On Translation of Social Terms in Hong Lou Meng

Journal: Arts Studies and Criticism DOI: 10.32629/asc.v1i3.235

Liqun Tsao

School of Languages and Culture, Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, Shanghai 201701, China

Abstract

Translation is a bridge that leads different language speakers to understand each other. Translation of literature works, particularly those with large numbers of cultural elements, is the concern of translatology and many researchers. The Chinese classic novel Hong Lou Meng is right the case. This paper compares some cases in the address term translation in two different versions of translation, namely Yang Xianyi’s and David Hawks’, and tries to analyze them in combination with Lawrence Venuti’s theory of domestication and foreignization.

Keywords

Hong Lou Meng, address terms, translation, culture

References

[1] Cao Xueqin, Gao E. A Dream of Red Mansions. Beijing: People's Literature Publishing House; 1987.
[2] Gao Yulan. A Study of Cultural Translation from the Perspective of Deconstruction: Taking the English Version of A Dream of Red Mansions as an Example. Available from: https://kns.cnki.net/kcms/detail/detail.aspx?dbcode=CDFD&dbname=CDFD0911&filename=1011018248.nh&v=c%25mmd2BnGkRNlHwLTZhG5HZSOr8Pku1o0GTlwegJr967cIlHKE7D2ZtWvbj79aDUvtzWq
[3] Zhu Yubin. Linguistic Untranslatability and Cultural Untranslatability: A Comment on Catford’s Translatability Theory. Journal of Hefei University of Technology (Social Science Edition). 2004; 18(3): 151-153.
[4] Venuti Lawrence. The Translator’s Invisibility: A History of Translation. London and New York: Routledge; 1995.
[5] Cao Xueqin. A Dream of Red Mansions. Translated by Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang. Beijing: Foreign Language Press; 2010.
[6] Cao Xueqin. The Story of the Stone. Translated by Hawkes and Minford. London: Penguin Classics; 1973.

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