A Comparative Study Of Transferring Cultural Elements In The Two English Versions Of Lao Can You Ji

Due to differences in living environment, social customs, life style and way of thinking, people in different nations have developed their own specific cultural characteristics. Cultural differences, more often than not, hinders cultural exchanges between nations, Since the "Cultural Turn" in translation studies started in the late1980s, culture and translation have been bound tightly together. Nowadays, translation is not been seen as mere languages transfer any more, but as a communicative activity between cultures, and, at the same time,"Cultural Translation" is emerged.In cultural translation, questions like how to faithfully transmit the unique cultural elements of one country to others through translation call for a rigorous study on the part of translation practitioners and researchers. In the process of translation, translator must adopt translation methods under the guidance of right translation strategy which decides whether a translation work is successful or not. Therefore, this dissertation, started with the discussion of translation strategies in current academic circles, intends to present a study on cultural translation strategies based on the comparison of two English versions of Lao Can You Ji, a Chinese literature work as an example.Currently, theorists all around the world have come up with different translation strategies on cultural translation, i.e. domestication and foreignization, and in chapter three, I pay much attention to clarify their relationship and the scientific choice in translation. By comparative study of five cultural categories in Lao Can You Ji, the English version translated by Harold Shadick, an American sinologist, adopts the foreignizing translation, with detailed annotation, preserving and disseminating Chinese cultural elements faithfully to western readers, while, Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang in the other English version take a domestication way, producing an easy understanding for English readers at the cost of substitution or omission of Chinese cultural images. It is concluded that in the rapid process of globalization, in order to transmit Chinese culture and world influence, translators should employ the principle of foreignization first and domestication second, which will faithfully keep the images of the source language, effectively convey the essence of Chinese culture and also meet the expectation of western readers.It is beyond doubt that the two translation strategies of domestication and foreignization have their respective features and applicable values. It is lop-sided and unscientific to overemphasize one strategy from a static and absolute viewpoint. To hold a dialectical view towards translation strategies is beneficial to the prosperity of translation studies.