Abstract

Ever since the structuralists made their first appearance in the 1930s, the traditional translation theories have dominated the translation practice. They usually defined translation as a transformation of linguistic signs from the source text language into the target text language. This situation has changed in 1970s. A new branch of translation theory discusses translation on the cultural level. The translator's status has gained prominence. At the same time, the term of cultural identity is discussed hotly.

The paper mainly discusses the influences of the Howard Goldblatt's cultural identity on his translation works through the analysis and exploitation of the book called Shifu, You’ll Do Anything for a Laugh.

Goldblatt is successful in translating Chinese works. And he owes his success to his special cultural identity. Because as an American, he has a good mastery of the English language and he is aware of what American readers like and want to read. On the other hand, Howard Goldblatt indeed has his own limitations. As a man with his special cultural identity, he knows the American culture better than the Chinese culture. That is why he fails to bring out the implied meanings of many of cultural-loaded words and sentences the author chose to use in the original work.

This thesis falls into five chapters. Chapter One is a brief introduction to the research background, purpose and significance, research methodology and structure of the thesis. In Chapter Two, the development of cultural identity is reviewed. Translator’s cultural identity is analyzed in Chapter Three. In Chapter Four, Howard Goldblatt’s cultural identity is demonstrated in detail. The last chapter concludes the whole thesis.

Keywords: translation; cultural identity; Howard Goldblatt 

Contents

Abstract

摘  要

1.-Introduction-1

1.1-Background of the Study-1

1.2-Purpose and Significance of the Study-2

1.3-Methodology and Structure of the Study-2

2.-Literature Review-3

2.1-Cultural Identity-3

2.1.1-Studies on Cultural Identity in the West-3

2.1.2-Studies on Cultural Identity in China-4

2.2-Previous Research on Howard Goldblatt-4

3.-Translator’s Cultural Identity-6

3.1-Cultural Identity-6

3.1.1-Definition of Cultural Identity-6

3.1.2-Translator’s Cultural Identity-6

4.-Howard Goldblatt’s Cultural Identity Reflected in Shifu, You’ll Do Anything for a Laugh-9

4.1-Translation of Shifu, You’ll Do Anything for a Laugh-9

4.1.1-An Introduction to Shifu, You’ll Do Anything for a Laugh-9

4.1.2-A Brief Introduction to Mo Yan-9

4.2-Exploration of Howard Goldblatt’s Cultural Identity in Shifu, You’ll Do Anything for a Laugh-10

4.2.1-National Identity-10

4.2.2-Education Background-12

5.-Conclusion-14

Bibliography-16