On The Translation Of Culture-bound Words In Classical Chinese Poetry

Translation not only involves the exchange of the two languages on the surface, but also theexchange of the two cultures concerned. Of all the elements in a language, lexemes are mostclosely related to culture and culture-bound words are an important part of lexemes. As a result,the quality of the translation of culture-bound words determines how well the culturalinformation is transmitted and then how well the target language readers can understand theoriginal text. Therefore，in the process of translation whether or not the translator comprehendthe underlying meaning of culture-bound words fully and correctly in his mind and render itappropriately in his rendering is of earnest and far-reaching importance. That is to say, moreeffective translation strategies of culture-bound words should be studied.With classical Chinese poetry the gem of Chinese language and culture so rich in theculture-bound words in it, so many translators have been attracted and produced a number oftranslation works, which makes a great contribution to the transmission of classical Chineseculture and the cultural exchange between China and the west. Translation is considered to be themost complicated activity in the cosmos. Among the translation of different types of text,translation of poetry is the most difficult one. And among the translation of different kinds ofpoetry, classical Chinese poetry is the most difficult one. Though it results from many factors,the author believes, one of the important factors is the contradiction of its abstruseness inmeaning and terseness in language. And the culture meaning is carried by the culture-boundwords which are hard to find equivalents in another language. When our Tang poetry and Songlyrics which have been deeply rooted in the Chinese culture soil, are translated into anotherlanguage and read by new readers with a totally different culture, it is difficult to becomprehended fully and exactly because of the lack of cultural background awareness. Thenunder the circumstances, how to interpret the delicate cultural differences and help the targetreaders really appreciate the style and features of the original poem are of key importance.However, previous research of classical Chinese poem translation focus on the three aspects: theliterary form of the translation, the diversified interpretation of the original poem and the choiceof the translator, there is little attention paid on the culture-bound words. In view of thesignificance of culture-bound words in the translation of classical Chinese poetry and theresearch blank of this subject, the author chooses it as a point cut to discuss the translation ofclassical Chinese poetry.In the guidance of theories of culture translation and poetry translation, the thesis dividesculture-bound words into two categories in general and analyzes them respectively. By providing the comparison of many examples translated by different translators, methods of translating thiskind of word are concluded. In this thesis, only examples which are popular and classic andtranslated by people with authority home and abroad are chosen in order to make sure therepresentativeness and rationality.By summarization, the thesis draws the following conclusions:1. With the “cultural turn” in translation study, more and more attention should be paid tothe cultural elements to the TL. Here, culture-bound words should be of more importance whentranslating classical Chinese poetry.2. Although it is so difficult and although with limitation, poetry is translatable, varioustranslation works in this field are strong manifestation.3. When translating culture-bound words in classical Chinese poetry, we should bettermainly adopt the approach of foreignization, and resort to domestication as a complement ifforeignization is impossible. In the translation of those culture-bound words only havingdenotation meaning, generalization is recommended. In in the translation of those culture-boundwords full of culture connotation, specification is a better way. And for some proper names, forexample"龙"、"�'麟"，we can choose the method of transliteration.