A Study Of English Translation Of Mongolian Cultural-Historical Terms

The translation of classics is of great significance for promoting the national culture and enhancing international communication. To translate the classics which are loaded with Chinese national culture is no doubt an effective way of sharing Chinese culture with the world. The classics are often rich in various cultural historical terms, however, due to the existence of cultural difference, when it comes to the translation of the cultural-historical terms that involving two languages, it is difficult to completely convey the cultural feature of the original terms, because the terms always exist in one culture, but not in another. In the practice of translation, the cultural-historical terms bring great challenge to the translation work.As one of the greatest Mongolian chronicles, The Mongol Chronicle Atlan Tobci occupies a very important position in the Mongolian historiography and historical compilation, which plays an indispensable role as a connecting link between the preceding and the following 17th century Mongolian historiography. However, the research in the English translation of The Mongol Chronicle Atlan Tobci does not receive its due attention from the academic circles of home and abroad.The Mongol Chronicle Alton Tobci is a Mongolian classic with strong cultural marks. It contains the unique Mongolian cultural-historical terms which are different from other cultures and reflects the life and society of Mongolia at that time. This thesis, taking Charles Bawden’s The Mongol Chronicle Altan Tobci:the Text, Translation and Notes as a case study, classifies Mongolian cultural-historical terms based on Eugene Nida’s and Cao Dao Batur’s theories, and analyses the English translations of those terms under the guidance of Aixela’s theory about cultural-historical terms. The thesis summaries eight kinds of translation strategies that Bawden adopted. Furthermore, the potential factors which influence the translator’s choice of certain strategies are also investigated. Through the data analysis, the conclusion is drawn that the conservative translation takes the dominant position of the whole translation strategies, which shows the translator’s intention to keep the minimum difference between the source text and the target text. Through the above research, some useful suggestions are provided for the future study of translating the cultural-historical terms in the Mongolian classics.