A Study On English Translation Of Cultural Terms In Shuihu Zhuan From The Perspective Of Manipulation Theory

Shuihu Zhuan, a famous Chinese classical novel, takes an important position in China. With the popularity it shares in China, the translation activities have also achieved great attainments around the world. Until now, there are four full English translation versions. Jackson’s Water Margin came out as the second English version, covering the first70chapters with the least word numbers and with a clear mark of the times and high cultural values, thus becoming a new topic of high research value in the field of translation studies. However, insufficient attention is paid to Jackson’s English version when compared with other three versions, and rare study has set foot on the translation of cultural terms. Aiming at the current research situation in terms of cultural terms translation, this thesis chooses Jackson’s Water Margin as the text for study. Based on manipulation theory, this thesis discusses translation background, cultural values and translation strategy. Then through case study of cultural terms, this thesis analyzes the translation methods, explores the effect of Jackson’s translation on the source language and culture and potential readers and also probes into the relationship between language and culture in the translating process of Chinese classics and cultural communication between China and western world.This thesis consists of four chapters besides introduction and conclusion. Chapter one reviews the previous studies on the translation of Shuihu Zhuan in China and provides tentative comments on the previous studies. Chapter two is a theoretical framework, mainly discussing Andre Lefevere’s views on manipulation theory concerning translation purpose, value orientation, ideology and poetics. Chapter three relates to the cultural values of Shuihu Zhuan and Water Margin. Chapter four is the main part of this thesis. It firstly explores translation strategy Jackson applied to the translation, then conducts case study on the translation of cultural terms to demonstrate that Jackson conducted conscious manipulation and over-manipulation in translation activities and that manipulation theory is an important theory in deciding what and how to translate, but more importantly in shaping the function of translational communication between source language and target language.Then a conclusion is drawn based on the above analyses.