论《红楼梦》英译本中“红”字的翻译

论文总字数：34314字

摘 要

受文化背景，社会习俗，宗教信仰等因素的影响，不同文化对颜色的表示方法不尽相同, 而对不同的民族而言，同一种颜色的文化内涵和联想意义也不尽相同。从人物的服饰到园中四季景物，从传统习俗到俗语典故，“红色”在《红楼梦》中出现的频率很高，甚至在描写人物的外貌，心理活动方面，“红色”也起了重要的作用。如何对这些红色进行巧妙地翻译是对译者的一个巨大的考验。本课题通过对大卫·霍克斯英译本中的“红”字翻译的分析，旨在发现和总结“红”字在不同情景中的翻译方法，并探讨颜色词的文化联想意义，以及译者翻译目的对翻译方法的影响。

关键词: 颜色词；红色；文化的联想意义；翻译方法

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 1

3. Translation of Denotation of “Red” 3

3.1 Basic Color Terms of “Red” 3

3.2 Color Terms with “Red” of Objects 5

4. Translation of Connotation of “Red” 6

4.1 Showing Emotions 7

4.2 Reflecting Social Culture 9

5. Translation Strategies and Reasons for Different Strategies 12

5.1 Semantic Translation and Communicative Translation 12

5.2 Reasons for Different Translation Strategies 13

6. Conclusion 15

Works Cited 17

1. Introduction

Color can soften the physical shape and strengthen the visual power. It can also express authors’ feelings and arouse readers’ emotions. Therefore, it enjoys a high artistic and aesthetic value in literature works.

Language is the tool of human communication as well as an essential part of culture. Color terms, as a huge word group, have different origins and culture roots in English and Chinese. Thus, they are totally different in their respective expressions in terms of linguistic features and cultural connotations. Therefore, the translation of them is required not only to transfer the denotative meaning, but also to handle the connotative elements implied in them.

The novel Hong Lou Meng，one of the four Chinese classic masterpieces, is regarded as “the encyclopedia of Chinese culture literature”. It is by no means undeniable that the poetic language, especially the color term, makes great contribution to its artistic and aesthetic values. Undoubtedly, the color term “Hong” (Red), which appears 632 times in the whole works, is the core word in this novel. In the original text, “Hong” (Red) is used perfectly to depict landscapes, from the arrangement of equipments in the house to the shift of seasonal scenery in the residence, and it is also frequently used to describe the sentimental feelings and psychological movements of the characters.

The novel Hong Lou Meng is also the gem of the world literature. Its literary value is highly appraised and appreciated around the world. Its translation can be compared to a magnificent project, which inevitably involves the consideration of the denotative meaning as well as the connotative meaning of the color terms. Therefore, the study of the translation of the color term “red” is to take a glance of the difference between English and Chinese in its linguistic feature and cultural connotation.

2. Literature Review

According to Zhang Peiji, English color terms can be categorized into two general groups, namely, basic color terms and color terms with colors of objects.

Every nation has its peculiar color system, in which the number and category of colors vary as to meet the need of cognition in different social environment. For people all over the world, the colors of the rainbow are the same, but this does not necessarily follow that people speaking different languages divide the color spectrum in the same way or use terms that designate the same range of hue (Dai Weidong, 2010: 134). Based on a selection and comparison of color terms from ninety-eight languages or dialects, Brent Berlin and Paul Kay (1969) asserted that although different languages have different numbers of basic color terms, the color terms of all languages tend strongly to be made up of a set of eleven color categories, which refer to the basic color terms. Take RED for example, color terms in this color category are quite many, like red, scarlet, crimson, cardinal, pink, rubicund, florid, vermillion, cerise, and so on. In Chinese, there are also many terms referring to red, or different shades of red, like 红, 绛, 猩红, 朱红, 赤. In other words, even though languages vary somewhat in their color terminology, the variation is apparently not random. That is to say, the denotative meaning of the color terms is basically the same in every language.

In addition to the fact that different languages may have different divisions of colors; different languages provide different color associations. In other words, the same color term in different languages may be entailed with different connotations. Connotation means “the implication of a word, apart from its primary meaning” according to the Longman Modern English Dictionary. G. Leech recognized seven types of meaning in his Semantics, in which he claimed that the connotative meaning means what is communicated by virtue of what language refers to. It is easy to understand that the same color term in English and Chinese may differ in their connotative meaning due to they have different language origins.

Many domestic scholars have made the researches on the translation of the color term RED in original novel, and they have made great achievements in this field. The studies on color terms are listed as follows:

Xiao Weiqing analyzed Hawks’s translation strategies of how to translate “red” appeared in the novel (2004). Liu Li made a comparison between the associative meaning of the color word in English and Chinese from the translation of color word “red” (2009). Wen Zhen discussed the translation of “red” in Hong Lou Meng (2010). Su Dan (2007) made a tentative study on the translation strategies of color words in Hong Lou Meng. Liu Rong (2011) made the sudy on the color word Hong (Red) in the two English version of Hong Lou Meng from the perspective of skopos theory.

Most of the scholars have dealt with the comparison between English and Chinese color terms to probe into translating strategies, but failed to discuss the factors influencing translators’ translation strategies .What is more, when it comes to the categorization of color words, most of the previous studies just carry out a systematic analysis of different translation of colors in English and Chinese, but no interpretation on its roots that cause. It should be noted that cultural difference is one of the most important factors influencing color terms’ translation except translation purposes.

3. Translation of Denotation of “Red”

It can be objectively claimed that the denotation of both the basic color term of “red” and the color terms with “red” of objects are well rendered in translation since both of them can find their equivalents in two language, therefore, literal translation is the first choice. In the following sections, typical examples will illustrate this point.

3.1Basic Color Terms of “Red”

Basic color terms refer to the terms applied to describe object colors, such as white, blue, purple, brown, red, green, yellow, black, grey, pink and orange. It is easy to find their counterparts in Chinese, they are 白，蓝，紫，棕，红，绿，黄，黑，灰，粉，和橙. As Berlin et al. (1969) put it, “Basic color terms should be monolexemic and salient.” That is, the basic color terms are single words in the native language and they should be relatively frequent in general language use (Zhao Yanfang, 2002: 59). Furthermore, these color terms are typically known to most members of a particular culture.

3.1.1 “Red” with Equivalents in English

(1)红妆夜未眠，凭栏垂绛袖。(Chapter 18)

Some carmine caps that are not doffed at night. Some from the trellis trail their purple sleeves.

(2)……. 自古道：“千里姻缘一线牵”，…… 眼里只有一根红丝线把这两个人的脚绊住。(Chapter 57)

An old folk talks about “the unseen thread that binds” ……. who joins the future couples together by tying them round the ankles with a scarlet thread, and …..

(3) 早有几个人打起猩红毡帘 （chapter 58）

Servants held up the red felt portiere.

(4) 但见朱栏白石，绿树清溪。（chapter 5）

He followed her until they came to a place of marble terraces and vermillion balustrades where …

“绛”, “朱”, “猩红” are “red” category in Chinese and they frequently appear in the original text. According to Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (2003), “carmine” means “deep red in color”, and “scarlet” is “a bright red”. While “vermilion”, coming from the word “vermeil”, refers to “a very bright red color”. Rendering from Chinese into English, they are well translated into corresponding single word “carmine”, “scarlet”, and “vermillion” in terms of their denotation as well as their grammatical features.

3.1.2 “Red” in Shades

As the amount of basic color terms is limited and the color category is widely cognizable, more color terms are coined to describe complex conception colors in shade as well as mixtures of colors.

(1)黛玉换上掐金挖云红香羊皮小靴，罩了一件大红羽纱面……(Chapter 49)

While she put on a pair little red-leather boots which…… a dark-red bombazine lined with white fox-fur……

(2) 里面短短的一件水红装缎狐褶子，… (Chapter 49)

Under this she was wearing a short riding-skirt of pale-red satin damask lined with white fox belly-fur.

(3)只见他穿着半新的藕合色绫袄，青缎掐牙背心，下面水绿裙子。（chapter 46）

The maid was wearing a light purple silk tunic, none too new, a black satin sleeveless jacket with silk borders, and a pale green skirt.

Describing colors in shades needs the help of some modifiers. Such modifiers as “pale”, “light” are often added to describe a lighter shade, like “pale red” and “light purple” in the above examples, and while “deep”, “dark” for a darker shade, like “dark-red”. According to the Modern Chinese Dictionary, ‘“藕合” 同“藕荷”,浅紫而微红的颜色’, the term can describe a kind of pale purple or light red color.

3.2 Color Terms with “Red” of Objects

Color terms with colors of objects, were used simply to refer to certain objects at the beginning. Because of the distinctive color of that object, the name of the objects was endowed with additional meaning——referring to the color of that object (Zhang Peiji, 1979: 66). For example, “gold” is used to describe some bright yellow color, corresponding to the Chinese expression “金黄”; and silver is equal to 银灰，violet to 紫罗兰, ink to 墨黑 and cherry to 樱桃红. There are more color terms with colors of objects than basic color terms.

3.2.1 A Pattern of “Object Terms” Plus “Basic Color Terms”

This formula involves the combination of both object colors and the basic color of the objects and it helps to distinguish specific the color from the general. For example:

(1) 襟内露出血点红般大红裤子来。（chapter 9）

… With the flashed of blood-red trouser revealed through the side…

(2) 那林黛玉严严密密裹着一幅杏子红绫被… (chapter 21)

Daiyu lay peacefully with closed eyes, snugly wrapped in an apricot-red silk quilt…

(3)也罢了，也打了一条桃红，再打一条葱绿。（chapter 35）

All right, you make me those three them: one black, one peach-pink …

As objects with their specific colors are familiar to people, the translation versions not only retain the original meanings, but also make the obscure conception into vivid pictures perceivable in readers’ mind.

3.2.2 A Pattern of “-colored”

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