The Production And Effect On English Versions Of Hongloumeng From The Cultural Perspective

As representatives of English translations of Hongloumeng,Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang’s version is of great research value,the same as David Hawkes’ version.However,among those researches of A Dream of Red Mansions and The Story of the Stone,more of them are inclined to study differences between two translation strategies and discuss which would be better.They ignore the difference between western culture and eastern culture.Because of these different cultural backgrounds,translators choose different translation strategies,and publishers choose different publishing mechanisms.These differences work together,so that those two versions can come into the world.The author will consider several aspects about two translation versions mainly from the cultural perspective,including translator,publishing agency and translation text itself.It can be of great help to analyse two versions.This article will concentrate on the influence brought by the cultural background and how it acts on translated texts.In turn,texts will also reveal how these factors change their features.Firstly,the author analyses translators from their living environment,their life and their views on translation,which can help finding their attitude towards translating.It’s obvious that although the Yang couple has interest on Chinese classical literature,they still have less interest on translating Hongloumeng.On the contrary,as a sinologist,David Hawkes plunged into translating Hongloumeng with immense enthusiasm.Secondly,the author chooses Chinese Foreign Language Press and Penguin Books Press as research subjects,aiming at their different history,systems and properties,in order to find out why these two presses prefer translating Hongloumeng and whether they impose resistance on publishing publications.In sum,the Foreign Language Press imposes more resistance than Penguin Press,no matter on translators or publishing process.Finally,the author analyses two translation texts and their effects of acceptability.This part includes style,binding,layout and textual content.The author also discusses the acceptance.From these two texts,it’s clear that in A Dream of Red Mansions,translators,as a translation tool,had been affected by greater external force so that their text appears more political features.In The Story of the Stone,the internal force has the advantage.So English readers prefer The Story of the Stone to A Dream of Red Mansions.It could say that different cultural backgrounds make different force,which different translation versions rely on.The aim of this article is also to fill in the blank of cultural views of translation study on Hongloumeng.I wish this article will attract more attention on cultural features about translations.