Translation In The Popular Culture Context

Since the adoption of the policy of reform and opening up to the outside world in the late 1970s, popular culture has got its momentum, starting to prosper in China. Meanwhile, popular culture studies have begun to grow. The studies on popular culture can be traced back to the early days of the cultural studies in the 1960s in the western countries. Popular culture studies have experienced four major phases - the critique theory of the Frankfurt School, culturism and structuralism, neo-imperialism and cultural economy by John Fiske. In China, popular culture studies started in the late 1980s. In the past two decades, the attitude of the Chinese scholars towards popular culture has switched from critique to approval. Attention has been paid to the constructive roles and functions of popular culture products.Along with the prosperity of popular culture in China, many foreign works of popular culture are introduced to the Chinese readers. They provide entertainment for the readers and enrich the popular culture market in China as well. Because of their popularity and commercial success, they have attracted the attention from the scholars in the field of translation studies. Although there have been some researches on these translations, much attention has been paid to the linguistic aspect and few efforts have been devoted to the exploration of the extralinguistic factors. Being the products of popular culture, these translations should be investigated with the popular culture theories and/or from the popular culture perspective.The Chinese versions of the Harry Potter series are typical of the most influential of such products. Although some scholars have researched into the Chinese versions of the Harry Potter series, few of them have approached them as products in the popular culture context. This research is intended to investigate the Chinese version of Harry Potter and Philosopher's Stone, the first book of the original series. Based on the theories of popular culture, this thesis attempts to make a comprehensive analysis of the Chinese translation so as to explore its interconnection with the popular culture context and its influences as a popular culture product in China.With the adoption of the comprehensive model of the translation process, which is proposed by Professor Miao Ju, the Chinese translation is studied on two levels - both microscopic and macroscopic. Microscopic analysis focuses on the linguistic aspect of the Chinese version, while macroscopic analysis focuses on the extralinguistic factors of the translation process. Firstly, a close reading is made of the Chinese version in order to discover the popular culture features in its language including the register, language style, translation strategies and techniques used in the Chinese version. Secondly, a comparison is made between the English original and the Chinese version. The extralinguistic factors of its translation process are analyzed. Thirdly, relevant data are collected about Harry Potter and Philosopher's Stone and its Chinese version from various sources such as the internet, newspapers, magazines, etc. These data are analyzed to evaluate the reception. Finally, a qualitative analysis is made to find out the interconnection between the Chinese version and the popular culture context and evaluate its influences as a popular culture product in China.With close investigation, there are the following findings. Firstly, the Chinese version bears five features of popular culture: a) it is a commodity in the popular culture market; b) it is a book for entertainment; c) it is a popular book in fashion; d) it is a book for common people; and e) its popularity greatly depends on the mass media. Secondly, the Chinese version serves four functions in society, i.e. cognitive function, publicizing function, entertaining function and commercial function, which are conducive to the linguistic features of the translated text. Thirdly, the Chinese version is quite influential on the children literature, book market and traditional culture in China.Hopefully, this research may be helpful for further researches on the interconnection between the translated versions of the Harry Potter series and the popular culture in China, their influences as popular culture products, and translation studies in the popular culture context.