A Study On The Translation Of Culture-specific Items In The English Version Of Red Sorghum From The Perspective Of Cultural Schema Theory

Mo Yan is the first writer awarded Nobel Prize of literature in our country,whose story Red Sorghum since published receives warm responses both abroad and home.There are numerous culture-specific items characterized with traditional Chinese culture in this story,the research is very significant both theoretically and practically.From the perspective of cultural schema theory,this thesis takes Howard Goldblatt translation of Red Sorghum as a case study and uses descriptive research method to analyze and summarize the translation methods from the aspects of cultural schema correspondence,conflict and default.The concept of culture-specific items was first proposed by Javier Franco Aixelá.Connected with Nida's classification of culture,the culture-specific items in Red Sorghum are classified into five groups in terms of ecology,religion,society,linguistics and material.After the analysis,the writer finds that aiming at the different patterns of cultural schema;the translator gives priority to different translation methods.When cultural schema correspondence appears,the translator mainly adopted literal translation.It will activate the existed cultural schema in the target readers' mind to a large extent so that cultural bridge will be formed for better understanding.Besides,for some special circumstances,other translation methods like free translation,literal translation plus explanation and substitution are used respectively;when cultural schema conflicts appear,the translator gave priority to free translation,substitution and deletion.In order to avoid the difficulty of understanding and cultural prejudice,such translation methods will be a good choice;when cultural schema conflicts appear,the translator mainly used literal translation,literal translation plus explanation.By establishing and introducing new schema to the target reader,it will be helpful to publicize Chinese culture.Meanwhile,to avoid the translated edition too thick to read,Howard Goldblatt also adopted free translation,deletion and substitution for easier understanding..Based on the descriptive analysis,this research has a discussion of the reasons for using different translation methods.The writer finds that the translation is influenced by the reader's response,the development of the society and social ideology.Because of the flexibility of the schema,the translation aims to facilitate the readers' understanding.All in all,Howard Goldblatt‘s translation of Red Sorghum shows a feasible example for the translation of culture-specific items.Through the description of the translation methods,analysis of the reasons for such translation and the clarifying of the translation theory,the thesis aims to deepen the understanding about the difficulty in translating culture-specific items and relative solution.Meanwhile,the writer wishes it could attribute anything beneficial to publicize of Chinese culture.