On The Treatment Of Culture-loaded Elements In Translation

Translation is one of the ways to enhance communication and deepen understanding between two cultures. And cultural difference is one of the most difficult points to deal with in translation, and therefore is always a big concern in both translation theory and practice. Since in recent years, translation of Chinese classics into English has become a hot topic in translation studies in China, the author intends to explore one aspect (the treatment of culture-loaded items) in the field of translating Chinese classics into English.There is an inherent logical relationship among the three — reception aesthetics, cultural knowledge and translation strategies. On the one hand, from reception aesthetics, we can infer that readers' horizon should be considered by translators. Since readers' horizon refers to everything stored in their minds before reading, cultural knowledge is definitely one important part of readers' horizon. Then we can draw the inference that translators should take cultural knowledge of readers into consideration. On the other hand, theories of translation strategies of domestication and foreignization concern how to deal with cultural elements in the process of translating. Therefore the author will adopt both reception aesthetics and theories of translation strategies as the theoretical basis for the case study — a comparative analysis of translation strategies and methods in the two English versions of Xi You Ji ( one is The Journey to the West by A.C.Yu, the other is Journey to the West by W.J.F.Jenner ) — with a purpose of exploring the ways to treat culture-loaded elements in translating Chinese classics into English.After the comparative analysis of the 16 culture-loaded items in the two English version of Xi You Ji, we can see their difference in translation strategy and attitudes towards target readers' horizon. Domestication and foreignization are both adopted alternatively by each translator. But Yu's degree of foreignization is greater due to his use of extra-textual explanation (endnotes and introduction before the text). Owing to his great effort, target readers have more chances to approach Chinese culture instead of being puzzled when facing so many exotic elements. From the perspective of reception aesthetics, if both English versions' target readers are common English native speakers, then we can see clearly that Jenner catered more for target readers' horizon and Yu catered more for the horizon of the original work.On the basis of the case study of the two English versions of Xi You Ji, we can draw somegeneral conclusions about the treatment of culture-loaded items in the practice of translating Chinese classics into English. First, there is no translator who adopts only one of the strategies throughout his translating. But from the translation methods a translator adopts, we can see the dominant translation strategy. Second, the choice of domestication or foreignization, in essence, is closely connected to the translators' attitudes towards their readers' horizon and treatment of it in either catering for it to ease their burden in understanding foreign elements in a literary work or to expand it by introducing to them the foreign elements. Third, a translated text cannot be successful without the full involvement of the readers; therefore, the translator should have sufficient knowledge of the readers' horizon. On the other hand, however, the translation should not always conform to the readers' horizon. Very often the translator should challenge the readers' horizon in order to enrich the target language, literature and culture. Finally, the readers' horizon is changing and enriched with more encounters with foreign literary work. Therefore, a compensatory method that is used for the readers of a period may not be so necessary for the readers of a later time.