A Study of the Culture-loaded Terms in Eileen Chang’s Self-translated The Golden Cangue

A Study of the Culture-loaded Terms in Eileen Chang’s Self-translated The Golden Cangue

By Wang Ruochen

In partial fulfillment of the requirement

For the B. A. degree

Department of English

School of Languages and Cultures

Nanjing University of Information Science amp; Technology

May, 2016

A Study of Culture-loaded Terms in Eileen Chang’s Self-translated The Golden Cangue

Wang Ruochen

Department of English

School of Languages and Cultures

Nanjing University of Information Science amp; Technology

Abstract: Eileen Chang’s self-translated novella The Golden Cangue epitomizes a unique translation model and offers precious materials for investigating an essential item in all translation from a new angle: the translation of culture-loaded terms. In this present thesis, the author attempts to study the strategies that Eileen Chang adopted in translating these cultural elements in her self-translated The Golden Cangue mainly based on Susan Bassnet’s cultural translation theory. Firstly, the culture-loaded terms were selected from this novella and were divided into four categories: geographic terms, religious terms, social terms and culture-blank terms; the author then came up with the principles for translating these words. The strategies that Eileen Chang applied for translating different categories of culture-loaded terms was also summarized and analyzed, so as to not only offer valuable guidance for translating literature works, but also come up with a new angle of introducing Chinese culture to the whole world.

Keywords: The Golden Cangue; Self-translation; Eileen Chang; Culture-loaded Terms; Translation Strategies; Cultural Translation Theory.

摘要

《金锁记》是张爱玲独立创作并且自己翻译的作品，其中对文化负载词的自译为研究文学翻译提供了珍贵的素材。本文基于苏珊·巴斯奈特的文化翻译观，主要关注了张爱玲在自译《金锁记》中的文化负载词采取的策略。首先，作者从《金锁记》中选取了典型案例，并将收集的文化负载词分成四大类：即地理文化负载词，宗教文化负载词，社会文化负载词及文化空白词；进而提出了翻译文化负载词需要遵循的翻译原则；本文还对张爱玲翻译文化负载词用到的翻译策略进行了归纳分析，从而为翻译文学著作提供指导性意见，并为中国文化走出国门提供了新思路。

关键词：《金锁记》；自译；张爱玲；文化负载词；翻译策略；文化翻译观

Acknowledgments

Firstly, I would like to extend my most sincere gratitude to my adviser, Dr. Li Xiaosa, who offered me constant guidance all the way to the end, helped me with the outline and gave me valuable feedbacks. Secondly, I am also thankful for those who enriched my knowledge in the past four years. It is them who make me the person I am today. I also want to thank my fellow classmates and friends. They accompanied me and always were by my side when I encountered setbacks in my life. Last but not the least, I wish to thank my parents, for teaching me such good qualities as patience and critical thinking without which I would not have been able to produce this thesis.

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 1

2.1 Brief Introduction to Eileen Chang and The Gold Cangue 1

2.2 Reception of The Golden Cangue in Western Countries 2

2.3 Cultural Translation Theory 3

2.4 Review of Previous Studies 4

2.4.1 Studies on Cultural Translation Theory 4

2.4.2 Studies on the translation of The Golden Cangue. 4

3. Synopsis of Culture-loaded Terms in The Golden Cangue 4

3.1 Definition of Culture-loaded Terms 4

3.2 Categories of Culture-loaded Terms in The Golden Cangue 5

3.2.1 Geographic Culture-loaded Terms 5

3.2.2 Religious Culture-loaded Terms 6

3.2.3 Social Culture-loaded Terms 6

3.2.4 Culture-blank Words 7

4. Principles of Translating Culture-loaded Terms 8

4.1 TL-oriented Principle 8

4.2 TL Reader-centered Principle 8

4.3 Equivalent-effect Principle 8

5. Translation Strategies for Culture-loaded Terms in The Golden Cangue 9

5.1 Translation Strategies in The Golden Cangue 9

5.2 Strategies for Translating Geographic Culture-loaded Terms 11

5.3 Strategies for Translating Religious Culture-loaded Terms 12

5.4 Strategies for Translating Social Culture-loaded Terms 13

6. Conclusions 14

References 16

1. Introduction

It is wildly accepted that language and culture are closely related to each other, and translation is closely related to them. In the past, translation used to be considered solely as a linguistic transition. In recent decades, however, more scholars and translators have realized the importance of culture in translation. Some scholars came up with cultural translation theories, the most famous one being Susan Bassnett, who stated that translation is not merely a shift among languages but also a bridge across different cultures (Bassnett, 1990: 4). Bassnett’s cultural translation theory has made great contributions to translation studies. However, cultural differences and conflicts have posed difficulties to translation. Since nearly every country has formed its own characteristics throughout its developments of social customs, religious beliefs and communicative styles, sometimes it is hard to find completely equivalent expressions in another language. Therefore, this could inevitably bring obstacles to readers from different cultural backgrounds. Thanks to cultural translation theory and functional equivalence, translators could obtain a new perspective of translation.

Eileen Chang is a talented writer as well as a great translator, and her works can enable readers to learn about life, culture and society in the modern China. As long as target readers can fully receive the same information from translated text as source readers receive from source text, then the translation text is successful. As a novella with extinct Chinese characteristics, The Golden Cangue contains lots of cultural elements that are unfamiliar to foreign readers, and that is why applying cultural translation theory and functional equivalence theory are crucial in translating these cultural terms. Only when the translators not only focus on the literal meaning but also on the culture that is hidden behind these terms could the target readers fully understand and appreciate the translated text.

1. Literature Review

2.1 Brief Introduction to Eileen Chang and The Gold Cangue

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