On The Translation Of Culture-loaded Words In Elegies Of The South Translated By Xu Yuanchong From The Perspective Of Skopos Theory

Under the background of globalization,the exchanges and communication between countries are becoming increasingly frequent,especially in cultural aspect.As an important part of China’s excellent traditional culture,Chinese classics are not only the essence of China’s 5,000 years of history and culture but also fully demonstrate China’s national image.So the English translation of these classics is of great significance to the implementation of the “going out” strategy of Chinese culture.However,there is a large quantity of culture-loaded words with rich Chinese cultural connotations that may cause difficulties in the process of translation to which requires the translator to pay much attention.Based on Skopos Theory of German Functionalist Translation Theory and Elegies of the South translated by Pr.Xu Yuanchong,this study selects some typical culture-loaded words in Elegies of the South as the research object.Through studying and analyzing Professor Xu’s translation methods of culture-loaded words in Elegies of the South and how he dealt with cultural vacancy,this study intends to provide some guidance and suggestions for the English translation of other classics thus to make a modest contribution to the implementation of Chinese culture “going out” strategy.This study finds: 1)Language is the carrier of culture.Translation,as the medium of communication between China and the West,is the interpretation of two different languages and,moreover,the exchanges between two different cultures.Since culture-loaded words are the words that contain rich cultural connotation in a language,the study of the translation of these words is helpful to promote cultural communications and dissemination.2)As a representative of excellent Chinese classics,the English translation of Elegies of the South is of great significance to the spread of Chinese culture.And the translation of culture-loaded words with rich cultural connotation in this classic plays a vital role in the dissemination and acceptance of it.3)Currently,there are several English versions of Elegies of the South which are mainly translated by western sinologists and Chinese translators whose translation methods are different in dealing with culture-loaded words.4)Skopos Theory holds that the end justifies the means.The purpose of English translation of Elegies of the South is to make the target audiences understand its uniquecultural connotation and feel the poet’s noble sentiment and patriotic spirit,so as to spread China’s excellent culture.5)Professor Xu argues that in the process of translating classics,especially classical poems,the equivalence is not necessarily the best.Instead,the translator should choose the best expression of the target language to reproduce the original text.The translation should be faithful,beautiful and delightful so that the translated version may appeal to the heart and mind,eyes and ears of the readers.