On Translation Of Cultural Blanks

Language and culture are closely related to each other. Language is the carrier of culture and it can reflect culture. Just as Susan Bassnett-Mcguire said: "In the same way that the surgeon, operating on the heart, cannot neglect the body that surrounds it, so the translator treats the text in isolation from culture at his peril." (Susan, 1980: 56) As a result, translation is not only the transformation between two languages, but also the communication between two cultures. Translators should not only master two languages, but also, more importantly, have a good knowledge of two cultures. Based on these, the study of cultural translation has attracted many scholars' attention. In 1990, the publication of Translation, History and Culture co-edited by Susan Bassnett and Andre Lefevere represented the "cultural turn" in translation studies.Culture has four ontological characteristics: nationalization, heritability, changeability, and compatibility. Nationalization and heritability decide the differences in culture, which become obstacles in translation. Changeability and compatibility offer possibility in translating these differences. Many translation theorists devote themselves to the study of the translation of cultural differences. In the late 1980s, the Russian translation theorist I.Q.Sorkin, together with others, put forward the concept of cultural blanks: "Cultural blanks are...