文化的多样性和文学作品翻译.doc

Translation of Literary Works on Diversity of Cultures Abstract：In translation of literary works，the great difficulty lies in cultural gap as well as linguistic gap. In this essay，some methods of translation are put forward according to the principles of translation，such as literal translation，free translation，literal and free translation，Translation with footnotes，using similar idioms and so on.Key Words：cultural gap diversity of cultures translation of literary works概要：文化之间的差异造成我们在文学作品翻译中很难把具有某一种文化鲜明特征的事物准确地翻译到另一种文化中去。本文通过这一难点的分析，指出在翻译尤其是文学作品翻译中的几个原则及常用的几种文学作品翻译方法，如直译，意译，直译与意译相结合，加注补义，成语或习惯用语的替代等并结合实例加以说明。关键词：文化代沟文化的多样性文学作品翻译13Introduction：Each nation has its distinctive culture which is concerned in political ideas，literature and art. science and technology，myth and legend. local conditions and customs and modes of living，etc. Different cultures have their own historical traditions with their own characteristics，and during the course of history，besides the contact of people，translation plays an important role in cultural evolution and cultural exchanges.As we know, the task of translation is to convey a culture to others with a different language，and the diversity existing in cultures and languages causes many unexpected difficulties in translation.Every language has its own characteristics，so there must be a linguistic gap between languages. According to Qian Zhongshu（钱钟书），a famous Chinese translator，the craftsman in translation of literary works is that translation of a literary work from one language to another requires one to retain the original flavor of the work as well as avoid some farfetched marks caused by linguistic gaps. So in translation cultural gap is also a great difficulty. Before early twenty century Chinese people had no idea of what is“democracy”and “democracy”was translated as “德谟克拉西”according to its pronunciation. It was after the Chinese people accepted the bourgeoisie democracy that the Chinese equivalent“民主”came up. To this extent，the linguistic gap is very similar to cultural gap and the difficulty in translation is seemingly caused by the linguistic gap，but actually it is caused by the cultural gap.In fact，there exist problems in translation apparently caused by the difference of cultures. In China，a bat is regarded as a good man，while in the west it is thought as a strange kind of creature with peculiar characters. So even though the Bat Brand Electric Fans had excellent quality，they were changed into another name in order to export them to the west. Another case is that some Chinese people often，without thinking，regard“个人主义”in Chinese as the equivalent of “individualism”in English. However，those with a little knowledge of American socioculture know clearly that “individualism”is the total sum of Americans concepts of value，and the core of the American outlook on life，and it advocates full play of individual freedom，rights and independent thinking and action. So individualism reflects the basic norm of American life and the main stream of American culture. But in China，We often emphasize the interest of the majority and the individual interest must submit to the major one. Accordingly，“个人主义”refers to the quality of those people who always think about themselves，which is not advocated by our society. So the cultural connotations of “个人主义”are different from that of individualism in American culture.Owing to the diversity of cultures，misunderstanding will appear when people from different nationalities are in communication. Professor Hu Wenzhong once made a research on the relationship between the cultural differences and foreign language teaching. He carried out a written survey among some foreign teachers and their students. Of 28 foreign teachers involved in this survey，26 teachers thought there existed a cultural gap within their students，accounting for 92%，and 97% students had the same opinion. Though Professor Hu focused it on foreign language teaching，I think this phenomenon also exists in translation. If we dont know about the differences between tow cultures，and just comprehend the source cultural information with our own cultural information，then this will result in some mistakes in understanding and expressing. In that case it will be difficult to convey the original cultural information faithfully and correctly.Hence，it is more arduous to overcome the difficulties resulting from cultural diversity than that from linguistic gap，and modern theorists in this field have realized that the great difficulty in translation lies in the diversity of the culture.Principles in Translating Literary WorksIn Lu Xuns（鲁迅，one of the most famous writer and translator in early 20 century）opinion，a translator should take consideration of two things：one is to make the rendering easier to understand，the other is to retain the flavor of the original work. And he once said：“Rather be faithful than smooth.”However，in the past days，the translation circle in China proposed that translation is supposed to give a free reign of Chinese language for the purpose of bringing into full play many Chinese expressions including abundant vocabulary，flexible sentence patterns，Various means of rhetoric and idioms. In my opinion，translators should be cautious of taking this step，especially when they are translating idioms. Proverbs，allusions and metaphors etc since they contain much cultural in formation. Otherwise，misunderstanding will arise. For example，some translators rendered“to cast pearls before swine”as Chinese version“对牛弹琴”but the true meaning of this phrase is that a person throws some pearls before a swine，but the swine attacks him，instead of showing its appreciation. In other words，it means returning evil for good which indicates no meaning of“对牛弹琴”,and they are not equivalents to each other because of their different cultural origins.So，in translation，especially in translation of literary works，rendering ought to be true to the original cultural information，with no distortions or alterations. In other words，a translator shouldnt replace the original cultural information with his own one or add some extra information，However because of cultural diversity，various cultural information maybe inevitably lost in dealing with translating，and what translators should do is to minimize the loss of the cultural information.In a word，cultural diversities cause many problems in translation，and translators are required to not only comprehend the lexical meaning of a word or an expression but also to explore its sociocultural meaning so as to make the rendering both sticking to the original culture of the literary works and easy for readers to understand.Methods Used in TranslatingTraditionally，the two major methods in translating are literal translation and free translation.I Literal TranslationSome translators hold that in the target language，we should present both the content and the form of the original（the form here refers to the metaphors，imagery and the style of the original）. Such a method called literal translation has been particularly employed by many translators of literary works. They are convinced that this is a way of being faithful to the original language text. I think literal translation can retain the original cultural information in the original text. For example，a Chinese line“懒婆娘的裹脚布又长又臭”can be rendered in literal translation as“foot-bindings of a slattern long as well as smelly.”The rendering is not only expressive of the meaning of the phrase，but also is easy to understand in context. However it may also bring some inevitable problems which are caused by diversity of cultures. For instance，Some translators render the Chinese line“上坟烧纸”as“to go to burn pieces of paper at ones grave.”It is really difficult for foreigners to understand，though this rendering completely reflects the meaning of the phrase literally. In this case，it should be translated into“to go to sacrifice at ones grave.”Another example，“It was Friday and soon theyd go out and get drunk.”is translated as“星期五发薪日到了，他们马上会出去喝得酩酊大醉。”Here，“Friday”was not just translated into“星期五”，but“星期五发薪日”，because in Britain，it is on Friday that the employees get their salary. It is necessary to add“发薪日”in it，or it must make the readers feel puzzled. Hence，we may say literal translation can sometimes reveal on cultural characteristics，but it makes some renderings difficult to understand. Free TranslationThose who are advocating“free translation”are apt to sacrifice the form of the original language for the sake of elegance and intelligibility in the target language. To some extent，free translation may make translations much more elegant and easier to understand，but it will also cause the loss of cultural information contained in the original writings. For example，“这两件事都是实的，倘若审起来，体面上须不好看，三十六计走为上计，卷卷行李，一溜烟急走到省城去了。”（吴敬梓儒林外史第五回）Rendering:“Both complaints are true，and if I have to appear in court I shall lose face. Better make myself scare He bundled some things together and fled to the provincial capital.”（Translated by the Yangs）Here the rendering seems easily understandable，but it results in the loss of the original flavor of the culture. In order to faithfully convey the original culture，its better to translate it into“of the thirty-six strategies，the best is to quit”which is also acceptable for foreign readers through reading the context.Another example，if we translate“I am a Dutchman if”in literal translation as“如果我是个荷兰人” ，I am afraid most of the Chinese readers wouldnt understand it clearly because people dont know the cultural backgrounds. As we know，though English people once admired the Dutchmen，they do not like them. If an English man is said to be like a Dutchman，he would be displeased. In this case，this sentence becomes the expression of cursing. We also know that this sentence is always used in spoken English，and the tone is not very violent. So we can translate the sentence“Then weve won? said Fleur. Unless Im a Dutchman，answered soames.”In free translation as“那么我们打赢了？芙雷说。敢保没错，索米欺回答。” Literal and Free TranslationDealing with translating，there is another useful method-literal and free translation which mixes literal translation and free translation together. The advantage of this method is that it not only provides a good way to retain the cultural information but also makes translations elegant and easily understand.E.g.“Men sent flowers，love notes，offers of fortune，And still the dreams ran not The one hundred and fifty！The one hundred and fifty！What a door of an Aladdins care it seems to be”（the Dreiser：Sister Carrie）Translation：“男人送花，送情书，送时运给她，可是她不梦幻远边。这一百五十块钱！这一百五十块钱！真象藏着神灯似的山洞为阿拉廷打开了门。”If we translate the last sentence in the above passage in literal translation and free translation respectively We may find it difficult to handle or do it naturally and faithfully，Another example.“It is true that the enemy won the battle，but theirs is but a pyrrhic victory，said the general.”“将军说：辞人确实赢得了战斗，但他们的胜利只是皮洛士的胜利，得不偿失。”In this sentence，if we just translate the phrase“pyrrhic victory”as“皮洛式的胜利”，it may puzzle the readers-what is pyrrhic victory. Here the translator added its implication to it，which makes the readers understand the rendering easily.Hence，literal and free translation is helpful to retain the original cultural information and let the readers know much more about the history，geography，cultures and customs of foreign countries，thus facilitate cultural communication. But this doesnt mean this method would be suitable anywhere. Some idioms with strong cultural colors cant be rendered in literal and free translation such as“王婆卖瓜自卖自夸”“姜太公钓鱼，愿者上钩”and so on，and some other methods may be used. Translation with Footnotes Because of cultural differences，there must exist linguistic vacancies. If so，they can be dealt with in the way of translation with footnotes. This is a useful practice we often use in translation of literary works. For example，“然后岫烟也钓着了一个，随将竿子仍旧递给探春，探春才递与宝玉。宝玉道：我是要做姜太公的。便走下石矶，坐在池边钓起来。”（红楼梦第八十一回）Rendering：“When Youyan had followed suit and returned the rod to Tanchun，She handled it to Baoyu. I am going to fish like Jiang Taigong，He announced as he walked down the stone steps and sat down by the pool，（Tr. Yang Xiangyi & Glady Yang）In this rendering，the readers may ask：“who is Jiang Taigong？”So the problem is how to make it clear for foreigners of its profound cultural connotation. The translator first used literal method to render the name directly，then he supplied a footnote：Jiang Shang of the eleventh century B.C. was said to fish by the Weishui River（present Shensi），hold a line with no book or bait，three feet above the water，and be saying at the same time：“Whoever is ordained，come and take the bait.”After introducing the cultural background，the readers may easily understand it，and meanwhile the cultural information is obtained.It is obvious that the addition of footnote is an effective way for translators to transplant cultural in formation in translating. But it must be pointed out that there should not be too much，otherwise the rendering will make the readers dull or leave no room for the readers imagination，thus prevent the readers from enjoying them. This practice is no doubt effective，but it is not the only choice in translating. To some extent，it may be only used as the last resort. Using Similar IdiomsThe method，replacing original language culture with target language culture，is usually employed in translation of idioms. Some translators consider it as a compromise between two cultures. As we know，the formation of idioms is greatly influenced by the cultural background of a nation，and it is obvious that there are differences between idioms from different cultures. But there are still many English idioms and Chinese ones with similar meanings but a different way of expressing sayings. There are some examples of using similar idioms below：胆小如鼠as timid as a rabbit舍不得孩子套不着狼An empty hand is on lure for a hawk.neither fish nor flesh非驴非马，不伦不类cry up wine and sell vinegar挂羊头卖狗肉Moreover，some Chinese idioms and English ones have not only the similar meanings but also similar metaphors. Examples：见鬼去吧go to the devil趁热打铁strike while the iron is hotAlthough this method can make renderings elegant and understandable，it may cause some loss of cultural information. So，in order to keep the cultural flavor，some translators avoid this way on purpose. Example，“They were only crying crocodile tears at the old mans funeral because nobody had really liked him.”（Longman Dictionary of English Idioms）Rendering：“在老头子的葬礼上，他们只不过挤了几滴鳄鱼的眼泪。因为在他生前，他们没有人喜欢他。”Here，“crocodile tears”is translated directly into“鳄鱼的眼泪”not“假惺惺的流泪”. It is not only acceptable by the Chinese readers，but also reflects the original culture.From all the above instances in this part，we can reach a