The Application Of Schema Theory To The Translation Of Classical Chinese Poetry

Schema theory, originated from Cognitive Psychology, has been widely used in reading studies. Schema, as an integrated chunk of knowledge stored in long-term memory that allows us to form expectations and make the world a reasonable predictable place, is of great importance to comprehension and communication.The dissertation tries to use schema theory to explore the process of the translation of Chinese poetry, and analyzes how to reproduce the beauty of Chinese poetry through the functions of schema on source language (SL) decoding and target language (TL) re-encoding.The dissertation includes five chapters.Chapter One is an introduction. It briefly introduces the motivation, aim, research questions and the organization of the dissertation.Chapter Two provides the theoretical foundation of the thesis. It introduces the origin, definition, classifications of the schema, analyzes the significance of schema in comprehension and communication, and explores the feasibility of the application of schema theory to the translation of classical Chinese poetry.Chapter Three analyzes how to understand the SL schema of Chinese poetry from the perspective of SL decoding. To properly decode the schemata in the source poem, the translator needs not only abundant related schemata, but also proactive activation. Otherwise, negative decoding will occur. For the successful decoding of SL text, the translator needs to enrich his/her schematic structure ceaselessly.Chapter Four analyzes the re-encoding of the translation of Chinese poetry from three aspects, namely, language, content and formal schema, and brings forward the strategies and effective methods which help the TL reader activate the related schemata. In the process of translation, addition, deletion, notes and domestication can be adopted to fill up the default schema, adjust and modify the related schema, and create a new schema for the TL reader, in order to help them successfully activate the related schemata in the translated poem and obtain similar feelings of the SL reader.The present author mainly chooses poems and Ci from Tang Petry, Song Ci and the Book of Songs, etc. because they are the essence of Chinese poetry and analyzes them through the comparison between Chinese poem and the translated English poem.Chapter Five is a conclusion. The present author finally points out the great significance of schema in the translation of classical Chinese poetry. However, the research has its limitations, and can be extended to other types of texts in further studies.