On Translation Of Culture-loaded Words In Fiction Based On “Thick Translation”

Unique cultural characteristics take shape in the long historical course of nations due to religious beliefs,social customs,lifestyles and others,and embody themselves as culture-loaded words in literary works,especially in fiction.It’s hard for translators to find exact counterparts in target texts(TT)that can match culture-loaded words in source texts(ST)while translating a text.Whether translators can handle well culture-loaded words and achieve simultaneous transfer of language and culture directly bears on target language readers of different backgrounds and translation effects.By thick translation,Kwame Anthony Appiah intends to place the text in a rich cultural and linguistic context by adding annotations and accompanying glosses so as to deal with the limitation in ST-TT meaning transfer and to maintain the culture and historical context of source language.The theory has drawn great attention from translation circles.Many scholars have taken Appiah’s theory as a cultural translation principle and applied it to the translation of culture-loaded words,so as to interpret the rich cultural connotations in source language,and to enrich the cultural network of target language.In translating “Moon Prayers” by American novelist Mark Jay Mirsky,I have encountered a lot of culture-loaded words and intended to apply Appiah’s theory to render as much cultural information as possible for target language readers by such thick translation methods as annotations and paraphrases.My translation practice has proved that the above-mentioned translation methods can render culture information from ST to TT and reduce the loss of meaning,thus making the translated text more readable.It is hoped that my translation practice of dealing with culture-loaded words will inspire those who are to encounter texts alike in the future,even though partially.