Culture Consciousness In Translation Activity

Cultural concept, which underlies the variety of language usages and language habits, comes to be the key area of translation studies. This thesis explores the relation between culture, language and translation. The cultural elements in language and the differences between Chinese and western cultures as reflected in translation are analysed.Due to the cultural differences, culture-loaded words evoke different associative meanings. Translation activity is much complicated because of the cultural connotations. The modern functional translation theory hasdefined translation as an act of communication, the main aim of which isto establish communication between members of different cultures.The cross-cultural consciousness is one of the basic requirements for the translator. Apart from bilingual competence, the translator is also expected to command bicultural competence. The translator should be sensitive to detect the subtle differences of the cultural content and find out the most appropriate strategy to convey these aspects into the target language.Professor Newmark puts forward two translation principles: semantic vs. communicative translation. There are wide overlapping bands of the two methods; at the same time, since communicative translation can effect a more generous transfer of exotic elements into the target language and culture, this thesis prefers communicative translation. Under this concept, this thesis proposes several specific translation strategies such as addition, footnote, substitution, adjustment and omission etc. The translator should find out the most appropriate strategy, aiming to deliver to the target readers cultural connotation contained in the source text to the fullest extent and achieve communication between those who have different values, attitudes so as to fulfil the function of translation inpromoting cultural communication between different cultures and nations.