The Translation Criticism Of Fortress Besieged From The Contextual Perspective

Translation includes the processes of interpretation and expression. In both phases,context plays an important role. It can help a translator not only understand the original textcorrectly and thoroughly, but also choose an apt and felicitous translated text. Only whenrelevant contextual factors are fully taken into account, can a better translation be made. Onthe contrary, if the translator ignores them, problems like misunderstanding andmisinterpretation are likely to appear.Fortress Besieged, the sole novel and the most famous masterpiece of Mr. QianZhongshu, occupies an essential position in the history of modern Chinese novels. The sourcetext has only one English version up to now. Though scholars have studied it from differentperspectives like adaptation theory, cultural turn, skopos theory, translation aesthetics andcultural functional equivalence theory, which contributes a lot to the prosperity anddevelopment of China’s literary translation, shortcomings do still exist.Context theory believes that language is not a closed system. The meaning of everylinguistic component is generated in context. Leaving context, it is impossible to determinespeeches’ meaning. Context always plays a significant role in pinning down the originalmeaning and restricting the way of expression. By analyzing the English version respectivelyfrom linguistic, situational and cultural contextual perspective, the writer finds that thetranslation of some polysemous lexical units, rhetorical devices, appellation andculture-loaded words are improper and there are even grammar mistakes in the version. Thecontextual analysis of the translated text highlights its deficiencies, which will be beneficialfor translators to overcome problems of misunderstanding and mistranslation caused byignoring context, improve the quality of translation and spread Chinese culture better.