A Study Of English Translation Of Wine Culture In The Peony Pavilion From The Perspective Of Cognitive Translatology

Wine,as a kind of material culture,its history is synchronized with economic development.It is not only a kind of food but also represents spiritual value.Wine culture includes wine making,wine drinking,wine functions and wine history and so on.The Chinese wine culture,which has a long history,is an indispensable part of traditional Chinese culture.It is complicated in technology,history and quality compared to that of other nations,but does not enjoy a very high reputation in the world.Translation is an important means of cultural exchange between different countries.Although it is necessary to study translation of wine culture,there are few studies of it.It is thus necessary and urgent to conduct more studies in this respect to better disseminate Chinese wine culture to the world.It is important to notice that wine culture in the thesis refers to its narrow sense.Traditional translation theories think that translation is just transformation of verbal signs,whereas the theory of cognitive translatology postulates that translation is an outcome of experience and cognition.It is argued in this thesis that translation is both an important language communicative activity and a cognitive activity.This thesis adopts the theory of cognitive translatology as the major theoretical framework.This theory has six important translation principles,namely embodiment,creativity,interactivity,discursiveness,harmoniousness and the two worlds that translation reflects.Of the six important translation principles,the embodiment principle,creative principle and interactive principle are most valuable and are thus used as the main framework.This thesis aims at studying the English translation of wine culture in The Peony Pavilion from the perspective of cognitive translatology,combining quantitative method with qualitative method.Tang Xianzu was an opera writer of the Ming Dynasty and The Peony Pavilion is his masterpiece.It expresses the love story of Du Liniang and Liu Mengmei,pursuing freedom and objecting to despotism.Most of previous translation studies about The Peony Pavilion focus on metaphor,libretto,culture and aesthetics and so on.Very few have ever made detailed studies on the translation of wine culture in The Peony Pavilion.However,studying translation of wine culture in it can improve translation competence,disseminate Chinese wine culture,improve its international status and promote mutual exchange and communication.Wine culture in it includes wine names,wine vessels,actions of wine drinking and state of drunkenness.This thesis selects fifty-seven examples representing wine culture from the original and their English translations by Wang Rongpei,Zhang Guangqian and Cyril Birch.The quantitative method compares the three translators’ translation procedures and styles,whereas the qualitative analysis is made from the principles of cognitive translatology to reveal the differences in the translators’ cognition as well as wine culture between China and the west.The research findings consist of two parts.Firstly,translation is not only a transfer of verbal signs but also cultural communication,representing different cognitive features.From the embodiment feature,Wang Rongpei and Zhang Guangqian better show the embodiment feature because these two translators are Chinese,having a good understanding of the source language.From the interactive feature,Cyril Birch better uses interactive feature than other translators with the result that his translations are easier for foreign readers to understand.From the creative feature,Zhang Guangqian better uses creative feature,producing diversified and vivid translations.Secondly,three translators use different translation methods,such as literal translation and free translation.Wang Rongpei and Zhang Guangqian use literal translation more frequently,whereas Cyril Birch prefers free translation.Those methods are complementary in nature.Besides,there are other translation procedures employed by the translators,such as omission,substitution and transliteration.It is hoped that comparative analysis of translation of wine culture will enhance understanding of Chinese wine culture,improve translation skills and disseminate Chinese culture.