The cultural turn

The Cultural Turn

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金晓童An analysis of the causes and enlightenments of "cultural turn" in translation history from the perspective of globalization

Cult_Turn_EN_1

Abstract

The Culture Turn theorie of translation studies was initially put forword by Bassnett Susan and Andre Lefevre in 1990 in the book Translation, History and Culture: A Source book in which they affirmed that translation is not the simple transform between two languages, it goses in special cultural environment. Since then, the history of translation as a simple tool for the conversion of languages is fading away and gradually transformed into a carrier of culture. There is no doubt that there are differences among different cultures. As a “bridge”, translation plays an intermediary role in the communication between different cultures. However, in the context of globalization becoming the mainstream, the most important problem for translation in the face of cultural differences is how to deal with different cultures. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the causes of cultural turn, seek the positive and negative effects of cultural turn, and further elaborate on the enlightenment of cultural turn to all countries, especially to China, from the perspective of globalization.

Key Words

Culture Turn, causes, positives and negative effects, enlightenment

摘要

翻译研究的文化转向理论最早是由苏姗·巴斯奈特和安德烈·勒菲弗尔于1990年在《翻译、历史与文化论集》一书中提出的，他们认为翻译不是简单的两种语言之间的转换，而是在特殊的文化环境中进行的。自此，翻译单纯作为语言之间的转换工具的历史正在消逝，逐渐转变成为一种文化的载体。毋庸置疑，不同民族的文化之间具有差异性，翻译作为一座“桥梁”，起着不同文化交流的中介作用。而在全球化成为主流的大环境下，翻译在面对不同文化的差异时，最需要解决的问题就是如何对待不同的文化。因此本文旨在探究文化转向的原因，以寻求文化转向产生的积极影响和消极影响，并进一步阐述在全球化视角下文化转向给各国特别是中国所带来的启示。

关键词

文化转向，原因，积极和消极影响，启示

Title

An analysis of the causes and enlightenments of "cultural turn" in translation history from the perspective of globalization

Introduction

As a messenger of culture communication, translation plays an irreplaceable role in the process of spreading a country's culture. In human history, translation is an activity of exchange and interaction between different cultures, and culture is closely related to translation. Since the second half of the 20th century, contemporary western translation theory has undergone two turns, namely linguistic turn and cultural turn. Cultural turn makes translation studies no longer regard translation as an isolated fragment between language transformations, but examine translation in a grand cultural context. "Fidelity" is no longer the only goal translators pursue in translation, and the cultural differences between source language and target language are the focus of translators' attention. In recent years, Cultural Turn in translation studies has gradually become the focus of attention of translation researchers and cultural researchers, and more and more people pay more attention to the role of culture in translation. In the context of globalization, international exchanges are becoming more frequent and cultural exchanges among countries are gradually increasing. Cultural factors are also playing an increasingly important role in the development of translation studies. "Cultural Turn" adds a new dimension to translation studies and provides a research horizon. But at the same time, we should fully recognize the challenges posed by its limitations to the development of translation studies in the future. This paper is divided into three chapters: The first chapter briefly introduces what the "Cultural Turn" theory is; The second chapter primarily analyzes the internal and external causes of "Cultural Turn" in translation history from the internal necessity of translation itself and the external thrust of social influence. The third chapter mainly explores the positive and negative influences of the theory of cultural turn, and expounds the enlightenment brought by these influences under the background of globalization, that is, we should dialectically treat the Cultural Turn in translation, not lose the native culture in the mutual learning of cultures, and actively spread the native culture to promote the common progress of culture.

Literature review

Background of Cultural Turn

As a concept, culture first appeared in the Middle Ages of Europe and it becomes an eternal theme in the development of human beings, because culture involves all aspects of human life. However, as a discipline to study and form a systematic "cultural study" began in the 1950s. In fact, the rise and development of post-colonialism, feminism and the emergence and rapid spread of the Internet have made cultural studies necessary. In 1957, Hoggart published The Uses of Literacy, and Williams published Culture and Society 1780 － 1950 in 1958.Moreover, in 1964 The Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) was founded at the University of Birmingham. All these marked the beginning of cultural studies. Since the early 1980s, "cultural studies" has been developed rapidly in many countries, and its research scope has also been expanded, showing a multi-disciplinary development trend. The study of Western culture has gone through more than half a century，Easthope classified the study of Western culture into three stages: (1)in the 1960s，we were devoted to expanding the concept of culture and making it cover mass culture, which was called the "Culturalist Phase"; (2)in the 1970s，we paid attention to the exploration of textualism and hegemonism, which was called the "Structuralist Phase"; (3) the "post-structuralist Phase" was characterized by the establishment of cultural pluralism. It can be seen that "cultural studies" is a kind of interdisciplinary and cross-field research with a very broad content. Therefore, the "cultural turn" proposed by Basnett appeared in the 1990s. In fact, with the rise of "cultural studies", translation as a cultural activity is inevitable and has been combined with cultural studies, the real "cultural turn" in translation studies began much earlier than the 1990s.

With the development of translation studies in China, culture has gradually received attention. There are some translation theories and opinions scattered in Chinese Buddhist scriptures during the Han and Tang dynasties. Later, Lin Yutang, although Yan Fu and Zhao Yuanren have not made a systematic exposition of cultural translation, their views on translation studies are also consistent with cultural translation theory. In the contemporary time, Liu Shan is the first person to study the relationship between translation and culture as the subject. He pointed out that the accuracy and fidelity of translation depends on the reproduction of thoughts and culture reflected in another language, and stated the fact that the society at that time required translators to expand their cultural horizon. Moreover, Wang Zuoliang also realized the mutual influence between translation and culture, he emphasized that translators must understand both their own national culture and foreign culture. In the 1990s, the Cultural Turn theorie was introduced into China, and more domestic scholars stepped into the wave of cultural research. For example, Wang Bingqin's Cultural Translation studies is regarded as the beginning of China's cultural translation research, and this book laid an important foundation for the subsequent research. Liu Miqing's work of the same period, Outline of Cultural Translation, also exerted a profound influence on later studies. Yang Shizhang (2001) demonstrated in detail the interactive relationship between translation and culture from two aspects of the role of translation in cultural development and the promotion and restriction of culture on translation. Xu Jun (2002) pointed out that there were problems in Chinese translation studies, such as stressing technology over meaning, language over culture, etc. So he proposed to promote the establishment of cultural translation view. These scholars' active discussion on the relationship between translation and culture and its extension undoubtedly laid a solid foundation for the subsequent translation studies from the cultural perspective. In recent years, although it has been widely acknowledged that the western cultural turn is of great significance to translation studies, the theory of cultural turn tends to be far away from ontological studies, so that some scholars call for translation studies to return to ontology. The debate on cultural turn in translation studies has aroused the constant thinking and exploration of domestic scholars.

Throughout the western and Chinese translation studies, it can be found that the theories and practices related to cultural translation in foreign countries have a long history, starting from the 1960s to the early 1970s. Until the 1980s, the relevant research theory content gradually enriched. In the 1990s, because of the “Cultural Turn” theorie, western researchers paid more attention to cultural and social contexts in translation studies. Cultural consciousness in western translation studies has been more complete. The research on cultural translation in China began in the 1980s. Although it was a little later than that in western world, it caught up with the pace very fast, so that cultural translation has rapidly become an important part of the field of translation studies in China. Since the 1990s, some researchers did systematical research on cultural translation studies. However, although the theory is not that well developed, the achievements of domestic cultural translation studies are still improving.

李爱璇Cultural Turn in Film and Television Subtitle Translation：a Case Study of Empresses in the Palace

Cult_Turn_EN_2

Abstract

The Culture Turn is a term in the field of translation studies which means that translation studies should not only focus on language, but also carry out their own discussion in a broader historical and cultural perspective. Film and television have always played an important role in the communication and exchange of national cultures. The audiovisual subtitle translation even plays a more critical role. In the previous studies, there are a few studies on subtitle translation strategies, but few scholars explore Empresses in the Palace, a classic Chinese TV drama, from the perspective of Cultural Turn. In this thesis, the author aims to do some research on the translation strategies in audiovisual subtitle translation based on “Cultural Turn”, in order to explore how cultural turn affects audiovisual subtitle translation, and provide a new perspective for later scholars or subtitle translators.

Key Words

Culture Turn; subtitle translation; Empresses in the Palace; translation strategy

摘要

文化转向是翻译研究领域的一个术语，它意味着翻译研究不仅应该关注语言，而且应该从更广阔的历史和文化视角进行探讨。影视在民族文化的传播和交流中一直发挥着重要作用。影视字幕翻译甚至起着更为关键的作用。在以往的研究中，关于字幕翻译策略的研究并不少，但很少有学者从文化转向的角度来探讨中国经典电视剧《甄嬛传》。本文旨在研究基于“文化转向”的影视字幕翻译中的翻译策略，以探讨文化转向对影视字幕翻译的影响，并为后来的学者或字幕译者提供一个新的视角。

关键词

文化转向；字幕翻译；《甄嬛传》；翻译策略

Title

Cultural Turn in Film and Television Subtitle Translation：a Case Study of Empresses in the Palace

Introduction

Backgroud of the Study

Throughout the translation studies in the 20th century, there are many schools. Each school competes with and affects each other one after another, which makes translation studies flourish in recent decades and establish its status as an independent discipline. As the publication of Translation, History and Cultural written by Susan Bassnett and André Lefevere, Culture Turn appeared in people's vision in 1990. The translation view of Cultural Turn has brought a new vision and breakthrough to the translation studies, which has been bound by linguistics for a long time.

Significance and Objectives of the Study

As an effective mass media in the context of globalization, film and television works, with their unique artistic charm and rich cultural carrier, have promoted the cultural communication and exchange between various countries and cultures, and become a powerful tool to strengthen their own cultural characteristics and cross-cultural communication. With the deepening of cultural exchanges among countries, the study of subtitle translation of film and television works has increasingly highlighted its important significance of the times. In this context of cultural output, how to integrate Chinese culture into the external translation of film and television works has become an important aspect of cultural communication. Cultural differences lead to different understanding of culture, so there are higher requirements for the translation of works. The emergence of “cultural turn” has brought a new wind to the translation circle, provided new ideas for the development of translation methods, and provided a new research field to the translation circle.

Study Methods

Peter Newmark, a British translation theorist, is a famous and important figure in the field of translation. He deeply studies the translation thoughts and theories of various schools, has his own unique views on translation, and his discussion on translation theory is incisive and unique. semantic translation and communicative translation are not only the core of Newmark's translation theory, but also the most important part of Newmark’s translation theory. Semantic translation refers to expressing the overall meaning of the original text as accurately as possible within the scope allowed by the semantics and language structure of the target language. Semantic translation is more considered by the original author, trying to ensure that the original author’s unique language expression will not be changed. Semantic translation strives to be accurate and objective, and pays attention to the original author and source language. Therefore, in the process of semantic translation, the text will be interpreted only when there is an objection to the understanding of the original text. However, semantic translation will not ignore readers’ reading feelings and understand that the main purpose of the translation is to convey information to readers. Although semantic translation is closer to the language form of the source language, it will still strive to make the translation closer to the reader. Therefore, semantic translation pays more attention to reproducing the thinking process of the original author’s writing. While communicative translation pays more attention to language effect, and strives to make the language effect of the target language on the target readers equal to that of the source language on the original readers as far as possible. Compared with semantic translation, communicative translation is more subjective. Because communicative translation pays more attention to the transmission of language information and the production of language effect, it only pays attention to the reading feeling of the target readers. Communicative translation strives not to cause any reading obstacles and questions to the target readers. Therefore, the translator can also modify the source text appropriately when considering the target language environment and respecting the source text.

Literature Review

On Culture Turn

In the 1950s and 1960s, the linguistic view of translation dominated translation studies, and translation was regarded as the transformation between different languages. Those scholars try to use linguistic theories (such as semantics, semiotics, pragmatics, etc.) to construct the discipline theory of translation studies. Their representatives are Jakobson, Catford, Nida and Newmark. However, this linguistic view of translation cannot solve the social, cultural, and historical problems well encountered in translation, and translation is affected by the differences of different cultures in ways of thinking and emotional expression. Since the 1960s, some scholars in Europe, especially in Britain, have successively published some articles and Monographs on studying the class system and reexamining the cultural connotation, which marks the rise of culturology. In the 1970s, scholars represented by Even-Zohar put forward the polysystem theory. This school believes that "literary works are an integral part of the overall framework of society, culture, literature and history" and "the isolated research of a single text is placed in the multi system of culture and literature". This view has broken through the traditional view of linguistic translation and can be regarded as the bud of cultural turn, although it still does not completely get rid of the shackles of linguistics. Later, Lambert and robyns thought that translation was "less as an interactive process and more as an internal activity". Later, the academic conference held in Belgium marked the establishment of translation as an independent discipline. Bassnett and Lefevere inherited and developed the polysystem theory and formally put forward the “cultural turn” in translation studies in their book Translation, History, and Culture in 1990. The Cultural School of translation breaks through the linguistic school, which focuses on the comparison and transformation between different languages, and connects translation with society, history, and culture. The “cultural turn” of the cultural school turns the paradigm of translation studies from the pure language level to the translation activities that explore the interaction and restriction of cultural level and various factors, outlines the framework of translation studies, and provides a new research paradigm for translation studies. The cultural turn in translation studies is neither a theory nor a school, but an ideological trend. It refers to the gradual shift from translation studies to cultural studies, that is, to study how culture affects and manipulates the translator, the translation process, and the translated text, and how translation affects the target language culture.

李文璇 Research on Translation of Expressions with Chinese Characteristics from the Perspective of Culture Turn Theory --Based on the Case Study of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China Ⅲ

Cult_Turn_EN_3

Abstract

Based on the culture turn theory, this article studied the C-E translation of expressions with Chinese characteristics from Xi Jinping: The Governance of China Ⅲ. Therefore, the author wanted to analyze some effective ways for translating the expressions with Chinese characteristics, exploring the translation trend in the future, thus spreading Chinese culture and enlarging the influence of China.

Key Words：Culture turn theory; Expressions with Chinese characteristics; Translation.

摘要

本文在文化转向的视角下，分析《习近平谈治国理政》（第三卷）中国特色用语的英译处理方式，期望从中能总结出英译中国特色用语的有效方法，探讨中国特色用语的翻译方法及注意事项，从译本、从而更好传播中国文化、扩大中国影响力。

关键词：文化转向；中国特色用语；翻译

Title

Research on Translation of Expressions with Chinese Characteristics from the Perspective of Culture Turn Theory --Based on the Case Study of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China Ⅲ

Introduction

With the Reform and Opening-up and the enhancement of China’s strength, the international status of China has been improving significantly. In recent years, with going-global strategy and bringing-in strategy, China has been opening up widely and cooperated with other countries towards a shared future. Under this background, Chinese culture is an important part for China to communicate and cooperate with other countries. What’s more, Chinese Socialism in the New Era has attracted worldwide attention, as the academic circles are paying attention to the translation of expressions with Chinese characteristics in foreign publicity translation, especially for those political articles.

Expressions with Chinese characteristics refer to terms and expressions that have the characteristics of Chinese language and culture and that embody the unique things and phenomena in China. In recent years, more and more scholars have studied the English translation of expressions with Chinese characteristics, most of them use German Functionalist Translation Theory, especially Katharina Reiss’s text typology and Vermeer’s Skopos theory. I choose culture turn theory, for the reason that translating these expressions not only should pay attention to the current situation, but also should study in the broad history scope. So, I choose communicative translation theory and I will explore and analyze texts under the guidance of this theory, hoping to provide a new direction for the study of English translation of expressions with Chinese characteristics.

Xi Jinping: The Governance of China Ⅲ contains a complication of 92 of Xi Jinping’s spoken and written works from October 18, 2017 to January 13, 2020. It is a series of articles put forward by Xi Jinping with many original ideas drawn from his experiences in the governance of China in the new era. In this book, there are many expressions with Chinese Characteristics, whose C-E translations are vital for the transmission of Chinese culture. Additionally, the third volume, published in 2020, is one of the latest materials for studying Chinese Socialism in the new era.

By learning the English version of some political writings and watching some videos on the Internet, I’m interested in the translation of expressions with Chinese characteristics. Also, I have learned a lot about Xi Jinping’s thought, which contains useful knowledge for the governance of China. As an English major, by studying the translation of expressions with Chinese characteristics, I can consolidate and deepen my understanding of professional theories and knowledge. Moreover, by studying and practicing different cultural corpora, my intercultural communication ability can get progress.

Literature Overview

Domestic scholars have made a lot of explorations on the English translation of terms with Chinese characteristics. There are two characteristics as a whole: first, some scholars summarized the appropriate translation strategies and methods by studying the English translation of current political terms and legal terms with Chinese characteristics, which are selected from the English versions of newspapers, political papers and other texts. Second, under the guidance of particular translation theory, scholars analyzed and studied the English translation of Chinese vocabulary and current political terms selected from the speeches of Chinese leaders and other text in various aspects. For example, most scholars studied the English translation of terms with Chinese characteristics from the perspective of Skopos Theory and explored appropriate English translation strategies.

As far as the domestic research status is concerned, there are still some deficiencies in the research of expressions with Chinese characteristics. First, the theory is relatively unitary. Most scholars use German Functionalist Translation Theory, especially Katharina Reiss’s text typology and Vermeer’s Skopos theory. Secondly, the research sample is limited. Most of the scholars talk about political and economic terms, while there is little research on the translation of classical culture terms with Chinese characteristics. The research on translation methods and strategies of political and economic terms is of little use for the whole translation of expressions with Chinese characteristics. Third, the research on “words with Chinese characteristics” is more than that of “expressions with Chinese characteristics”. When consulting references (June 9, 2021), we can find that there are 69 articles about “expressions with Chinese characteristics” and 484 about “words with Chinese characteristics”. It can be seen that most scholars have done a lot of research on the English translation of words with Chinese characteristics. We should pay more attention to the English translation of expressions with Chinese characteristics, and seek the best way to tell Chinese stories.

Brief Introduction to Culture Turn Theory

The cultural turn theory in translation research is to pay attention to the influence of various elements in the process of translation, the influence of the translator's own culture on the original text, and the study of the image of the original text in the context of the translated version. When concepts are transferred from one language to another, meaning is not so much “transformed”, it is better to say that it has been “recreated” in the regional environment of the latter. The main contents of Susan Bassnett’s cultural translation view include: translation should take culture as the unit, not stay on the previous text; Translation is not only a simple decoding and recoding process, but also an act of communication; Translation should not be limited to the description of the original text, but lies in the functional equivalence of the text in the target language culture; Different historical periods have different translation principles and norms, but these principles and norms are ultimately to meet different needs. Translation is to meet the needs of culture and different groups in a certain culture.

Bassnett explicitly introduced the concept of culture into translation studies and proposed that the essence of literary translation is cultural translation. In literary translation, we should not only pay attention to the transformation and expression of text, semantics, rhetoric and style, but also consider the cultural differences between the source language and the target language, as well as the translator's position in translation.

The cultural turn theory studies translation from the perspective of translator’s subjectivity and target culture. It mainly aims at the cultural conflict in translation, solves the untranslatable problem in translation to some extent, awakens the cultural consciousness of the translation community, widens the research field of translation and adds a new dimension to translation research.

Brief Introduction of the Expressions with Chinese Characteristics and Xi Jinping: the Governance of China Ⅲ

Introduction of the Expressions with Chinese Characteristics

Expressions with Chinese characteristics refer to the unique language expression forms of Chinese, which have the characteristics of Chinese language and culture, and reflect the national conditions and policies of China. Expressions with Chinese characteristics include some political and economic terms, idioms, poems, four-character phrases and expressions with distinctively Chinese national culture, which reflect the national policies, people’s life, culture and their values at that time. Expressions with Chinese characteristic are a unique language phenomenon in Chinese language and culture. In fact, it is highlighted in the process of cultural communication between China and foreign countries. These terms have rich cultural connotations and more distinctive political text features.

According to the different stylistic features, the expressions with Chinese characteristics are divided into several categories, including political and economic terminology, literary quotations, four-character expressions and idioms and rhetoric expressions.

Political and economic terminology refers to the strategic principles reflecting China’s national conditions and terms with Chinese cultural characteristics. They contain many expressions about our Party’s policies, national interests, political propositions, territorial sovereignty, etc. To a certain extent, they represent the code of conduct and guiding plan issued by the state and the government in an authoritative and standardized way. There are many expressions in political and economic terminology with Chinese characteristics, such as phrases with symmetrical form and structure, abbreviations of numbers, new expressions issued by the government, expressions with communication effect, repetition and so on.

Literary quotations mainly refer to ancient Chinese poetry and prose with rich cultural connotation. Literary quotations can describe something in a concise and vivid way, and they are rhythmic. The content is often a high degree of refinement and generalization of life, creating a beautiful artistic conception with rich imagination and association. The characters are vivid; the language rhythm is clear and harmonious.

Four-character expressions and idioms have a certain structure form and contain connotations. They often appear as a whole in sentences, such as subject, object, attribute and so on. The vast majority of four-character expressions and idioms have been used since ancient times. The usage of these expressions is often different from modern Chinese. They contain rich allusions and are frequently quoted in the state leaders’ speeches. Idioms are simple, profound, philosophical and easy to understand. They are stereotyped sentences, often with exhortation or educational significance. As one of the essences of national language and culture, they have rich cultural connotations. In persuasive speeches, these expressions can prove or summarize opinions, and most of them are created by the people and widely spread. They are colloquial, popular.

Rhetoric expressions refer to the sentences which are involved with the use of language skills, rules, ways or methods, such as pun, metaphor, personification, metonymy, exaggeration, contrast, etc. In political works, the use of rhetorical devices makes the text of the works more beautiful, more persuasive. The features of expressions with Chinese Characteristic are as following: first, these expressions contain full of social-cultural implication and have richer features of the times. Second, there are no direct translation or equivalent translation of such expressions in English, which means that they are uniquely Chinese. Third, these expressions are concise and popular, which raise great discussion and appreciation after publication. Fourth, the range of expressions with Chinese characteristics is large, covering sectors such as politics, economy, culture, history, society and people’s daily life.

Introduction of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China Ⅲ

Xi Jinping: The Governance of China Ⅲ contains a complication of 92 of Xi Jinping’s spoken and written works from October 18, 2017 to January 13, 2020, along with 41 photographs. It is divided into 19 sections by topic, with the articles in each section arranged in chronological order. For ease of reading, notes are to be found at the end of relevant articles.

Xi Jinping: The Governance of China Ⅲ vividly recorded the process that since the 19th CPC National Congress, guided by the thought that is remaining true to the Party’s original aspiration and founding mission, the CPC Central committee, with Xi Jinping as its core, has fully considered the overall goal of national rejuvenation and the international situation in a context of change at a level unseen in a century, and has coordinated efforts on the great struggle, the great project, the great cause and the great dream. The third volume recorded the great practice which the CPC Central Committee, leads the whole party and whole country to make great progress in all fields of things, which shows the latest achievements of localization of Marxism in China. It has also contributed a Chinese perspective and Chinese ideas to promote the establishment of a global community of a shared future, and it is an authoritative book that reflects the Xi Jinping’s Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics.

The publication of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China Ⅲ has helped officials and the public to understand and apply Xi Jinping’s Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and to strengthen their commitment to the Four Consciousnesses, the Four-sphere Confidence and the Two Upholds, and to fight for the final victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and also to help the international community gain a full appreciation of the thought and the reasons for the success of the CPC, Marxism and Chinese Socialism. As for the stylistic features of the English Version, the book contains a complication of 92 of Xi Jinping’s spoken and written works, which all belongs to the political writing.

First of all, the principles of the political writing are faithfulness, accuracy, clarity and completeness, which means that the political writing should have formal and standard use of language in terms of vocabulary. Political writings focus on the logical clarity and precise reasoning, and should avoid ambiguity and vague expressions.

Second, political writings mainly reflect the condition and development of our country, and are highly sensitive. When translating, they should not only be rigorous and faithful to the original text, but also represent the sovereignty and position of our country, and strive to convey the views and attitudes of our government completely and accurately.

Third, the English version should accurately explain the essence of the original text, and it should conform to the expression habits of the English language. The translated text should conform to the using habits of the target language English, which can make it easier for foreigners to understand.

黄锦云The “Culture Turn”of the Chinese Traditional Translation Theory

Cult_Turn_EN_4

Abstract

“Culture turn”was generally thought to be put forward by Bassnett and Lefevere (1990) in 1990. As important representatives of cultural approach in translation studies, Bassnett and Lefevere attached great importance to the role of culture in translation, the social background, the influence that cultural tradition imposed on translation, the subjectivity of translators and researching shift from linguistic to culture, thus improving the literariness of translated texts.This paper will present a brief introduction of the culture turn of the Chinese translational theory.One hundred years before the“cultural turn”of Chinese traditional translation theory could be found. In the late Ming and early Qing, Chinese scholars paid close attention to the urgency of translation and aimed to overtake the west in science and tech- nology through translation. During May 4th Movement and the Republic of China Period，translation was regarded as a powerful tool to reform the social culture and promote social changes at that time.

Key Words

Culture Turn, Traditional Chinese Translation Theory

Title

The “Culture Turn”of the Chinese Traditional Translation Theory

ⅠIntroduction

The culture turn of translation studies was initially put forward by Bassnett and Lefevere (1990) cultural approach in 1990. As important representatives of cultural approach in translation studies, Bassnett and Lefevere attached great importance to the role of culture in translation, the social background, the influence that cultural tradition imposed on translation, the subjectivity of translators and researching shift from linguistic to culture, thus improving the literariness of translated texts. Throughout the traditional Chinese translation, the Buddha translators have discussed the transfomation of languages, like the importance of “text” and “quality”. And in the late Ming translation, Chinese traditional translation has entered the beginning of the cultural transition——jump out of the traditional translation comparison, pay more attention to the translation of material selection, translation of the macro cultural level of translation issues. The“cultural turn”of Chinese traditional translation theory was over 100 years earlier than that of the western translation studies．This paper will present a brief introduction of the cultural turn of traditional Chinese translation theory.

Ⅱ“Culture Turn”in late Ming and Qing Dynasty

In the late Ming Dynasty, Chinese translators represented by Xu Guangqi, Li algae and Yang Yanjun were the first to transfer translation from the religious field to the natural science. They also jumped out of the linguistics category of source and destination language comparison and directly introduced traditional Chinese translation to the social and cultural background of the attention of translation and cultural school. The traditional scholar-officials represented by them tried to make Chinese technology catch up with the world's advanced level through translation, which reflects their national development consciousness with translation as a tool to achieve the world. In the process of translating the book together with the missionaries, they clearly discussed the purpose and social functions of translation, and controlled the translation materials mainly based on scientific and technological translation at that time, which was the function of social reform of translation emphasized by the Western school of culture in the translation society. At that time, the translation theory mainly focused on the purpose of translation, its functions in the society, and the selection of translation materials.As early as the early 17th century, Xu Guangqi proposed that his translation thought that "only through translation can 'understand' (learn and master), and only 'pass' can" super "win" (surpass and win)."Li Zhizao also put forward his translation thought is" like it for daily use ", in order to" officials govern people's livelihood, Yin suffers its shortcomings ".This is the accurate positioning of the social function of translation in the translation society. As for the selection of translations, Xu Guangqi suggested to the Chongzhen emperor that "ten things look like an urgent instrument" and "ten things bypass the degree".In fact, after ten things, I want to continue to introduce ten branches of Western astronomy and calculation of books, namely meteorology, geography, music, military engineering, accounting, civil engineering, machinery, map, medicine and clock.The above discussion shows that they have a clear explanation of what they translate. These “scholar-officials” in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties discussed their translation ideas on the urgent and urgent external problems of translation, and the work of the society and what kind of books of translation.If using the view of Lefville, the western school of culture, these "scholar-officials" were the patrons of the translation activities at the time. As the feudal rulers of that time, their ideology at that time was to maintain and consolidate the feudal rule of that time, so that Chinese technology could lag behind the West.They have begun to worry about China's weakness and try to engage in the "practical study of benefiting the country and the people" through translation, which reflects the sense of national development that strengthens the world.These problems are precisely the influence of translation research emphasized by the Western cultural school that should focus on the translation on the translation society.However, at this time, the "scholar-officials" as translators mainly focused on their knowledge in order to maintain Chinese feudal rule.The number of translators is small, the focus of translation is narrow, and the cultural shift of translation is not obvious.

李姗 Study of the Culture Turn Phenomena in the translation of A Dream in Red Mansions

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黄逸妍A Study on Translation Strategies of English Translation of LI Bai's Poems from the Perspective of Cultural Turn -- Based on XU Yuanzhong's Translation

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Key Words

Cultural Turn, Translation Strategies, LI Bai's Poems

Title

A Study on Translation Strategies of English Translation of LI Bai's Poems from the Perspective of Cultural Turn -- Based on XU Yuanzhong's Translation

Introduction

This chapter introduces the background, purpose, approach, significance of the study and the structure of this paper.

1.1 Background In a long time, translation studies have been conducted in terms of comparative linguistics, comparative literature and cultural study. (WANG Ning, 2009) Traditional translation studies have always been dominated by language-centrism mode. With the belief that translation is just a conversion between two languages, the translators have to be faithful to the original text and express the meaning in the target language in a fluent and elaborate way. However, as the effects of globalization spread continuously, more attention is paid to the cultural aspect of translation. Susan Bassnett put forward the concept of “cultural turn” in 1990 and believed that translation shouldn’t be confined to transfer of language but incorporate the cultural factor as a whole.(Susan Bassnett, 1990)

In 2016, President Xi pointed out that, in the final analysis, we are supposed to be boost our confidence in our culture when we talk about strengthening our confidence in the path, theory and system. Later he also emphasized the importance of “’telling Chinese stories well”. Translation studies on Chinese culture from the perspective cultural turn will help show the elegance and meanwhile promote the spread of Chinese culture. And ancient poetry of the Tang Dynasty can be a good representative. 1.2 Research Objective This research collects translation materials from Selected Poems of Li Bai translated by XU Yuanchong, one of the most famous translators in China. Under the instruction of cultural turn theory, this study aims at figuring out the effects of different translation strategies. The research also explores the practical implication by analyzing XU’s application of translation strategies and thus help us express our culture better.

1.3 Research Method The researcher reads the book Selected Poems of Li Bai. In this process, the researcher writes down the translation containing the employment of translation strategy which is a result of cultural difference.

Descriptive qualitative analysis method refers to a way to study a thing by describing the attributes of the thing and focusing on the features of the thing. This method is employed in describing and analyzing the effects from using different strategies.

1.4 Research Significance As far as practical significance is concerned, this study serves to provide an appreciation on XU’s translation of LI Bai’s poems from the perspective of cultural turn. What’s more important, it also supplies some implication to the translators about expressing, translating and spreading our Chinese culture to the world. Therefore, to some degree, this study will contribute to the spreading, expanding and enriching of Chinese culture.

As for the significance in theory, on the one hand, this study verifies the analytical potential of cultural theory and the value of this theory employed in translation.

1.5 Thesis Structure The first chapter offers a comprehensible presentation of the background, purposes, analyzing methods, arrangement of this study. In Chapter 2, the current state of research on the pertinent subject is demonstrated.Chapter 5 is a comprehensive concluding part that presents the major findings of chapter 3 and 4. This part also points out the limitations and suggestions for further study on this subject.

Literature Review

This part presents the results of other researchers’ studies on the subject at home and abroad.

2.1 Studies Abroad Since the 1960s, traditional aesthetic and linguistic method in translation studies have been doubted while translation study in cultural aspect has developed. The “cultural turn” began with the focus on culture by the cultural school. And the study of cultural school can be roughly divided into the stage of culturalism in the 1960s, the structuralism in the 1970s and the post-structuralism.The culturalism expanded the meaning of culture and changes it from elite culture to mass culture. Structuralism turned to discuss the relationship between text and hegemony and the post-structuralism focuses on cultural diversity.

In 1990, Bassnett wrote in collaboration with Lefevere and put forward the concept of “cultural turn”officially in their book. Later, both of them published monographs and collected papers to further illustrate their ideas about cultural turn. Andre Lefevere regarded translation as a form of writing.(Andre Lefevere, 1992:9) And in the book Translation, Rewriting and the Manipulating of Literary Fame, Lefevere tried to demonstrate how rewriting including influences the acceptance and canonization progress of literary works. In his later book, Lefevere pointed out the four elements of translation studies, namely, ideology, poetics, universe of discourse and language.(Andre Lefevere, 1992:87) In Susan Bassnett’s opinion, Translators should carry out translation in a specific cultural context and should never translate in isolation from cultural background.(Susan Bassnett, 2004) The aim of translation was to make readers from two or more cultural backgrounds communicate while the exchange of information should take second place.(Susan Bassnett, 2004) According to this book, Bassnett believed that different translation methods and strategies should be adopted when it comes to different cultural context. For example, when the original text is descriptive or technological,the translator ought to employ literal translation.(Susan Bassnett, 2004) As for the standard of translation, Bassnett argued that there is no single criterion for translation evaluation. When evaluating we are supposed to judge the translation according to whether it can meet the needs of service object.(Susan Bassnett, 2004)

2.2 Studies At Home In China, the study of cultural translation started relatively late. In 1984, WANG Zuoliang published a paper entitled Cultural Comparison in Translation which initiated the study of cultural translation study in China. On he whole, the topics of theses are no longer limited to the interpretation of literary works and the research perspectives are increasingly diversified, which shows the deepening and systematic study in this field.(SUN Yu, 2017:13) In 2006, ZENG pointed out that the cultural turn tends to break away from the ontological study of traditional translation view. In fact, the cultural school has not developed a universal translation theory to describe the translation process reasonably. He argued that cultural turn is only an important aspect and should not be the whole of translation studies. With the reflection of cultural turn, it is necessary to make clear the task of translation studies, update the concept of translation studies and promote the construction of translation studies. XIE has contributed to the update of cultural turn theory in China.In 2012, he introduced the notion “Translation is always a sort of creative treason” put forward by French sociologist Robert Escarpit and he illustrated the significance and value of this notion,based on his analysis of the relevant theories and the theoretical connotations of the notion.(XIE Tianzheng, 2012:1)

Part of the articles analyzed the relationship between cultural translation and promotion of Chinese culture going out. HU Anjiang analyzed the hardships and acceptance of spread of Chinese culture overseas. He pointed out two issues that the translator tended to ignore, that is, principles of translation pattern selection and strategies of rational choice.

References

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