The Study On The Different Translations Of Culture-Loaded Vocabulary In Hong Lou Meng From A Hermeneutic Perspective

As the science and methodology of interpreting texts with a long history of more than 2,000 years in the West, Hermeneutics has developed from interpretation of oracles in earliest recorded times, legal interpretation in Roman times, interpretation of the Bible and ancient documents to modern philosophical hermeneutics founded by Hans-Georg Gadamer. The establishment of modern philosophical hermeneutics has brought about revolutionary impact on both humanities and natural science.Since hermeneutics mainly involves understanding, meaning and the relationship between reader and text, translation is inseparable from understanding and interpreting texts, which are the initial steps in any kind of translation including literary translation. Therefore, the introduction of hermeneutics into translation is of great importance for the development of translation theory and practice.Major principles in Gadamer's hermeneutics: historicality of understanding, prejudice, fusion of horizons, effective history and conversational effect are introduced in details in this dissertation, as well as their important influence on translation study, including such aspects as mistranslation, cultural filtration and re-translation. Meanwhile, this dissertation, based on an analysis of the translations of cultural vocabulary in Hong Lou Meng, aims at studying translation from a hermeneutic perspective. Hong Lou Meng has drawn much attention of researchers and translators for its status in literary world and also for its manifold translations. Among varied translated versions of Hong Lou Meng, A Dream of Red Mansions translated by Yang Xianyi & Gladys Yang and The Story of the Stone translated by David Hawkes & John Minford are the only two complete English versions, and have been frequently studied and commented upon.In this dissertation, the translation characteristics and styles of the two versions of Hong Lou Meng are compared and analyzed, guided by hermeneutic principles as defined by Hans-Georg Gadamer. In conclusion, it stresses that hermeneutic theories not only reveal the essence of translation by stating that it is an active process of creation, zhen but also provide a new theoretical perspective for translation study, literary translation in particular.