A Comparative Study On The Translations Of Kinship Terms In Four English Versions Of Hongloumeng: A "Thick Translation" Perspective

Translation, as a mean of communication, is not only the substitution of one language for another, but the exchange between two different cultures. Terms of address are a cultural phenomenon as well as a linguistic one. Because of different traditional cultures and historical development in the east and the west, Chinese and English kinship terms have formed their own national colors and linguistic features, which surely bring great difficulties to translation.Chinese kinship terms are one of the special linguistic forms in Chinese language and culture. Kinship terms are culture-specific and in translating them, footnote, annotation, creative reconstruction of expressions and techniques that can be readily employed in the translation process to supply the cultural and linguistic meanings that may otherwise be left out in the target text. Therefore, Appaih's Thick Translation theory, which means translation "that seek with its annotations and its accompany glosses to locate the text in a rich cultural and linguistic contect", provides us a fundamental theory for the translation of kinship terms. Precious studies find that Chinese kinship terms are different from English ones in the following aspects:1) high accuracy and complexity; 2) frequent usage of "one address with many references" and "close-intention of remote kinship"; 3) fine difference between Chinese vocatives and designatives kinship terms. Based on these disparities, and in order to ensure the data of the comparative study in the four English versions on the balance, the range of data of this paper is the first 56 chapters of Hongloumeng and its corresponding translations in Joly's, Bonsall's, Hawkes', and Yang's versions. Then from the perspective of "Thick Translation" theory, the translation strategies of kinship terms of these four versions are compared and analyzed. The study made a further comparison of"妹妹","哥哥","婶婶","姨妈","嫂子"whose ferequencies are the highest in the first 56 chapters and another kind of typical Chinese kinship term like"二哥哥","珍大嫂子"which is more specific than English ones has been included in the statistics and analyses, too.The study shows that "Functinal equivalence" and "Thick Translation" theory, etc. still provide great guidance for the translation of kinship terms. Referential meaning is mainly conveyed when the four translators render the kinship terms. Meanwhile, all the four English versions employ footnotes and other means to deliver the connotations and cultural informations of the Chinese kinship terms to TL readers. Joly and Bonsall predominantly use semantic translation, and try their best to keep the meaning and form of the source text; the Yangs adopt the combination of semantic translation and communicative translation, and Yangs'version strives to maintain the linguistic and cultural features of Chinese kinship term; while Hawkes prefers communicative translation in dealing with the kinship terms and Hawkes's version aims at making the translated text more understood and accepted by foreign readers.