On C-E Translation Of Cultural Images In Chinese Classical Poetry Based On Frame Theory

The cultural image is a kind of cultural symbol which has been formed with the development of history,geography,customs,ethnic concepts,thinking models,etc.,and been applied repeatedly by specific cultural groups.Moreover,it is the cultural crystallization of the wisdom of ethnic groups,which has fixed features,rich associations and specific cultural connotations.As an indispensable part of Chinese classical poetry,cultural images in Chinese classical poetry play an important role in the transmission of artistic conception.Therefore,the translation of cultural images means a great deal to the cultural transmission of Chinese classical poetry.Frame Theory was first introduced to the linguistic field by Charles Fillmore in the 1970 s.It focuses on exploring how the language produced and understood on the grounds of people's cognitive process.Fillmore believes that frame is the conceptual representation of the knowledge system and the experience in human mind and it is the knowledge structure which helps people to understand and express meaning.According to Frame Theory,the cognitive process of translation is divided into three steps: the translator understands the original text and activates the frame;the translator operates the cognitive frame;the translator expresses the frame.In the cognitive process,the background knowledge is the background reference of the understanding and expression of the meaning.The cognitive manipulation concentrates on the representation of knowledge system.It means that translators conduct the cognitive manipulation to achieve the equivalence of knowledge system of the readers.Under the circumstances,readers of the target language can activate the knowledge system to gain the meaning of the translated text.Therefore,the translators' task is to explore the expression of the translated text in order to make the readers of target language gain the same cognitive frames with the readers of source language.From the perspective of Frame Theory,linguistic meaning relies on the cognitive frame,and the understanding of words is based on the cognitive frame background of words.As a result,the difference and absence of cognitive frames among cultures are the main reasons that cause the difficulties in text-understanding and text-translating.On the basis of Frame Theory,this thesis studies the translation of cultural images from a cognitive perspective.Firstly,the thesis conducts a study on the origin and development of Frame Theory,the definition and properties of frame,and the relationships between Frame Theory and translation.Then,the cultural images in Chinese classical poetry and its features are analyzed,as well as the classification of cultural images.According to the corresponding relationships between cognitive frames of Chinese cultural images and those of English cultural images,cultural images can be classified into three types: the cultural images with the same frame;the cultural images with different frames;the cultural images with non-corresponding frames.Finally,the thesis focuses on the translation strategies of cultural images.Six frame-operating strategies are proposed for the three types of cultural images: As to the cultural images with the same cognitive frame,the frame should be preserved;as to the cultural images with different cognitive frames,English frame elements should be replaced or added,and English frame levels should be adjusted;as to the cultural images with non-corresponding cognitive frames,Chinese frames should be transplanted or Chinese frame elements should be deleted.To sum up,the study on the translation of cultural images from the cognitive level will do good to resolving the problems of text-understanding and text-translation caused by the cultural differences,and to promoting the transmission of Chinese culture.