The Translation Strategies Of Cultural Factors: Comparative Study Of Two English Versions Of Shuihuzhuan

With the rapid development of economy and cultural exchanges in the world, cultural transference has attracted intensifying attention in the translation field. Correspondingly, nowadays, literary translation assumes more important mission and plays more significant roles than before, not merely introducing literary works to the foreigners, but shouldering the heavy task of showing the special property of national culture and spreading it widely. Especially in view of the having existed problem that western culture and values are usually put to the leading position in the process of external translation of Chinese literary works, having an equal dialogue with western culture and spreading the extensive Chinese culture contained in literary works actively have become the inner demand of preserving vitality of national culture and the objective requirement of pushing forward civilization of human race.Shuihuzhuan contains rich cultural connotation, therefore its appearance has not only literary significance, but also is a kind of reflection of cultural phenomenon. In different cultural tradition and under different esthetic appreciation, whether did another existing form of this masterpiece-translated version overcome the dual barriers of language and culture and transmit the connotation of cultural elements involved in the original text effectively are worth studying.Combining translation theory and practice, the thesis mainly illustrates the different translation strategies of Pearl S. Buck and Sidney Shapiro in English versions of Shuihuzhuan by analyzing concrete examples, such as the translation of book title, the nicknames, the forms of address, the cultural loaded words and the poetry, etc., which contain Chinese cultural connotation. Through microscopic observation of the two translated versions, the thesis proves the advantages and disadvantages of Pearl S. Buck's foreignization translation and Shapiro's domestication translation individually. Generally speaking, the two strategies are not contradictory to each other and cultural transmission needs many kinds of methods. Moreover, on the basis of summarizing the strong points and the weak ones of their translation, it provides some methods concerning the translation of cultural elements, such as literal. translation, combining literal translation with annotations, additional translation, borrowing the expressions in the target language, free translation, etc. However, concrete method requires concrete analysis. It aims at putting forward some valuable content for the external translation of Chinese literary works in the future.