On Cultural Default And Its Compensation: A Functionalist Approach

Cultural default is the absence of relevant cultural background knowledge shared by the author and his/her intended reader. As a commonly used writing technique, cultural default produces aesthetic and concise value of the writing and provides the readers the pleasure and enjoyment of reading. However, due to the differences between cultures, what seems to be quite apparent in one culture probably causes much effort to get across in another. Therefore, cultural default can be a barrier in intercultural communication, esp. in translation. A proper rendering of cultural default in translation not only retains the artistic value of the original but also promotes intercultural communication. On the contrary, the ignorance or careless treatment of it may result in misunderstanding or failure of interpretation of the original text. Hence, it is an issue that merits proper attention and will occupy us in the present thesis.Based on frame-theory, the thesis first reveals the mechanism that forms cultural default. Then, the author tentatively categorizes cultural default into three patterns, that is, absolute cultural default, relative cultural default and equivalent cultural default. Afterwards, compensation strategy is presented within the framework of functionalist translation theory. It is held that either domestication or foreignization is justified in compensating for cultural default as long as it suits the translation Skopos.Based on the functionalist approaches, the thesis first makes a functionalist analysis of the novel of A Dream of Red Mansions by Yang Xianyi & Gladys Yang and then discusses the compensation methods for the three patterns of cultural default. The conclusion is drawn as follows:The translation Skopos of A Dream of Red Mansions is to convey the Chinese culture as faithfully as possible to the English-speaking countries. Therefore, the translation of A Dream of Red Mansions is source-culture oriented and shall be very faithful to the source text. Hence the major strategy it takes is foreignization with occasional use of domestication. As for the compensation methods, different patterns of cultural defaults call for different renderings. Firstly, absolute cultural default finds its reflection in all aspects of culture, i.e. ecological culture, material culture, social culture, religious culture and linguistic culture. Religious culture and linguistic culture exclusively belong to this pattern. Based on the translation Skopos, the compensation methods for absolute cultural default in A Dream of Red Mansions are mainly literal translation, annotation, transliteration, paraphrase, substitution and omission. Secondly, relative cultural default is mainly presented in ecological culture, social culture and material culture. In A Dream of Red Mansions, the Yangs generally employ methods of literal translation, literal translation with explanation, paraphrase, substitution and omission to compensate the loss caused by cultural default. Finally, equivalent cultural default frequently appears in ecological culture, social culture and material culture. Literal translation and transliteration are the two major compensation methods for equivalent culture default.As we may find that to achieve their translation Skopos, the Yangs employed translation methods of foreignization as well as domestication. Hence, the two strategies are both qualified in translation since"the translation purpose justifies the translation procedures".