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Research On The Translation Strategies And Methods For The Cultural Images In Gopal Sukhu's English Version Of Chu Ci Based On Cultural Translation Theory

Posted on:2020-02-27Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:Z Q LiFull Text:PDF
GTID:2415330575986325Subject:Foreign Linguistics and Applied Linguistics
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Full of romantic passions,Chu Ci is one of the sources of Chinese poetry and even Chinese culture,retaining the brilliant and distinctive traditional culture of ancient southern China.It inherits the gems of Shi Jing,or The Book of Songs and paves the way for the Fu-style literature of the Han Dynasty.It exerts great influence on Chinese literature and art as a cultural treasure of China and the world.Image is an indispensable element in ancient Chinese poetry.It bears the profound cultural tradition of China,resulting from the accumulation of the long history and splendid culture of the ancient Chinese nation.Chu Ci,one of the oldest literary classics in China,contains intricate cultural images.They carry the feelings of Qu Yuan and other poets,showing the rich and varied long history of the country and filled with a strong mythological atmosphere.Therefore,in the process of translating Chu Ci,it is particularly important to deal with and translate the cultural images.However,the same image will bring different associative meanings to Chinese people and Westerners because of the differences between English and Chinese cultures.Therefore,how to translate images in poetry is a key issue in poetry translation practice.The translation of poetic imagery involves not only the linguistic dimension but also the cultural aspect.How to deal with cultural images more effectively in the process of translation and what kind of translation methods can most effectively avoid the loss of cultural images are always difficulties confusing translators and important tasks for Chinese culture to go global.Therefore,it is necessary for us to do in-depth research.On the basis of a review of the previous studies on the translation of Chu Ci and the previous translation studies on cultural images in Chu Ci at home and abroad,the present study which is based on the cultural translation theory,explores the translation strategies and methods for the cultural image-related words in Chu Ci translated by Gopal Sukhu,using the qualitative and quantitative methods.This thesis mainly focuses on the following three questions:(1)what translation strategies and methods does Sukhu use to translate the cultural images in Chu Ci?(2)which translation strategies and methods does Sukhu prefer to use among the translation strategies and methods?(3)what translation strategies and methods are more suitable for the translation of cultural images from the perspective of cultural translation theory?The 450 cultural images in Chu Ci are collected and they are divided into four categories: ecological images(i.e.plant images and animal images),historical images,mythological images and geographical images.Then the author of this thesis finds out their corresponding translations in Gopal Sukhu's English version and summarizes their translation methods.According to the four kinds of cultural images,the author of this thesis classifies the collected data and uses them to analyze the number and proportion of the translation methods used by Sukhu in The Songs of Chu.Based on the specific examples,this thesis analyzes the two translation strategies and 14 translation methods in Sukhu's The Songs of Chu.The two translation strategies are foreignization and domestication.The 14 translation methods include transliteration;literal translation;paraphrase;free translation;omission;combination of transliteration and annotation;combination of literal translation and annotation;combination of paraphrase and annotation;combination of free translation and annotation;combination of literal translation and transliteration;combination of paraphrase and transliteration;combination of literal translation,transliteration and annotation;combination of paraphrase,transliteration and annotation;combination of paraphrase,literal translation and annotation.The research findings show that animal images,historical images and mythological images are predominant in Chu Ci.In Sukhu's translation of cultural images,the combination of foreignizing translation strategy and domesticating translation strategy is the main translation strategy,while paraphrase,literal translation,combination of transliteration and annotation and combination of literal translation and annotation are the main translation methods.The findings conform to cultural translation theory which advocates the preservation of source language images.Generally speaking,literal translation,transliteration and paraphrase are the translation methods Sukhu's prefers,and he also prefers the method of using footnotes and endnotes.The selection of translation strategies and methods indicates that Sukhu's translation shows much respect for source culture and takes into account the understanding of target readers,thus striking a dynamic balance between source and target culture.Finally,it is hoped that the findings of this thesis can provide some reference and inspirations for the future re-translation of Chu Ci and the translation of cultural images in English,which will be helpful to the dissemination of Chinese culture and promote Chinese culture to go out.
Keywords/Search Tags:Chu Ci, cultural translation theory, cultural images, translation strategies, translation methods
PDF Full Text Request
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