Translator's Cultural Identity And Its Impact On Translation

The present thesis attempts to explore the impact of translator's cultural identity upon the end-product of translation,trying to provide a new perspective to translation studies as well as the publicity of Chinese literature,on the basis of two English versions of San Guo Yan Yi produced by Charles Henry Brewitt-Taylor,a British translator,and Yu Sumei,a Chinese translator,respectively.By looking into the translators' national and social-historical identities,this thesis finds out that their different cultural identities produce a significant impact upon the translation process and results,influencing their attitudes toward the source culture,interpretations of the source text,translation strategies and techniques,as well as their stylistic features,which leads to different results.Brewitt-Taylor's version is generally plot-oriented,characterized by brevity,fluency and traditional style,while Yu Sumei's version is culture-oriented,featured in detail,accuracy and modern style,which appeals to different readers.Structurally the thesis consists of six parts.The first part presents the research background,aim and significance.The second part introduces the original text,English versions and related studies of San Guo Yan Yi.The third part explains the cultural turn in translation studies as well as the concept of translator's cultural identity in detail.The fourth part gives the different national and social-historical identities of the two translators.In the fifth part a case study of the two English versions is conducted from the perspective of the translators' different cultural identities and a conclusion is reached in the last part.