C-E Translation Of Cultural Information In Classical Chinese Poetry Of West Lake:Problems And Countermeasures

The poetic culture of the Hangzhou West Lake refers to the unique regional culture embodied in enormous classical Chinese poetry of West Lake (CCPWL) composed by various literati in ancient China. A proper translation of the cultural information within CCPWL is of great significance for the demonstration of West Lake culture in the world, and for the visibility of Hangzhou as a city enriched in culture. Guided by frame theory, this thesis analyzes the C-E translation problems that hinders the transmission of cultural information in CCPWL, and further proposes corresponding countermeasures.Through a qualitative research method, the results show the problem of improper rendering of cultural information, which, from the perspective of frame theory, can be explained as follows:the rendered linguistic expressions in the English versions of CCPWL fail to enable the target readers to activate proper cultural frames, thus hindering the transmission of cultural information about West Lake. This general translation problem can be further divided into three specific ones:(1) the translator’s misconception of easily-confused frames;(2) the unawareness of frame discrepancy and (3) the unawareness of frame absent.To achieve proper rendering of cultural information, six countermeasures are proposed based on the analysis of quality-translated versions. To overcome problem (1), countermeasures are proposed as:1) to choose the proper frame according to contexts;2) to adopt back translation. To overcome problem (2), countermeasures are proposed as:1) to omit less important cultural information;2) to maintain the cultural information by adding components to the frame. To overcome problem (3), countermeasures are proposed as:1) to transfer the level of frame;2) to paraphrase or add annotation.In short, proper countermeasures under the guidance of frame theory are beneficial in achieving the maximization of cultural information transmission in CCPWL translation by conveying the accurate meaning with flexible expressions.