The Selection Of Translation Strategies: Cultural Status At Play

It is observed that the number of loan-words transliterated into the Cantonese dialect far exceeds that into Putonghua. To account for the phenomenon, this thesis, starting from the historical and cultural perspective, attempts to make a detailed analysis of the relative status of the source and the target cultures respectively.This thesis associates the two translation strategies for loan-words, transliteration and semantic translation, with Lawrence Venuti's classification of the two translation strategies, domestication and foreignization. The author puts forward that transliteration is in some sense a foreignizing strategy, and semantic translation to a certain extent is a domesticating strategy, for the two pairs of notions share some essential similarities. On distinguishing strategy from method, or approach, the thesis draws a distinction between the above two pairs of notions and the literal vs. free discussion that has dominated studies in translation for a long time.Then the thesis proceeds to give an account of the history of loan-word translation in China, analyzing the three translation waves of borrowed words in three different periods, including the translation of Buddhist scriptures, the translation of Western humanities and social sciences at the end of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) and the years after that, and the translation of foreign terms at present. Each of these three periods brought in a large number of foreign words that have become part of the Chinese vocabulary.After reviewing loan-word translation in China from a historical perspective, the thesis then examines the issue from a cultural perspective, seeking to find some justifications to account for the Cantonese preference over the transliterating strategy of English words into the Cantonese dialect, even when in most cases there are already established expressions or semantically translated versions in Putonghua, which is widely considered as the standard and the canon for all dialects, or linguistic varieties, in China.For the better part of this thesis, the author argues that the translator's adoptionof different translation strategies is to a large extent influenced by cultural status. The relationship between or among cultures is seldom an equal one. Cultures are constantly interacting with each other, competing against each other, and striving for a higher status and a stronger position. The fact that the loan-words transliterated into the Cantonese dialect exceed those into Putonghua in number well justifies this argument. Frequent transliteration of English loan words in the Cantonese dialect is the result of the dominant position of the culture of English-speaking countries, mainly Britain and the United States, together with the relatively lower status of the Chinese culture in Hong Kong.In addition, the relationship between a dominant or strong culture and a subordinate or weak culture is not static. Rather, it is active and constantly changing. The change in translation strategies signals the change in the cultural status of the source and the target languages. Generally speaking, in cases where the target language belongs to a dominant culture, or strong culture, the translator tends to adopt a domesticating strategy; on the contrary, when the target language represents a subordinate culture, or weak culture, the translating strategy tends to be foreignizing.