On Compensation In Translation Of Chinese Tang Poetry

Translation loss in cross-cultural translation activity is inevitable due to the differences between the source and target languages and cultures. The scope of loss involves various aspects, such as linguistic sense, culture and aesthetic value. Translation compensation is a technique which involves making up for the loss of a source text effect by creating a similar effect by means of appropriate strategies. Therefore, compensation in target text can reduce the losses to the barest minimum and optimize the reproduction effects of the source texts.However, the study of translation compensation has been delayed for many years, and is in want of due attention. Moreover, as the gem of Chinese traditional literature treasures, Tang Poems are translated into English globally to widely spread Chinese culture. But study on the compensation in poetry translation is few. Thus, this study probes compensation theory into Xu Yuanchong's 300 Tang Poems, and 36 poems are selected to explore its compensation strategies at linguistic, aesthetic and cultural levels.As is shown in the analysis of the 36 poems selected in the thesis, the translator has adopted compensation strategies at each level.First, compensation at the linguistic level is made mainly from the lexical, grammatical and discoursal aspects. At the lexical level, the translator adopts amplification which is one of the strategies of integrated compensation. At the grammatical level, compensation is achieved by the addition of grammar indicators, such as particles. At the discoursal level, the addition of logical connectives and person deixis is performed.Second, on the aesthetic level, the translator focuses on the compensation for the losses in prosody, rhetoric devices and style. At the prosodic level, end rhyme, alliteration, inner rhyme and poetic license are compensated for the loss in the translated poems. Rhetorical devices are compensated to keep equivalence with the original, such as parallelism, antithesis, metaphor, simile, personification and pun in Xu's translated Tang poems. Translating a poem with rhymed verses, Xu Yuanchong keeps the stylistic beauty in form, in sound and in sense.Third, as for cultural compensation, the translator mainly adopts cultural transplantation, annotation and substitution, from the perspectives of poetry national flavor, image and associative meaning.