Abstract

Hong Lou Meng, one of the excellent works of Chinese classical novels, is the outstanding representative of the splendid Chinese culture. It is the highest peak in the development of Chinese classic novels with its extremely profound traditional cultural connotation. The research on Hong Lou Meng has become a special field: Redology. Hong Lou Meng shapes a large number of characters, each of whom have their own unique personalities and thus become permanent artistic models shining in the history of Chinese literature and the world literature. Profound and elegant, Hong Lou Meng has great differences with contemporary western literature in ideology and culture. The words and sentences in it contain profound oriental culture, especially the personal names with profound cultural connotations. Because of different cultural backgrounds and language habits, it is difficult to convey the deep meanings of them. 

Based on the two English versions of David Hawkes (A Story of the Stone) and Yang Hsien-Yi&Gladys Yang (A Dream of Red Mansions) as well as the writer’s own understanding, this paper will analyze and classify the skills of name translation and reflect on the better ways of translating them, to achieve the aim of cultural exchange. 

Key Words: Hong Lou Meng; name translation; contrastive analysis

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

1 Introduction-1

2 Literature Review-2

3 Contrastive Analysis on Name Translation in Two English Versions of Hong Lou Meng-3

3.1 Naming Principles in Hong Lou Meng-3

3.1.1 Sound-4

3.1.2 Form-4

3.1.3 Sense-4

3.2 Contrastive Analysis on Name Translation in English Versions of Hong Lou Meng-5

3.2.1 For Beauties in Sound, Form and Sense-5

3.2.1 For Pun-6

3.2.2 For Suggestiveness-7

4 Findings and Losses-11

5 Conclusion-12

References-14