On The Translation Of Li Bai’s Poetry From The Perspective Of Liu Miqing’s Cultural Translation Theory

With the development of linguistics and translation theories, translation studies have witnessed a "cultural turn". Translation is no longer regarded as a pure cross-linguistic activity, and translators begin to lay more emphases on the comparison and translation of two cultures. The study of cultural translation has gradually become the focus of domestic academic research. The Cultural Translation Theory, initially proposed by Liu Miqing, a prominent translator, is a great achievement in translation studies in China. Professor Liu explicitly and systematically explained the four core issues in his Book An Outlined Theory of Cultranslation including cultural explanation of meaning, cultural interpretation of text, explanation of cultural psychology and expressive theory of cultural translation. Liu’s book is no doubt a highlight providing us a new framework and perspective for translation studies.Chinese Tang poems boast abundant cultural connotations and symbolize Chinese ancient civilization. Li Bai(701-762), a renowned poet in Tang Dynasty, made great achievement in poetry. Li’s poems, skillful in language, fantastic in meaning, rich and elegant in style, have long been regarded as the cultural treasures in China. The translation of his poems, however difficult it is, has progressed smoothly. On the other hand, many scholars also take the study of Li’s poem translation as a research field. For those scholars, they have made some research on English translation of Li Bai’s poetry from various aspects, such as Functional Equivalence, Discourse Analysis, Artistic Conception, etc.; few ever shifted their attention to the cultural perspective.This thesis, with expressive theory of cultural translation, aims to give an insight into Li’s poem translation in English. With the use of case study in which the author will compare different versions of Li Bai’s poems at home and overseas and analyze the gains and losses of the cultural information translation from principle of cultural compatibility, the principle of science and the principle of aesthetics. In the light of Liu’s Cultural Translation Theory, this thesis proposes that translators should adopt appropriate translation strategies to translate Li Bai’s poetry according to the different cultural levels. In material culture level, the translator may adopt the translation method of using the target language to borrow or transplant the expressive forms of the original texts. In the social cultural level, the translator can compensate the lost information of the original or may try to get the same response by using the technique of substitution and compensation. The psychological culture is a bit complicating, therefore the faithful and flexible translation will promote a better understanding of the original work. Thus draw the following conclusion:the study can be taken as a good illustration of feasibility and necessity of Liu’s Cultural Translation Theory in guiding English translation of Li Bai’s poetry. To translate a poem, translators should have both the source culture and the target culture in order to convey the cultural information in the poems faithfully.