论文化的可译性_红楼梦_专有名词的翻译_沈纯洁.docx

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1、 Shanghai International Studies University On Translatability of Culture The Translation of Proper Nouns in Hong Lou Meng A Thesis Presented to The College of English Language and Literature In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For The Degree of Master of Arts By Shen Chunjie Under the Supervi

2、sion of Professor Feng Qinghua January 2010 Acknowledgements My gratitude goes to all those who have helped me through the whole strenuous course of writing the thesis. My thesis advisor, many classmates and friends and my family have in one way or another contributed to the development of my writin

3、g by giving enlightening advice, offering information and creating the best environment for me to focus on this important task. First of all, my greatest debt goes to Professor Feng Qinghua, my thesis advisor and supervisor. His advised me to begin thinking over the selection of subject and relevant

4、 research at a very early time and spent a lot of time guiding me in the right direction by discussing and giving very useful suggestions. He also gave strong support by encouraging me when I met bottleneck during the writing. It was under the help of him that I can finish such an important task to

5、me in time. My heartfelt thanks also goes to many of my friends who encouraged me when I met difficulties during the research and writing. They discussed with me the problems, tried their best to give me suggestions. At last but not least, I want to express my sincerest gratitude to my family* They

6、created the best environment for me to focus on my thesis writing. All this would not be possible without their selfless sacrifice and unswerving support 摘要 文化的可译性问题一直以来都是译界学者及学生研究的对象。文化与语言的关 系密是密不可分的。翻译语言涉及到翻译这门语言群体所特有的文化，而翻译 相关文化又体现在对源文化的语言翻译之中。两门语言及文化之间的众多差异 导致了文化翻译的局限性。红楼梦作为中国经典名著，其涉及到的文化元 素无论从广

7、度还是深度来说都是前所未有的，而这些文化又被红学研究者归类 研究。在这些文化元素中，专有名词由于其在某一语言中的独特性，其翻译局 限性因此更大。如何解决这类文化元素，包括 姓名，物件，节日，习俗等的翻 译值得研究。 在这些文化元素的翻译中，杨宪益夫妇及大卫霍克斯在不同语境及上下文中采 用了不同的翻译策略，如同化及异化等手段来体现不同翻译效果达到不同的翻 译目的。然而在这些翻译中，仍存在文化翻译的局限性及不可译性的问题。本 文通过对这两个不同译本在专有名词的翻译中，特别是人物姓名，包括姓氏， 名字，字号，昵称等以及传统节日中的特有名词，探索影响文化可译性的因素 并试图寻找能够最大限度翻译文化的策

8、略。本文通过分析影响文化翻译的因素 如不同语言群体的思维模式，风俗习惯，语体及目标读 者来寻找适当的相应翻 译策略。本文从 文化缺省 的角度分析其在翻译文化元素中所导致的问题， 如不足翻译，过度翻译及误译，并通过对比两个译本中运用的不同策略，试图 从翻译补偿的不同层面提出关于文化翻译中专有名词翻译的新方法。 关键词：翻译的局限性；文化的可译性；专有名词的翻译；红楼梦；文化缺 省；翻译补偿 Abstract The translatability of culture has been a constant issue studied by both translation scholars a

9、nd students. Since language and culture are closely interrelated, the translation of a language involves the translation of a culture; meanwhile, the translation of a culture is reflected in the translation of a language. The great differences between two languages and cultures determine the limitat

10、ion of translating cultural elements. Recognized as the encyclopedia of the Chinese culture at that time, Hong Lou Meng touches upon a wide range of cultural elements in depth that Chinese scholars categorize and study. Among the elements, proper nouns are a special category including names, objects

11、, customs, ceremonies, etc. Owing to its unique feature in one language, the translatability of the category is a problem to be solved. In translating those cultural elements, the Yang couple and David Hawkes have employed a large number of different strategies such as domestication and foreignziati

12、on, leading to different effects. However, there still lie translation limitations in both versions. Through a comparative study focusing on translations of proper nouns especially the characters names of different kind, to say last names, pennames and nicknames and festivals of the two versions, th

13、e paper aims to study and explore the factors determining the limitations of cultural translation and possible strategies to maximize the possibility of translating special cultural elements. The relationship between culture and translation is analyzed through the factors such as different modes of

14、thinking, customs and traditions, contextual factors and target readers. “Cultural default” is introduced as a perspective to analyze the limitation of translatability and problems caused by it like undertranslation, overtranslation and mistranslation. By resorting to compensations on different leve

15、ls, the paper is a concrete effort to propose possible translation strategies and suggestions of translating unique cultural elements. Key words： limitations of translation; translatability of culture; Hong Lou Meng; translation of proper nouns; cultural default; compensation Contents Acknowledgemen

16、ts Abstract (Chinese) . i Abstract (English) . ii Introduction . 1 Chapter 1 Culture and Translation . 3 1.1 Definition of Culture . 3 1.2 Culture and Translation . 4 1.2.1 Relationship between Culture and Translation . 4 1.2.2 Factors Influencing the Translation of Culture . 7 1.2.2.1 Different Mod

17、es of Thinking . 7 1.2.2.2 Custom and Tradition . 9 1.2.2.3 Contextual Factors . 10 1.2.2.4 The Purpose of the Text . 11 Chapter 2 Cultural Elements in Hong Lou Meng . 12 2.1 Chinese Proper Nouns . 13 2.2 Chinese Names of the Characters . 15 2.2.1 Translation of First and Last Names in Hong Lou Meng

18、 . 16 2.2.2 Translation of Pennames and Nicknames . 18 2.3 Translation of Chinese Traditional Festivals . 22 2.3.1 Translation of the La Ba Festival . 23 2.3.2 Translation of the Mid-Autumn Day . 24 2.3.3 Translation of the Dragon Boat Festival . 25 2.3.4 Translation of the Lantern Festival . 26 2.3

19、.5 Translation of the Chinese New Years Eve. 27 Chapter 3 Cultural Default . 29 3.1 Definition of Cultural Default . 30 3.2 Problems Caused by Cultural Default . 31 3.2.1 Undertranslation . 31 3.2.2 Overtranslation . 34 3.2.3 Mistranslation . 35 Chapter 4 Compensations to Solve the Limitation of Tra

20、nslatability of Culture . 37 4.1 Compensation by Integration . 38 4.1.1 Amplification . 38 4.1.2 Specification . 39 4.1.3 Generalization . 40 4.2 Compensation by Isolation . 41 4.2.1 Annotations within Text . 41 4.2.2 Annotations outside Text . 42 Conclusion. 44 Bibliography . 46 Introduction The tr

21、anslatability of culture has been an issue since the beginning of translation studies. Due to the great discrepancies between languages and cultures, many people hold the view that it is impossible to translate culture. However, with more and more good translations of classics into different languag

22、es, it is out of the question that translation of culture can be done well. There are many factors that affect the translation of culture. To name a few, the difference between modes of thinking, customs and traditions, purpose of the context, all this confines the translation of culture. In transla

23、ting Chinese classics such as Hong Lou Mengf the large number of cultural words becomes another block to translators. The cultural elements in Hong Lou Meng can be categorized into considerable parts. It is amazing to include not only such a comprehensive range of diversity but also its profundity i

24、n every category. Almost every aspect in the novel can be explored and studied. Those cultural elements are the clash and combination of culture mostly of Chinese Han ethnicity before the rule of the Qing Dynasty and the culture of mostly Man Ethnicity under the rule of the Qing Dynasty. They are al

25、so the improved heritage of thousands of years of Confucian theology tradition. Their presence makes the novel a perfect combination of tradition while an extreme task for translators due to the missing of equivalence in target cultural concept and thus in target language. Proper nouns are a special

26、 category in the cultural elements in Hong Lou Meng, including names, objects, customs, ceremonies, etc. Owing to its unique quality in one language, the translatability of the category is a problem to be solved. In Hong Lou Meng, there are more than 700 names mentioned and 400 more characters depic

27、ted with 15 or so leading ones who also have various pennames and nicknames. The names were in the first place elaborately chosen in line with ancient Chinese naming system. Implicating different personality and fate with their Chinese characters or pronunciations, the names seem to be only fascinat

28、ing in Chinese. As for the festivals, they appear in chapters frequently as time lines connecting the whole story with its development. The customs and culture in them are mostly foreign to target readers. Thus how to translate them into English while retaining the connotations and beauty of the sou

29、rce text is a very important issue. The only existing two translations by the Yang couple and David Hawkes are the apex in translation, which at present no other translators can outperform but can only study and comment. In translating those cultural elements, both have employed a large number of me

30、thods, depending on domestication and foreignziation in dealing with different target readers. However, due to the infinite cultural elements, there still lie translation limitations in both versions. In this thesis, major problems caused by cultural default will be discussed and compensations for i

31、t will also be analyzed. In the first chapter, the relationship between culture and translation will be explained and factors affecting translation of culture will be analyzed, to say different modes of thinking, customs and traditions, contextual factors and target readers. In the second chapter, c

32、ultural elements in Hong Lou Meng will be elaborated, especially the elements in names and festivals. Yangs and Hawks translation will be compared and analyzed in translating those proper nouns to show readers the translatability of translating culture but also limits in it. The third chapter will d

33、iscuss the limitation of translatability in cultural translation caused by cultural default, the problems of undertranslation, overtranslation and mistranslation in translating Hong Lou Meng. The fourth chapter will discuss the possible compensations for the problems caused by cultural default. To c

34、ategorize as Xia Tingde (夏廷德） did, they are mainly compensations by integration with subcategories of methods employing amplification, specification and generalization and compensations by isolation with subcategories of methods as annotations inside text and annotations outside text. The last part

35、is the conclusion after the above analysis on translatability of culture in translating proper nouns in Hong Lou Meng. Chapter 1 Culture and Translation 1.1 Definition of Culture In anthropological definition, Edward Burnett Tylor defined in Primitive Cultures (1871) that culture is, that complex wh

36、ole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, customs and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of a society.”（ Tylor, 1871:1) This definition specifies three distinctive features of culture. 1) Culture is socially acquired instead of biologically transmitted; 2) Cu

37、lture is shared among the members of a particular community or society instead of being unique to individuals; 3) Culture is highly integrated. Each aspect of a culture is tied to another. If we divide culture into subordinate categories, it is normally regarded as the following four subsystems. 1)

38、Techno-economic System: ecology, ways of production, exchange, and distribution of goods; crafts, technology, and science; artifacts; 2) Social System: social classes and groups; kinship system (typology, sex and marriage, procreation and paternity, size of the family, etc.); politics and the law; e

39、ducation; sports and entertainment; customs; general history; 3) Ideational System: cosmology; religion; magic and witchcraft; folklore; artistic creations as images; values (moral, aesthetic, etc.); cognitive focus and thinking patterns; ideology; 4) Linguistic System: phonology and graphemes; gram

40、mar(morphology and syntax); semantics and pragmatics. Take linguistic system as an example. People in the same community or society may speak different dialects or languages. In Shanghai, people living on the west side of the Huangpu River may not understand the dialects of the people living on the

41、east side of the Huangpu River due to different tones, pronunciations, cultural cognition and connotations of the same things. People living in the same place of Northeast of China may speak different languages for they are different in ethnics. So even people in the same part of a society may not understand others in language and culture, not to say people in different countries and continents. (Nida, 2007: 96) Since in every category, there are various elements differing from each other in different society, it will surely lead to different cultural presuppositions and thus cause