| Before the 1980 s,the study on translation mainly focused on linguistic issues.Thus,scholars in academia have been committed to do research on how does translation faithfully and effectively convey the source language so as to guide translation practice.After the 1980 s,André Lefebvre and Susan Basnet put forward the concept and viewpoint of “cultural turn” in the collection of essays Translation,History and Culture.They believe that the broader historical and cultural perspective should be paid more attention to more than just stay at the language level.It is in this context that academia begins to attach importance to the research on translator subject with multiple dimensions.Cultural psychology holds that human psychology and behavior are determined and restricted by culture.As a human behavior,translator’s initiative,passivity,and purpose-orientation will inevitably be affected by cultural background.The gradual perfection of the theory makes it more necessary and academically meaningful to deconstruct translator’s subjectivity from the perspective of cultural psychology.With the continuous improvement of economic power of China in the world ranking,the translations of Chinese classics have been paid more attention to and also attracted great attention from academia.In the past,the study of foreign translations of Chinese classics focused more on the linguistic level of the source language,but then they started to combine theories of other different fields to interpret the translations.However,there are few studies that combine the theory of translator’s subjectivity from the perspective of cultural psychology.It is under such a situation that it is necessary to study cultural psychology of translators in the translation of Chinese classics.At the same time,it is of great meaning to further promote translation practices,improve the quality of translations,and better spread Chinese culture.As one of The Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature,Xi You Ji contains rich elements of traditional Chinese culture.Therefore,it is placed high requirement for a translator especially his cultural psychology in the translation of the classic.The thesis selects two English versions of Xi You Ji as research objects and shows that Xi You Ji translated by Chinese-American Anthony C.Yu is characterized by “faithfulness” and “comprehensive annotation”.He adopts the method based on literal translation and the strategy of foreignization.Yu gets a deep understanding and better comprehension of both traditional and classical Chinese culture that manifested in the version The Journey to the West because of his Chinese brand rooted in blood lineage and cultural experience.While the British translation scholar W.J.F Jenner tends to simplify the procession of translation especially when dealing with the special cultural information and mainly adopts the strategy of both domestication and foreignization.Although he is also a well-known sinologist and translator of Chinese literature,his translation covers many works in the field of both ancient and modern Chinese literature.However,as an Englishman,Jenner has a familiar but alienated psychological attitude toward traditional Chinese culture as well.The thesis makes a comparison between the two English versions of the same object Xi You Ji and makes an analysis of the differences between the two versions due to the different translator’s subjectivity,and explores the cultural psychology behind the differences and the reasons for the cultural psychological differences.The thesis aims to combine psychology with translator’s subjectivity and to study the influence and function of cultural psychology on the translator from the perspective of cultural psychology,and try to provide references for the practice of translating Chinese classics into English. |
