Study on the Translation of Religious Culture in Literature

杨玉荣

【Abstract】The effect of religious culture on literature is everywhere whether in Chinese or Western countries.Therefore，the religious culture or elements in literature should be paid more attentions during the practice of Chinese to English or English to Chinese translation.The translation strategies will be discussed with examples to provide useful and meaningful references for the following researchers and practices.

【Key Words】religious culture； literature； translation

As a significant factor in literature of different nationalities， religion has been always in the literature works.Therefore，during the exporting of the literature works，it will be a necessary difficulty for the translators to do the translation of the religious culture in literature.

1.Religious Culture in the Literature

Religion has played an important role in the creations of literature works since its origin in ancient times.

It is predicted that the translation studies of the religious cultures or elements will be one of the main topics in the future.Therefore，the religious cultures or elements should be paid more attentions，which is not only the need of the inter-cultural communication，but also with great significance in the development of our own culture.

2.Translation Strategies on the Religious Culture in Literature

3.1 Reservation of the religious cultures in SL

As a way to spread the culture of a special nationality，literary works have played significant roles.It is necessary for the translator to reserve the religious cultures in SL.

Example 王夫人因说道：“你舅舅今日斋戒去了，再见罢。”（《红楼梦》第三回）

杨译本：Your uncles observing a fast today…

霍译本：Your uncle is in a retreat today…

In Buddhism，the unclean of soul is called “Zhai” while the unclean in body is called “Jie”.Therefore，ancestors would take bath，sleep without wives，eat nothing meat or drink nothing before the sacrifice ceremony or other important ceremonies to show the respect for the Buddhism，which is so-called “Zhai Jie”.Yang Xianyi translated this ceremony as “fast” to reserve the cultural elements of Buddhism，which is right and necessary.While Hawkes translated “ZhaiJie” as “retreat” with the meaning of a period of withdrawal from worldly activities for prayer and meditation.Though there is nothing related to Buddhism in the “retreat”，Hawkes translation is easy for the target readers to understand the culture.

3.2 Omission of the Religious Cultures in SL

Though it is the translators choice to make decisions on whether to reserve the religious cultures in the SL，but sometimes，it is significant for a translator to make unwilling decisions to omit or ignore the religious cultures in SL.

Example Jesus，how can you do this to her？

天哪，你怎么能这样对她呢？

This sentence is from a movie.In this sentence，the translation of “Jesus” is “天啊”.It means in this translation，the religious elements of the target language are considered because this movie is open to the public no matter educated or not.In fact，many of Chinese commonplace are not aware of Christianity，though there are many Christians holidays in China.The translation of “上帝啊”will make many of Chinese audience puzzled，so here the translation of “天哪” will be more popular among the Chinese.

3.3 Other Strategies in Translation of Religious Cultures

It is necessary，sometimes，for the translators to explain the religious cultures or elements in details when the religious cultures are not familiar to the target language readers at all but the translator himself would like to spread the religious culture.For example，the translation of “preach” is “布道” which is maybe strange phrase for most of the Chinese readers，if so，it will be better if the translator add more explanations after the translation if he aims to spread the Christians belief way.

3.Conclusions

In a matter of fact，whether for the reservation or the omission of the religious cultures or elements，there is only one aim that is to meet the need of the target language readers.And this aim should be the guideline of the translation of religious cultures or elements.

References：

[1]Chen Qinzhuang.Brief Introduction of Christianity.Beijing People Press.2004.

[2]Feng Yingjie.Analysis on the Translation Strategies of the Religious Culture of Red Mansions.Science and Technology Information.2007.

[3]Li Chang.Translation Principles for Religious Culture Elements in Literary Works.Journal of Hunan University of Science & Technology Social Science Edition.2012.

[4]Meng Pei.The Influence of Christian Culture on Romantic Literature of Modern China.Social Sciences Journal of Colleges of Shanxi.2008.