Abstract:
Translation of kinship terms always tends to be affected by the language itself as well as the cultural features. Thus, with the differences in kinship terms and cultural background between Chinese and English, there are certain difficulties in the English translation of Chinese kinship terms that are both various and complicated in the original work named Hong Lou-meng. This paper analyses translation strategies of kinship terms in the English version A Dream of Red Mansions by Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang on theoretical base of Peter Newmark's Correlative Theory. In kinship terms translation from Chinese to English, in regard of those Chinese kinship terms whose meaning will be possible to influence the transference of information from the original text to the target text, the translator should translate them closely by conveying every aspect of meaning contained in kinship terms, including linguistic meaning, referential meaning, pragmatic meaning as well as stylistic meaning. On the other hand, when loss of meaning is unavoidable the most influential aspect or more influential aspects of meaning to the original text should be given priority in translation. By contrast, Chinese kinship terms of which the meaning will not be possible to affect the original text to carry the information to the target text can be treated less closely. In conclusion, translating culture-loaded kinship terms, the translator should not simply achieve complete translation, but try to make clear of which kinship term contains the meaning that has an effect on conveying the message of the original text and then which aspect of meaning of kinship terms should be retained in translation. Only in this way can the target text be as close as possible to the original text.
Key words: A Dream of Red Mansions; kinship terms; Chinese-English translation; meaning; close translation
摘 要：
翻译亲属称谓往往会受到语言本身以及文化特色的作用，因此英汉亲属称谓及其文化背景的异同会对原著《红楼梦》中纷繁复杂的汉语亲属称谓的英译造成一定的困难。本文以彼得•纽马克的关联理论为基础，略论《红楼梦》杨译本中亲属称谓的翻译策略。在亲属称谓的汉译英翻译中，对其意义会作用原文信息的传达的亲属称谓，译者应进行紧贴翻译，即将其所有的意义表达出来，包括语言意义、指称意义、语用意义和文体意义，而当意义流失不可避免时，则以保留对原文而言最具作用的或更具作用的意义为重。相对地，对传达原文信息作用不大的亲属称谓无需紧贴翻译。综上所述，英语论文，在翻译文化负载词—亲属称谓时，译者应弄清哪些亲属称谓的意义会对传达原文信息造成作用以及哪方面的意义该保留，而非单纯地实现完全翻译，这样才能尽可能地使译文贴近原文。
关键词：《红楼梦》；亲属称谓；汉译英；意义；紧贴翻译
1 Introduction
Occupying a special semantic field in the language, kinship terms involve both communicative functions and cultural connotations in daily life. Nowadays, China's frequent contacts with foreign countries can hardly do without language exchange and cross-cultural communication between Chinese and English. Then numerous and complicated Chinese kinship terms, especially those in the literature, have been regarded as one of the difficulties in the translation. In such an situation, it becomes useful and significant to find a proper expression of Chinese kinship term in English. Then Hong Lou-meng as one of the four classical masterpieces in Chinese Literature fully reflects the complex and representative kinship terms in China. Besides, Yang Hsien-yi's version named A Dream of Red Mansions is considered an excellent work obeying rules of translation without losing Chinese culture flavor.
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