A Study Of Loss Of Cultural Information In C-E Translation Of Chinese Idioms From Cross-cultural Perspective

The Chinese term culture is one of the existing vocabulary and new concept endowed with abundant content. Chinese culture consists of both tremendous material wealth and non-material wealth created by human being. It is a flower in the process of human civilization, and a book full of profundity of the philosophy. Culture which is extremely rich in connotation and denotation makes a strong appeal to people all over the world. Therefore, in recent years, Chinese culture has gradually become a hotspot and research focus.Chinese idioms can be considered as a dewdrop of the wonderful flower, because they represent the intelligence of laboring people and the Chinese national cultural information. However, a serious problem in communication has been caused by mistranslation of idioms, especially misunderstanding and cultural conflict. Therefore, in order to spread traditional Chinese culture, we should make a research on the C-E translation of Chinese idioms.Since Chinese idioms play an important part of Chinese culture, this study of loss of cultural information in C-E translation of Chinese idioms will be helpful to translation of things both Chinese and English that contain rich cultural information. Hopefully the perspective of cultural difference approach will provide translators with a guideline in the translation of idioms that have language vacancy. A translation that has dealt with cultural vacancy to the best extent will surely enable Western readers that show great interest in knowing about Chinese cultures to better understand and appreciate the essence of Chinese idioms. It is thus conducive to the global spread of Chinese culture and the enhancement of cross-cultural communications. In addition, this study is intended to provide some inspirations or references for idiom translation.This thesis mainly talks about the C-E translation of Chinese idioms. Firstly, the author makes an analysis of the definition and composition of Chinese idioms and then discusses the origins of Chinese idioms. Secondly, the author gives a brief introduction to the previous studies on C-E translation of Chinese idioms at home and abroad. Moreover, the author introduces the theoretical framework used in this research-the cross-cultural theory with the focus on cultural differences. Finally, this thesis points out the causes of Chinese idiom mistranslation and proposes some strategies for Chinese idiom translation from cross-cultural perspective.The thesis consists of six chapters.Chapter One is the introductory chapter, which briefly introduces the research background, the objectives and significance of the study, the research methodology and the organization of the thesis.Chapter Two is about the literature review. In this chapter, the author makes a review on the previous studies on C-E translation of Chinese idioms at home and abroad. This thesis will first introduce the definition of key term-idiom and then the composition of idioms will be introduced. Afterwards, the origins of Chinese idioms will be discussed.Chapter Three provides the theoretical framework for this thesis. In this chapter the definition and elements of culture, and the definition of cross-cultural communication are explained in detail. Then the author introduces Hofstede’s value dimensions and The Kluckhohns and Strodtbeck’s value orientation. Under the guidance of these theories, the author analyzes the differences between Chinese and English idioms and the translation methods for Chinese idiom translation.The fourth chapter is the main body of this thesis. It analyzes the loss of cultural information in C-E translation of Chinese idioms from Cross-cultural perspective. This chapter can be divided into two parts. The first part mainly analyzes causes for loss of Cultural information in C-E translation of Chinese idioms, which are negative transfer of culture and vacancy in semantic correspondence. The second part is case study of loss of cultural information in C-E translation of Chinese idioms including errors caused by cultural transplantation and errors caused by literal translation.Chapter Five is the most important part of this thesis. In this chapter, the author of the thesis proposes several methods for C-E translation of Chinese idioms, taking domesticated translation as the major approach and foreignization as a complementary strategy. Two other approaches of translation might also be helpful in preventing cultural information loss, for example, literal translation and free translation. These four strategies are used differently in Chinese-English idiom translation, depending on the features of specific Chinese idioms.The last chapter is the conclusion. In this chapter, a brief summary is given on the research findings. The author makes a list of the limitations of the research. This chapter will also offer some suggestions for future studies and researches in the field, in the hope that more and more academic attention will be paid to the topic of loss of cultural information in C-E translation of Chinese idioms in China.