On Realizing The Discourse Power Of Chinese In C-E Translation

In cross-cultural communication, Chinese culture has been less powerful than other western cultures. Translation, as a bridge of oriental-western communication, plays a prominent role in cross-cultural communication. It is helpful to realize the discourse power of Chinese by translating traditional Chinese works into foreign languages with applicable translation methods. Based on the current situation of Chinese culture, Chinese scholars should speculate on penetrating Chinese culture into the west. This research aims to let the western readers know traditional Chinese culture, to accept Chinese culture, thus to realize the discourse power of Chinese by translating classic Chinese works into English.Based on Power Discourse Theory by Michel Foucault, this thesis, taking two English versions of Fu Sheng Liu Ji by Lin Yutang and Shirley M Black respectively as the subject of the case study, probes into realizing the discourse power of Chinese in the process of C-E translation with proper methods. This study makes a comparative analysis on the translation methods applied to the structure of the book, the expressing of time, names and addressings of people, the description of expressing the emotion, wedding ceremony, games, Chinese gardens and Wu Yue of two English versions of Fu Sheng Liu Ji by Lin Yutang(abbr. Lin) and Shirley Black(abbr. Black) respectively, analyses the strategies of achieving the discourse power of Chinese in two English versions and concludes that:Black, as a reader and translator of Chinese culture, expresses the time and interprets games better than Lin’s. To a certain degree, her version interests the target-language readers and makes Western readers feel the unique charm of the authentic traditional Chinese culture. Lin’s version, from the structure of the book, the description of expressing the emotion, names and addressing of people, wedding ritual, the Chinese gardens and "Wu Yue", follows the ways of expression of Chinese so that Western readers can feel the unique, attractive Chinese culture, thus realize the discourse power of Chinese effectively. Thus, in order to transmit the Chinese culture to the world and to realize the discourse power of Chinese better in C-E translation, this thesis aims to conclude and choose the better translation methods. And the finding is as follows: transliteration is applied to express names and addressing of people, amplification is applied to the expression of time and games, noting and interpretation are used in specific Chinese terms, illustration is usually used in the structure of the book, and combination is generally applied to the description of expressing the emotion. Those methods mentioned are helpful to realize the discourse power of Chinese in C-E translation.The implications, innovations, limitations and suggestions are also briefly presented in the thesis. Hopefully, this research will shed light into the realization of the discourse power of Chinese in C-E translation so as to introduce Chinese culture to the world.