On The Translation Of Cultural Elements In Modern Drama

Modern drama translation (hereafter referred to as MDT or MD translation) is an indispensable part of literary translation. Because of its peculiar characteristics, however, its research has seldom been conducted both from a cultural perspective and in relation to stage performance.Culture is one of the most important factors in MD translation. Whether the culture of the source language (SL) in the MD could be correctly conveyed and further accepted by target audiences determines the success of MD translation.Sunrise is one of the master pieces of Cao Yu. With Chen Bailu and Fang Dasheng, two main characters, as its central plot, this play shows the living conditions of people from different social strata and displays the real social lives. Viewed from the cultural perspective, it offers a perfect example for case studies regarding the translation of cultural elements in MD. Taking A.C. Barnes'translation of Sunrise as a research subject and E.A. Nida's functional equivalence as a guiding theory, the thesis will deal with the cultural case analysis of the target text of the play intended for stage, with a view to summing up cultural translation strategies for MD while achieving a better understanding of cultural elements in MD translation.