A Study On The E-C Translation Of Patterns Of Culture From The Perspective Of Theme And Rheme Theory

In recent years,more and more foreign cultural anthropology works which are real eye-poppers pour into China,especially Patterns of Culture.It is a masterpiece by Ruth Benedict which provides readers with the opportunity to know more about the foreign cultures.The translation of it is of great significance for Chinese readers to get better understandings of the work.Theme and Rheme Theory can be both a brand-new perspective and an effective way to produce accurate and vivid target texts in the process of translation.Thematic structure and thematic progression pattern are not only key points of Theme and Rheme Theory,but also significant methods of text analysis.The present study,based on theories of Halliday's thematic structure and Danes' thematic progression patterns,focuses on the Theme and thematic progression patterns in Patterns of Culture and its Chinese version published by Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.Both the qualitative and quantitative approaches are adopted together in the study.After a comparative analysis of the original and its Chinese version,the data collected are classified into two levels:655 clauses and 132 texts.With methods of description,statistical analysis,comparative analysis,induction and so forth,thematic structures and thematic progression patterns.in Patterns of Culture and its Chinese version are analyzed respectively.Reasons of similarities and distinctions of Themes and thematic progression patterns in the E-C translation of Patterns of Culture are studied as well.Meanwhile,the translation suggestions and methods adopted are summarized.The study finds that,firstly,75%of the thematic structures and 67%of the thematic progression patterns in the English Patterns of Culture are preserved in the Chinese version by employing literal translation as the main translation method.Secondly,owing to different thought patterns and kinds of languages,25%of the thematic structures and 33%of the thematic progression patterns are changed by adopting translation methods,such as transformation,addition,omission,inversion,negation,division and combination,in order to produce logical and smooth target texts and enable the Chinese readers to accept target texts better.