The Cultural Equivalence Theory From The Perspective Of Appellations’ Translation Methods And Strategies

As a part of language, address terms embody the core culture of the Chinesesociety. Hong Lou Meng, representative of the traditional Chinese cultures, is oftendeemed as an encyclopedia of our Chinese language and culture. Thisworld-renowned classic narrates the ups and downs of the feudal Jia’s family withmore than hundreds of people making their appearances. There is no wonder that thecountless address terms contribute to the successful revelation of the entangledinterpersonal relationships in the novel. However, the address form systems in Chinaand the English worlds differ greatly from each other due to the cultural differences.This is why quite a few typical Chinese address forms cannot find the correspondingterms in English, which accordingly adds much difficulty for the translator. Thisthesis mainly deals with the following three questions:1. What major translation methods are respectively adopted in Yang Xianyi’sand Hawkes’ versions? By what translation strategy are such methodsrespectively governed?2. Whose version is more consistent with Bassnett’s cultural equivalence theory,Yang Xianyi’s or Hawkes’?3. What kinds of decisive factors may affect Yang Xianyi’s and Hawkes’ choiceof translation strategy?Research materials include the source text Hong Lou Meng, and two targettexts—Yang Xianyi’s and David Hawkes’ English versions. The first80chapters areselected and analyzed not only because they were completely written by Cao Xueqinbut also because most characters have already made their appearances in suchchapters.Of all150address terms, Yang’s version adopts the word-for-word methods for82times (about55%) while Hawkes’36times (24%). Yang’s adopts thetranscription method for six times (about4%) while Hawkes’ does not. Yang’s adopts the amplification method for8times (around5.3%) while Hawkes’5times(3.3%). Yang’s adopts the substitution method for32times (around21.3%) whileHawkes’52times (34.7%). Yang’s adopts the paraphrase method for11times(around7.3%) while Hawkes’40times (26.7%). Yang’s adopts the omission methodfor12times (8%) while Hawkes’16times (10.7%).Of all the translation methods, the first three---word-for-word, transcription andamplification methods fall into the category of foreignization while the latter---substitution, paraphrase and omission methods belong to domestication. Since thecultural equivalence theory advocates foreignization, Yang’s is more consistent withthis theory.Factors that may affect the different choices of translation methods andstrategies include personal background, ideology and patronage.Two implications from the study can be summarized as follows: For one thing,theoretically tables and the use of SPSS V13.0can provide a more scientificdescription for translation studies. As a consequence, it may further enrich thedescriptive translation studies. For another, the present thesis has pedagogicalimplications as it will give a reference to the retranslating of the appellations in HLMin the21st century. There are also some practical implications for the translationpractice.