A Study On The C-to-E Translation Of Culture-loaded Words In Hawkes’ Version Of Hong Lou Meng From The Perspective Of Eco-translatology

In the report delivered at the 19 th National Congress of the Communist Party of China,the General Secretary,Xi Jinping,has stressed the need to strengthen China’s capacity for engaging in international communication,tell Chinese story well and improve the soft power of Chinese national culture.To tell Chinese story well and spread Chinese voice well requires the Chinese government to increase its efforts to introduce Chinese culture to other countries and make it go global successfully.As one of the four great classical masterpieces of China,Hong Lou Meng contains rich traditional Chinese culture.Therefore,promoting this great novel to foreign countries is conducive to promoting traditional Chinese culture.Among the many English versions of Hong Lou Meng,Hawkes’ version,as one of the few complete ones,has received much attention and praise from translation researchers at home and abroad.Hawkes’ translation of traditional Chinese culture in this novel is also helpful for foreign sinologists to study Chinese culture.In view of its importance and popularity,it is of practical and academic significance to select Hawkes’ English version as the research object in this paper.According to the theory of eco-translatology,translation is “the translator’s selective activity to transplant the text on the basis of his adaption to the translational eco-environment”(Hu,2013,p.207).It’s believed that the translator’s transplantation of the text is mainly reflected in his/ her adaptive selection in three dimensions of language,culture and communication.“Multi-dimensional transformations” are the main principle of eco-translatology,which is mainly embodied in the “three-dimensional transformations”.Specifically,the transformation in “linguistic dimension” emphasizes that translators need to“pay attention to the linguistic transformation of the source text”(Hu,2013,p.237);The transformation in “cultural dimension” stresses that translators are supposed to “attach importance to the transformation of cultural connotations of the source text to the target text”(Hu,2013,p.237);The transformation in “communicative dimension” highlights that translators should “not only pay attention to whether the author’s overall communicative intention in the source text is reflected in the target text and understood by the target readers,but also focus on whether the communicative intention,which is included in the linguistic/cultural form as well as linguistic/cultural connotations in the source text,is understood by [target] readers ”(Hu,2013,p.237).After a detailed study,the author has found that Hawkes’ version of Hong Lou Meng,to a certain extent,shows certain thought of eco-translatology.Thus,it is feasible to study his English version under the guidance of the theory of eco-translatology.Guided by the theory of eco-translatology,this thesis makes an analytical research on the C-to-E translation of culture-loaded words in Hawkes’ version of Hong Lou Meng from the perspectives of the “three-dimensional transformations”.In linguistic dimension,it’s held that Hawkes,on the basis of adapting to the linguistic eco-environment of the source text,has made a proper adaptive selection in the process of translating culture-loaded words in this novel.His selection is mainly illustrated in two aspects: 1.Preserving the phonetic feature of the source text,to restore the original linguistic ecology;2.Preserving the tone of the source text,to restore the original linguistic ecology.In cultural dimension,it’s found that Hawkes,on the basis of adapting to the cultural eco-environment of the source text,has made an appropriate adaptive selection in the process of translating culture-loaded words in this novel.His selection is mainly illustrated in two aspects: 1.Only conveying the implied cultural connotation of the source text,to balance the original cultural ecology and the target cultural ecology;2.Conveying the literal meaning of the source text and supplementing its implied cultural connotation,to balance the original cultural ecology and the target cultural ecology.In communicative dimension,it’s found that Hawkes,on the basis of adapting to the communicative eco-environment of the source text,has made a proper adaptive selection in the process of translating culture-loaded words in this novel.His selection is mainly illustrated in two aspects: 1.Partly achieving the communicative purpose,to transform moderately in communicative dimension;2.Wholly achieving the communicative purpose,to transform successfully in communicative dimension.The author hopes that this paper can,to a certain extent,provide reasonable example support for translation practice guided by the theory of eco-translatology,so as to broaden the theory’s research scope,and provide certain references for researchers to study the C-to-E translation of classical Chinese literary works.In a word,the author wishes to make a humble contribution to telling Chinese story well and spreading Chinese voice well.