Research On The Translation Of Culture-Specific Words In Two Chinese Versions Of The Thai Novel‘four Reigns'

The exchange between Chinese and Thai literature has a history of nearly two hundred years.'Four Reigns'is one of the most famous novels of Thailand's Bangkok Dynasty,and it is praised as an immortal literary work.There are already two Chinese versions of Four Reigns in China,attributed to authors Qianguang and Gao Shurong and Fang Ymg,respectively.'Four Reigns'is intended for Thai audiences,written so that descendants of Thai bloodlines and people outside the imperial palace grounds may appreciate the beauty of ancient traditional culture and understand the root of the customs that they practice in daily life.Therefore,many words,proverbs and idioms in the book are culture-laden.Culture relates to people's way of thinking,feelings and emotions,as well as people's reactions.It is a phenomenon that reflects people's understanding of the world and mediates all interpersonal exchanges that occur within a society.When translating Thai fiction into Chinese,the core of this study is how the author understands the culture of the original text for the readers of the target language in different cultures.In this study,the author investigated how Chinese translators understand the culture of the original Thai-language source text when translating for a foreign(Chinese)audience.Firstly,the study found that 859 culture-specific words are found in the novel.Each word was categorised according to the five types of culture-specific words proposed by Mona Baker(namely,categorized as words of ecological,religious,material,social and linguistic cultures).Secondly,according to the translation method classification framework proposed by Peter Newmark,the translation methods used to translate the various culture-specific words were analysed.Finally,a based on the above analyses,a comprehensive comparative analysis of culture-specific words in the two Chinese versions of 'Four Reigns'was conducted.The two Chinese versions of`Four Reigns' both use"free translation"as the main translation method.However,in the process of translation,different translation methods should also be applied in different situations.For some words that may only be completely understood by Thai people,translators require a deep understanding of Thai cultural customs and the Thai sense of humour.Fang Ying's translation falls short in this regard,focusing attention on accurately conveying the plot and content of the novel rather than faithful translation of the source culture.Lastly,this investigation also reveals that the translation methods applied by Qian Guang are more diversified,as a result not only successfully highlight aspects of Thai culture and assisting foreign readers to imagine scenes and events depicted in the novel.