A Contrastive Study Of English And Chinese Allusions And Their Translation

As a gem in language, allusions are succinct in form but profound in meaning. Both English and Chinese languages abound with allusions. All these allusions have rich cultural connotation. If one is not familiar with the cultural heritage of allusions, he or she may be puzzled by the connotation, and surely can not translate it properly. After a contrastive study of English and Chinese allusions on their characteristics, functions, sources, cultural flavors etc. it is found that they are quite similar in characteristics and functions, but have striking cultural flavor respectively because of their sources. With allusions, we can see the differences between the British nation and the Chinese nation in geographical environment, customs, religions, ways of thinking etc.While letting listeners or readers share some understanding with speakers or writers, the use of allusions, as embedded in specific cultures, has given rise to insurmountable problems in cross-cultural translation. The connotation of allusions is not always identifiable. It is rather transparent and approachable only to those who share the same culture. Therefore, how to convey the connotation of a source-cultural allusion to the target language readers comprises the most important step in translating allusions. "Implicature", a term in pragmatics, has close affinity to allusions, because of the shared features such as implicity, covertness, subtlety, etc. Translation of pragmatic implicature, being the focus of pragmatic translation, has shed considerable light on the conveyance of cultural connotations of allusions in cross-cultural translation. In this thesis, different views on the treatment of the pragmatic implicature in translation are compared. Professor Qian Guanlian, argues from a literary point of view that the implicature of the source text should remain implicit in the target text so as not to spoil the literariness of the text as he insists that implicity comprises the most important feature of literariness of a specific text. On the contrary, Professor He Ziran holds that the implicature of the source text should be made explicit in the target text, which can help the target language readers toovercome cultural bumps. Both of the arguments have their merits and demerits in the application of cultural translation. If the implicature remains implicit, the foreign flavor may be retained yet the target language readers' acceptability is challenged. If it is made explicit, the comprehensibility of the target language readers is taken into full consideration yet the cultural flavor may be decolorized or even distorted. The author of this thesis suggests that both ways should be considered when we are finding an effective way for the conveyance of cultural connotation or pragmatic implicature of allusions. Starting in a cultural perspective, the author explores the various potential strategies for conveying pragmatic implicatures or cultural connotations of allusions. Through a detailed analysis of authentic examples in C-E/E-C translation of allusions, the thesis reveals that the treatment of pragmatic implicature of allusions in cross-cultural translation is determined by a variety of factors such as context, functions and text types etc. The author further argues that the pragmatic implicature of allusions should be faithfully conveyed in the target language without bringing cultural dislocation and distortion, no matter what strategy is chosen.Translation of allusions is largely a matter of cultural transmission. Conveyance of pragmatic implicature should embrace the metaphorical meaning of the allusion as well as its unique cultural flavor. A well-balanced manipulation of "implicature" and "explicature" in translating pragmatic implicature can be deemed as an optimal strategy for translation of allusions. Domestication, which has been dominating cultural translation for a relatively long time, should gradually give way to foreignization. Translating allusions in a foreignizing vein is advantageous not only to genuinely present...