A Study Of Untranslatability In C-E Translation Viewed From The Two English Versions Of Hong Lou Meng

Untranslatability has been the issue hotly debated for a long time in the translation field. Translation activity has been conducted for several thousand years, but there have been some concrete language points that are beyond translation. Translation itself is possible, but the existence of untranslatability is indeed unavoidable.Chinese literary works are full of artistic imagination and aesthetic sensibilities, all of which can not be easily transferred to (or translated in) another language, hence the reflection on the limits of translatability. The classical Chinese novel Hong Lou Meng is a case in point. The study of Hong Lou Meng has been continuous since its appearance more than two hundred years ago, covering every aspect concerning language and culture. To date, the two most authoritative full-text versions are A Dream of Red Mansions by Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang and The Story of the Stone by David Hawkes and John Minford. Based on different orientations, the two versions adopt different translation strategies, i.e. foreignization and domestication, which can be a good foundation for translation study.The thesis aims to reveal the concrete embodiment of untranslatability based on an analysis of the classical Chinese literary work Hong Lou Meng, and point out the objective existence of untranslatability, thus drawing attention to this phenomenon from more translators.The thesis starts with a statement of the research significance and its structure in Chapter One. Chapter Two briefly reviews the research history of untranslatability and introduces Hong Lou Meng as well as the two full-text English versions, the basis of this analysis of untranslatability. A theoretical study of untranslatability and its relative translation theories is made in Chapter Three. Chapter Four extracts typical examples from the two English versions of Hong Lou Meng for concrete and detailed analysis of untranslatability. This chapter is organized from the standpoints of linguistics and culture, in accordance with the classification of Catford, J.C. (1965). The thesis in Chapter Five points out that due to the vast differences between the two languages and the two cultures, in the translation of Hong Lou Meng, certain structural forms or cultural information must inevitably be missing. However, the translation strategies of domestication and foreignization can, to some extent, make compensation for untranslatability in translation practice. Finally, a conclusion is made to summarize the whole paper.The thesis proves that every translator can be confronted with great obstacles in reproducing the original linguistic characteristics and conveying the cultural information. In spite of Yangs'and Hawkes'dedication to the translation of Hong Lou Meng, untranslatability still exists. However, untranslatability is not absolutely untranslatable and the ranges of translatability and untranslatability are dynamic and relative. With the efforts of translators, the range of translatability can be expanded to the maximum extent and a relatively satisfactory translation can be achieved.