On The English Translation By Yang Hsien-yi Of The Terms Of Address In A Dram Of Red Mansions

It is impossible to do a further study on the translations of terms of address in A Dream of Red Mansions without drawing on the previous research achievements in Chinese and English address terms, Chinese-English comparison, and translations of Chinese terms of address.At the very beginning of the thesis, the definition of address terms is clarified, giving a unified definition that can serve as the common ground for comparison of the Chinese terms and their English translations. Then it moves on to give a general review of the previous literature that the author has referred to first hand or second hand.In order to conduct a comparatively exhaustive study of the variances in the translations of the Chinese address terms and find out the regularities, translations of terms of address by Yang Hsien-yi are first classified by two major categories (translation strategies): alienation and domestication. In each case, terms of address are further classified as formal and informal ones. The formal ones include honorific, deferential, and humbling terms, all of them generally universal and systematic. Informal address terms are intended to show emotions and attitudes rather than politeness, all of them of specific character and non-systematic. Then translations in each of the classifications, further divided by power, age, and distance, are analyzed and discussed elaborately and profoundly. The stress of the analysis lies in examining and evaluating how and why the Chinese address terms in the original are alienated or domesticated, and trying to appraise critically the merits and demerits of the translations. The process of analysis has led us to the discovery that, the domestication is usually due to great differences in address terms, and especially, addressing strategies between Chinese and English. The factors that influence the strategy of domestication or alienation comes from differences in culture, faith, history, ethic, values, and etc. While alienation makes for the dissemination of Chinese traditional classical culture, it brings trouble to average English-speaking readers. While domestication makes the translation smooth and natural, it can hardly serve the purpose of disseminating Chinese traditional classical culture. As for the classically Chinese address terms and addressing strategies, say, humbling terms and the "involvement strategy", we should spare no effort to have their original characters preserved,...