Translation skills of A Dream of Red Mansion in Yang Xianyi’s Version

朱婕

【摘要】《红楼梦》是中国乃至世界文学宝库中的一颗璀璨的明珠。本文回顾了“归化”和“异化”这两种翻译方法的由来， 结合杨宪益译本中对文化意象的翻译来阐述选择翻译方法的重要性。

【关键词】红楼梦 意象 归化 异化

【Abstract】A Dream of Red Mansion is among the greatest classics in the literary treasury of the world. This paper adopts foreignization as the main strategy and domestication as the supplementary.We should had a better use of foreignization rather than rejecting it without trying.Combined with Xianyis versions， we can see the translation methods are important in the translation of cultural images.

【Key words】A Dream of Red Mansion； image； Foreignization； Domestication

INTRODUCTION

A Dream of Red Mansion， written in the 18th century， is ranked among Chinese most famous novels. This paper attempts to explore the validity of the translation strategies in A Dream of Red Mansion of Yang Xianyis versions. The two main translation strategies， namely， foreignization and domestication， are briefly reviewed and Yang Xianyis main strategies for translating cultural images in A Dream of Red Mansion are exemplified and compared.

Translation strategies of Cultural Image in Yangs Version

1. Foreignization

Cultural images are widely used in A Dream of Red Mansion and of great value in literary works. Owing to the special traits of cultural images， especially discrepancy， great complexity is involved when it comes to the problem of how to deal with cultural images in A Dream of Red Mansion in translation.The main strategy is foreignization.

Foreignization is the main strategy which is used by Yang. It can better promote the cultural communication and increase target readers leaning about foreign culture.（Sun Zhi-li 2003）.

For example：

周瑞家的聽了笑道： “阿弥陀佛， 真坑死人的事儿！等十年未必都这样巧的呢。”（Chapter 7）

Ys： “Gracious Buddha！”Mrs.Chou chuckled.“How terribly chancy！You might wait for ten years without such a run of luck.”

In this example， we can see that Zhou Ruis wife uses an interjection of the cultural feature of Buddhism to express her surprise and exclamation. She uses it naturally， for Buddhism is part of Chinese culture. Yang Xianyi adopts the strategy of foreignization and translates it as“Gracious Buddha”. By doing so， Yang Xianyi can present Chinese religion to English readers and show Chinese peoples unique way of expressing surprise and exclamation. When English readers manage to learn that， the cultural communication is realized in real sense.

Besides， foreignization can produce poetic effect in the target language， and make the target language more expressive. The most important is that foreignization can add freshness and foreignness to the translated works. It is a good chance for every foreigner to learn more about Chinese traditional culture and improve the close relation between China and western countries.

2. Domestication

Foreignization is the main strategy used by Yang Xianyi. But there are many culture images that cant find equivalence in English.For example， Chinese allusions are difficult to be translated appropriately. For the allusions， we should translate them with the help of domestication.

Many idioms in the original work carry footnotes， but in most cases they had not been translated into English accordingly by Yang Xianyi， which results in the loss of the cultural background knowledge of the idiom.

With the help of foreignization， original flavors can be well kept. However， sometimes it will be difficult for foreigners to understand.

Chinese and English belong to different language systems. Between different languages， many linguistic structures could not find correspondence. As we have mentioned， Chinese idioms often have no equivalence in English.

Conclusion

In summary， foreignization and domestication are complementary to each other. The ultimate goal is to provide a perspective point on how to recognize and analyze those existing materials. The study of foreignization and domestication will make contributions to the study of a nations literature.

In terms of the translation of cultural images in A Dream of Red Mansion， foreignization has an advantage over domestication in which foreignization is conducive to resisting Western cultural hegemony， realizing cultural pluralism worldwide， promoting cultural communication between China and English nations and reproducing the unique aesthetic value of cultural images. So we should adopt foreignization as the main strategy and domestication as the supplementary. This dialectic statement has two fold meanings： On the one hand， we should regard foreignization as the main strategy； on the other hand， we can retreat tactically to the strategy of domestication in too demanding cases so as not to outsmart ourselves.