On The Translation Defects Of Cultural Relic Texts And Their Relevant Countermeasures From The Perspective Of Cultural Transmission

Museum is the historical and culture treasure house of mankinds which collects, conserve, studies and exhibits the cultural relics. It undertakes the significant mission of passing culture and recalling historical events. With the further development of reform and opening up, culture with ancient Chinese Characteristics has attracted a large number of people all around the world. In this case, translation of culture relic texts of museums is indispensable in the role of publicizing Chinese culture to foreigners and promoting cross-cultural exchange.In order to spread Chinese culture to the outside world, many museums provide the English translations of the cultural relic texts, which have brought great convenience and efficiency to visitors to fully understand the traditional and cultural information of the relics. However, defects can still be found in many English translations of culture relic texts as a result of various factors. Defects and unnatural translation cannot make visitors enjoy the glamour of ancient China and even affect their impression on Chinese culture. Improving the quality of English translation of culture relic texts has been a matter of urgency. With Chinese tourism moving forward toward internationalization, the process of standardization of culture relic texts translation is critical and a sacred obligation for translators and researchers concerned. This thesis, with the viewpoint of cultural transmission, attempts to study the translation defects of cultural relic texts and their relevant countermeasures by way of comparison, case study and induction. The cases of the study are mainly from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, British Museum some Chinese museums and their official websites. The thesis is composed of the following five parts:Chapter One is literature review. The author tells the influences of translation on culture transmission. Translation, as a form of cultural exchange, is closely connected with culture. It plays an irreplaceable role in the processes of cultural reintegration and further cultural development. Then previous researches on translation of cultural relic texts are introduced briefly. At last, the importance of deep research on cultural relic texts from the perspective of cultural transmission is introduced.Chapter Two focuses on the comparative analysis of Chinese and English cultural relic texts. After comparing the content, language styles and discourse structure of the two kinds of texts, the author suggests that while translating cultural relic texts, translators should observe the linguistic requirements and cultural customs of English. In addition, the cultural information of the original should be manifested.Chapter Three gives all kinds of examples to illustrate the main defects in translation of culture relic texts from the viewpoint of culture transmission. There are linguistic mistakes, deletion of cultural information, over-simplification of important information and non-uniformity of information. The reasons of these defects lie in cultural differences and the negative attitudes of the relevant staffs toward their work which lead to inferior translation of cultural relic texts and bring great barriers for cross-cultural transmission.Chapter Four gives some vital translation requirements to translators as a reference from the perspective of culture transmission. The author suggests the translators should convey the cultural information of the original, strengthen cross-cultural awareness, conform to the social and cultural norms of the target language, and meet the demands of the target language readers. Then the author provides three countermeasures for translation defects related to cultural transmission. They are addition, transliteration and annotation. In this part, there is a clear claim that the background information and cultural connotation of the original should be taken into consideration.In the end, the thesis concludes the main standpoints of the paper. The translation of cultural relic texts is vital in cultural exchange. In order to reach this goal effectively, the translators should have a good knowledge of the differences of the cultural relic texts between China and western countries, pay attention to the cultural background information and learn from English cultural relic texts to avoid the translation defects.