A Study On The Translation Of Cultural Images In Ku Hung-ming’s Version Of Lun Yu

Cultural image could be found almost everywhere in Lun Yu. Images are vivid and add greatcolor to the work. However, how to translate those images and make them well accepted is oneof the tricky problems the translator should face.Ku’s version is widely accepted in the Western society among the many English versions ofLun Yu and contributes a lot to the spread of Chinese culture. According to Nida’s classificationof culture, the present thesis divides the images in Lun Yu into ecological cultural image, materialcultural image, social cultural image, religious cultural image and linguistic cultural image. Ku’stranslation of cultural images and Ku’s translation strategies are analyzed and summarized in thethesis. It is pointed out that Ku mainly adopted interpretation, omission, transliteration, literaltranslation and annotation, among which interpretation and omission are the main approaches.Based on relevant theories of translator’s subjectivity and Reception Theory, the authorexplains the motivations of Ku’s choice and further explains the reasons for the popularity ofKu’s version in terms of cultural image. It could be pointed out that domestication adopted by Kuon the basis of target readers’ need is one key reason for its wide reception.