Analysis on the Translation of the Peking Opera Jargon

from the Perspective of the Skopos Theory

——A Case Study of Farewell My Concubine

By Sun Shenglan

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

June, 2017

Acknowledgments

A few months have passed since the proposal for this study was presented for approval, During this period, I’d like to show my great appreciation to those who helped me with my thesis, including my supervisor, teachers, and roommates.

Firstly, I’d like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Yang Lincong, who has been given me patient direction and guidance during the process of my writing. It is owning to her assistance to build the framework of this paper that I have faith in following the steps to continue my research.

Secondly, I really appreciate my roommates’ help and care during this long-time process. Besides, they also offered me feasible suggestions after generally reading my script.

Last but not least, I want to give my cordial thanks to everyone who has ever helped me gather relating materials and especially the electronic library in my university. Also, I’d like to thank my loving parents. It is their understanding, encouragement and support have softened my pains and triggered me to continue the tough study with confidence.

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 2

3. Peking Opera Jargon Translation Based on the Skopos Theory 3

3.1 The Skopos Theory Adopted 3

3.2 General Translation Strategies on the Peking Opera Jargon 4

3.3 Detailed Discussion of Translation Strategies Applied to Farewell My Concubine 5

3.3.1 Domestication 6

3.3.2 Foreignization 7

3.3.3 Paraphrasing 8

4. Conclusion 11

4.1 Significance 11

4.2 Limitations and suggestions 12

References 13

Analysis on the Translation of the Peking Opera Jargon

from the Perspective of the Skopos Theory

——A Case Study of Farewell My Concubine

Sun Shenglan

Department of English

School of Languages and Cultures

Nanjing University of Information Science amp; Technology

Abstract: As one of the most famous Chinese national essence, Peking Opera has the glorious history and tradition. However, it is difficult to go international. In view of the differences in language and culture between China and overseas, foreigners have no idea about Peking Opera, let alone opera jargon. Therefore, Peking Opera translation accuracy is of great significance in pushing foreigners to understand obscure essence.

This present thesis, built upon Hans Vermeer’s Skopos Theory, is going to conduct a tentative study on translation of the Peking Opera jargon, aiming at the improvement of the approaches to the accurate translation of Peking Opera jargon, and thus promoting translators to pay more attention to this area and to realize their responsibilities to spread our national culture overseas without losing its charm. Drawing on the Skopos Theory and adopting Farewell My Concubine as a case study, we are able to figure out how the translator dealt with the specific translation of Peking Opera jargon by the concrete strategies and approaches.

Key words: Skopos Theory; Peking Opera jargon; Farewell My Concubine; translation strategies

摘要：作为中国的国粹，京剧历史渊源，来源已久。然而，却很难走向国际。由于中西方语言和文化差异，西方人对京剧并没有很深的了解,更不用说京剧术语。因此，准确地翻译出京剧显得尤为重要，有利于海外观众理解晦涩难懂的国粹。

本文主要探讨了目的论角度下的京剧行话翻译研究，旨在改进京剧行话的翻译策略，并推动译者多关注该领域的翻译工作，能够意识到作为一名译者应当承担将中国国粹文化远播海外的责任。本文采取目的论和个例《霸王别姬》相结合的方法，从而进一步探索译者采取何种策略方法来处理京剧行话翻译的。

关键词:目的论；京剧行话；《霸王别姬》；翻译策略

1. Introduction

Peking Opera, the complicated and comprehensive art, inherits the inclusive cultural tradition and Chinese performing arts, which has a great impact on the Chinese social politics, culture and other fields for a long time. It began to go abroad since twentieth century. People from all over the world have been fond of it, and it seems to play an irreplaceable role in the process of East-West interaction. Hence, the accuracy of opera translation is of great significance to better introduce Chinese traditional culture to the whole world. In this paper, the research on the Peking Opera jargon is on focus.

In this thesis, Farewell My Concubine is a typical cultural work of adopting a chunk of opera arts, including Peking Opera jargon and slang, etc. It is a famous representation of Chinese culture, which won the highest award at the 46th Cannes International Film Festival in 1993. The film script adopted in this thesis is the one whose theme was that the different understandings of the relationship between the opera and life finally lead to different fates. The heroes and heroines in this film are Duan Xiaolou (acted by Zhang Fengyi), Cheng Dieyi (acted by Zhang Guorong) and Ju Xian (acted by Gong Li) respectively. Duan Xiaolou and Cheng Dieyi are both fellow apprentices in Xi Fucheng opera troupe governed by Master Guan. After a few year’s tough training, they went viral overnight especially for their excellent performance on Farewell My Concubine. Hence, they make a promise to each other that they would never stop performing this opera until they die. However, the real life has gradually changed their minds, as well as fates. Xiaolou begins to realize that life is quite different from the opera, thus he submits to cruel reality and marries a famous whole Juxian, while Dieyi sinks in the opera relationships more deeply, leading to his final tragedy.

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