A Study On The Translation Constraints And Translation Strategies Of Chinese Culture-specific Items

In recent years, films and television programs, especially the booming documentaries have been playing an increasingly important role in cultural exchanges. The translation of culture-specific items, as an indispensable part of culture-themed films and television programs, makes a big difference in the promotion of Chinese culture. In the context of that, this thesis undertakes to study the translation constraints and translation strategies of Chinese culture specific items using the English version of A Bite of China 1 as the database. A Bite of China 1 is a series food documentary released by China Central Television, which not only introduces Chinese food but also reveals Chinese traditional customs in a comprehensive way.According to Aixela's research on culture-specific items, the author has picked out 200 culture-specific items together with their translations from the English version of A Bite of China 1. Moreover, the 200 culture-specific items have been classified them into eleven categories according to their characteristics and features. The study undertakes to analyze the translation constraints and translation strategies of Chinese culture-specific items by statistical method and illustration. The result of the study is as follows:(1) There are mainly two kinds of factors which would influence the option of translation strategies: hyper textual factors and textual factors. Hyper textual factors can be further divided into ideology, target audience and expectation. Textual factors can be further divided into context, space and time, cultural and historical backgrounds.(2) There are totally seven translation strategies utilized in the translation of Chinese culture-specific items in A Bite of China 1. Translation strategies that are utilized in the translation of culture-specific items can be listed as follows from the most frequently used to the least frequently used ones: linguistic translation, alphabetical conversion, absolute globalization, domestication, intra textual explanation, limited globalization and synonyms. Apart from that, it shows different features for different kinds of culture-specific items in the utilization of translation strategies. In conclusion, the study aims at revealing the features and characteristics of the translation of culture-specific items in documentaries and bringing some light to the following studies in this area.