Chapter 5 Analysis on TranslationMethods of Culture-loaded Words in The Scholar

about nothing except their official connection.”

The three words “布衣”，“头巾” and “纱帽” in the examples above are all the symbolizations of social status of people in Chinese feudal society. In example (15) , “布衣”, in ancient China, refers to the common people for they usually wearing simple and coarse clothes. If it is literally translated into “coarse cloth”, which will make the target readers feel puzzled and then the cultural information gap comes into existence. Therefore, Yang renders it into “an ordinary citizen” in accordance with its connotative meaning. And in the other two examples, the words“头巾”and“纱帽” also have their specific cultural connotation. In the old days, if some people passed the prefectural examination smoothly to be scholars, they would wear headbands that were regarded as a sort of diploma. And once they passed an examination again to become the officials, those people would be given gauze caps. As a result, here “头巾” and“纱帽” both contain particular cultural backgrounds. So, the translator renders them into “a scholar” and “official connection” respectively to reconstruct their cultural connotations. According to Bassnett, if there are no exact equivalents between the original text and the target text, translators could borrow the images in the TL culture. Thus, the reception of the target reader is a very important factor for translators to take into consideration when translating.

From the examples, we can see that Yang adopts the translation of substitution to replace the SL images with other expressions with similar cultural meaning in TL in order to achieve effective transcultural communication. 5.2.3 Culture-loaded Words Related to Products

A lot of products are peculiar to a certain language community and they are always endowed with a wealth of cultural meaning by people. Here are some examples of the novel.

(18) 两公子就托陈和甫选定花烛之期。

The two brothers next asked Chen Ho-fu to fix a date for the wedding.

In original text, the word“花烛” represents a Chinese marriage custom rather than the ordinary concept of “decorated candles”. Because in ancient times, the red

candles in pair were usually used to decorate to the wedding room. In the end, “花烛” was endowed with the meaning of wedding or marriage. The translator uses the strategy of substitution and translates it into “the wedding” that is natural and understandable for target readers. This translation disposal shows the cultural connotation of the original and is in accordance with Bassnett?s translation theory as well.

(19) 新年初一日，叫他到坟前烧纸钱去，...

On New Year?s Day, he told the young man to go to the grave to burn paper money.

Here the word“纸钱” belongs to a kind of paper product used by the ancients to burn for mourning those who have passed away, especially during Tomb-sweeping Day. People expect that their deceased ancestors or relatives can use it as money and live a better life in the other world. Therefore, such a word is given specific cultural information in SL. Through the version above, we can see that the translator uses literal translation to render it into “paper money”. Although the translated is faithful to original text in the sense, the cultural element embedded in the original is not expressed. In this case, the target readers may regard it as a type of currency without any meaning. A suggested translation handling is to add footnote to “paper money”, which will give it specific cultural information for the TL reader having a complete and accurate understanding.

5.2.4 Culture-loaded Words Related to tool

(20) 取一张桌子,供奉香炉、烛台、魂幡,俱各停当。 He also set a table there with incense-burners, candle sticks and pennons to call back the spirit.

“魂幡”, during the ancient Chinese times, is a flag made up of white cloth and can be regarded as the tool to call back the spirit of the dead in funeral procession. Through the version, it is clearly seen that the translators render“魂”into “the spirit” directly and then add “pennons to call back” to supplement the cultural meaning of this Chinese word. Here the strategy of literal translation with paraphrasing effectively makes the version more acceptable and understandable for TL readers. As

a result, the translation achieves functional equivalence in target language culture smoothly.

5.3 Translation of Social Culture-loaded Words

Social culture-loaded words are the terms closely connected with the custom, history, way of life, social life, organization activities and behavioral patterns that peculiar to an ethnic group or a country. These words are distinguished by unique Chinese cultural meaning, thus they are challenges and difficulties for translators during the process of translation. In the novel, there are a great number of words associated with the aspect of social culture. Now let?s look at the following samples. 5.3.1 Culture-loaded Words Related to Ritual and Custom

The traditional Chinese ritual and custom imply profound cultural connotation and archaic ethos. Some typical samples are given below.

(21) 到了厅事, 先奠了雁, 然后拜见鲁编修。

He entered the hall with lowered head, first presented a swan and then bowed to Mr.Lu.

In this example, “奠了雁” is a type of ritual of the wedding ceremony in ancient China. It refers the etiquette that the bridegroom presents a swan as a gift when he fetches his bride. The reason for choosing a swan rather than other things is that the swan, in traditional Chinese culture, symbolizes a high degree of loyalty and fidelity between husband and wife. Here the translator adopts literal translation to render it into “present a swan” without explanation. The version will make target readers feel puzzled and cannot understand the cultural information behind the SL text. Based on Bassnett?s view, the cultural transmission is of crucial importance in translation. Therefore, a suggestion is put forward to add footnote to the version to make its cultural connotation complete.

(22) ??钱麻子的老婆两个搀亲。到晚,一乘轿子、四对灯笼火把,娶进门来。

进房撒帐,说四言八句,拜花烛,吃交杯盏,不必细说。

……Pork-marked Qian?s wife to escort the bride to the house. Towards evening the bridal chair arrived, with your pairs of lanterns and torches. The bride and groom

went to the marriage chamber, recited usual phrases, bowed before the decorated candles, drank wine together, and all the rest of it.

This sentence vividly describes the traditional Chinese marriage custom. Both“搀亲” and“拜花烛,吃交杯盏”are wedding rituals that are characteristics of typical Chinese style. Evidently, the translator adopts literal translation to render them into “escort the bride” and “bowed before the decorated candles, drank wine together” respectively. This handling not only makes the version faithful to original text at semantic level but also effectively transfers the Chinese cultural custom to target readers. So in this case, the cross-cultural communication is achieved successfully.

(23) “??后来进了学,老师送了丁祭的胙肉来,??”

“…But after he passed the prefectural examination his Patron sent him sacrificial meat …”

“丁祭的胙肉”, in ancient China, was regarded as a reward given to scholars for their academic success. Only scholars who passed the examination were qualified for such meat on a specific day and then it is deemed as great honor for scholars. Here, the translator uses literal translation and renders it into “sacrificial meat”. This handling of translation preserves the exotic flavor of original text to a large extent, but it takes foreign readers some time to completely comprehend the cultural meaning behind the words. So the same advice as example (17) is given for this cultural term.

(24) 张静斋屈指一算:“铭旌是用周学台的衔。墓志托魏朋友将就做一篇,却是用谁的名?其余殡仪、桌席、执事、吹灯,以及杂用、饮食、破土、谢风水之类,须三百多银子。

Mr.Zhang reckoned on his fingers. On the funeral banner they could use Commissioner Zhou?s name. Wei Hao-gu could write the epitaph—but whose name should they use for it? Then there would be the cost of the funeral. Feasts, musicians and all the rest, with the food, payment to the grave-diggers and geomancer, would mount up to over three hundred taels of silver.

In the example, both“铭旌”and“谢风水”refer to the conventional funeral custom of ancient China. We can see that Yang employs literal translation to render them into “the funeral banner” and “geomancer”. Meanwhile, he also takes the TL