On The Translation Of Cultural Elements From The Perspective Of Skopostheorie

The rise of"culture turn"in translation field has given a push to and made a tremendous impact on translation since 1980s. The translation is not only the simple transformation of literal sense but also the cultural information involved in different languages. As an intercultural communication activity, translation makes the sense of language in specific social culture reappear in another culture. Cultural differences between China and western countries make it difficult to translate the cultural elements in the literal works and the discussion of using translation strategies is becoming fiercer.Hong Lou Meng is one of the greatest works cultivated from the traditional Chinese culture. It is regarded as the"Encyclopedia"of China's feudal society due to its profound thoughts and outstanding artistic achievements. It is a miracle of literary history in China and covers every aspect of culture, containing state system and family traditions, philosophy and religion, decrees and regulations, bureaucratic establishment and customs, clothes and supplies, landscape architecture, instrument and chess playing, calligraphy and painting, poems and plays. Hong Lou Meng has a history of more than 200 years since the day it turns up and is rendered into different languages for foreigners, among which The Story of the Stone translated by Hawkes and A Dream of Red Mansions by the Yangs are treated as the most influential ones.The present study makes these two translated versions as the research objects and compare and analyze the examples selected from Hong Lou Meng in terms of Nida's classification of culture from the perspectives of Skopos theory. The results show that the translators make use of different strategies in translating the culture elements in accordance with their translation intentions to achieve a desired effect. On account of the different use of translation strategies, the transmission of culture, therefore, varies differently: with a view to preserving the cultural features of original text and spreading traditional Chinese culture as well as the exoticism, the Yangs mainly make use of foreignization. On the contrary, in order to make the translation smooth and give few difficulties for the reader, Hawkes prefers to use domestication. The author concludes that the success of translation and the use of translation strategy depend on translators'translation intention. As for Chinese culture, the translation of the Yangs'is more faithful; seen from the perspective of western readers, the translation of Hawkes is easier to understand and accept. Considering the three rules of Skopos theory, the aims of these two versions cater for the translators. The translation of Hawkes achieves the requirements of intratextual coherence better. Comparing speaking, the intertextual coherence is accomplished in A Dream of Red Mansions by the Yangs.The study is composed of six chapters. The first chapter mainly states research background, significance of the study, and the layout of the thesis. In the second chapter, the author puts forward the necessity of this study based on the reviews of the contents related to this study. The third chapter aims at the theoretical foundation employed in the research, containing Skopos theory and its three rules, translation briefs, and the practice of Skopos theory in this study. The fourth chapter is about the research design, including research questions, research object, research method, data collection and analysis. Chapter five is the core part of the study. By analyzing the data, the author tries to find out the manifestation of the translators'strategies in cultural translation and discusses the influence of Skopos theory on the choice. In the last chapter, the main findings of this paper are explained and some limits of the paper is given.