Translation Of Chinese Culture-Loaded Words In The Context Of Globalization: A Perspective Of Power Discourse

Globalization is fully developed in present times. As a result, powerful culture will inevitably exert their infiltration into other cultures, resulting in weaker cultures faced by the threat of being assimilated. On the other hand, there have been appeals for maintaining the cultural identity of these weaker cultures. These appeals are also reflected in the activity of translation. With the emergence of "power turn" in translation studies, translation is no longer confined to the conversion of literal meaning, and more emphases are laid on the cultural connotations and the influence of power discourse on translation. Then in the new century, in the context of globalization, how can these weaker cultures maintain their cultural identity by means of translation?Culture-loaded words can best represent the cultural characteristics of a nation and the translation of culture-loaded words is an effective means to maintain the cultural identity of a nation. All ethnic groups, because of differences in language nature, thinking, life experiences and other factors, have their own unique vocabulary, that is, culture-loaded words. Culture-loaded words play a very important role in cultural exchange. In the new century, more Chinese literary works are expected to be translated into English for more and wider dissemination of Chinese literature and culture. This thesis explores the translation of Chinese culture-loaded words in the context of globalization from the perspective of power discourse.According to Foucault's (1980) theory of power discourse, power is everywhere and power is in fact the power of discourse. Discourse is the expression of power, all power is achieved through discourse. Discourse is not only a tool to show the power but the key to hold the power. Power and discourse are inseparable. Controlling the power discourse of knowledge, powerful culture can achieve its cultural control over weaker cultures. Powerful culture, with its advanced science, technology and knowledge, retains its power of discourse and exerts its manipulation on weaker cultures, which is a sort of cultural hegemony. Translation, as an important tool for communication between different cultures, is bound to be impacted by this cultural hegemony, which is reflected in the choice of translation strategies. Therefore, if a country or a nation expects to have the power of discourse in the world, translation, especially the translation of culture- loaded words, is a very important and effective means.There are generally two strategies to translate culture-loaded words: domestication and foreignization. Domestication is a term used to describe the translation strategy in which a transparent, fluent style is adopted in order to minimize the strangeness of the foreign text; foreignization is a term used to designate the type of translation in which a target text is produced which deliberately breaks target conventions by retaining something of the foreignness of the original. Venuti (1995) believes that foreignization strategy can help to break the target conventions, to retain the original heterogeneous elements, to eliminate inequality in cultural exchanges, and to resist cultural hegemony. Therefore, by adopting foreignization strategy, weaker culture can help to introduce a nation's unique culture to the other nations and resist cultural hegemony of powerful culture.Through analysing and comparing some of the typical examples from the two English versions of Hong Lou Meng (one by Yang Xianyi &Gladys Yang and the other by David Hawkes), this thesis aims to illustrate that foreignization can better maintain the cultural characteristics of the source culture. In order to better disseminate Chinese culture to the outside world, in order that the Chinese nation can retain the due power of discourse in the context of globalization, translators should mainly adopt the strategy of foreignization in the translation of Chinese culture-loaded words.