Abstract

With the development of globalization, communications between countries have been strengthened than ever before in economy, politics and cultures, etc.. As an important symbol of a country, culture plays a crucial role in communicating with other countries. Culture soft power is also an indispensable part which decides whether other countries acknowledge China or not, apart from the aspect of economic power. Therefore, cultural transmission is of great significance. In the process of translation, as translators are playing the role of “cultural messenger”, the task of translators is not only to transmit the linguistic factors from the original language to the target language but also to translate the implied cultural information to the target readers.

Hong Lou Meng, as one of the famous Chinese classical masterpieces, is filled with a large amount of culture-loaded words. The proper transfer of those culture-loaded words will help Chinese traditional culture export to the world and better intercultural-communication. This paper is going to compare the translation of culture-loaded words in two English versions of Hong Lou Meng translated by Yang Hsienyi and Gladys Yang and David Hawkes respectively. By citing various examples, the author studies the translation of culture-loaded words from the aspects of domestication and foreignization.

     Key words: culture-loaded words; Hong Lou Meng; translation; domestication;   

               foreignization

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1 Introduction-1

2 Literature Review-2

2.1 Hong Lou Meng and Culture-loaded Dish Names-2

2.2 Two English Versions of Hong Lou Meng and Their Translators-3

2.3 Previous Studies on the Translation of Culture-loaded Dish Names in Hong Lou Meng-4

3 A Case Study of C-E Translation of Culture-loaded Dish Names in Hong Lou Meng-5

3.1 Domestication and Foreignization-5

3.2 Application of Domestication in Hong Lou Meng-6

3.2.1 Free Translation-6

3.2.2 Substitution-8

3.2.3 Amplification-9

3.3 Application of Foreignization in Hong Lou Meng-10

3.3.1 Transliteration-10

3.3.2 Literal Translation-11

4 Conclusion-12

References-14