Translation Of Culture-loaded Words In Light Of Schema Theory

Translating is composed of two steps: comprehension and expression on which schemata in translators’ brains have an effect. Therefore, from the perspective of schema theory, translating is an interactive process between the source language schemata and the target language schemata, and translation is the product of mutual interaction of schemata in the source culture and those in the target culture. Although schema theory originated from cognitive psychology is not meant for translation studies initially, it possesses an explanatory power in handling cognitive differences in translation.Feng Ru Fei Tun is one of the representative works of Mo Yan, the famous contemporary writer and recipient of Nobel Prize in Literature. This epic novel has caught much attention from western media, overseas scholars and sinologist since it was published in a major literary magazine named Dajia and awarded the first Dajia Prize. The English version by Howard Goldblatt has given an impetus to its enormous success abroad. Owing to the cultural turn in translation studies and formidable challenges posed by culture-loaded words, more and more scholars have conducted their studies on the translation of culture-loaded words in Feng Ru Fei Tun.Based on schema theory, this thesis explores Goldblatt’s translation methods in dealing with the culture-loaded words in Feng Ru Fei Tun by Mo Yan. Through a detailed contrast between the original text and the translated version, the author argues that Goldblatt’s translation gives priority to activating target readers’ existing schemata. To be specific, when the Chinese schemata are in contradiction with western ones or absent in western culture, Howard Goldblatt mainly adopts such four approaches as literal translation, paraphrase, transliteration plus explanation and substitution to make them acceptable and achieve the goal of cultural exchanges.