On The Translation Of Personal Names Between Chinese And English

Personal names are very important in our human society. They mainly work as signs to mark individuals, but they are not as simple as signs. Besides the linguistic characteristics, personal names, influenced by many culture factors, also have some varieties respectively in meaning, function and form, and these varieties have in turn greatly enriched the culture to which they belong, and with a good translation, they can also enrich the culture of the TL (target language). Our communication can not be done without personal names, and the introduction of a personal name in the cross-culture communication is much more difficult than that within one culture, so the translation of personal names between Chinese and English has presented us a lot to be discussed. And this thesis aims to approach this issue at my best. Besides introduction and conclusion, this thesis is divided into five chapters:Chapter One takes a look into the linguistic characteristics and the varieties under the influence of culture factors of personal names. The linguistic characteristics provide personal names with a common ground almost all over the world, while the varieties make them quite special for each culture.Chapter Two makes a comparison between the Chinese namingsystem and the English naming system. Personal names in Chinese culture and English culture share some similarities, but are mainly in difference. These differences should be first understood by the translators, and then through their translation, get into the knowledge of people in the TL. And only with this knowledge can people in the TL be no longer confused with a foreign name even after translation.Chapter Three presents three pairs of concepts in translating personal names. The translation of personal names is also a process of renaming the person in the SL (source language), some in an explicit way, while some in an implicit way. Different translators may prefer different methods in translating personal names. Transliteration, free translation, domesticating and foreignizing all have their advantages and disadvantages. and should be carefully applied into our translation of personal names.Chapter Four elaborates the translation of personal names in terms of daily cross-culture communication, and also discusses three main problems concerned. In daily cross-culture communication, the communicative value of personal names comes first, and the main task of a personal name is to ease the communication, so standardization is very important in this situation. Without standards on both E-C and C-E translation of personal names, there would be great confusion to people of each culture, and set a block to our cross-culture communication.Chapter Five is a discussion on the translation of personal names inliterary works and in rhetoric use. Personal names in literary works are much more intentionally given than in daily life. They take the task to help with the development of the whole work, so the translation of them should also be taken into careful consideration. In the rhetoric use, each personal name is culture-bound and may have an allusion behind it. Accordingly the translation of such names should convey something implied in these allusions behind them, and this is also the main task of today's cross-culture communication.