A Study On The Translation Of Official Titles In The Scholars

The official titles in ancient China, as a component of institutional culture, embody profound cultural information. In consequence, its translation is significant. Of late years, cultural translation has become a focus of translation study, and more and more scholars on translation study attach great importance to it and have conducted, in particular, researches into the cultural translation of Chinese classics. However, the study of the translation of official titles is not deep and complete. Therefore, the thesis deals with the translation of official titles on the basis of the Chinese and English versions of Ru-Lin-Wai-Shi (The Scholars).In the first place, the significance to study the translation of official titles is analyzed. Official titles are the main element to manifest the theme of the novel. Therefore, the literature review of culture-loaded words is provided, which is the theoretical support for the study of official titles.Peter Newmark's semantic and communicative translation and the Yangs'translation belief have much in common, which is the theoretic ground of the thesis. Peter Newmark stresses that neither the semantic nor the communicative translation should be used exclusively or adopted totally. Similarly, the Yangs firmly advocate the transmission of essential of Chinese culture, and are capable of employing a dialectic strategy while translating.For the sake of convenience, the official tiles in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, which are the product of thousands-year-of Chinese official system, are introduced briefly. The basic knowledge of them is conducive to the study of their translation.The official titles in the novel are in a great number with complex duties. As a result, the classification of their translation is used for a methodical study. The following are the categories:the translation of different appellations of the same official titles, the translation of other official titles in a local government, the translation of the unique ways to represent official titles, official titles in Chinese that are not translated into English, the translation of the titles of officials in charge of education, the translation of military official titles, the translation of Zuoguan, the translation of Li and Liao, the translation of some special official titles (the official titles in Hell, the official titles related to women, the official titles in history (not in the Ming and Qing Dynasties), the official title related to monks. The suggested translation of some official titles is provided owing to the meticulous analysis of the translation of the official titles in the text.The conclusion is as follows:in order to reserve the Chinese cultural elements, semantic translation should be the main method when translating the official titles. Communicative translation is an effective way in the translation of official titles when the information of Chinese culture fails to be conveyed fully. Although semantic translation and communicative translation play different roles in particular translations, the dialectic employment of both is indispensable.The study on the translation of the official titles is a new field for the research into The Scholars. Therefore, the study is favorable for the introduction of Chinese classics to other nations. More importantly, it is significant for the accurate translation of Chinese culture.