A Study On The Translatabbility Of Culture-Loaded Terms Based On Moment In Peking

Translation is a field drawing much attention and with continuous development. The dispute on translatability has never come to an end. The term "translatability" refers to the extent to which it is possible to translate language units or texts from one language to another. On the one hand, translatability should not be denied. On the other hand, untranslatability does exist because of various restrictions, linguistically and culturally. Actually, translatability and untranslatability are relative. The transferring from untranslatability to translatability is dynamic instead of being static. The extent of translatability will move upwards and become higher, with the increasing frequency of cultural exchanges and great efforts of the scholars. The culture-loaded terms (CLTs for abbreviation) make no exception.Language is telling a nation’s culture. With the development of society and language, many words or expressions are endowed with traditional culture, namely, the CLTs. As a special expression form with cultural element, it is difficult for CLTs to find the right correspondents in English. Thus, the issue on the translation of CLTs appears as a challenge to translators. Lin Yutang, as an excellent representative of introducing Chinese culture to the world, employs a large number of Chinese CLTs in his work Moment in Peking, for the purpose of helping the readers to learn Chinese culture accurately and comprehensively.This thesis focuses on the translation of CLTs that appear in Moment in Peking. First of all, the author gives a detailed study on Moment in Peking and CLTs. In Chapter Two, the author makes a thorough overview of translatability and untranslatability, including the definitions and the theoretical basis. In Chapter Three, the author introduces Nida’s principles of "Functional Equivalence" and "Formal Equivalence", which serve as the theoretical basis of the study on the limitation of translatability of CLTs and the compensation strategy from the angel of the communicative function to reduce the limitation of translatability. In Chapter Four, the author provides the specific classification of CLTs and the approaches for the translation of CLTs based on Moment in Peking, with the purpose of applying Nida’s theories in the CLTs translation and of elaborating the compensation strategy.According to the research on the translatability of Chinese CLTs, the author demonstrates the issues related to the translatability of Chinese CLTs, namely, the limitation of translatability of CLTs, the compensation strategy to reduce the limitation and the feasible translation methods. The author hopes that new light could be shed on the translatability of CLTs so that it will help the translation of CLTs in other literary works as well as narrow cultural gaps between Chinese and other languages.