The Cultural Awareness In Literary Translation And Translation Strategies

Cultural translation is becoming increasingly important and systematic since the "cultural turn" occurred in1980s. And the studies of translation are no longer limited to the simple linguistic analysis and strict comparison between the source text and the target text, but considering the broader issues of context, history and conventions. The scholars have paid much more attention to the cultural factors in the literature works and proposed a series of cultural translation theories; the translation behavior is also considered to be a cross-cultural communication activity. As the subject of translation, translator should have not only the strong ability of bilingualism and the profound knowledge of two cultures, but also the sensitive cultural awareness. Only in this way can translators convey the information and meaning of the original text to the target readers successfully.Cultural awareness refers to one thinking mode of the translator and his conscious or unconscious judgment and sensitive cognition of culture. It exists throughout the whole process of translation and restricts the translator’s choice of translation strategies. The study is based on the representative work of Mo Yan, Big Breasts and Wide Hips, and its English version. In Big Breasts and Wide Hips, there are many linguistic points with cultural features which straightly reflect the special characteristics of Chinese culture. In the meanwhile, it also tests the sensitivity of translator’s cultural awareness. Howard Goldblatt, an American sinologist whose Chinese name is Ge Haowen, is the English translator of Big Breasts and Wide Hips. He has a profound knowledge of both the two languages and cultures. In the process of translation, Howard adopted different strategies aiming at the different cultural features which made the translated text not only faithful to the original text, but also conform to the expectant vision of readers as much as possible. To explore the culture features and their translation has important and practical significance. In this dissertation, the translator’s cultural awareness is not only embodied in the internal cultural differences between Chinese and Western, but also reflected on the understanding of the external factors, such as target readers, the translation purposes and historical background. All of the cultural awareness imperceptibly influences the translation strategies Howard adopted.By comparatively analyzing Big Breasts and Wide Hips and its English version, we know that Howard mainly uses domestication and takes foreignization as a complement. At last, we make a conclusion that the translator’s cultural awareness has a deeply effect on the choice of translation strategies and affects the quality of translation directly. Through the research on translator’s cultural awareness in Big Breasts and Wide Hips, we hope that it can enrich the study of translator and his subjectivity and make some contributions to translation studies. And in the dissertation, it suggests that translators should cultivate their cultural awareness intentionally to improve translation quality.At the same time, the dissertation simply introduces the concept of cultural awareness at home and abroad. Based on all these, the author makes the definition of translator’s cultural awareness in the translating context. By exploring the importance of cultural awareness, the author appeals that translator should work hard on a better translation through the cultivation of the bicultural awareness and other important qualities.