A Study Of The Translation Of Vulgar Language In Outlaws Of The Marsh

Vulgar language, in most cases, means the insulting and aggressive language, namely the words for reviling. Vulgar language can be found in all languages of the world, because it is an organic part of a language. Even in civilized society of today, people usually use vulgar language to express their peculiar emotions.However, researches on the translation of vulgar languages are very few. The ways and means of most translators in dealing with vulgar language is avoiding translating it. As a matter of fact, if vulgar language is translated improperly, the speaker's emotion and expressive meaning can not be expressed correctly. In literary works, vulgar language is one of the writer's important ways to depict characters. Avoiding translating and purifying them may make the characters lack specific features in language, as a result, the textual meaning could not be presented perfectly. Therefore, the translation of vulgar language attracts more and more scholars' eyes in recent years, for example, Shan Qichang and Feng Qinghua discussed it as an independent subject in their translation handbooks. Different translators have different theory frame, but on the translation of vulgar language, most of them base on the literal translation, free translation, Guihua and Yihua theory.Shui Hu Zhuan is one of the Four Great Classic Novels in China. It is translated into different languages and popular around the world. In the book, the vulgar languages are used to portray the characters' personalities. Of the many English versions, Sidney Shapiro's Outlaws of the Marsh is most popular and well received by the western readers. So this thesis chooses this version as the basis and makes a study of the translation of vulgar language.The study is conducted in a qualitative way, taking the vulgar language in Shui Hu Zhuan as examples, analyzing and concluding the translation methods, aiming at finding out the relevant strategy.Findings indicate: (1) Chinese and English vulgar languages respectively have their own classifications and characteristics. (2) The methods adopted in Shui Hu Zhuan for translating vulgar language include: literal translation, free translation, omission and combination of literal and free translations. (3) The translation of vulgar language should consider both the relevance of literal meaning of the word and the implicit meaning of the speaker. (4) Chinese and English vulgar expressions are not one-one equivalents, so in translating something important, attention should be paid to whether the version accords with the original meaning.This study aims at researching on the specific field of C-E translation, touching upon vulgar language, providing new insights into the translation practice and contributing to the translation of different cultures.