Cult Load Words EN 2

2 谢庆琳 The Analysis of the Chinese Translation of Culture-loaded Words in Russian

Cult_Load_Words_EN_2

谢庆琳 Xie Qinglin, Hunan Normal University, China

Abstract

Language is a product of culture, an integral part of it and a condition of its existence, and an important factor in the formation of cultural codes. Since the 21st century, linguistics has not only regarded language as a tool for communication and cognition,but also regarded it as a code for understanding the culture of a nation . As we all know, there are certain cultural differences among various ethnic groups influenced by factors such as geographical environment, political system, religious beliefs, living habits, moral values and aesthetic interests. These factors together contribute to the creation of culture-loaded words. The translation of culture-loaded words requires the translators to accurately and appropriately understand the beliefs, customs, aesthetics and values of the foreign culture while faithfully conveying the essence of the translated culture to the readers of the translated language to truly communicate with different cultures. The translation of culture-loaded words directly affects the understanding of readers of the translated works, and also influences the readability and literary quality of the work. The study of Chinese translation of Russian culture-loaded words from the perspective of culture-loaded words not only promotes the communication between Chinese and Russian languages, but also deepens the cultural understanding between Chinese and Russian people.

Key Words

Russian Culture-loaded Words; Translation Principles; Translation Strategies

摘要

语言是文化的产物，是文化的组成部分和存在条件，也是文化密码形成的一个重要因素。 21世纪以来，语言学积极研究一个方向，即把语言看作是了解一个民族文化的密码，而不仅仅是一个交流和认知的工具。众所周知，各民族受地理环境、政治制度、宗教信仰、生活习惯、道德价值、审美情趣等因素影响，其间存在一定的文化差异。这些因素共同促使了文化负载词的产生。文化负载词的翻译要求译者准确恰当地理解异国文化中的信仰、习俗、审美及价值观等的同时，忠实地将译语文化的精髓与灵魂传递到译语读者面前，真正做到不同文化的交流。对文化负载词的翻译会直接影响译文读者对作品的理解，也影响着作品的可读性及文学性。从文化负载词的角度来研究俄语文化负载词的中译不仅推动中俄两国语言的沟通，同时对加深中俄人民之间的文化理解也具有重要意义。

关键词

俄语文化负载词；翻译原则；翻译策略

Introduction

After the 1970s, cultural factors were gradually incorporated into the scope of linguists' studies, and cultural studies became a topic of common concern for linguists and translators (Susan Bassnett,1990). the core representative of the cultural translation concept, believes that translation is an exchange between cultures, and the reciprocity of translation should not only realize the reciprocity of language forms, but also the reciprocity of cultural functions between the original text and the translated text. Therefore, translation is not only an act of purely linguistic conversion, but also a reflection of the cultural meaning of language. Language is a means of communication of human thoughts and feelings, and it is both a carrier and an important part of culture. In the process of historical development, countries around the world have formed large or small cultural differences due to different geographical environments, political rule, religious beliefs, traditional customs, lifestyles, value orientations and aesthetic interests. These factors have together contributed to the creation of a large number of cultural-loaded words. Each language has its own cultural vocabulary with cultural color and connotation, and these words reflect the cultural values of each nation. Because they are loaded with special national cultural connotations, cultural-loaded words often constitute the focus and difficulty of translation as an act of intercultural communication, and even become a barrier to the transmission of information.

Guided by American translator and translation theorist Eugene Nida's theory of functional equivalence, this paper takes the Russian as an example to explore the cultural information carried by the cultural-loaded words in its subtitles and summarize its translation method. The translation of cultural-loaded words requires the translator to accurately and appropriately understand the beliefs, customs, aesthetics and values of the foreign culture, while faithfully transmitting the essence and soul of the translated culture to the readers of the translated language, so as to truly communicate with different cultures. The study of Chinese subtitles of Russian TV series from the perspective of cultural-load words not only promotes the communication between Chinese and Russian languages, but also has great significance in deepening the cultural understanding between Chinese and Russian people.

The paper consists of an introduction, three chapters and concluding remarks. The introductory part firstly describes the feasibility, theoretical significance and practical significance of this research, and then clarifies the novelty of this research. The first chapter briefly outlines the concept of cultural-loaded words, and classifies cultural-loaded words according to Eugene Nida's functional equivalence theory, laying the foundation for the translation study of cultural-loaded words later on. Chapter 2 discusses the translation principles and translation strategies of cultural-loaded words. The third chapter analyzes the causes of mistranslation and difficult-to-understand cultural-loaded words in Russian. The concluding remarks summarize the content of the whole text.

Culture-loaded Words

Definition of Culture-loaded Words

Culture-loaded words are also called culturally connotative words. In the language system, culture-loaded words are the vocabulary which best embody the cultural information that a language carries and they also reflect the social life.

Behind each word are deeply imprinted the cultural, geographical and historical characteristics of a society. Vocabulary is the basic element of language,and the formation of each vocabulary is inseparable from culture. It carries a large amount of "national cultural accumulation", which is cultural connotation. And through analyzing the Russian cultural-loaded words, we can know more about the Russian national culture.

Language is the carrier of culture, so cultural differences must also be reflected in language. Translation, a activity of translating different languages with different culture thus can spread over a country's culture. Among translation, translators will focus on the the cultural-loaded words that appear in the source text,because they carry most cultural meanings,as the words containing language and culture reflect the development, progress and change of the language of a country's dynasties, as well as the accumulation of various activities that are completely different from other countries (Liao, 2002). Translating social cultural terms and ecological cultural terms can truly understand the living conditions and social conditions of a country in a specific period.

Classification of Culture-loaded Words

According to Nida's classification of cultural factors, culture-loaded words are divided into five categories:

The first category is ecological culture-loaded words, which usually refer to words related to plants, animals, climate, etc. Of a specific region, for example, a small twisting path is not used in the Russian language environment, such as “羊肠小径”.

The second category is material culture-loaded words. For example, “轿子” refers to a human-powered means of transportation in feudal China, which does not exist in Western countries.

The third category is the social culture-loaded words,usually involving words of social etiquette, social identity and leisure, such as kneel three times and kowtow nine, the dragon boat festival, which are unique to Chinese culture and tradition.

The fourth category is religious culture-loaded words, which are generally words reflecting the cultural beliefs of a certain nationality, such as “八字”(horoscopes), “算命先生”(fortune-teller), and so on.

The fifth category is linguistic culture-loadde words, which reflect the different ways of speaking and habits of different ethnic groups in terms of phonetics, vocabulary, syntax and so on. For example, the name of a person, the use of idioms, and so on.

Translation Principles and Strategies of Russian Culture-loaded Words

Translation Principles of Russian Culture-loaded Words

The Principle of Faithfulness to the Original Text

Fidelity to the original text is one of the most basic principles and standards of translation. When translating culture-loaded words, two points should be clear: firstlt, we can not add some cultural meanings in the translation process based on our own conjecture. Secondly, it is impossible to attach some cultural meanings to the translation process that are not intended by the author of the original text. For example, the Russian word for rabbit (заяц) has a negative cultural symbolism and is considered to be a symbol of evil and cowardice, while In the passage of «Судьба Человека»: "… а я уже на ничьей земле между воронками петляю не хуже зайца" (李世俊，张永全等: 1999), a soldier tells how he bravely and wisely crossed the German lines. The rabbit is used here only to borrow the positive image of its quick and dexterous movements, not the cultural symbolism described above.

If we do not take into account the author's real intention and turn it into "no less than a timid rabbit", we are not being faithful to the original text, but rather making a faux pas. Therefore, this sentence should be translated as "I have reached the middle of the field, and I am not less dexterous than a rabbit in going around in the middle of the crater."

It is important to translate the cultural meaning of the culturally loaded words that are crucial or important to the understanding of the text, as it is easy to misunderstand if only the surface meaning is translated. For example, “сушить сухарь” literally means toast a thousand, but in fact it means to prepare dry food for exile on the road, and now it often refers to eating lawsuits. If there is a scene in Chinese literature where the crane is used to celebrate a long life, it must be translated into Russian with the meaning of longevity in Chinese culture, otherwise the Russians will find it inexplicable.

Contextual Principal

The meaning of words is often multi-layered and multi-faceted, and translators should judge the meaning of specific words according to the context. Therefore, context is the key to determining the true meaning of a word in a specific context and to help the translator correctly translate the original text.

The following are three situations to determine the specific meaning:

(1) Words that often have cultural meaning and represent cultural images may not have culturally loaded meaning in a certain context.

(2) The same culturally loaded word may have a different cultural meaning in a specific context. For example, the Russian word “ медведь” sometimes means "powerful" and sometimes means "heavy". Sometimes it refers to the strength of the bear, sometimes it refers to the stupidity of the bear, and sometimes it also refers to the maidenhead. Therefore, it is more important to determine the exact meaning according to the context when translating.

(3) Common words may become cultural-loaded in specific contexts. (3) Common words may become cultural-loaded words in specific contexts.

Principle of Appropriateness of Explicit and Implicit

The cultural-loaded word serves the text with its cultural meaning, so the translation should be either explicit or implicit according to the needs of the text, to keep the text simple and fluent. For example, in Russian,“кричать во всю Ивановскую” literally means "shouting at Ivan Square" because in the Tsarist era, decrees and orders were issued on Ivan Square, and people often had to shout to hear them. Therefore, it is not necessary to turn out the meaning of the cultural load when translating into foreign languages, and it can be directly translated as shouting. However, if the translator intends to introduce this historical and cultural phenomenon, it is a different story. In short, the translation of cultural-loaded words should serve the whole text, and be consistent with the context and the author's style, and the translator's purpose.

==== Translation Strategies of Russian Culture-loaded Words ====,

Translation principles are basic requirements for the translation process, the translation strategies are also necessary. In order to achieve good translation effect, translators often use such translation strategies as "direct translation (phonetic translation) plus annotation", "direct translation with free translation" and "free translation" for cultural-loaded words and so on.

Direct Translation (Phonetic Translation) plus Annotation

The direct translation mainly refers to the translation that retains the original language form completely, so that it is similar to the original text. The meaning of the translated work is similar to the original text and so as the same structure. Since this method mainly focuses on the linguistic form of the original text, sometimes the translation cannot fully and accurately express the original text.Sometimes the translation cannot fully express the original language accurately, then the translator can adopt the method of adding. In this case, the translator can adopt the method of adding notes to offset the loss of meaning brought by this translation strategy. Cultural-loaded words contain a large number of national-specific words, such as various proper nouns, historical allusions and these words have no direct counterparts in the translated language. Therefore, it is often necessary to translate them by the strategy of phonetic translation with annotation. For example, many literary works use phonetic translation of the Russian national costume “сарафан”, which is translated as "Sarah A" with a note stating that the sarafan is a traditional Russian folk dress without sleeves.

Direct Translation with Free Translation

Direct translation with paraphrase is a translation method that combines direct translation and translation with meaning, which not only translates the surface meaning of the original text word by word, but also translates the potential meaning beyond the surface meaning of the original text. For the translation of cultural-loaded words, the combination of direct translation and literal translation can better reveal their true meanings in terms of both form and content.

The Russian word "колосс на глиняных ногах" from the «Old Testament»It is about the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, who saw a giant statue of a terrible shape, whose feet were half clay and half iron, and the whole statue collapsed due to a stone that happened to hit his feet from the mountain. This dream symbolized the doomed kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar. Thus, the cultural meaning of "giant with feet of clay" refers to a country that is outwardly strong but actually weak and destined to perish. Thus, Lenin said in his speech on November 7, 1919, at the conference commemorating the second anniversary of the October Revolution: "Мы видим, что империализм, который казался таким непреодолимым колосом, казался на глазах у всех колоссом на глиняных ногах." (刘永红：2002) The whole sentence should be translated as "We see that imperialism, which looks like a giant that cannot be served, is actually a giant in the mud with a strong exterior in the eyes of everyone.

Free Translation

The free translation strategy emphasizes the meaning conveyed to the original language words in specific contexts. The first thing is to translate the meaning of the original, neither necessarily to preserve the original form, nor to achieve the same literal and structural translation as the original. The translation is suitable for the translation of the cultural load words whose cultural meaning does not play a major role in the original text, or the cultural load words whose cultural image is too remote, sometimes also subject to the limitations of the manuscript and style and use this method, a cultural load words, such as culturally significant sayings, proverbs, because for a long time Ba Jing has a conventional translation of foreign, so in the translation can also be used when the original translation method. For example, "китайская грамота" literally means "Chinese word", "Chinese character", but because of the big difference between Russian and Chinese, it is very difficult for Russians to understand Chinese characters, so here it is translated as "heavenly book, incomprehensible, inexplicable thing". “Для него это китайская грамота” translates as "He doesn't know anything about it".

The Translation Difficulties of Russian Culture-loaded Words

Translatability of Culture-loaded Words in Russian

Language is the most important tool for human communication and one of the important carriers of information. The cultural characteristics of a nation's way of thinking, concepts, and systems are bound to leave their mark on language. Vocabulary is one of the most active dimensions of language. Changes in social life, the development of national culture and other changes can be recorded through vocabulary. Culture-loaded words are those words, phrases and idioms that mark things specific to a certain culture, and these words reflect the unique way of activity of a particular people that has gradually accumulated over a long historical process and is distinct from other peoples. Although translation is a transformation of symbols in its manifestation, in its essence it is a cultural exchange activity. The difficulty of translation is not the language itself, but how to convey the cultural content of the original language. The Russian cultural load is an important external expression of Russian culture, which is difficult to find in other national languages, but this does not mean that the cultural load is untranslatable. Firstly, although the differences between languages of different nationalities are determined by their respective nationalities, the similarity of human living conditions and physiological structure determines the similarity of human thinking patterns, therefore, different nationalities have similarities in understanding and understanding things; secondly, translation activities have a long history, and there are numerous cases of translators overcoming cultural gaps and achieving successful translations in the rich translation practice, therefore, the translatability of culture- loaded words is proven by a large number of translation practices. Thus, translators can still use their dynamism in a limited space to preserve and convey the cultural elements contained in the culture-loaded words in Russian.

The difficulty of translation is not the language itself, but how to convey the cultural content of the original language. The Russian cultural load is an important external expression of Russian culture, which is difficult to find in other national languages, but this does not mean that the cultural load is untranslatable. Firstly, although the differences between languages of different nationalities are determined by their respective nationalities, the similarity of human living conditions and physiological structure determines the similarity of human thinking patterns, therefore, different nationalities have similarities in understanding and understanding things; secondly, translation activities have a long history, and there are numerous cases of translators overcoming cultural gaps and achieving successful translations in the rich translation practice, therefore, the translatability of culture- loaded words is proven by a large number of translation practices. Thus, translators can still use their dynamism in a limited space to preserve and convey the cultural elements contained in the culture-loaded words in Russian.--Luo Xi (talk) 17:14, 14 December 2021 (UTC)

Factors Affecting the Translation of Culture-loaded Words in Russian

The first is the internal factor, i.e., the internal factor of language. In his book «Language and Translation», Balhudarov divides the translation unit into six levels: phonemic level, grapheme level, word level, phrase level, sentence level, and discourse level, in an effort to make the original text and the translated text equivalent. After the 1980s, translation research has taken a new direction - the cultural theory of translation, and Susan Basnett, as one of the representatives of this school, believes that translation should take culture as the basic unit of translation, instead of resting on the previous parts of speech. The original text is the most real and objective existence in translation, and the characteristics of the translation object itself will also affect the translation, and the culture-loaded words have the characteristics of ethnicity, implication and unaccustomedness. When translating culture-loaded words, translators often encounter two bottlenecks: first, the lack of corresponding vocabulary; second, the lack of equivalent cultural meaning, that is, the same word in different cultural contexts expresses different connotations. In ancient Chinese philosophy, it is important to "look at things and take images", and under the influence of traditional Chinese thinking, Chinese tends to use concrete words to express imaginary concepts. The abstract content is expressed by the concrete image. Take the word "jianghu" as an example. "Jianghu" is another new word with changed connotation and extension, which is composed of the concepts of "river" and "lake". The word "jianghu" lacks its semantic and formal equivalents in Russian, so translators need to adopt a flexible translation approach to interpret the semantic and cultural connotations of the word "jianghu".

Second, external factors, including the translator's own body and the purpose of translation, etc. The translator is the most active factor in the translation activity, and is the doer of the whole translation activity, which must be completed by the translator. There is no shortage of excellent translators in China, most of them are concentrated in the field of English studies. Unlike the English translations of Chinese literary and artistic works, the translators of both film and television dramas and Chinese literary and theoretical works are mostly Russians. Unlike the Chinese translators' approach to Chinese culture, foreign translators, when translating, unlike the Chinese translators' approach to Chinese culture, foreign translators may have less sense of mission and enthusiasm for spreading Chinese culture when they translate from Chinese to foreign languages, and they pay more attention to the reading norms and market acceptance of contemporary readers, so they tend to adopt translation strategies such as paraphrasing and naturalizing to facilitate the understanding of readers of the translated language.

The first is the internal factor, i.e., the internal factor of language. In his book «Language and Translation», Balhudarov divides the translation unit into six levels: phonemic level, grapheme level, word level, phrase level, sentence level, and discourse level, in an effort to make the original text and the translated text equivalent. After the 1980s, translation research has taken a new direction - the cultural theory of translation, and Susan Basnett, as one of the representatives of this school, believes that translation should take culture as the basic unit of translation, instead of resting on the previous parts of speech. The original text is the most real and objective existence in translation, and the characteristics of the translation object itself will also affect the translation, and the culture-loaded words have the characteristics of ethnicity, implication and unaccustomedness. --Luo Xi (talk) 17:14, 14 December 2021 (UTC)

When translating culture-loaded words, translators often encounter two bottlenecks: first, the lack of corresponding vocabulary; second, the lack of equivalent cultural meaning, that is, the same word in different cultural contexts expresses different connotations. In ancient Chinese philosophy, it is important to "look at things and take images", and under the influence of traditional Chinese thinking, Chinese tends to use concrete words to express imaginary concepts. The abstract content is expressed by the concrete image. Take the word "jianghu" as an example. "Jianghu" is another new word with changed connotation and extension, which is composed of the concepts of "river" and "lake". The word "jianghu" lacks its semantic and formal equivalents in Russian, so translators need to adopt a flexible translation approach to interpret the semantic and cultural connotations of the word "jianghu".--Luo Xi (talk) 17:14, 14 December 2021 (UTC)

Second, external factors, including the translator's own body and the purpose of translation, etc. The translator is the most active factor in the translation activity, and is the doer of the whole translation activity, which must be completed by the translator. There is no shortage of excellent translators in China, most of them are concentrated in the field of English studies. Unlike the English translations of Chinese literary and artistic works, the translators of both film and television dramas and Chinese literary and theoretical works are mostly Russians. Unlike the Chinese translators' approach to Chinese culture, foreign translators, when translating, they may have less sense of mission and enthusiasm for spreading Chinese culture when they translate from Chinese to foreign languages, and they pay more attention to the reading norms and market acceptance of contemporary readers, so they tend to adopt translation strategies such as paraphrasing and naturalizing to facilitate the understanding of readers of the translated language.--Luo Xi (talk) 17:14, 14 December 2021 (UTC)

Conclusion

There is a growing awareness that language is just an international communication tool and is not restricted to a particular country or nation but as a neutral information medium. This paper analyzed the definition and claasification of culture-loaded words. Then we disscussed the translation principles and strategies of Russian culture-loaded words. Last it discussed the difficulties in the translation of these words, and makes a conclusion that we should use the combination of literal translation and free translation in the translation according to different circumstances.

Translation is a language communicative activity; there are a lot of words with Russian cultural features, so we cannot find the equivalent words to express the same cultural information in the target language. When translating these cultural-loaded words, it needs the help of alienation principles, achieving the conversion between language and cultural information. However, after all, the reader's understanding of Russian culture is limited, so the translator must follow the rules of Russian language and expression, taking the text type, translation factors such as purpose and audience into consideration to acquire the best translation.

To sum up, language, culture and translation are inseparable. Language is also a cultural phenomenon, while culture shapes language. Translation is a tool for exchanging different cultures and human civilizations, and therefore they are closely related. In the process of intercultural communication and translation, culturally loaded words are the main obstacle, but they reveal the cultural characteristics and social customs of a people. Accurate and faithful translation of culture-loaded words plays a crucial role in facilitating cultural exchange. Direct translation and paraphrasing are effective translation strategies to solve the problem of culture-loaded words. Direct translation can help the target language readers understand the translation more easily. It aims to make the target language readers and the source language readers empathize. However, free translation is intended to preserve the cultural style of the source language for the readers. These two approaches may seem to be opposing, but they actually complement each other. It is impossible for a translator to use one translation strategy to complete the translation task, so in translation practice as a translator, he or she should try to make a comprehensive use of the two translation methods to make the translation more relevant and evocative.

Translation is a language communicative activity; there are a lot of words with Russian cultural features, so we cannot find the equivalent words to express the same cultural information in the target language. When translating these cultural-loaded words, it needs the help of alienation principles, achieving the conversion between language and cultural information. However, after all, the reader's understanding of Russian culture is limited, so the translator must follow the rules of Russian language and expression, taking the text type, translation factors such as purpose and audience into consideration to acquire the best translation.--Luo Xi (talk) 17:14, 14 December 2021 (UTC)

To sum up, language, culture and translation are inseparable. Language is also a cultural phenomenon, while culture shapes language. Translation is a tool for exchanging different cultures and human civilizations, and therefore they are closely related. In the process of intercultural communication and translation, culturally loaded words are the main obstacle, but they reveal the cultural characteristics and social customs of a people. Accurate and faithful translation of culture-loaded words plays a crucial role in facilitating cultural exchange. Direct translation and paraphrasing are effective translation strategies to solve the problem of culture-loaded words. Direct translation can help the target language readers understand the translation more easily. It aims to make the target language readers and the source language readers empathize. However, free translation is intended to preserve the cultural style of the source language for the readers. These two approaches may seem to be opposing, but they actually complement each other. It is impossible for a translator to use one translation strategy to complete the translation task, so in translation practice as a translator, he or she should try to make a comprehensive use of the two translation methods to make the translation more relevant and evocative.--Luo Xi (talk) 17:14, 14 December 2021 (UTC)

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