从文化交流视角探究英美人名的文化内涵及其翻译对策

论文总字数：29923字

摘 要

姓名,是一种文化载体，蕴涵着极其丰富的文化内涵，英汉姓名因此存在着巨大的文化差异。姓名不仅是简单的区别于他人的符号，它同时也代表一种社会文化现象。从人名翻译的历史进程来看，人名翻译经历了一个从归化音译到异化音译再到音译。意译相结合的变化过程，他的背后有着引人深思的原因。本文结合外国人名翻译的混乱情况，分析和深刻探索成因，指出“名从主人”和“约定俗成”这两个原则对人名翻译规范解释的不充分性并提出解决方法和建议，旨在进一步规范英语国家人名翻译。

关键词：人名翻译；归化；异化；文化交流

Contents

1. Introduction………………………………………………………………1
2. Literature Review…………………………………………………………2

3.The importance of accurate translation of names in cultural communication .................…………………………………………………...3

4.The strategies for name translation

4.1 transliteration ………………………………………………...................10

4.2 Free translation ……………………………………………….................11

4.3 Name translation from domestication transliteration to alienation transliteration………………………………………………..............................12

4.4 The combination of transliteration and free translation............................................................................................................14

5.The anomie, disadvantages and Countermeasures of foreign name translation…………………………..................................................................14

6.Conclusion………………………………………………………………..16

Works Cited…………………………………………………………………...17

1. Introduction

Nnames are the symbols for individuals in society .However, a person’s name ,composed of only several simple letters, carries with it rich cultural connotations. Some Chinese distinguished writers hold that, name reflects not only the uniqueness of a particular culture, but also the knowledge which is indispensable to every citizen of a nation. Therefore, it is significant to research the cultural connotation of personal names translation. This paper, by comparing the similarities and differences between the origins of Western and Chinese names, reveals the cultural differences between Chinese and Western names.

Translating names, we should adhere to some specific principles and rules, which may affect the readers’ understandings of the original information in individual names. If we don’t master and use these principles appropriately, we may commit a blunder in the process of translation. For example, during the visit of U.S. president"s to China in 2009, Washington Post published a Keith B Richbourg’s report in the newspapers ‘Diplomatic warfare:奥巴马 or 欧巴马?’ The paper said,欧巴马 is more line with the correct pronunciation of the current president"s name in the United states. The United States Embassy believes we use “ 欧巴马”,because it is closer to pronunciation.However,Chinese media has been using 奥巴马.According to the United States Embassy spokesman Shi Wenshan introduces ,the American government has been standardizing the Chinese translation of president’s name to deal with the situation that the two translations 奥巴马and欧巴马 are mixed. We will use ‘欧巴马 ’unifiedly in the future.奥巴马 or 欧巴马?Some people think that this is not a problem, and it is just an issue of name translation. So we don’t care much about it. But the Chinese always lay emphasis on the appropriate name translation, let alone the translation of a name in relation to the top leader of the most world’s powerful country. We learn a lot from this example. Learning and researching the translation principles is important, or we would commit a blunder and be jeered by other countries.

1. Literature Review

Names are the symbols for individuals in the society. Meanwhile, they also imply the information of a nation’s culture, history, geography, religion and class condition. Names have their characteristics in different cultures. Therefore, the differences in every element of names can reflect differences of culture . The names of the various nations are a kind of culture and every name has certainly cultural connotation.

Just as Yang Xiaofeng considers, in order to know the origins of Western names, we can research the origis of names from characters in ancient mythology, typical literary image and famous trademarks.

English names were originated from the Middle Ages. Not only are they from a number of sources, but also they actually reflect all aspects of Western society and culture. In a way, we can say that English name is a window for us to know and learn Western society and culture. As we know, name involves rich cultural connotation and reflects characteristics of the splendid civilization in human history, especially the sharp trait of a given nation. In this case, it’s vital to study the culture and translation concerning names. But there are many problems in translating names. Although our country has basic rules in translating western names, this unwritten rule has actually been lack of binding and can not be complied well. Therefore, the lack standardization in western name translation has become an indisputable fact. This problem has three main reasons : the historical reason, the realistic reason and the cognitional reason. Therefore, it is important to learn how to translate the personal name correctly . At the same time, Retaining their cultural features in the translated version is a challenging problem, which is encountered by all the translators. This paper is intended to study the culture differences and the main methods of western name translation. What’s more, the thesis also points out the interpretive insufficiencies of the pronunciation of the owners’ language and the established popular translated names and puts forward several solutions. Meanwhile, the article introduces the author’s viewpoints some as follows: firstly, translators have to realize the importance of accurate translation of names in cultural communication for the purpose of translating names correctly from

the perspective of cultural differences. Secondly, translators are obliged to master some strategies for name translation, such as transliteration, which is defined as translating names according to pronunciation, and free translation: translating names in terms of their meanings. Thirdly, translators should have a knowledge of the changes of translation strategies from domestication transliteration to alienation transliteration and the combination of transliteration and free translation. These changes actually reflect the changes of social language habits and the improvement of foreign languages and, what’s more, highlight the process of contact, conflict, collision and fusion in languages and cultures between the East and the West .Last but not least, the translator should make a list of these aforementioned strategies in order to disclose the anomie, disadvantages and countermeasures of western name translation. We know that the situation of western name translation is lack of standardization, so it is necessary to standardize western name translation. Although the standard for western name translation is of great importance, the key to changing the lack of standardization situation lies in whether people take conscious actions. As long as the various organizations, media, and translators make a careful and strict check of the name translation according to the standard, and do not use non-standard western name translation, the lack of standardization of western name translation will be fundamentally improved.

3. Importance of accurate name translation in cultural communication

Since a long time , some scholars have held their view that name is independent of language. Name has originally no meanings or connotations and it is unnecessary to translate. According to the theory, Transliteration is the best translation method . In general, especially in the daily communication and the language use , a direct transliteration is employed in the Western name translation, though a person"s name may contain some cultural connotation. Name is an important part of social language ang name is also a kind of cultural carrier and embodies the characteristics of the national culture. Not only does it involve many etymological issues, classical allusions, cultural capacities and numerous variations, but also it entails history, language, psychology, religion, customs, moralities, ethics and other aspects of information in different nationalities.

4. Strategies for name translation

Now translators adhere to the pronunciation of the owners’ language and the established popular translated names principles when translating western names. According to these principles, the strategies for translating western names can be summed up as follows:

4.1 Transliteration

When it comes to western name translation, most of translators may adopt transliteration, which means that according to the pronunciation of English, name is presented by using Chinese characters which are close to Chinese phonetic alphabet. Its advantages are obvious because this method aims at retaining the original pronunciation of name. Such as common names and their translations:：Laura（劳拉）、Helen（海伦）、Taylor（泰勒）、James（詹姆斯）、Mike（迈克).If the original text embodies English letters, they are just preserved in the version. For example,J.Edger.Hoover（J·埃德加·胡佛）

In addition, the principle of the pronunciation of the owners’ language in western name translation can also fall into transliteration As we know, the written order of western names is the first name before the last one, so some western names were complete Chinesization when they were translated into Chinese. For example, Bernard Shaw, a British litterateur, is translated into萧伯纳.In fact, this translation does not conform to the characteristics of English names. When translating them into Chinese, we should arrange them in this order ecclesiastic name middle name last name .Moreover, the given name and the surname are separated by dots as the interval symbol"," such as

Michael Jackson（迈克尔·杰克逊）

However, English and Chinese are language systems.They are two completely different language systems. It is impossible to produce the version whose pronunciation is equivalent with that of the source name. equivalence. We may come across the combination of surname and given name in English which are not common in Chinese .In this case,we only translate these words with Chinese characters which are similar to in pronunciation. It may causes inaccurate and inconsistent translation.

4.2 Free translation

Owing to a kind of cultural gap between Chinese and English,there are some statements in one language. However, these statements are not in the other language. The special use of name is that people use it to express special meaning.It is especially vital to research the true meaning of these personal names and translate the inner meanings and implications of names according to the context.Its meaning has exceeded the literal meaning of name itself.These names often refer to some person or behavior.Some of these names change from the proper nouns into common nouns and even their parts of speech have changed.You can discard the specific names in the original text and translate directly the representative persons or behaviors of these names in translation.For example, “A good Jack makes a good Jill”,Jack is a common male name in English and Jill is also a common female name.So we can translate them into “夫善则妻贤”.Hamlet is a character in the Shakespeare’s plays.It has a personality,which is not good.That is hesitation.Therefore, we can translate “I am not hamlet” into “我绝不犹豫”

However,as simple as transliteration itself,due to the times changes and the development of social language,what’s more,with increasing and deepening of cultural exchanges between China and Western countries,it has experienced from domestication transliteration to alienation transliteration.And through the observation of recent popular literary works’ translation , we find that the transliteration and free translation can be combined.This combined translation method of names is becoming increasingly popular.Name, as an important part of social language, is also a kind of cultural carrier.It has a long history and rich cultural connotation.Name embodies the characteristics of the national culture.Not only it has many etymologies, classical allusions, cultural capacities and numerous variations, but also it implies the history , language, psychology, religion, customs, moralities, ethics and other aspects of the information in different nationalities.For example,the name Alexander,is from the King of Macedonia in the ancient Greek era.And David’s allusion comes from Jewish kingdom of David in the Bible.In addition ,such as Angel,Pandora and Helen,they all reflect rich social and cultural connotation in Western society.Even if the simple and common names like Black,White and Smith,they also often have their literary meanings.When they appear in literature or films, they often can reflect the author’s creative intention.We should attach much attention to name translation.

Therefore, in the translation, we can’t use transliteration to translate names so simply.In particular, we should distinguish the differences of name translation between daily communication and film works.Otherwise, it may not only ignore many important cultural information which results in loss of culture, but also lead to errors in understanding of literary works.As far as I am concerned, we should make a random combination of transliteration ,free translation,domestication and alienation translation. Then we choose proper translation methods according to the text type and application scope.

4.3 Name translation from domestication transliteration to alienation transliteration

In the early process of translation,due to closed-door policy in China of the late feudal society which results from the block of Chinese and foreign cultural exchanges,the name translation of English and other foreign countries have inevitably appeared the phenomenon of Chinese names.This period can also be referred to as the period of domestication in the translation of Western names .Chinese and English names are different.Firstly, it reflects the orders of the last name and the first name.The name constitution of Chinese people is the last name in the former and the first name in the post.Because Chinese name is on behalf of the blood, family, ancestors and groups.It can also be said as “the common name”.The name represents the individual and it is a “proper name”.The last name is in the former and the first name is in the post, which represent the last name is big and the first name is small.This is an important feature of Chinese name .What’s more ,it reflects the characteristics of the common and collective nature in Chinese traditional culture.While English name is just the opposite, the Western advocates individuals and emphasizes individuality and differences.Therefore, the proper name is in the front, and a common name is in the post.The early Sino foreign exchange process,first of all we need to deal with the problem which seems subtle but it contains the basic differences between Chinese and foreign culture.Early Chinese adopted the domestication strategy which is combined with the transliteration method when they translated foreign names.The so-called domestication strategy refers that the translator is target at the target language culture and translate closer to the target language readers and then select the translation which is in line with the culture of the target language to convey the content of the source text.

This strategy can digest culture factors in the source language and highlight the value of the target culture .Therefore,it was routine at that time that we changed the orders of foreign names and translated foreign names into Chinese names according to pronunciation. The famous foreign missionaries in late Ming and early Qing Dynasty such as Bernard Shaw（萧伯纳）,Leighton Stuart（司徒雷登）. At that time, the translation of literary works is not uncommon.As the most well-known American literary masterpiece in China (gone with the wind ) as an example,names of the hero and heroine(Scarlett O Hara and Rhett Burtler ) are undoubtedly the product of this translation strategy.People who are familiar with the normal order of name translation,may feel rather awkward to make foreign names into Chinese names directly.However, at that time, from the perspective of cultural exchanges and social ideology,it can be a historical necessity.In the translation of names in Bible, the translation of names such as the Son Jesus(耶稣), and it can also embody the characteristics of domestication translation.

In a certain extent,this kind of translation method eliminates heterogeneity and spreading resistance of the western culture and increases the sense of the cultural identity of the Chinese readers,which lays the foundation for the further western cultural exchanges.Even in the modern times, the domestication translation of Western names in Hong Kong and Taiwan still seems to have some influences.For example,some film actors Jim Carrey.

But, in general, with the continuous increase of the cultural exchanges between China and the outside world, as well as the deepening spread of Western culture,Chinese people"s theoretical thinking mode has changed significantly and the identity and acceptance of the western language and culture also begin to enhance gradually.The domestication translation is replaced by alienation transliteration.After the founding of new China and the opening reform , due to the increasingly frequent economic and cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries and the improvement of people"s foreign language level,people are familiar with the differences between Western names and Eastern names.In this case,alienation translation becomes the standard of name translation.Domestication has become alien, and the reason behind it is quite thought-provoking.

4.4 The name translation combination of transliteration and free translation

The method which translates western names according to free translation,has already appeared in fact.In ancient Buddhist scripture translation, the free translation of the name is quite common.In modern times,a famous writer Pearl Buck(Sai Zhenzhu),her name was combined with the meaning of word to create Chinese name.It can be said that the free translation of name has a long history of its roots.As is known to all, personal name is an important part of the social language,and it is also a kind of cultural carrier..Therefore, the word of name often has its literary meaning.For example, Blacksmith (铁匠) , Taylor (裁缝), Fox ( 狐狸), Snow ( 雪), B lack ( 黑) , .They all have the existence of corresponding literary meanings.. However, in daily communication and language use,we usually don’t use free translation to translate personal name.Like the name Will Smith,we often don’t translate it into “意愿 铁匠”.We translate it directly into “威尔史密斯“according to its pronunciation.But like Lily Taylor,Rose Black,they aren’t usually translated into “百合裁缝”or“黑玫瑰”.However, in some literature or film works, the situation is often not the same.Literary works reflect social reality through the description of characters,so the study of literature has always been the focus of human research.In the study of characters in literary works, the research of personal name is very important.When the writer shapes the character,he creates according to the intention of writing to describe the character more deeply and indicate the fate of character.The writer chooses name for character carefully and cautiously rather than arbitrary or come in handy.For example, the character who is disappointed and reduced to a country doctor in the novel of an American novelist Fitzgerald ,implies the destruction of the characters.And as the female character in Vanity Fair named Sharp, the personality of this woman is selfish.As well as the British writer John Bunyan"s novel the pilgrim"s progress, Faithful(忠诚), Talkative(健谈),these names directly expresses the personality of the character.

Then ,there comes a problem.Due to the cultural loss caused by the differences between Chinese and western languages, the author wants to convey the communicative intention through the names of people, such as the simple transliteration translation of the names ,which can not be realized smoothly.And the full free translation method, it will often destroy the original form and style.For example,when Mr.Wu Shiliang translated Chun Yue,personal name translation was completely dealt with free translation.Bold Talent(秉毅), Spring Moon (春月).If it is on the basis of our current translation habits, it does not seem particularly appropriate.Therefore, in order to not destroy the original language style, but also convey the original author"s communicative intention, the combination of transliteration and free translation method has become a compromise choice.

We can take some popular western novels in the market for example.In the Harry Potter,Harry Potter "s godfather, Sirius Black, was translated into “小天狼星布莱克”，which reflects the characteristics of the combination of transliteration and free translation.As we can see, with the cultural exchanges between the East and the west, the general readers" understanding and mastering of Western language are constantly improving.The single transliteration method, whether it is from the culture transmission of source information or from the target language readers’ acceptance,it can be seen its limitations.From the point view of the author"s communication, and considering the language ability and acceptance of the target language readers, the combination of transliteration and free translation has become a new trend in translation.

5.The anomie, disadvantages and Countermeasures of foreign name translation

In the recent two thousand years of translation practice,the vast number of translation workers in our country constantly sum up their translation experience,which forms the basic principles of western name translation.

We adhere to the pronunciation of the owners’ language and the established popular translated names principles when they translate western names.Although our country has the basic rules of foreign name translation , the unwritten rules in fact has been lack of binding and they can not be well observed.Then the confusion of foreign name translation has become an indisputable fact.It is a stubborn illness.For a long time,it is not standardized to translate western name in China.We have three reasons: one is the history reason, two is the realistic reason,three is the understanding reason.

1. The history reason

When we translate western name,we usually translate into Chinese according to English pronunciation.Due to the large number of Chinese Dialects,the translation of the same foreign name is different not only between Hong Kong, Taiwan and the mainland ,but also in many places in the mainland before the implementation of Putonghua.So the confusion situation of western name translation has always been existing.

(2)The realistic reason

The confusion situation of western name translation also has a realistic side. Chinese exists two phenomenons that one word with many tones and one tone with many words.In addition to the mainland, although the Chinese world use chinese , the current Chinese characters and

pronunciation is not completely unified.Generally speaking, Taiwan tends to use the Chinese surname to translate western names.The mainland try to avoid using China surname in order to show that is referred to a foreigner.Whether we adopt transliteration or free translation to translate western names,western name will be different because of the differences in understanding,especially the differences in regions.Therefore, the inconsistent phenomenon of western name translation will exist for a long time.The chaos situation of western name translation in China is difficult to cure .

(3) The understanding reason.

Although it has historical reasons and realistic reasons, the crux of the problem is the understanding.Some people think since the chaos situation of western name translation in China is difficult to eradicate in a short term,it is not necessary to consume energy to standardize and engage in unity.There has always been a kind of understanding about the translation of some names and places in our country.Name or object is independent of the existence of the language. It has no meaning or connotation and can not be translated.Naturally, there is no rule to follow name translation and there is no need to regulate.This seems reasonable, but in fact, it is wrong.

Despite we have three reasons, we have the key reason is that we are lack understanding of learning Western name translation’s disadvantages.Foreigners name translation is not standardized.It not only causes confusion,but also brings inconvenience or even a serious impact to exchange,study and research.Therefore, it is imperative to standardize the translation of foreign name.In order to completely reverse the current situation of the Western name translation in China,we should incorporate norms of foreign name translation into the national language planning, and we need to set up specialized agencies,which can be responsible for governance and formulate the corresponding standards.As long as the nation standardize and scholars pay attention to the norms of foreign name translation,it will eventually be turned into people"s conscious action and the situation of foreign name translation is bound to be a fundamental change in the following day.

6.Conclusion

In summary, Western names reflect the specific Western history and culture.For most translators, they want to translate western names appropriately.First, they need to know its constitution,naming rules and relating cultural underground.Of course, western name translation is not a simple transliteration.We should attach much importance to its cultural connotation , then combine the top and bottom to adopt a suitable translation method to translate,and finally convey the same information as the original text to translators.Although our country has the basic rules of foreign name translation , the unwritten rules in fact has been lack of binding and they can not be well observed.Then the confusion of foreign name translation has become an indisputable fact.It is a stubborn illness.In order to solve the confused situation, we should standardize the translation of personal name and promote cultural exchanges.Due to the time changes and the development of social language, what’s more is the increasing and deepening cultural exchanges between China and Western countries,transliteration has changed from domestication translation to alienation translation.According to the observation of popular literature translation, we can find the combination method of transliteration and free translation begin increasingly popular.Therefore,in the translation, we can’t use the transliteration simply to deal with name translation.In particular, we should distinguish the differences in name translation between daily communication and literature or film works.

Works Cited

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