A Contrastive Analysis Of The Culture Effect In Translating The Culture-loaded Words From The Perspective Of Functional Equivalence

Translation is one of the most important vehicles in cross-culture communication. With the increase in communication between China and western countries, culture-loaded words have become a pressing issue in cross cultural translation activities. As a special kind of vocabulary in source language, culture-loaded words contain much historical and cultural information, which makes it difficult to find equivalent words either in terms of form and meaning, or in cultural connotations. It is thus considered as the impediment to C-E translation. Based on the samples taken from three C-E versions of Liao Zhai Zhi Yi, this thesis compares the translators’ different treatment of the culture-loaded words concerning appellations and customs and analyzes the concomitant effects in different renderings from the perspective of Functional Equivalence.The analysis shows that all versions under discussion prioritizes semantic rather than formal equivalence, that is, in cases where it is hard to keep both, the main spirit and concrete facts of the original text are put on the first place to keep the completion of content and meaning of the original text. In an effort to create a reading effect similar to that felt by the source language readers, some versions apply the strategy of using more acceptable way of expressing to the target readers. However, to reproduce the artistic conceptions and imageries of the original texts, great difficulties arise and the context of the original text can not be ignored. It can therefore be argued that the translation of Chinese canonical texts should head in the direction of dynamic equivalence, paying special attention to cultural differences and cultural loaded words.