Interpretation On The English Version Of Lang Tu Teng From The Perspective Of Post-colonial Translation Studies

Post-colonial translation studies dated from the end of1980s, and it involves a series ofresearching norms and applying forms constructed in the post-colonial critical context withthe combination of theoretical studies and demonstrating analysis, which rightly implementeach other. The post-colonial translation theory mainly emphasizes the inequality betweendifferent languages and the power differentials between various societies and nations. Itapproaches the translating problems in cross-cultural communication from the standpoint ofthe weak culture and national minorities, serving as the force at the core in dispeling thecultural hegemony and ethnocentrism. Especially remarkable, as one of the main features ofthe post-colonial translation studies, hybridity is the inevitable product resulted fromlanguage-culture commnication, which is in favour of propagating the exotic flavor anddemonstrating the cultural heteorogeneities. The English version of Tang Tu Tteng, convertedby a famous American translator named Howard Goldblatt, is full of post-colonialcharacteristics. This thesis aims at discussing the post-colonial features in translation byanalyzing the English version of Lang Tu Teng.The first chapter of this thesis gives a relatively detailed review on post-colonialismand post-colonial translation studies. The second chapter firstly elaborates the essentialnotions of post-colonial translation theory, mainly including power differentials and hybridity.Then it introduces the translation strategies corresponding to these essential notions. Afterthat, the specific translating approaches of the two translation strategies, domestication andforeignization adopted by the translator are summarized. The third chapter borrows the fivekinds of cultural levels as the entry point. And the five cultures are put forward by EugeneNida, an outstanding American translation theorist. In accordance with the essential notionsof post-colonial translation theory, this chapter conducts dissection of the English version ofLang Tu Teng, and finds that the translation thought and translation strategies ofpost-colonialism are embodied at different levels. The last chapter is the extension of thecontents in the previous chapter and it expounds the roles of translation in the post-colonialcontext reflected in Wolf Totem.Studying the English version of Wolf Totem from the perspective of post-colonial translation theory, this thesis finds that the translator’s choices of translation strategies,translation purposes and the specific context are tightly connected. Domestication andforeignization are neither stalemated nor opposite to each other, but they constitute dialecticalunity, or we may say that they are in moderate hybridity. In this way, it will not bring readingdisorders to the target language readers either. On the contrary, it will help them to expandtheir horizons and acquire even more about novel and exotic culture, and it is also of greatbenefits to the cultural communication between different nationalities. Therefore, we thinkthat during the process of translation, aside from deeply realizing the cultural essence of theoriginal works, the translator needs to neatly choose the translation strategies, avoid theextremism of the binary opposition and strive to promote the genuinely equal conversationsbetween diverse cultures.Against the significant theoretical background of cultural turn in translation studies,post-colonial translation studies brings about a large amount of brand new dimensionalitiesand perspectives for translation criticism, enabling us to see that translation is a dynamic andpolybasic culture-communication process. Dissecting the English version of the works of anational literature from the post-colonial perspective is conducive to breaking the normalform of linguistic research on translation as the conversion of diverse kinds of languages inthe conventional sense. It will help to promote the translation theory studies and translationpractice to a new height and profundity. From the perspective of post-colonial translationtheory, translation is also of positive significance in dispelling cultural hegemony, declaringthe identity of the minorities publicly, and lending an ear to the voice of “others”. Meanwhile,it will also be of great help in eliminating the natural protective screen of the communicationbetween the East and the West and in carrying forward traditional Chinese culture.