On C-E Translation Of The Cultural Elements In The Publicity Materials For Chinese Tea From The Cultural View On Translation

Chinese tea is becoming more and more famous for its unique taste as a drink and for its function as a health care product.It is now going global with its export volume going up every year.It is now playing an important role in linking China with the rest of the world.The publicity materials for Chinese tea not only allow foreign readers to get to know different types of Chinese tea,but also allow them to appreciate the intriguing culture behind the tea.During the process of publicity,translation is of great importance.However,due to the many cultural elements contained in the publicity texts for Chinese tea and the cultural gap between Chinese culture and Western cultures,it is always a mammoth task for the translator to properly translate such kinds of texts.Under the guidance of the cultural view on translation,the author of the present dissertation evaluates the translation of cultural elements in the publicity texts for Chinese tea to find out to what extent the texts have achieved cultural interaction and how the cultural elements embedded in the source texts have been preserved,transferred to and constructed in the target text.Qualitative study has been used in the present dissertation.Sample texts have been collected from the publicity texts for Chinese tea and the author has given comments on the translation of each sample text as judged from the cultural view on translation.Under the guidance of the cultural view on translation,two criteria have been considered in the analysis,namely,the rendering of the meaning of the source text and the transmission of cultural connotation.Several kinds of cultural elements are observable in the publicity texts for Chinese tea,including the material,behavioral,customary,mental and institutional aspects of culture.It is found that there are several situations where the transmission or construction of the cultural elements has been achieved in the texts: first,the meaning of the source text has been faithfully rendered and the cultural connotation has been fully conveyed,thus leading to an effective transmission or construction of cultural elements;second,the translator has done well either in rendering the meaning of the source text or transmitting the cultural connotation,but can?t do well in both,which can be said to be partially effective transmission or construction of cultural elements;third,the translator fails to render the meaning of the source text and transmitting the cultural connotation at the same time,which can be said to be ineffective transmission or construction of cultural elements.It is found that for the cultural elements to be effectively transferred to and constructed in the target culture,some translation methods have been used,including rewriting and amplification.The author of the paper suggests that,methods such as explanatory note and the combination of transliteration and explanatory note are also advisable in order to achieve effective transmission or construction of the cultural elements.