On Translation Of Chinese Idioms In The Selected Works Of Mao Tse-tung (Vol.Ⅳ)

Idioms are an important part of the language and culture of a people. English and Chinese are both rich in idioms. As a medium of cultural communication, idiom translation is quite important. It is generally recognized that there are cultural similarities as well as differences between English and Chinese. The similarities between them make idiom translation quite easy. However, owing to differences in living environment, geographical conditions, social customs, religious beliefs, historical and literary allusions and modes of thinking and so on between China and the English-speaking countries, the cultural information carried by their respective idioms correspondingly shows some differences. Difference is a difficult point in idiom translation. If we treat cultural factors improperly, we will make mistakes in idiom translation.In this paper, firstly, it makes s distinction between Chinese and English idioms, and then we know that Chinese idioms have a close relationship with Chinese culture. Due to different language features and cultural background, it is also a very knotty problem in translating Chinese idioms. Because the rendition of Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung into English is an important historic event, I choose the research object—Chinese idioms (four-character idioms) in Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung (Vol.Ⅳ)with references to the idioms translation of the Chinese classic works. The other reason why I choose volumeⅣis that it has the largest number of Chinese idioms in this part according to the incomplete statistics, so that we can analyze the topic more easily. After making a simple introduction to the Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, we discuss its translation principles and tendency in translating Chinese idioms. About this topic, there are not too many papers and research. According to my investigation, some scholars researched idioms translation in Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung from the cultural and semiotic perspective, while this paper focused on summarizing criteria of translation the Chinese idioms in Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung (Vol.Ⅳ) and identified seven general strategies (Literal Translation, Free Translation, Substitution, Omission, Amplification, Annotation, Generalization)with other minor supporting devices in rendering the tendency of translation. Finally, the author provides an opinion that the literal translation is the first choice in Chinese idioms translation.At last, the author concludes that all translation strategies have their respective characteristics and practical value in Chinese idiom translation. When doing translation, the translator should take many factors into consideration, such as the purpose of translation, the type of the source text, readers'acceptance and the translator's cultural attitude, and then decides which strategy should be taken. We should treat these strategies from the dialectical point of view, or it is one-sided to overemphasize one of them. It is of benefit to further development of translation studies as long as we treat the issue dialectically.Generally speaking, some limitations also can't be avoided in this study. I hope that this Paper will bring along more translators to the further study of translation of the Chinese idioms in classic works, therefore provide the insights for translating the classic works for others in the future.