An Eco-translatological Approach To English Translation Of Chinese Architectural Terminology

On account of a vast territory,myriad ancient folk houses endowed with historical and cultural connotations represent unique aesthetics of regional architecture,conveying the craftsmanship of Chinese people.However,the official buildings like the Great Wall and the Forbidden City are renowned worldwide but Chinese folk houses don't obtain the acknowledgment they deserve.With the increasing cultural communication prevailing over the world,there is a potentially huge demand of English translation of folk houses.And the challenge is inevitable for the difficulty and scarcity in English translation of architectural terminology.Folk Houses South of the Yangtze is written for introduction of folk architecture south of the Yangtze and cultural diffusion of Chinese folk houses.And the Chinese architectural terminology(CAT)translation in it reflects and reproduces the profound Chinese folk architectural culture within the source eco-system to a large extent.CAT translation can be considered as a process of transplantation from source ecological environment to target ecological environment so as to survive and spread in target ecological environment.Correspondingly,the eco-translatology,focusing on holistic ecosystem,holds that the translation is a process in which the translator adapts multi-dimensionally to different translational eco-environment for realization of eco-balance in translational eco-environment.Thus,framed with eco-translatology,the CAT in Folk Houses South of the Yangtze can be analyzed from the perspective of linguistic,cultural and communicative dimensions with the assistance of covert and overt translation strategies for textual eco-balance.Finally,this thesis discovers that: covert translation by free translation is possible to achieve the equivalency in source and target text by weakening the cultural background of the CAT.And the overt translation via transliteration or transliteration plus free translation can supplement CAT vacancy in target text.Besides,the overt translation is utilized for CAT cultural dissemination while covert translation is for a relatively higher readability and acceptability.This thesis is made up of five chapters.Chapter One expounds the background,purposes and significance of the research.Chapter Two introduces the theoretical framework to elaborate the feasibility of CAT translation in Folk Houses South of the Yangtze under the guidance of eco-translatology.And it is also an overview of previous studies in eco-translatology and CAT,figuring out gaps of the studies.In Chapter Three,the thesis makes an ecological analysis of CAT translation at full length.Chapter Four focuses on realization of textual eco-balance in CAT translation from the perspective of linguistic,cultural and communicative dimensions via covert and overt translation strategies.And the thesis puts forward some humble opinions for the modification of the inappropriateness in CAT translation.Chapter Five summarizes the major findings,points out the limitations of the research,proposes suggestions for further study.