Analysis For Cultural Context In Translation-A Case Study Of Lust, Caution

The essence of translation activities is in fact the transfer of meaning between languages, which consists of comprehension and representation. Context is indispensable to the accuracy of language meaning in the course of both stages, for an isolated word often means nothing. In the past, attention was usually paid to the linguistic problems of the language, but now, more and more emphasis is put on the context. Context tends to be classified into co-text, situational context and cultural context. Since any human activity takes place in the range of culture, and language activity is no exception, cultural context is the upper context among co-text, situational context and cultural context. This paper aims at a systematic analysis of cultural context and its influence on understanding and defining the meaning in the process of translation. The paper can be divided into the following chapters.At the beginning, it is literature review. In this chapter, it contains three sections. The first section discusses the problems of translation, including the definition of translation and the essence of translation; the second section expounds the problems of context, including the external and internal studies on context, the definition and classification of context. At last, what is cultural context is discussed.Chapter two is about Chinese writer Chang Ailing (Eileen Chang) and her works, for the examples in this thesis is based on her short stories, that is, the book Lust, Caution which was published in Penguin Classics 2007.Then the author analyzes Chang's works from different aspects of cultural context. Firstly, it is about different thinking patterns and their translation. In this part, different thinking patterns between west and east are discussed, such as specific thinking and abstract thinking; analytical thinking and synthetic thinking; human-centered thinking and object-centered thinking; successive thinking and reverse thinking; Then the translation methods are provided, including revising the length of sentences; changing the sentence structures; changing the cores of the sentences; increasing and decreasing words in a sentence; changing the perspectives of a sentence.Secondly, different culture-loaded expression and its translation methods are discussed, first definitions by different scholars, then its classification. The writer gives us some translation methods, including free translation + paraphrase; literal translation; literal translation + note as well as transfer.The idiomatic phrases and their translation are studied next. The first section is about translation of set phrases and translation methods, such as keeping the original image; transplanting another image; abandoning the original image; the second part is the translation of allusions.Fourthly, the author introduces how to translate euphemism which appears in Lust, Caution. In translation of euphemism we should try to avoid taboos, to avoid vulgarity, to show politeness and respect and to explore the implied meaning.Last part is the conclusion of the whole paper. In this chapter, the author points out that cultural context is an inevitable element that influences translation. As for translators, they should pay attention to two things: one is to show the original writers'meaning clearly to the target readers; the other is to make the translated literature readable.