A Study On C-E Interpretation Of Culture-loaded Expressions From The Perspective Of Schema Theory

Recent years have witnessed the increasingly important role interpretation played inintercultural communication and interpretation study thrives. Speeches delivered atformal occasions, e.g. press conference, are characterized by high frequency ofculture-loaded expressions, such as proverbs, poems, allusions and political terms,posing great challenges to the interpreters given the limited time and resources theyhave in real interpretations practice. Therefore, the thesis chooses the interpretation ofChinese culture-loaded expression to English as the studying subject.The author collected the tape-recorded materials of speeches by Premier Wen Jiabaoand former Premier Zhurongji and categorizes culture-loaded expressions containedin those speeches based on the corresponding relationship of Chinese and Englishculture schemata defined by the author. The on-site interpreted versions of theseculture-loaded expressions are discussed in details to analyze the interpreter’streatment of culture-loaded expression from the perspective of Schema Theory.Based on the case study, the author proposes two strategies in interpreting Chineseculture-loaded expression into English in light of culture schema: zero introduction ofnew cultural schema and introduction of new cultural schema. The former is adoptedwhen equivalance of cultural schema and cross-matching of cultural schema occurswhile the later addresses the situation of absence of cultural schema. Zerointroduction of cultural schema is mainly realized through literal translation orborrowing and introduction of new cultural schema is achieved by literal translationwith additional explanation providing cultural background information.