Translating Appellations In Chinese Classical Poetry

This thesis attempts to take a systematic approach to the research issue of translating appellations in Chinese classical poetry. The ultimate goal is to find out possibilities in achieving maximum translatability in the appellation translation. The theoretical foundation is established on the basis of the related theories on the general translatability, the Russian formalist literary criticism, and the reader's reception aesthetics. The methodology adopted in this thesis is mainly descriptive.A variety of appellations that appear frequently in Chinese classical poetry are classified into the two basic categories based on the theoretical and pragmatic standards respectively. The classification is followed then by the examination and evaluation of the current translation strategies taken by individual translators, with the hope of defining the specific difficulties in translation. As a result, a hypothesis is proposed on how to achieve maximum translatability in translating appellations in Chinese classical poetry.