An Analysis Of Translatability Limits Of The Costume Culture

Nowadays,the strengthening trend is ongoing in economic globalization and global integration.With the growing improvement of overall national strength of China,the international community's concern about China is rapidly increasing.China has become the second largest economy in the world.The enthusiasm for learning Chinese culture is becoming unprecedentedly high in the Western countries.The great novel A Dream of Red Mansions written by Cao Xueqin and Gao E is the prime of Chinese classic novels.The novel has very high literary and research value.The description of the costume in A Dream of Red Mansions reflects the social outlook in the Qing Dynasty(1644-1911),the social and cultural connotation of the costume and the traditional Chinese culture.The costume(??)consists of the clothes(??),the jewellery(??)and accessories(??).The three elements of the clothes are the colour(??),the material(??)and the style(??).The study methods of this thesis are:(1) classification;(2) giving examples with appreciation, analysis and judgement of the translated language. In this thesis, the author will analyze the translatability limits of the costume culture in A Dream of Red Mansions English version translated by Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang. English translation of three elements of clothes, the colour, the material and the style, the jewellery and accessories will be studied from the perspective of culture. Translation strategies and methods will be illustrated in the analysis of the examples translation. According to the different circumstances, appropriate translation methods should be adopted to narrow the gap in cultural translatability limits at the highest degree. Cultural translatability limits is objective in Chinese-English translation. The translator should put theory into practice to identify the languages and differences of culture between Chinese and English. Therefore the translation loss could be minimized. Useful translation strategies and methods are as follows: literal translation, liberal translation, domestication, foreignization and transliteration. It is very important for the translators to have a strong cultural sense and a flexible method in translating the Chinese costume. We can make the conclusion above from this study on the cultural translatability limits of the colour, the material and the style of the clothes, the jewellery and accessories in A Dream of Red Mansions. Although there may be translatability limits in some cases, flexible translation methods could be applied in cultural elements translation in the Chinese costume and to accelerate cross-cultural exchange.In terms of the significance, on the one hand, this study can advance the overseas spread of the culture and arts in A Dream of Red Mansions. The unique Chinese cultural treasures will be understood and appreciated in other parts of the world, and turn out to be spiritual wealth in various countries. On the other hand, it is expected that the study is significance to academic studies in the translation and culture circles nowadays. This study will provide reference to the costume culture in Chinese-English translation by developing translating strategies and methods of costume culture. The author will be conducive to the introduction of the Chinese costume culture in order to benefit the strategy of promoting Chinese culture towards the world. It is hoped that this study will help to tell the true story of China and make China's voice heard.