A Study Of The Translation Of Culture-Loaded Words In To Live From The Perspective Of Reception Theory

It is taken for granted that traditional translation activities are the process of conversion between two languages.Therefore,translation studies have always focused on language analysis and text comparison.Since Susan Bassnett proposed “cultural turn”,translation studies have entered a new stage: the cultural theory of translation.What followed was the study of the translation of culture-loaded words by a large number of Chinese and foreign scholars.Culture-loaded word,as the name suggests,carries the cultural connotation of a country,embodying its strong cultural color that distinguishes itself from other countries.Therefore,its successful translation is directly related to the quality of Chinese culture going out.Chinese writer Yu Hua's work To Live contains a large number of culture-loaded words,and the hot selling of this work at home and abroad is just a sign of the successful export of traditional Chinese culture.Hence,the translation of culture-loaded words in it is worthy of an in-depth study.This thesis uses qualitative analysis to analyze the translation of culture-loaded words in To Live from the perspective of Reception Theory.According to Xing Fuyi's classification of culture,the culture-loaded words in To Live are divided into three groups,namely material culture-loaded words,system culture-loaded words and psychological culture-loaded words,and then the translation methods of these culture-loaded words and the acceptance of the target readers are analyzed and discussed from the perspective of Reception Theory.It is found that the translator Michael Berry adopts flexible translation methods,such as literal translation,free translation,addition,transliteration,substitution and annotation,in dealing with culture-loaded words in To Live.He takes the receptivity of the target readers,the horizon of expectation,the fusion of the author's horizon and the target readers' horizon and the successful output of traditional Chinese culture intoaccount,so his translation of culture-loaded words in To Live has achieved good translation effect.It is undeniable that Michael Berry's translation is still not proper in dealing with a few culture-loaded words,but this does not affect the overall success of his translation.These research results provide some references and suggestions for the future translation of culture-loaded words and the related researches done by scholars.On the one hand,when translating other works containing culture-loaded words,the translator can appropriately liberate himself from the text-centered or author-centered mindset,try to accept the new perspective of Reception Theory and obtain different translation effect.On the other hand,scholars can analyze and evaluate translation based on the receptivity of the target readers,which will inevitably push Chinese literature and traditional Chinese culture out.