A Study On The Translation Of Culturally-Loaded Expressions In Literary Translation

With the rapid development of economy and cultural exchanges in the world, cultural transference has attracted intensifying attention in the translation field. Culture is closely related to language and language is the carrier of culture. How to translate culture-loaded words and expressions in literary works has been an important issue concerned by translators. This thesis reflects the study of its author on the translation of Chinese culture-loaded words and expressions into English in the two English versions of Shui Hu Zkuan translated by Outlaws of the Marsh by Sidney Shapiro and AH Men are Brothers by Pearl S. Buck.How to deal with culturally tinged words in translation has always been a heated topic. This translation study utilizes Aesthetic Reception Theory as the means to explore the approaches to transfer culturally-loaded words and expressions. Some significant concepts in Reception Theory, such as "blanks", "indeterminacy", "'horizon of expectations" and "fusion of horizons", make people begin to view literary translation from an entirely new angle. Concerning the purpose of a translation, especially for disseminating traditional Chinese culture, along with the readers' reception of the translated version, this paper argues that one of Newmark's translation approaches -semantic translation is preferable.This paper is divided into lour chapters: the first chapter is a general introduction to 1) the research question, 2) Shui Hu Zhuan and its translations, and 3) the fabric of the thesis. Chapter Two gives a brief review of relative theories that contribute to this thesis, especially in analyzing 1) definition of culture, 2) reception aesthetic theory. With this theory, it once again proves that only when the expectation horizon of the readers and the translated version match each other, can a translation be a satisfying job. 3) Peter Newmark's theory of communicative translation and semantic translation.In order to mediate the relationship between cultural fusion and maintaining cultural diversity when reflected in translation aimed at disseminating Chinese culture: semantic translation serves as the essence; communicative translation, the utility. The third chapter focuses on analyzing the culturally loaded expressions, with comparison made on the translation of nicknames in Shui Hu Zhuan. The translation of nicknames illustrates the importance of re-creative translation so as to accomplish the "fusion of horizons". Detailed analysis is conducted on examples taken from the two English versions of Shui Hu Zhuan. Chapter Four is a summary of the thesis. Through the contrastive study of examples taken from the two English versions, strategies usually adopted by Sidney Shapiro on a re-creative basis will be listed as a model proposed for Chinese-English literary translation.