On The Translation Strategies Of Cultural Default In Two English Versions Of HongLouMeng

It has been commonly acknowledged that translation is not merely an act of communication between languages, but also an act of transference between cultures. For the translator, the translation of the cultural factors is the main difficulty. And cultural default is one of the important elements that make for this difficulty. Cultural default is defined as the absence of relevant background knowledge shared by the writer and his intended readers.In this thesis a discussion is focused on some translation strategies for cultural default through a contrastive analysis of the two English versions of the Chinese classical novel HongLouMeng (one version by Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang, and another version by David Hawkes). Through the analysis we can see that every strategy has its merits as well as demerits. Which method should be adopted depends on the intention of the author, the requirement of the reader, the aim of the translation and the type of the text and so on. The aim of the translation of the literary works should be to promote the cultural exchange among different nations. The target language reader is entitled to the enjoyment of an alien culture, from which the reader can derive something beneficial. So the translator should make every effort to keep the cultural flavor of the original text.