杨氏《红楼梦》译本的文化翻译策略分析.pdf

华中科技大学硕士学位论文杨氏红楼梦译本的文化翻译策略分析姓名：于本敏申请学位级别：硕士专业：英语语言文学指导教师：王树槐2011-05-21 华 中 科 技 大 学 硕 士 学 位 论 文 华 中 科 技 大 学 硕 士 学 位 论 文 iii摘摘 要要 作为描述中国封建社会的一部经典著作， 红楼梦内容涉及到了清朝生活的方方面面。由于其高超的艺术性和文化价值，它受到了国内外广泛和持续的关注，并被翻译为多种语言。杨宪益及其夫人戴乃迭的译本被认为是最精彩的英语全译本之一。本文旨在通过定量研究方法，分析杨译红楼梦中文化因子在四个层次上的文化折射率，总结出杨氏夫妇主要运用异化策略，并从不同层次上文化折射率的对比，对杨氏及霍克斯的文化翻译策略进行了比较。 自二十世纪七十年代，翻译学中一个新的视角“文化转向”得到了越来越多的关注， 许多学者开始着眼于翻译作品中文化因素的传译。 不同国家有不同的文化，这给译者带来了不少困难。作为中国文化的一部百科全书， 红楼梦及其英译本引起了广大的兴趣。文化是多层次的，同一译作中不同文化层次上的文化折射率可能不同。通过文化折射率的分析，能够得出译者翻译策略。 作者建立了十二个双语语料库， 其中包含从 红楼梦 及其译本中挑选的例子，分别分布在四个文化层次上（包括表层文化，中层文化，深层文化，语言文化） 。通过案例分析，计算出这四个文化层次上的文化折射率，从而分析出杨氏的文化翻译策略，并将其同霍克斯的文化翻译策略进行比较。 本文总结出杨氏夫妇的文化翻译策略以异化策略为主, 并且“翻译过程中表层因子倾向于稳定，深层文化因子倾向于变化” 。通过对杨氏和霍克斯的文化翻译策略进行比较，得出杨氏译本更忠实于文本以传递中国文化，而霍克斯译本在表层文化翻译上传译异国文化，深层文化翻译上向英语倾斜的结论。 本文作者认为翻译研究应该放在更为广阔的文化背景下，通过不同文化层次的文化折射率研究文化翻译策略属于 “文化转向” 中文化视角的一个比较新颖的方法。杨氏文化翻译策略的研究及其与霍克斯译本的对比分析，对于翻译批评的研究，提高汉译英翻译水平，甚至促进中外文化交流有着重要的意义。 关键词：关键词：杨氏夫妇 文化层次 文化折射率 文化翻译策略 比较 华 中 科 技 大 学 硕 士 学 位 论 文 华 中 科 技 大 学 硕 士 学 位 论 文 iabstract hong lou meng, a classic novel about the feudal chinese society, has touched almost every cultural aspect of the qing dynasty. as a highly artistic and cultural book it has aroused wide and incessant interest both at home and abroad. it is translated into many other languages and a dream of red mansion translated by yang xianyi and gladys yang has been considered as one of the best complete english versions. based on the quantitative analysis of culture refraction index on the four cultural kinds of a dream of red mansions，this thesis aims to conclude the cultural translation strategies that the yangs have adopted. and based on the comparison of culture refraction indexes on different kinds, the differences of the cultural translation strategies of the yangs and hawkes are analyzed. since 1970s a new perspective for the study of translation“cultural turn” has drawn more and more attention and scholars began to set their eyes on the rendering of cultural elements in translation. people of different nations have formed rather different cultures which have posed many difficulties for translators in translating. as an encyclopedic novel of chinese culture, hong lou meng and its english versions have aroused wide interest. culture is composed of multiple kinds and the refraction indexes of different kinds may vary. the cultural translation strategies can be studied through the analysis of culture refraction indexes of different kinds. twelve parallel corpora are built, comprising examples on four cultural kinds (including the surface kind, the middle kind, the deep kind and the linguistic culture) which are selected from the first eighty chapters of hong lou meng and a dream of red mansions. the cultural refraction indexes of the four kinds are calculated through case-study. the yangs cultural translation strategies are drawn and compared with that of david hawkes. the author of this thesis concludes that the yangs have mainly adopted the foreignization strategy and “superficial cultural elements tend to be stable while deep 华 中 科 技 大 学 硕 士 学 位 论 文 华 中 科 技 大 学 硕 士 学 位 论 文 iielements changeable.” based on the comparison of the yangs and david hawkess cultural translation strategies, the author concludes that the yangs version, being more faithful to the original text, aims to convey the chinese culture to the english readers. hawkes conveyed the exotic surface culture to the target readers; however, he slanted towards the english language in his translation of deeper cultural kinds. the study of cultural translation strategies is an important subject under the cultural perspective in translation, and the study of cultural translation strategies through the research of culture refraction index on different kinds is a comparative new method. the author holds that the study of the yangs cultural translation strategies in a dream of red mansions and its comparison with that of hawkes are beneficial to the study of translation criticism，the improvement of chinese-to-english translation practices and even the promotion of the cultural communications between china and other countries. key words: the yangs cultural kinds culture refraction index cultural translation strategy comparison 独创性声明独创性声明 本人声明所呈交的学位论文是我个人在导师指导下进行的研究工作及取得的研究成果。尽我所知，除文中已经标明引用的内容外，本论文不包含任何其他个人或集体已经发表或撰写过的研究成果。对本文的研究做出贡献的个人和集体，均已在文中以明确方式标明。本人完全意识到本声明的法律结果由本人承担。 学位论文作者签名： 日期： 年 月 日 学位论文版权使用授权书学位论文版权使用授权书 本学位论文作者完全了解学校有关保留、使用学位论文的规定，即：学校有权保留并向国家有关部门或机构送交论文的复印件和电子版，允许论文被查阅和借阅。本人授权华中科技大学可以将本学位论文的全部或部分内容编入有关数据库进行检索，可以采用影印、缩印或扫描等复制手段保存和汇编本学位论文。 保密， 在 年解密后适用本授权书。 不保密。 （请在以上方框内打“”） 学位论文作者签名： 指导教师签名： 日期： 年 月 日 日期： 年 月 日本论文属于 华 中 科 技 大 学 硕 士 学 位 论 文 华 中 科 技 大 学 硕 士 学 位 论 文 1introduction hong lou meng，a classical work in the history of chinese even world literature，is outstanding for its brilliantly arranged structure, lyrical yet precise prose style and rich characterization. not only does it unrolls a panorama of social history of the qing dynasty as an encyclopedic novel, but also it describes the five thousand years incorporated chinese cultural heritages in a very vivid way for its readers. therefore, it is acclaimed to be the peak of chinese classical works. for its high artistic and cultural value, it aroused wide and incessant interest both at home and abroad. numerous scholars researching hong lou meng emerged and “redology” as it was called, began to become a specific academic pursuit. the novel not only has been known to the chinese people but also has enjoyed a high reputation around the world. with translations into eighteen languages, in fifty-three versions, the translation of this novel has become a splendid and distinctive landscape in the history of translating chinese literary works. in the late 1970s, about 200 years after the publication of its original version, two full english versions appeared both at home and abroad. one is the story of the stone by david hawkes and his son-in-law john minford, and the other is a dream of red mansions by yang xianyi and his british wife gladys yang. being successful, the two versions are highly praised by translators, translation theorists, and their readers. the yangs version has been considered as one of the authoritative versions and been extensively studied especially in china. due to globalization, the world enters into a state of multiculturalism. and the focus of translation studies has shifted from linguistic items to cultural factors. since 1970s cultural turn, a new perspective for the study of translation, has drawn more and more attention. scholars and theorists in the area of translation began to set their eyes on the rendering of cultural elements. different strategies were put forward and discussed. in essence, the strategies were confined to the disputes over free and literal translation. then the conflict concerning whether to adopt a foreignizing strategy or a domesticating 华 中 科 技 大 学 硕 士 学 位 论 文 华 中 科 技 大 学 硕 士 学 位 论 文 2strategy was launched. as an encyclopedic novel of chinese culture, hong lou meng and its english versions have aroused wide interest. even the modern chinese readers are unfamiliar with some cultural specifics of that period, let alone the english readers with totally different cultures. to translate the novel into another language, the translators should possess not only substantial knowledge of sinology but also superb translation skills and flexible translation strategies. the study of translation strategies used in rendering the cultural elements of this work is of great importance. domestication and foreignization are two of the strategies employed. based on the previous comments and criticism, most scholars agree that the yangs translation strategy is mainly foreignization and their version tends to be semantic translation. however, culture is composed of several kinds and in the translations the refraction degree of these kinds may vary. so it would be more precise to study cultural translation strategy by researching the cultural resemblance on each cultural kind. this thesis aims to study the yangs cultural translation strategy in a dream of red mansions by analyzing culture refraction index on four kinds, namely the surface material kind, the middle institutional kind, the deep spiritual kind and the linguistic culture. the study of the surface kind is carried out on three aspectsware, food and clothing. the cultural translation strategy on the middle kind is researched from officialdom, folk customs and terms of addressing. the deep kind comprises of religion, sex, emotion and cognitive manner. the study of the last kind is conducted from the aspects of macroscopic narrative structure and microcosmic syntactical structure. the thesis first briefly introduces hong lou meng and its influence. the second chapter is the literature review of translation studies on hong lou meng. then the theories concerning culture is reviewed, including its definition, categorization, cultural translation strategies (domestication and foreignization), and culture refraction index. the details of corpus-based and corpus-driven methodology are explained in the third chapter which gives a brief account of research questions, data-collection and methods 华 中 科 技 大 学 硕 士 学 位 论 文 华 中 科 技 大 学 硕 士 学 位 论 文 3for data-analysis. the main body of the thesis is the fourth part in which the culture refraction indexes on four kinds in a dream of red mansions is calculated through case-study. then the author concludes the yangs cultural translation strategies and compares them with that of david hawkes. the last chapter is the conclusion of main findings, implications and limitations of this thesis. the present study claims to make contribution to translation study from methodological and practical points of view. firstly, the application of quantitative analysis, specifically, corpus-based approach to investigate the yangs cultural translation strategy makes the findings more reliable. secondly, the study of different cultural kinds will shed light on the study of the translation of hong lou meng. thirdly, the collected corpus of cultural elements in yangs translation is of guiding significance to chinese-english translation practices. finally, the study of the yangs cultural translation strategies in a dream of red mansions and its comparison with that of hawkes are beneficial to the study of translation criticism and can even promote the cultural communication between china and other countries. 华 中 科 技 大 学 硕 士 学 位 论 文 华 中 科 技 大 学 硕 士 学 位 论 文 41 literature review 1.1 the translation studies of hong lou meng after its abridged and full renderings in other languages were published respectively since the 19th century, hong lou meng has become the “most widely read chinese novel in the western world” (poupard, dennis, 1984). having been translated into many other languages, it was read and studied in many other nations as well. the boom in translation helps to inspire the translation studies on hong lou meng all over the world. researchers become interested in the different translations of this great work. most translation studies of it focused on the two full english versionsa dream of red mansions by yang xianyi and his british wife gladys yang and the story of the stone by david hawkes and his son-in-law john minford. the research subjects involved the studies of translation strategies, language and discourse, literature and culture, etc. one perspective is to relate translation with culture. lin yiliang (1976) was the first scholar who made a synthetic evaluation of the story of the stone. his research was launched from the aspects of language and culture which deeply analyzed the following specific subjects: colors, editions, puns, addressing terms, tone, translated name of the novel, false translations, etc. according to he jiang (1982), a dream of red mansions by the yangs was the first full rendering done by chinese scholars. this version has been remarked as “being rather accurate”(jiang jiajun，1981). the yangs translated the novel fully and faithfully. numerous scholars, researchers, professors, postgraduate students focused on the study of this version, and lots of them make comparative study of this version and that of david hawkes. hong tao (1996, 2001) had done much research on the english version of hong lou meng, mainly a dream of red mansions by the yangs and the story of the stone by 华 中 科 技 大 学 硕 士 学 位 论 文 华 中 科 技 大 学 硕 士 学 位 论 文 5david hawkes. from the perspectives of linguistics and cultures of eastern and western countries, he studied the cross-cultural translation through case-study. he acknowledged reasonable semi-translation and made an objective comment on the gain and loss in culture transference of the two versions. liu shicong in 1997 touched upon the translation of expressions involving cultural messages. under the guidance of newmarks translation theory he made a comparative study of hawkess and the yangs translations of hong lou meng. he and gu qinan made a reasearch on the effects of different cultural translation strategies and came to the following conclusion. “in general, the yangs version belongs to the semantic translation category from the point of view of the source text, while hawkes version belongs to the communicative translation category from the point of view of target language readers. but overall, these two methods can be found in complementary application in both versions for the single adoption of any kind of strategy can not faithfully convey the culture in this novel” (liu shichong, gu qinan, 1997:19). guo jianzhong in 1998 commented that hawkess version was target language culture-oriented while the yangs version was mainly source language culture-oriented. based on the analysis of translators intentions, he concluded that hawkes intended to arouse the interest of the target readers while the yangs have endeavored to present chinese culture to english readers (guo jianzhong，1998：26). he jiamin(2001) was one of the two scholars who had made comparative studies on the five english versions of hong lou meng ( translations by joly, hawkes, the yangs, wang jizhen, mchugh and mchugh). based on the theoretical frame of nidas dynamic equivalence and benjamins literal translation and from the perspective of cultural translation, she made a comparative study of the five versions translation of customs, culture, art, names of people, and names of places in the first two chapters. she concluded that joly adopted the foreignization strategy and his version retained the style and cultural flavor of the original text in the highest degree. hawkess version was intended to be the 华 中 科 技 大 学 硕 士 学 位 论 文 华 中 科 技 大 学 硕 士 学 位 论 文 6product of dynamic equivalence and the yangs version was neither good nor bad. her view on the yangs translation strategy was different from other scholars (hong tao, 1996; liu shicong and gu qinan, 1997) who hold the view that the yangs adopted foreignization strategy. wang hongyin in 2002 studied the two versions systemic arrangements and concluded that hawkes paid more attention to provide a specially arranged and systematic version, which he believed to be very helpful for the target text readers to appreciate the whole novel. he stated that “it is generally agreed that the yangs version endeavors to transfer chinese culture whereas hawkes has a domesticating tendency. both strategies are reasonable”(wang hong-yin，2002). on october 2002, “the first national symposia on the translation of hong lou meng” was held in tianjin by nankai university and china translation editorial department. the symposia invited many famous scholars, professors, translators and radiologists; meanwhile it received letters from yang xianyi. this seminar received 50 theses and finally published a symposium named commentary on the translation of hong lou meng. according to statistics (liu shicong, 2004:3), about 100 theses were published in this emerging field which focused on specific areas such as the translation studies of the novels appellation, idioms, allusions, puns, proper names, the book name, couplets, lantern riddles, chapter headings, metaphors, poems, discourse cohesion, dialogue aesthetics, and culturally loaded words, etc. yan minmin (2005) collected 50 papers on the english translation of hong lou meng which were published on 13 journals of foreign languages from 1980 to 2003. she made a synthetic analysis from the perspective of publication time, research methods and focus. she pointed out that the focuses of these papers involved the english translations of poetry, culture, book name, personal language, epigrams, proverbs, names of chapters and person, figures of speech, lantern riddles and the translation history of hong lou meng, 华 中 科 技 大 学 硕 士 学 位 论 文 华 中 科 技 大 学 硕 士 学 位 论 文 7etc. it could be inferred that “the research subjects of the english translations of the novel is widening and certain accomplishment has been achieved” (yan minmin, 2005;67). however, at the same time she pointed out that “the range and depth of research is far from enough. besides, papers of appreciative comments enjoy a higher percentage and the research methods are comparatively monotonous” (yan minmin, 2005). jiang fan (2007) organized the histories of english translating and commenting of the novel and made a study on the image and orientation of hong lou meng in english-speaking context. zheng yuanhui (2005) made a comparative analysis of the portrait of wang xifengs image from the perspective of interpersonal function. gong yunxia and wang shuhuai（2008）made an analysis and evaluation of hawkess cultural translation strategies through the research of culture refraction index on different kinds of culture. peoples enthusiasm for the translation studies of this novel keeps increasing and the research subjects and perspectives have been widened at some degree. translation is a kind of cross-culture and cross-language communication. c