On Newmark’s Communicative Translation Theory In Translating Death Ritual In Late Imperial And Modern China

With the ongoing improvement of China’s international status and the implementation of the Going Global strategy in the cultural dimension, the world has been increasingly interested in traditional Chinese culture. Large quantities of works introducing or studying Chinese philosophy, religion or folk culture have been published abroad in this context, among which are works studying Chinese death ritual culture. To arrange a parent’s funeral respectfully and to memorize ancestors sincerely have always been the tradition of Chinese people. Death ritual culture integrates thoughts including Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, making it the core of Chinese religion, ethic and etiquette, as well as the representation of the eternal belief of Chines people.Death Ritual in Late Imperial and Modern China is an edited work by James L. Watson and Evelyn S. Rawski, both of whom are outstanding scholars in the field of Chinese death ritual culture. Studying the translation of their work will not only bring a social benefit by promoting academic and cultural communication but also an individual benefit by improving the translator’s translation skills and cultural competence.The core of Newmark’s translation theory is a pair of concepts-semantic translation and communicative translation. Newmark also puts forward three types of text, namely expressive text, informative text and vocative text, according to their different functions, and he advocates that different translation strategies should be employed when dealing with different text types. According to Newmark’s theory, Death Ritual in Late Imperial and Modern China is a collection of papers, an informative type of text, the translation practice of which should be guided by the communicative translation theory. Therefore, this report will study the translation strategies and skills used in the translation practice, guided by communicative translation theory. During the practice process, translation strategies including annotation, adding, paraphrasing, shifting, splitting and combining have been applied according to the specific features of the original text. As a result, the translated version meets standards of communicative translation theory. It achieves the goal of respecting the original text, delivering the information effectively and improving the reading experience of target readers at the same time.