On Translatability Of Culture The Translation Of Proper Nouns In Hong Lou Meng

The translatability of culture has been a constant issue studied by both translation scholars and students. Since language and culture are closely interrelated, the translation of a language involves the translation of a culture; meanwhile, the translation of a culture is reflected in the translation of a language. The great differences between two languages and cultures determine the limitation of translating cultural elements. Recognized as the encyclopedia of the Chinese culture at that time, Hong Lou Meng touches upon a wide range of cultural elements in depth that Chinese scholars categorize and study. Among the elements, proper nouns are a special category including names, objects, customs, ceremonies, etc. Owing to its unique feature in one language, the translatability of the category is a problem to be solved.In translating those cultural elements, the Yang couple and David Hawkes have employed a large number of different strategies such as domestication and foreignziation, leading to different effects. However, there still lie translation limitations in both versions. Through a comparative study focusing on translations of proper nouns especially the characters'names of different kind, to say last names, pennames and nicknames and festivals of the two versions, the paper aims to study and explore the factors determining the limitations of cultural translation and possible strategies to maximize the possibility of translating special cultural elements. The relationship between culture and translation is analyzed through the factors such as different modes of thinking, customs and traditions, contextual factors and target readers."Cultural default"is introduced as a perspective to analyze the limitation of translatability and problems caused by it like undertranslation, overtranslation and mistranslation. By resorting to compensations on different levels, the paper is a concrete effort to propose possible translation strategies and suggestions of translating unique cultural elements.