A Study Of Cultural Default In The Yangs' Translation Of Hongloumeng

The cultural default phenomenon is very common in literary works. It is transparent to the SL reader and thus it is not easy to be perceived. It can improve the communication efficiency between the author and his/her readers, bring concise and implicit beauty to the works, provide the readers with imagination space and thus enhance the aesthetic effect of the literary works. However, this phenomenon brings big challengess to translation. This paper will explore the ways to deal with cultural default phenomenon in translation.Beginning with defining cultural default, this paper explores its functions, the challenges it brings to translation and its requirements for the translator. Based on the case study of the Yangs'translation of Hongloumeng, the author sums up three methods to deal with cultural default, namely literal translation, explicit compensation and implicit compensation. In addition, the author analyses their respective advantages and disadvantages. By studying cultural default, the paper comes to the following conclusion:First, cultural default in the source text should be dealt with in one way or another in the translation process.Second, proper compensation for the SL cultural default is conducive to introducing the source language culture to the target language culture. The treatment of cultural default is decided by translation purpose and strategies.Third, overcompensation will make the TL reader heavily burdened with alien culture, so the translator should take the TL reader into consideration when dealing with cultural default.Fourth, as compensation can not solve all the cultural default problems, loss is inevitable in the translation process.