A Comparative Study On The Translation Of Li Qingzhao’s Eight Ci-poems: A Perspective Of Cultural Context

This thesis tries to seek out better treatment of the translation of Li Qingzhao‘sci-poetry from the perspective of Cultural Context. Ci-poetry, also translated into ci lyricand song poetry, is the quintessential part of traditional Chinese literature. Li Qingzhao isthe most outstanding woman poet in Chinese literary history. Her poetry has been paid alot of attention at home and abroad, more and more translators and publication agencieshave been trying to translate her poetry and introduce her works. Understanding andexpressing appropriately and accurately is one of the essential standards for successfulworks, especially for ci-poems-this special Chinese poetry form. This thesis picks outher eight ci-poems, making a discussion on whether the translations are reasonable andhow to translate them better.The study of translation of Li Qingzhao‘s ci-poetry in the past is to the ci-poetryitself, the comparative and contrastive study of the English translation of it, the study ofits style, the study from the cognitive perspective and so on. On the basis of these study,the author of thesis aims at finding out the influence of the cultural context in translatingthese ci-poems, the optimal translating methods by illuminating the influence of CulturalContext and better translation strategies according to it. This thesis analyses two versionsof eight poems of Li Qingzhao, including one translation rendered by famous Chinesetranslator Zhuo Zhenying and the other one by American translator Kenneth Rexroth, indifferent times and under different translation backgrounds, from synchronic anddiachronic angels.The thesis will pay more attention to the cultural exchange between the Chinese andother target languages, and to make the translator transfer the Chinese culture moreefficiently and successfully in translating the Chinese classic poetry. Chapter one isintroduction to the thesis. Chapter two provides the theoretical framework of the whole thesis. In this chapter, an overall exploration of cultural context is carried out in asystematic way.To discuss the problem whether the translation is reasonable considering the culturalcontext, we should firstly know that the characteristics and features of the original text,the background of the ci-poetry and the special life experience when the writer createsher poetry and so on. We also must understand the cultural context of the two translators.So Chapter three summarizes the cultural context characteristics of Kenneth Rexroth‘sand Zhuo Zhenying‘s translation from the three elements of the cultural context.Chapter four is the body of the whole thesis, in which the comparative study oftwo versions of the eight poems are conducted descriptively according to their differentcultural contexts, by focusing on whether each translator transfers the culturalinformation in the ci poetry correspondingly and whether their translations meet theneeds of cultural context or not. Meanwhile, this chapter will lay a foundation for thenext chapter, after the analysis of the specific translating measure and the reader-responseof each, and then we can make a tentative study to perfect the translation afterwards.Chapter five shows how a translator can meet the needs of cultural context in histranslation considering the cultural context and at the same time, and perfect histranslation from this regard. This chapter is the enlightenment according to the studybefore.In conclusion, the study shows that if a translator wants to translate Li Qingzhao‘sci-poems well, he must get the idea of the cultural context in them. The main purpose ofthe text is to enrich the study of Li Qingzhao‘s poems in translation, trying to provide anew perspective for the study of it, to strengthen the translators‘awareness of culturalcontext, and offer some modest revelation in translation strategies in the light of thecultural context.