On Translation Of Chinese Culture-bound Words Into English From The Perspective Of Reception Aesthetics

In Chinese literary works, there are a great number of culture-bound words, which directly or indirectly reflect peculiar historical and cultural messages of Chinese people; therefore, they are vital to the transmission of Chinese culture. Their peculiar cultural meanings bring great difficulties to Chinese-English translation and cultural transmission. Chinese culture-bound words abound in Big Breasts and Wide Hips, one of the representatives of Mo Yan. These words pose great challenges to the translator, Goldblatt. Therefore, probing into these Chinese culture-bound words and their translation is of great practical significance.This thesis researches into Chinese culture-bound words translation in Big Breasts and Wide Hips from the new perspective of Reception Aesthetics. This thesis firstly defines and classifies culture-bound words, probes into the translation methods, analyzes research texts and theoretical perspectives adopted by previous studies, and makes a survey on the application of Reception Aesthetics to translation study. Next, the thesis elaborates the main ideas of the two founders-Jauss and Iser respectively, and makes a brief comparison between them. After that, the thesis applies the theories of Reception Aesthetics into translation in three aspects including the concept of translated works, the fusion of horizon, and the concept of history. From the perspective of Reception Aesthetics, the thesis analyzes the four principles the translator as a special reader should follow, which are:"faithfulness to the original text","smooth expression","awareness of the reader" and "aesthetic pleasure". It is followed by a discussion on over-domestication and mistranslation. Afterwards, the thesis classifies culture-bound words in Big Breasts and Wide Hips into three categories according to the classification made by Hu Kaibao, and analyzes the translation methods of the words in three categories respectively, in the hope that the present work might contribute to translation studies on culture-bound words in literary works.