On Chinese-English-French Cultural Translation:a Comparative Analysis Of The English And French Translations Of Chinese-Culture-Specific Items In Yu Hua’s Novel To Live

After an astounding economic development boom in the late20th century, China is now looking to expand its cultural industry on the international scene. While Chinese culture’s outreach in East-Asia, South-east Asia and the pacific region has been more or less successful, it remains ill-understood in the western hemisphere. In this thesis, we analyze the problem at the core by looking at translations of a culturally-relevant piece of.Chinese literature, Yu Hua’s To Live, in English and in French. The analysis is based on the theory of cultural translation (specifically, the translation of culture-specific items), as well as on the theory of relevance. Judging that literature is not only a valid but also efficient channel for cultural proliferation, we aim to compare and criticize the general strategies employed by translators in both English and French in interpreting various elements undeniably proper to Chinese culture through a total of20selected extracts. Through our analysis, we have found some lacunae in the translators’ portrayal of Chinese culture and management of culture-specific elements, and wish to suggest new approaches to translating litterature so that we may realize its full potential as a channel for intercultural communication.