator has to make some adjustment by adding the information relevant to the connotation of the source word to make it accepted easily by the majority of the target reader. Otherwise, the connotation of the source text will be lost and cognitive deviation will be produced on the target reader.

 

To sum up, the translator should lay more stress on transferring the original meaning rather than the original form. Meanwhile, the interpretation of the original word must rely on the specific source culture with the context of the source text into consideration. And at the stage of transferring, the translator must be aware of the cultural presuppositions of the target reader and make up for the loss of cultural information in the target text if necessary.

 

In brief, the translator should adopt appropriate strategies and methods to bridge the distance between the source text and the target reader by adapting the translation to the source culture to interpret the intended meaning of the source text first and then to the target culture to make adjustment. However, some factors that influence the translator‟s choice should never be forgotten. In the next chapter, we employ the quantitative analysis method to analyze the characteristics of Chinese culture-loaded words in Fu Sheng Liu Ji and the findings from the database.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

25

 

 

 

Chapter Four Data Collection

 

 

 

 

In this chapter, some authoritative comments on the original text Fu Sheng Liu Ji and its two English versions, which are the very reasons why the author chooses them as the objects of this study, are presented in Section 4.1. The criteria of data collection, the process of compiling the mini-database, and the findings discovered from the database are elaborated in Section 4.2.

 

4.1 Comments on Fu Sheng Liu Ji and its two English versions

 

Fu Sheng Liu Ji is an autobiographical novel written by Sheng Fu, a Chinese scholarliving under the reign of Qian Long in the Qing Dynasty. As the Chinese title indicates, this work is originally composed of six chapters, but now only four remain, from which the typical instances required for the study are selected.

 

The book portrays the writer‟s normal life mixed with joys and sorrows, which reflects the writer‟s unique life attitude, value concept, temperament, and aesthetic orientation. With uniqueness both in form and content, Fu Sheng Liu Ji has occupied a unique position in Chinese literature field and many scholars have attempted researches and touched some points. Since Fu Sheng Liu Ji has achieved great artistic success, the translated versions have emerged accordingly and then made this Chinese classical novel famous abroad. Up till now, the book has three English versions. The earliest English version with the title Six Chapters ofA Floating Life was published in bilingual form in Shanghai in 1935 by Lin Yutang, then thesecond version named Chapters from A Floating Life and translated by Shirley M. Black was published by Oxford University Press in 1960, and the latest version named Six Records of aFloating Life was co-translated by Leonard Pratt and Chiang Suhui and first published byViking Press in 1983, then collected into Library of Chinese Classics and republished by Yilin Press in 2006. The two English versions chosen into this study are the first one and the latest one, which have good comparability because of the longer time span between them. These versions also have enjoyed the comments from many scholars.

 

 

 

 

26

 

 

 

Thus, in this section the author mainly introduces the comments made by the authoritative scholars on the original book and the two English version respectively, which will explain why they are chosen as the objects of this study.

 

4.1.1 Comments on Fu Sheng Liu Ji

 

Though Fu Sheng Liu Ji is acknowledged as an autobiography, the book, instead of being written in chronological order or on the basis of the different stages of life as the normal autobiographies do, is divided into six parts, each of which deals with a particular aspect of his life, such as married life, leisure time, travel records and family misfoutunes. This form is rare and distinctively unique in autobiography writing. And this also can be verified by the comments from Lin Yutang (1935), “ in form, it is unique, an autobiographical story mixed with observations and comments on the art of living, the little pleasures of life, some vivid sketches of secnery and literary and art criticism” (Lin Yutang, 1999: 23). Yu Pingbo, a scholar of high attainments on Chinese classical literature, also offers his original viewpoints about the form, that is, “if you say it is written at random, it does not seem so; if you say it is composed attentively, how so?” (quoted from Ma Yifu, 2006: 5). From this, we can see that the unique form of this book does create a precedent for autobiography writing.

 

Another highlight that makes Fu Sheng Liu Ji popular among the scholars is its pioneering content. The study on this point can be summarized as the following aspects: “exceptional writing”, “anti-feudalism” and “indicating the ways to the life of a happy family” (Wang Renen, Xie Zhihuang, 2005: 140-141). The point of “exceptional writing” is put forward by Chen Yanke (1978). He argues, “owing to scruples about the traditional conventions, Chinese literature seldom mentions the relationship between men and women since its beginning, let alone the formal relations like husband and wife. The intimacy in the boudoir and the odds and ends in ordinary life are usually not written down, if recored, they will be done briefly. So, Shen Fu‟s „Gui Fang Ji Le‟ in Fu Sheng Liu Ji can be regarded as „exceptional writing‟ ” (quoted from Wang Renen, Xie Zhihuang, 2005: 141). Zhang Ruiqing (1995: 227-228) also says that as for the material of love and marriage, the novels before FuSheng Liu Ji are almost about the romance before marriage, while Fu Sheng Liu Ji leaves

 

 

 

27

 

 

 

great room for the love life after marriage. Besides “exceptional writing”, “anti-feudalism” is also rare in that time, which is proposed by Yun Pingbo (1986). Yu says that “most Chinese families have only functioned as ensuring the members for dressing, food and bearing children. Apart from that is the infighting between members. Those who are not family slaves may both be genious, but genious are unreconciled to be family slaves. Fu Sheng Liu Ji is such kind of books that reflects a trace in a slight wave from frightful billows and terrible waves. Though it is such a slight trace, it also makes a shock in our hearts” (quoted from Wang Renen, Xie Zhihuang, 2005: 141-142). From Yu‟s remarks, we know that he regards the book as a rebellion to feudal patriarchal family. The point “indicating the ways to the life of a happy family” is raised by Zhang Ruiqing (1995: 229).

 

So, with its unique literary charm both in form and content, this book has been warmly received by a large number of readers and has widely attracted the scholars‟ attention since it was discovered in the 19th century. However, the uniqueness and the spirit of this book have to be conveyed through words, so its language style has also attracted many scholars‟ attention and earned high appraisals. Yu Pingbo compares it to a pure crystal, clear and natural, without any trace of being carved (Ma Yifu, 2006: 5). Liu Lijia (2001: 32) analyzes the depiction of scenes in the book and claims that Chinese traditional psychology of aesthetics is reflected in the author‟s words. Feng Qiaoying evaluates this book also from the aspect of aesthetics and points out the aesthetics value of the book is that it portrays the truth of that age from a national and progressing aesthetic point of view and it reflects the aesthetics interests of the progressive intellectuals in that time from various aspects (quoted from Wang Renen, 2005:141).

 

All in all, Fu Sheng Liu Ji has been very influential in Chinese literature. Some scholars even regard it as great as A Dream of Red Mansions（《红楼梦》）. It has gaind high remarks on its uniqueness both in form and content, and the words employed by Sheng Fu successfully convey the spirit of the book.

 

4.1.2 Comments on the two English versions of Fu Sheng Liu Ji

 

As mentioned above, the author chooses Lin Yutang‟s and Leonard Pratt and Chiang

 

 

 

 

28

 

 

 

Suhui‟s English versions for the study. Now let us see what the scholars comment on these two versions repectively. According to time order, we begin with Lin Yutang‟s version.

 

Lin Yutang first translated the book in 1935, when it was serialized in the Tien HsiaMonthly （《天下》月刊）and in Hsi Feng （《西风》月刊）. Since then, his translation of theentire book has appeared in several editions. It is undeniable that the reputation of Fu ShengLiu Ji abroad attributes greatly to Lin Yutang‟s translation, which also has made this bookbecome the common wealth of the people in many nations.

 

Lin Yutang is an outstanding literary translator and bilingual writer, and many of his works which were written in English, such as The Importance of Living（《生活的艺术》）, MyCountry and My People （《吾国与吾民》）, Moments in Peking （《京华烟云》）, etc., were thebest sellers as soon as they were published abroad. Owing to his special growing enviroment and life experience, Lin Yutang is a good commander of Chinese and the western culture. It is stated in the publisher‟s preface to Six Chapters of A Floating Life that Lin Yutang‟s English is so pure and skilled that some people whose mother tongue is English would admire and feel inferior to him. The Saturday Review of Literature said, “Dr. Lin has performed the inestimable service of distilling the philosophy of generations of Chinese sages and presenting it against a mordern...background, which makes it easily readable and understandable” (Lin Yutang, 1999:11). The United Daily News of Taiwan compared Lin‟s achievements in introducing Chinese culture to the West with that of Jesuilt missionary Matteo Ricci (Ibid:16). In an editorial, the China Times of Taiwan said, “Dr. Lin is the scholar and writer who possibly made the greatest contribution in promoting Chinese culture internationally in the recent 100 years. For some in the West who were not well-informed, they heard about Lin Yutang before they heard about China, and heard about China before they heard about the glory of Chinese civilization.” From these comments, we know that Lin Yutang has played an important role in pushing Chinese culture to the outside world. As Lin Taiyi argues in foreword in 1998, this version is regarded as “the most notable work” among Lin‟s translations from Chinese to English. Lin Yutang himself declared in the postscript to it in 1939 that he loved the work so deeply that he intended to translate it into English and make

 

 

 

 

 

29

 

 

 

the whole world know the idyllic and lovely life of this Chinse couple, and the English version had been warmly received by British readers. So Lin‟s version is an excellent example, which provides us with plentiful examples to study the translation of culture-loaded words from Chinese to English. The success of Lin‟s translatins does have attracted many scholars to study it from different perspectives, but few of them have studied his translation under the framework of the Adaptation Theory, so the author of this paper chooses LinYutang‟s translation as a case study to study to explore how culture-loaded words are translated from the view of the Adaptation Theory.

 

The latest English version named Six Records of a Floating Life translated by Leonard Pratt and Chiang Suhui came to the world in 1983. The translator Leonard Pratt is the bureau chief for NBC News in Hong Kong. The other translator Chiang Su-Hui was born and educated in Taiwan. She has a degree in Chinese law and has worked as an educator, writer and broadcaster. Even though the influence of this version is not as tremendous as Lin Yutang‟s, it also has its own merits. Just as the translators state in the introduction to SixRecords of a Floating Life,“he wrote for an audience of his own time and place, and neitherof those will ever live again. We hope that our contribution to this work may help it to live in the minds of today‟s Western readers, as its author intended it should live in the minds of his contemporaries” (Leonard Pratt, Chiang Suhui, 2006: 29). Apparently, Leonard Pratt and Chiang Suhui attempt to present to the modern English readers what Shen Fu told in the original book and hope the modern English readers can appreciate the Chinese traditional culture in Shen Fu‟s times.

 

To sum up, in Fu Sheng Liu Ji, Shen Fu describes all sides of his life which present the basic characteristcs of Chinese culture in that age, so this book can be used as a case for studying culture-loaded words. Lin Yutang‟s version has gained a high appraisal, while Leonard Pratt and Chiang Suhui‟s also have its merits.

 

4.2 Data collection

 

In this section, we focus on the criteria of data collection, the process of compiling the mini-database, and the findings from the database.

 

 

 

30

 

 

 

4.2.1 Criteria for data collection

 

Since this is a statistical study, we need to design a database. First of all, we are required to establish criteria for data collection on the aim of the study, in line with which the questions are addressed and the hypotheses are tested. This thesis mainly concerns how to translate Chinese culture-loaded words into English from the perspective of the Theory of Ataptation to Cultural Context, so the criteria are expected to be set up on the basis of cultural elements.

 

Nida divides the cultural elements involving in translating into five categories: ecological culture, material culture, social culture, religious culture and linguistic culture (Nida, 2004: 91). Up till now, this is one of the most influential ones. Many scholars have mentioned this category, like the famous scholar Hu Zhuanglin (2002: 364-365) and Zhou Zhipei (2003: 491). And some scholars even adopted this category in their papers, like Liu Wei (2006), Zhang Lina (2007). Making reference to Nida‟s classification of cultural factors, they classify culture-loaded words into five kinds: ecological culture-loaded words, material culture-loaded words, social culture-loaded words, religious culture-loaded words and linguistic culture-loaded words. Ecological culture-loaded words reflect the features and situations of the natural and geographical environment, climates and living surroundings in a nation with a kind of language. The names of mountains, rivers, plants, animals, cities and the associative meanings covered by them are all ecologically cultural-loaded symbols. Material culture-loaded words are the type reflecting the characteristics of material culture created by the people in a particuar language community. They have an extensive coverage, including daily appliances, tools, transportation, foods, costumes, measures, weights, monetary, etc. Social culture-loaded words are the ones reflecting the customs, propriety, life styles, social life, addresses, history and behavior patterns of an ethnic group. Authoritative system, educational system and artistic products are also included in this category. Religious culture-loaded words are connected with unique religions in a language community. In China, Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism have enormous influence. Linguistic culture-loaded words reflect the characteristics of the phonemic system and the grammatic system of the

 

 

 

31

 

 

 

language of an ethnic group. To be specific, in Chinese, these words cover four-character idioms, set phrase, proverbs, reduplicated words and poems. The database of the present thesis is also based on such criteria.

 

4.2.2 Process of compiling the database

 

The following part is about the steps compiling the database for the study:

 

First of all, the author of this thesis referred to many books and articles and selected the source of the database — Fu Sheng Liu Ji. The original book and its two English versions were bought online.

 

Secondly, the author read through the whole work, selected the culture-loaded words based on the criteria stated in 4.2.1, and tagged them.

 

Thirdly, in order to compare original culture-loaded words in Chinese and the corresponding translations in English, the author set up a Chinese-English parallel database in the form of excel. NO refers to number, ST to Chinese culture-loaded words, TT1 to English versions by Lin Yutang, and TT2 to English version by Leonard Pratt and Chiang Suhui. Other abbreviations have been presented in Appendix 1.

 

At last, from the perspective of the Theory of Ataptation to Cultural Context, the author attempts to analyze the characteristics of the five types of Chinese culture-loaded words.

 

4.2.3 Findings from the database

 

In this section, we try to conduct a quantitative analysis on the five kinds of culture-loaded words and the methods adopted in the two English versions.

 

4.2.3.1 Findings in culture-loaded words in Fu Sheng Liu Ji

 

The established database includes 608 instances, which are divided into five kinds on the basis of Nida‟s view point of cultural factors. To make it clear, the percentage of each kind of culture-loaded words can be shown in the following figure:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

32

 

 

 

 

The percentage of the five types Chinese culture -loaded

 

words selected from Fu Sheng Liu Ji (Total: 608)

 

 

 

RCW, 44, 7% MCW, 171,

 

LCW, 21, 3% 28%

 

ECW, 193,

 

33%

 

SCW, 179,

 

29%

 

 

 

Figure 1. The percentage of the five types Chinese culture-loaded words selected from Fu Sheng Liu Ji (Total: 608)

 

(Note: MCW refers to material culture-loaded words; SCW to social culture-loaded words; ECW to ecological culture-loaded words; LCW to linguistic culture-loaded words; RCW to religious culture-loaded words.)

 

The above table presents a clear illustration about the five types of culture-loaded words selected from the original book Fu Sheng Liu Ji by Sheng Fu. From the table, we know that ecological culture-loaded words occupies the largest proportion among the five types, as the original author gives a comparatively more elaborate account of his travelling involving many geographical places and historic spots and interest places. Social culture-loaded words and material culture-loaded words take the second and the third places respectively due to the account of normal life being the important part in the original book. The number of linguistic culture-loaded words is more than that of religious culture-loaded words which occupies the smallest part of the total.

 

Each nation has its unique cultural phenomona, which makes its people endowed with distinctive habits of language use. These differences require the translators to get the knowledge of these characteristics in order to make the translated text readable and acceptable for the target reader and to meet the demand of cross-cultural communication. In the next section, we analyze the characteristics of five kinds of Chinese culture-loaded words

 

 

 

 

 

33

 

 

 

in Fu Sheng Liu Ji in great detail.

 

(1) Ecological culture-loaded words

 

Ecological culture-loaded words reflect a nation‟s ecological characteristics. Living in distinctive ecological environments, different nationalities around the world create different cultures owing to respective objective conditions which consist of geographical locations, climate characteristics, natural resources and material properties, etc. These components making up ecological culture, with their uniqueness, are often reflected in languages and can hardly find linguistic correspondence in another culture as far as translation is concerned. The uniqueness requires the translators to adapt to each geographical characteristic in the process of choosing expressions.

 

Since China is a continental country, which enjoys a vast size and long history. As time goes by, various ecological culture-loaded words reflecting traditional culture have become the important elements in the Chinese language. To a great extent, such following words reflect the characteristics of Chinese geographical features as “福如东海，寿比南山”(fu ru dong hai, shou bi nan shan), “虎落平阳”(hu luo ping yang) and “洛阳纸贵”(luo yang zhi gui). In Fu Sheng Liu Ji, there exist a large amount of geographical names. Some examples are illustrated as follows: “五岳”(wu yue), “福寿山”(fu shou shan), “灵岩”(ling yan), “金桂山”(jin gui shan), “城隍山”(cheng huang shan) and “瑞石古洞”(rui shi gu dong). Fromthese examples, we may find that some of the names are related to the historical events, literature, legend, myth etc, which contain important cultural information obviously, causing difficulty in translation.

 

For some culture-loaded words, they may find the counterparts in terms of the denotative meanings in the target language, but the counterparts do not have such connotative meanings as the original words. In traditional Chinese culture, people think highly of the pine, bamboo and plum blossom, and have the expression of“岁寒三友”(sui han san you), which also symbolizes the characteristics of honesty and dignity. So, these four plants are most favored by the poets, painists and writers through the ages. Besides, lotus flowers have also been given great acclaims, which symbolize the highest virtue of integrity. Many place names

 

 

 

 

 

34

 

 

 

are connected with these plants. In Fu Sheng Liu Ji, there are “莲花桥”(lian hua qiao), “莲心寺”(lian xin si) , “梅岭”(mei ling) and “万松林”(wan song lin). However, in English,such cultural connotation is empty for “pine”, “bamboo”, “plum blossom” and “lotus flower”.

 

And even for the same references, they may have different connotations or images. “龙” (long) is a typical example which is an animal in legend. “龙” symbolizes auspiciousness and has magic power and surpassing wisdom. There are relevent expressions like “龙马精神” (long ma jing shen), “生龙活虎”(sheng long huo hu) and “龙腾虎跃”(long teng hu yue). However, in the western culture, dragon is regarded as a murderous demon. So, the expression “亚洲四小龙”(ya zhou xi xiao long) is translated as “four little Asion tigers” to be acceptable for western readers. Another example, because“蝠”(fu) and “福”(fu) have the same pronunciation in China, we all take bat as a propitious animal. However, the English word “bat” arouses unfavorable association: an annoying animal, which will bring them doom. In Fu Sheng Liu Ji exists an expression “观者如蚁集”(guan zhe ru yi ji). In Chinese culture, the image of “蚁”(yi) can be used to describe the situation in which people are crowded at a place like ants in groups. But in the western culture, the image of ants cannot produce the same feeling as Chinese audiences have among westerners.

 

(2) Material culture-loaded words

 

The material culture refers to the culture related with all the material features of a given area. Words of this type reflect the characteristics of material culture created by the people of a language community. The materials include all the material civilization produced by man, such as food, clothes, transportation, houses, and crafts and so on. When such features and peculiarity get reflected in the language concerned, the expressions will become diverse and peculiar. Usually the names of the objects particular to an area can only be found in the language in the particular area. In China, there are many material culture-loaded words which can not find precise equivalent in the weatern culture. Take food for an instance,“饺子”(jiao zi) , “包子”(bao zi) , “汤圆”(tang yuan) and “烧饼”(shao bing); for dress, there are “长袍”(chang pao) , “马褂”(ma gua) and “旗袍”(qi pao); for transportation, the most typicalone is “轿子”(jiao zi); for houses, there are “亭”(ting),“台”(tai),“楼”(lou),“阁”(ge)

 

 

 

 

 

35

 

 

 

and“榭”(xie), which are indispensable in Chinese famous gardens and other fascinating scenery; for crafts, there are “箸”(zhu), “炕”(kang) and “宣纸”(xuan zhi), etc. There also exist a number of expressions that can reflect the characteristics of Chinese material culure, such as “裙带关系”(qun dai guan xi), “铁饭碗”(tie fan wan), “喝喜酒”(he xi jiu) and “争风吃醋”(zheng feng chi cu).

 

In Fu Sheng Liu Ji, as an autobiography, mainly gives an account of the daily life of the couple, so mounts of Chinese material culture-loaded words exist in this book. Some of them are demonstrated as follows: “笔墨”(bi mo), 馄饨”(hun tun), “臭乳腐”(chou ru fu), “粉头衣”(fen tou yi), “蝴蝶履”(hu die lü), “珠花”(zhu hua), “厢楼”(xiang lou), “纸窗” (zhi chuang) and“笙箫”(sheng xiao).

 

Even if some corresponding terms may seem to exist in two different cultures, once they are combined with other words to form new expressions, these expressions may produce particular connotations, such as “衣冠之家”(yi guan zhi jia), “责明于垢鉴”(ze ming yu gou jian), “家徒壁立”(jia tu bi li), “垂帘宴客”(chui lian yan ke), “布衣菜饭”(bu yi fan cai) and “脂乡粉队”(zhi xiang fen dui).

 

(3) Social culture-loaded words

 

Living in different societies, people have different social cultures which include kinship, address, social customs and habits, authoritative system and educational system. This type of culture-loaded words is pervasive. Social culture-loaded words occupy a great part in FuSheng Liu Ji.

 

One of the typical obstacles in intercultural communication is the difference existing between cultures in kinship terms. In Chinese we have many kinship terms, some of which seem to have no equivalents in English. This difference is fundamentally cultural. For instance, in English, the word “uncle” has a far wider range of meaning than its Chinese counterpart. It could refer to what we call 叔叔(shu shu), 伯伯(bo bo), 舅舅(jiu jiu), 姨夫(yi fu) and 姑父(gu fu). In Fu Sheng Liu Ji also exist a lot of kinship terms: “堂姐”(tang jie), “嫂”(sao), “堂伯父”(tang bo fu), “表妹婿”(biao mei xu), “表兄”(biao xiong), “妹丈” (mei zhang) and “子侄”(zi zhi). So in the translation process the relationship must be made

 

 

 

 

 

36

 

 

 

clear so as to find correct ways of addressing.

 

Modes of addresses are very rich in Chinese traditional society, which is clearly shown in the classical literature. Generally speaking, there are three basic addresses which include honorific addresses(尊称), modest addresses(谦称) and general addresses(泛称) in China. For example,“您”(nin) is an honorific address; “鄙人”(bi ren) is a modest address; “我”(wo) is a general address. Each of them has to be used properly according tocircumstances. Honorific addresses are usually used to show respect to others when people talk of or mention parents, seniors and influential people. Chinese people never call their parents‟ names and other seniors‟ names directly while westerners usually directly call their parents‟ names to show the intimacy with them. In Fu Sheng Liu Ji, there are honorific addresses like “堂上”(tang shang),“卿”(qing) , “尊人”(zun ren),“子”(zi) and“君”(jun). On the other hand, Chinese people often use modest addresses to play down themselves, their family members and other intimates. In Fu Sheng Liu Ji, there is “仆”(pu) for oneself and “妾”(qie) for married women. They are an indirect way of showing their respect to theaddressees. General addresses are neutral in emotion. The former two are closely related with Chinese traditional culture. In English, “I”, “You” are widely used in normal life. “Mr.”, “Ms.”, “Miss” can be regarded as honorific addresses. “Majesty” and “Highness” are often used to address royal or noble members.

 

Moreover, Chinese scholars in the old times always have courtesy names(字) and literary names(号) besides their names(名) and family names(姓). Both courtesy names and literary names usually express these scholars‟ interest, wishes and ideals. For example, the author of Fu Sheng Liu Ji is Shen Fu（沈复）. “Shen” is his family name and “Fu” his name. His courtesy name is “San Ba（三白）” and “Mei Yi（梅逸）” is his literary name. There is no such a system of names for scholars in the West.

 

Customs are an integral part of every culture. So those customs described in the original are an important aspect of Chinese traditional culture. However, there also exist tremendous differences in this area between China and the West. Then it is worth discussing translation of culture-specific words in this area. In Fu Sheng Liu Ji, there are various customs like “幼聘”

 

 

 

 

 

37

 

 

 

(you pin), “问安”(wen an), “拱手”(gong shou), “偕隐地”(xie yin di), “结庐之地”(jielu zhi di), “焚香结盟”(fen xiang jie meng), “射覆为令”(she fu wei ling) and so on.

 

The measuring system is one important aspect of social life. Most of the units of measurement used in the Qing Dynasty, which include the units of time, money, distance and others, are rather different from those of today and those used in the western societies. So it is still necessary for us to explore in this area because some transformation in this area also reflects the cultural changes happening in China from the ancient times to the modern times. In the book, for time units, there are “乾隆癸末”(qiang long kui mo), “漏三下”(lou san xia) and“子正”(zi zheng); for distance units, there are“武”(wu) and“里”(li); for length units, there is “丈”(zhang); for mass unit, there is“石”(shi).

 

Others here mainly refer to the following areas: literature, authoritative system, and educational system. Although they occupy only a small part in the original, they are also important and deserve our attention. For literature, there are “关雎”(guan jiu), “三百篇” (san bai pian), “八股时文”(ba gu shi wen), “隶书”(li shu), “草篆”(cao zhuan); for authoritative system, there are “幕”(mu), “衙门”(ya men), “署”(shu), “隶”(li) and “明府”(ming fu); for educational system, there are “腐儒”(fu rui) and “殿元”(dian yuan).

 

(4) Religious culture-loaded words

 

Religion is an important component of culture. It reflects the differences in religious beliefs, consciousness, worship and taboo. For Americans, not only is religion a belief, but also a kind of spirit connected with all the aspects of American life. They hold the religious ceremony in the days of birth, marriage or death. Their traditional values and principles originated from religion. Religious culture makes a great contribution to human culture. And almost each nation has their unique religions. In China, Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism have spread their influence. In Chinese, there are many expressions connected with Buddhism, such as “临时抱佛脚”(lin shi bao fo jiao),“借花献佛”(jie hua xian fo), etc. Since Taoism is created in China, it has influenced the Chinese language greatly, such as the following expressions,“道高一尺，魔高一丈”(dao gao yi chi, mo gao yi zhang), “悬壶济世” (xuan hu ji shi), etc. The Confucian thoughts advocate morality and bring many expressions

 

 

 

 

 

38

 

 

 

in Chinese culture, such as “天下兴亡，匹夫有责”(tian xia xing wang, pi fu you ze), “三纲五常”(san gang wu chang), etc.

 

In the western countries, especially in Britain and America, people believe in Christianity. They believe that God creates the world, and all the things are arranged according to the will of God. Therefore, there are many culture-loaded words originating from the Bible, such as “scapegoat” (替罪羊), “the forbidden fruit”（禁果）, “God helps those who help themselves”（自助者天助）, “ask for bread and be given a stone”（得非所求）, etc. As for the translation of the religious culture-loaded words, the translators should adopt proper translation techniques to transmit the cultural connotations.

 

Religious activities also constitute an important aspect of ancient Chinese life. And we can often feel the religious atmosphere and see the religious activities in literature works, TV plays and on the stages. Fu Sheng Liu Ji also has such a description about religion. For example:

 

寺僧安置予于大悲阁。阁南向，向东设神像。阁西首一间，设月窗，紧对佛盒，本为作佛

 

事者斋食之地，余即设榻其中。临门有关圣提刀立像，极威武。(P190)

 

(5) Linguistic culture-loaded words

 

Chinese and English belong to different language families. Chinese languages belongs to the Sino-Tibetan language family, while English belongs to the Indo-European language family. On the phonetic level, Chinese has four notes, while English has different pitches. And reduplicated words can best reflect this characeristics. On the grammatical level, Chinese idioms are typical of four-character structure. According to the statistics, the four-character idioms in Chinese take up 95% of the whole idioms（Liu Wei, 2007: 38）. On the contrary, the English idioms aren‟t restricted by the formal systems. On the phonetic level, there are “循循善诱”(xun xun shan you), “心殊怏怏”(xin shu yang yang), “粉汗盈盈” (fen han ying ying), “亭亭玉立”(ting ting yu li) and “咻咻涕泣”(xiu xiu ti qi). On the grammatical level, there are “万籁俱寂”(wan lai ju ji), “肆无忌惮”(si wu ji dan), “落拓不羁”(luo tuo bu ji)and“过眼云烟”(guo yan yun yan).

 

In summary, this section has illustrated the five kinds of Chinese culture-loaded words in

 

 

 

 

 

39

 

 

 

detail. From the above discussion, we can get the conclusion that Chinese culture-loaded words have their own characteristics. Some findings are as follows:

 

Firstly, we can say that ecological culture-loaded words and material culture-loaded words share the similar characteristics. The referents of some of them are particular to a certain cultural community, therefore they have no corresponding equivalents in other communities. Even though some may find the same referents in another cultural community, they may have different connotations or images, especially when they are connected with other words. Secondly, the social culture covers a large range. Kinship, address, social customs and habits, literature, authoritative systems and educational systems are very important factors of translation. And they can not find precise equivalents in the target culture. Thirdly, religious culture is rooted in people‟s minds. In China, Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism have spread their influence, while in the western countries, Christianity is the main religion. Fourthly, as for linguistic culture is concerned, reduplicated words are typical on the phonetic level and four-character idioms on the grammatical level. Lastly, some expressions related to these cultural elements usually have implied meanings.

 

4.2.3.2 Findings in translation methods in the two English versions of Fu Sheng Liu Ji

 

Due to great cultural differences between Chinese culture and western culture, various translation methods have been adopted flexibly in translating Chinese culture-loaded words in Fu Sheng Liu Ji. The main translation methods adopted in the two English versions can be summarized in the following figures respectively:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

40

 

 

 

 

The translation methods of Chinese culture -loaded words

 

in Lin Yutang's version (Total: 608)

 

200 169

 

150

100 104 101

 

57 57 53

 

50

15 14 10 10 7 5 5 1

 

0

LT FT TRL SU TRLGW PA TRLNO AM BL LTNO OM FTNO

 

TRL,LT

TRLGWNO

Figure 2. The translation methods of Chinese culture-loaded words in Lin Yutang‟s version (Total: 608)

 

 

 

 

The translation methods of Chinese culture -loaded words in Leonard Pratt and Chiang Suhui's version (Total: 608)

 

200 189

 

150

100 80 72 67 53 51 37 29

 

50 9 7 7 6 1

 

0

BL

LT FT TRL TRLGW PA SU LTNO TRLNO AM OM FTNO

TRLGWNO

 

 

Figure 3. The translation methods of Chinese culture-loaded words in Leonard Pratt and Chiang Suhui‟s version (Total: 608)

 

(Note: LT to literal translation; FT to free translation; TRL to transliteration; TRLGW to transliteration plus a generic word; SU to substitution; PA to paraphrase; OM to omission; AM to amplification; TRLNO to transliteration plus a note; LTNO to literal translation plus a note; BL to blending; TRLGWNO to transliteration plus a generic word and a note; FTNO to free translation plus a note; TRL, LT to combination of transliteration and literal translation.)

 

Based on a comparative analysis, we can find that translators of the two versions all use

 

 

 

 

41

 

 

 

the following translation methods: literal translation, free translation, transliteration, transliteration/ literal translation plus a note, transliteration plus a generic word, substitution, paraphrase, omission, amplification, blending, transliteration plus a generic word and a note and free translation plus a note. But each of them has its own distinctive translation methods, i.e. Lin Yutang‟s version also adopts the method of free translation plus a note and the combination of transliteration and literal translation, while making notes can be regarded as one of the main methods in Leonard Pratt and Chiang Suhui‟s version.

 

In the following part, the main translation methods shared by both versions in translating Chinese culture-loaded words in Fu Sheng Liu Ji are discussed since it is impossible to list all the translation methods with limited words in this thesis.

 

(Note: FSLJ refers to the source text Fu Sheng Liu Ji; Version 1 to the English version by Lin Yutang; Version 2 to the English version by Leonard Pratt and Chiang Suhui.)

 

(1) Literal translation

 

Literal translation is the method where the source language grammatical constructions are converted to their nearest equivalents of the target language but the lexcial words are again translated singly, out of context (Peter Newmark, 2001: 46). It is the most widely used method in translating Chinese culture-loaded words in Fu Sheng Liu Ji, because a good many geographical names in ecological culture are described and mentioned in the book which can be well translated by this method. For example:

 

 

(1) FSLJ:  武昌黄鹤楼在黄鹄矶上，后拖黄鹄山，俗呼为蛇山。(P310)

 

Version 1: The Tower of Yellow Stork at Wuchang is situated on the Yellow Swan Cliff, being connected with the Yellow Swan Hill at the back, popularly known as the Snake Hill. (P311)

 

Version 2: The Yellow Crane Pavilion at Wuchang86 lies on Yellow Goose Point, which, back from the shore, rises to becaome Yellow Goose Mountain, usually called SnakeMountain. (P247)

 

 

 

 

 

 

42

 

 

 

In example (1), as for “黄鹄矶”(huang hu ji) and“黄鹄山”(huang hu shan), it is said that the fairy Zi An travelled through the place by “黄鹄”. Besides, “黄鹄山”is winding shaped like a snake, so it is commonly known as “蛇山”(she shan). It is apparent that in western countries do not exsit such places. But east or west, we share the same feeling about the beautiful sight and enjoy the similar cognition in this aspect. So, both two translators adapt to the source culture with consideration of the target reader‟s cognition and choose literal translation to retain the vividness and exotic flavor of the source item.

 

(2) Transliteration

 

Transliteration, as Catford (1965) explained, means substituting the character or letters of the target language for that of the source items (quoted from Mark Shuttleworth, Moria Cowie, 2005: 257). This method is appropriate for translating proper nouns. Since in FuSheng Liu Ji exist a large number of names of people in social culture and places inecological culture and material culture, this method is frequently adopted. The following two examples can be illustrated for this type:

 

 

(2) FSLJ:  明年二月，余就馆莱阳。(P326)

 

Version 1: In the second moon of the following year, I secured a position at Laiyang. (P327)

 

Version 2: In the second month of the next year I took an appointment at Laiyang. (P259)

 

 

 

(3) FSLJ:  访罗含宅于城西小湖上，不遇 (P316)

 

Version 1: I tried to look round for the home of Lo Han on the little lake west of the city, but could not find it (P317)

 

Version 2: We wanted to visit Lo Han‟s house on a small lake west of the city, but could not find it. (P251)

 

 

In example (2) and (3), the blackened and underlined parts are all transliterated so the cultural flavour is maintained.

 

 

 

 

43

 

 

 

(3) Transliteration plus a generic word

 

Along with transliteration, there is transliteration plus a generic word, which is a method of combined compensation (Liu Miqing, 2006: 474). Compared with pure transliteration, this method can be viewed as an attempt of the translator to expand the context or the cognitive environment for the target reader to produce a roughly equivelent effect on the target reader as the source text on the source reader. For example:

 

 

(4) FSLJ:  其红门局之梅花，姑姑庙之铁树，不过尔尔。(P206)

 

Version 1: The plum-blossoms of the Red Gate Ground and the ironwood trees of theKuku Templewere, in fact, not much to look at. (P207)

 

Version 2: Passing by Hungmenchu we saw there was nothing special about the plum flowers there, nor were we impressed by the ironwood trees at the Kuku Temple. (P167)

 

 

Here, in the both versions, with the help of the generic word “Temple”, the translation can bridge the distance between the source text and the target reader while maintaining the cultural flavour to a large extent.

 

(4) Transliteration/ literal translation plus a note

 

Undoubtedly, transliteration and literal translation are beneficial to maintaining the cultural flavour. However, if they are not intelligible for the target reader, notes must be provided. The advantage of this method is that it can remain the text coherence while adding some necessary information to make the translated text better accepted by the target reader (Xia Tingde, 2006: 210). For example:

 

 

(5) FSLJ:  离城十里有火云洞天,石纹盘结，凹凸巉岩，如黄鹤山樵笔意，而杂乱无章 (P238)

 

Version 1: Tenlifrom the town, there was the Cave of Burning Clouds, with rocks intwisted, jagged and most irregular formations, like the rock paintings of the “Woodcutter ofYellow Stork Hill,”①but the whole thing was in a sort of jumble without any plan orpurpose.

 

 

 

 

 

44

 

 

 

Note:  ①Pen name of a Yuan painter, Wang Meng. —— Tr. (P239)

 

Version 2: Ten li from the town was the Great Cave of Burning Clouds. The rocks there were cracked and interlocked, great slopes twisting in and out, as in paintings by the Woodcutter of Yellow Crane Hill.28(P189)

 

Endnote: 28. Wang Meng (1301-1385), another of the „Four Great Masters of LateYuan Painting‟. Closely associated with artists from Soochow, Wang took his courtesy name from Yellow Crane Hill near Hangchow, where he lived after he came to Prominence.

 

 

Just as stated before, Chinese scholars in ancient times always have courtesy names to show their distinctive ideals and interests. In example (5), “黄鹤山樵”(huang he shan qiao) is the courtesy name of a Yuan painter, Wang Meng. The source text author uses Wang Meng‟s painting to describe th scene of “火云洞天”(huo yun dong tian). The pure literal translation may make the target reader confused, so the two versions all use notes to convey the implied cultural information.

 

(5) Free translation

 

Free translation reproduces the matter without the manner, or the content without the form of the original (Peter Newmark, 2001: 46). Thus, compared with transliteration and literal translation which show great respect to the source culture, free translation lays stress on the target culture. This method is also frequently used in the two versions. For example:

 

 

(6) FSLJ:  正值太平盛世且在衣冠之家 (P2)

 

Version 1: The country was then in the heyday of peace and, moreover, I was born in ascholars‟ family(P3)

 

Version 2: It was a time of great peace and plenty, and my famiy was an offical one (P3)

 

 

 

In the above example, if the translators adopt literal translation, the target reader must be thrown into bewilderment if they do not have the relevant knowledge about this expression.

 

 

 

 

45

 

 

 

But the free translation can provide a better understanding for the target reader.

 

(6) Paraphrase

 

If the concept expressed by the source item can not find a corresponding expression at all in the target language, the method of paraphrase can be used in some contexts. This is an amplification or explanation of the meaning of a segment of the text (Peter Newmark, 2001: 90). Besides, a thorough componential analysis proposed by Peter Newmark (2001) is helpful to conduct paraphrase in translation. This method is effective in translating four-character idioms in Fu Sheng Liu Ji. Here are two examples:

 

 

(7) FSLJ:  门隙窥之，短篱曲径，绿竹猗猗，寂不闻人语声。(P276)

 

Version 1: Peeping through a hole in the door, I saw some winding paths, a low fence and some delightfully green bamboo trees in th yard, but not a soul in the place. (P277)

 

Version 2: I peered through a crack in the door and saw a low fence and a winding path. Green bamboo grew luxuriant all around, ni human voices disturbing its peace. (P221)

 

 

(8) FSLJ: 强而求之。致干造物之忌，即有情魔之扰 (P170)

 

Version 1: We had, therefore, offended the Creator by trying to snatch a happiness that was above our lot; hence our various earthly troubles. (P171)

 

Version 2: in our eagerness for immortality, we have only incurred the wrath of the Creator, and brought on our troubles with our passion. (P137)

 

 

In example (7) and (8), “绿竹猗猗” (lü zhu yi yi) and“情魔”(qing mo) can not find equivalents at all in the target language, so the translators paraphrase the source items with the consideration of the plot in the source text.

 

(7) Substitution

 

This method means replacing a source language word or expression with a target language item that has a different propositional meaning but is likely to have a similar pragmatic impact on the target reader (Zhao Hongjian, 2004: 45). This method is often used

 

 

 

 

46

 

 

 

to translate material items in Fu Sheng Liu Ji. The following translation can be a good example:

 

 

(9) FSLJ: 循台而西，有石形如馒头，高二丈许，细竹环其趾。(P288)

 

Version 1: On the west of the terrace, there was a huge rock shaped like a monk's scalp over twenty feet high and surrounded below with fine bamboo trees. (P289)

 

Version 2: Following the terrace to the west we came upon a rock shaped like a loaf ofsteamed bread. It was about two chang high, and its base was surrounded by small bambootrees. (P231)

 

 

“馒头”(man tou) is a kind of typical Chinese food which may not be familiar to mostwestern readers. Thus, both versions replaced the original image with “a monk‟s scalp” and “a loaf of steamed bread” respectively. As the latters are widely known in western countries, a similar pragmatic impact can be achieved with such two substitutions.

 

(8) Amplification

 

Amplification means adding one or more words which does or do not exist in the source item (Yu Yungen, 1983: 16). This method can remove the the cultural obstacles by the direct explanation within the text so that the target reader can read the target text fluently and the interests can be maintained. For example:

 

 

(10) FSLJ:  萧爽楼有四忌：谈官宦升迁，公廨时事，八股时文，看牌掷色；有犯必罚酒五斤。

 

(P110)

 

Version 1: Among the friends at Hsiaoshuanglou, four things were tabooed: firstly, talking about people‟s official promotions; secondly, gossiping about law-suits and current affairs; thirdly, discussing the conventional eight-legged essays for the imperial examinations; and fourthly, playing cards and dice. Whoever broke any of these rules was penalized to provide five catties of wine. (P110)

 

Version 2: Four things were forbidden at the Villa of Serenity: talking about official

 

 

 

 

 

47

 

 

 

promotions, officiall business, or the eight-legged official examinations, and playing cards or dice. Offenders were fined five catties of wine.14 (P89)

 

 

“八股时文”(ba gu shi wen) is often related to the official examinations for choosingofficials in China, but the literal translation of “八股时文” can not arouse such association and may even be hardly intelligible for the target reader. Thus, the relevant explanation for the item helps the target reader to understand without interpreting their interests in reading.

 

(9) Omission

 

Sometimes if the translator can not find an appropriate way of conveying the original meaning, omission will be adopted. It is to conform to usage as well as rhetoric characteristics of the target language (Lu Duanchang, Yu Yungen, 1983: 16). This method is usually viewed as the last resort. However, if the source item is of great importance for readers to understand the plot, it should by no means be omitted. Here is an example:

 

 

(11) FSLJ:  王怒余以目，掷花于地，以莲钩拨入池中 (P40)

 

Version 1: Wang looked at me in anger, threw the flowers to the ground and kicked them into the pond. (P41)

 

Version 2: Miss Wang looked at me angrily, threw the flowers on the ground, and kicked them into a pond with her tiny foot. (P33)

 

 

In the Qing Dynasty and even after it, foot-binding was a very cruel social practice among women. Most women were forced to bind their feet from childhood. Thus, their feet were crippled by this practice. Their deformed feet were called as“莲钩”(lian gou) or “三寸金莲”(san cun jin lian). Since the source text author merely highlights a series of actions byWang in this context, Lin Yutang omits this concept in the target text, while Leonard Pratt and Chiany Suhui translate it into “her tiny foot” with free translation plus a note. Even though the original idea of “莲钩”has been omitted, Lin Yutang‟s version can still produce a harmonious effect consistent with the source text.



...........................

...........................

...........................

...........................