On The Diversity Of Cultural Translation Strategies And Complementation Of Different Versions

As a part of cultural exchange, translation activities attract more attention than before in today's globalization. The"cultural turn"in translation studies started from the early 1990s, and the"translation turn"in the field of cultural studies appeared in the late 1990s have bound Culture and Translation even tighter than before. Yet, a consequent stronger consciousness of the differences between different cultures nowadays makes it even harder for a translator to decide whether his version should get near or keep away from the target culture, and to what extent. Which cultural translation strategy to choose is a question every translator has to face, yet no consensus has ever been reached. That is why the dissertation chooses to study cultural translation strategies. The study aims to illustrate the relationship between the different choices on cultural translation strategy and the complementation between different versions of the same text.The dissertation starts with a review of the existing definitions of cultural translation which is quite large in number and different in perspective. Based on an analysis, the dissertation puts forward its own definition of cultural translation in a narrow sense and in a broad sense as well. The former refers to the translation of the specific cultural elements existing in the original text, while the latter refers to the whole period of introducing one culture to another through translation in the aim of achieving mutual understanding and equal dialogue.The study is done basically on the lexical level. The chief reason for choosing words, or culture-loaded words to be specific, as the object of the research is that the lexical level is the very linguistic level where the cultural differences are shown most directly and distinctly. By a tactical handle of the culture-loaded words, the translator can either positively promote the acceptance of the cultural elements in the target culture, or hinder the process by erasing the specific cultural features of the source text.The dissertation then goes on with an explanation of the translation strategies commonly known as assimilation and alienation. The dissertation holds that there is no clear cut between these two, for the features of culture as a general alone has made it theoretically impossible for translation versions to be either entirely assimilated or alienized. In this sense, assimilation and alienation are, synchronically and diachronically, both terms of relativity. In other words, assimilation and alienation refer to the overall tendencies, with the degrees being determined by the specific combination of translation methods. Various methods are classified into six types in this dissertation.They are interpretation, substitution, literal and word-for-word translation, transliteration, omission and annotation.The dissertation continues with a simple historical retrospect over the relevant comments and actual choices concerning cultural translation strategies made by some distinguished translators both in China and in the west. Though some of the comments may seem fragmental, they still reveal the general trend in the development of cultural translation strategies, and those debates on translation issues and different choices made by different translators well illustrate the diversity of tranlation strategies.The actual existence of diversity of cultural translation strategies has its theoretical foundation. In the third chapter the dissertation proceeds to show what shapes this diversity through an analysis of the external environment and internal elements of a translation activity. The external environment refers to the characteristics of culture as general, and the specific relationship between the two cultures involved, or the status one culture holds in comparison to the other.The internal elements involve the original text, the readers and the translators. The distinct features of a specific text, together with the common feature of embodying multiple meanings shared by all texts, require the translators to make a choice on what to keep and what to give up. The readers, with a great variety in their personal conditions and purposes of reading, along with their role as the dominant component of the rejection system in the target culture when encountering foreign concepts, demands various types of translation versions. As for the translators, their individuality as well as the subjectivity they acquire as translators, makes it simply impossible for these prime processors of the foreign concepts in the code transfer station to act uniformly when making a choice.As a matter of fact, the existence of diversity of cultural translation strategies is not only inevitable but also necessary, for it leads directly to the complementation among different translation versions of the same original text. As far as the texts themselves are concerned, complementation means acting as the complement to each other in both content and style by bringing on what is missing or weakened in other ones. When it comes to the role texts play in the cultural context, complementation refers to the co-efforts of different versions in promoting the acceptance of the foreign concepts embedded by reinforcing those concepts with continuous modification and clarification. For diachronic versions, complementation means even more. It manifests itself not only in the later versions'modification of the earlier ones, but also in the function of the earlier versions of getting the readers better prepared for the later ones. Here the point is exemplified by two complete English versions of Hong Lou Meng and five selected translations of Liao Zhai Zhi Yi.The two complete English versions of Hong Lou Meng are taken as the example of synchronic versions. Altogether one hundred and seventy cultural–loaded words are chosen randomly for the analysis. A statistical investigation of the specific translation methods or method combinations shows that the three methods favored most by David Hawkes are substitution, interpretation, and literal and word-for-word translation, and the sequence changes to literal and word for word translation, substitution, and interpretation when it comes to Yangs'version. Furthermore, the translation strategies of the two versions also show quite a difference when a specific aspect of culture is concerned. The two versions are quite remote from each other when ecology and material culture are involved, yet quite close when it comes to religious and social cultures, especially the latter. However, even in the scope of the social culture where the two versions show much similarity, differences can still be discerned. Yangs'version prefer to use more notes to provide information about historical figures mentioned in the text, while Hawkes'version tends to provide information about unanimated things. A contrast reveals that Yangs'version stays closer to the expression of the original, while Hawkes'version makes more efforts in reaching out to the readers. The two make a perfect match by stressing on different aspects of the original text.In the fifth chapter, several abridged translations of Liao Zhai Zhi Yi are selected for study as an example of diachronic versions for the same original text. A statistical analysis on the three versions published in 1826, 1982 and 2001 respectively shows an interesting linear track with the number of notes decreasing dramatically while the use of literal and word for word translation prevailing gradually. The second part of the chapter focuses on the different cultural translation strategies adopted by different translators in the handling of the titles of the stories. Five versions are taken as the objects of the research. The overall features demonstrated in the titles of each version are then carefully analyzed.The dissertation comes to the conclusion in chapter six that the very existence of the diversity of cultural translation strategies indicates that no single translation strategy could ever be perfect. Since the factors that affect the final choices of translation strategies are naturally dynamic, translation strategies chosen by any two different translators can never be identical in the context of literary translation, and that leads to the consequence that every version produced must have some places left to be complemented. Therefore, for the sake of a more comprehensive reflection of a particular original text, the translators'initiative should be encouraged instead of being suppressed in translation activity, especially when it comes to re-translation.Despite the efforts made by the author in adopting a quantitive approach of analysis in conducting an empirical study, subjectivity can hardly be totally avoided in the specific classification of translation methods applied to a particular culture-loaded word due to the flexibility of translators'practice. In addition, because the limitation of individual efforts, the collected materials for analysis are far from enough in respect of quantities and scope.It should be noted that as this dissertation concentrates on literary works only, with its statistical materials all taken from two Chinese literary classics of Hong Lou Meng and Liao Zhai Zhi Yi, the conclusion of this research is mainly applicable to literary works. Besides the lexical level which the dissertation works on, the diversity of cultural translation strategies and complementation of different versions at other textual levels are all worthy of a further exploration.