Cult Load Words EN 11

Chapter 11:On the Translation of Culture-loaded Words in Lao Can You Ji from the Perspective of Cultural Schema Theory 从文化图式理论看《老残游记》中文化负载词的英译

高蜜 Gao Mi, Hunan Normal University, China

摘要

在中华文化“走出去”的战略背景下，传播好优秀的中国传统文学作品是当今译者面临的重要任务。我国文学作品富含诸多文化负载词，反映我国社会的精神面貌，独具中国意味。如何把汉语文化负载词巧妙地传递到译文中去，是文学作品外译必须关注的问题。

《老残游记》是清末晚期四大谴责小说之一，以老残的视角揭露了清末中社会中种种黑暗现实，其中蕴含着各类文化负载词。《老残游记》有多个英译本，其中哈罗德的译本最受欢迎。哈罗德译序中提到希望传播中国文化，他在翻译时直译为主，大量加注，方便译文读者了解中国文化，有利于中华文化的传播。本文将以哈罗德的译本为研究对象，根据图式理论探究哈罗德在三种图式情况下，即图式契合、图式相异和图式空缺的情况下，翻译各类文化负载词是所采取的的翻译策略。这些翻译方法，或是激活了他们在本文化中已习得的文化图式，或是对原有文化图式进行了一定程度的调整，或是以新建图式的方式来使译入语读者更好地理解译文，指的注意的是，这些新图式的创建中所提供的文化信息总是能激活译文读者的某些文化图式信息，使得新创建的文化图式发挥作用。

Abstract

In the context of the strategy of "going global" for Chinese culture, the dissemination of fine traditional Chinese literature is an important task for translators today. Chinese literary works are rich in culture-loaded words, reflecting the spiritual outlook of our society and having a unique Chinese meaning. How to subtly convey the Chinese cultural load words into the translation is an issue that must be paid attention to in the translation of literary works.

Lao Can You Ji is one of the four major satire novels of the late Qing Dynasty. It exposes the dark reality of society in the late Qing Dynasty from the perspective of Lao Can and contains various culture-loaded words. Of several translation versions, The Travels of Lao Ts’an translated by Harold stands out as the most popular one in English-speaking countries. The preface to Harold's translation mentions his intention to spread Chinese culture, and his translation is a predominantly literal translation with extensive notes to facilitate the understanding of Chinese culture by target readers, which is conducive to the spread of Chinese culture. This paper will take Harold's translation as the object of study and explore the translation strategies adopted by him in translating various types of culture-loaded words from cultural schema theory, namely, words with corresponding cultural schema, divergent cultural schema, and vacant cultural schema. These translations either activate the cultural schemas they have acquired in their own culture, or adapt the original cultural schemas to some extent, or create new schemas in order to make the translation better understood by the readers of the source language. It’s worth noting that the cultural information provided in these newly created schemas always activates some cultural schema information in the target readers so that they could successfully come into play.

Key words

Lao Can You Ji; Cultural Schema Theory; Culture-loaded Words;

Introduction

Introduction to Lao Can You Ji and its Translated Versions

Lao Can You Ji is one of the masterpieces of fiction produced at the turn of the 20th century, during the closing years of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), the last imperial period in Chinese history. Like other important novels written in that era of national crisis and cataclysmic transition from the old empire to the new republic, Lao Can You Ji is characterized by a grave concern with the perilous condition of the China of that day and its future fate and captures “the emerging modern society of China in all its complexity, diversity and uncertainty.”

As one of the masterpieces in Chinese classics, Lao Can You Ji enjoys a high position in the domestic and overseas academic circle. It was introduced to western readers as early as 1929 when the famous sinologist Arthur Waley first translated two of this novel into English and gave the title The Singing Girl. In 1936, Lin Yutang translated the sixth chapter of the novel into English with the title A Nun of Taishan and it was published by Commercial Printing Press. In 1947, the Yangs translated it into English with the initial tile Mr. Derelict first published at home and soon published in London in 1948. Later this title was changed into The Travels of Lao Can that was chosen as one of Panda Books aiming to introduce Chinese culture to the western world in the1980s. in 1939, Harold Shadick finished the translation of Lao Can You Ji, and his version is entitled The Travels of Lao Ts’an. In 1952, this version was published in New York and was the most integrated version. (Shadick, 2005:3)

Research Significance and Objectives

Lao Can You Ji is abundant with culture-loaded words, reflecting the quintessence of Chinese culture that should be introduced and disseminated abroad. Cultural schema theory, as a new theory deriving from schema theory, centers on culture and provides new insights into the studies of translating culture-loaded words. in this thesis, the author attempts to analyze the translation of culture-loaded words in The Travels of Lao Ts’an by Harold Shadick from the perspective of cultural schema theory. Through a detailed case study, the author tries to verify the explanatory power and feasibility of cultural schema theory in the translation of culture-loaded words. Besides, this paper points out that translators should be keenly aware of vultures, continuously enrich their schema knowledge of cultures in order to further Chinese culture transmission and make more excellent Chinese literary works known in the world.

Literature Review

In this chapter, an overview is to be given to previous studies on cultural schema theory and on culture-loaded words respectively.

Previous Studies on the Translation of Culture-loaded words

Cultural schema theory is the knowledge structure about culture existing in people’s minds. Throughout the researches on cultural schema theory, it has found application in a number of fields including philosophy, cognitive psychology, intercultural communication and reading comprehension, etc.

First of all, a large number of studies on the topic of cultural schema and teaching have been conducted. Rice (1980) explores the function of cultural schema in the process of stories comprehension. Yang Yang (2008) holds that “cultural schema affects students’ usage of reader-based processing and text-based processing in reading”. Xiang Qin (2017) discusses the application of cultural schema theory in listening teaching and reveals that the activation of students’ cultural schema can improve their listening comprehension.

Besides, cultural schema theory is also applied to the field of intercultural communication. Ningbo and Tang Degen (2008) reveals that related cultural schemata can be created. Meanwhile, host and guest cultural schemata can be organically integrated during intercultural communication. Peng yunpeng (2011) elaborates the relationship between cultural schemata and intercultural communication and states that the adjustment and creation of cultural schema are conducive to intercultural communication. Nishida (2014) explicates the function of cultural schema. At the same time, nine crucial axioms are generated when cultural schema theory is applied to cross-cultural adaption.

As far as translation is concerned, both foreign and domestic researchers have proposed their opinions. In his Translation and Translating: Theory and Practice, Bell (1991) highlights the role played by the schema in cognition and introduces schema into translation studies. Researchers in China share a common belief that the focus of studies in the cultural schema is analyzing the comprehension process of language learners, especially in receptive language skills. In recent years, there have been frequent attempts to explore cultural schema theory from the perspective of translation studies. Peng Jianwu (2000) first touched upon the issue of schema theory in translation, with translation comprehension as the main focus of his research. He also noted the phenomenon of culture-related concepts and their impact on translation, which inspires more discussion about the inner working mechanism of the human mind during translation and reading comprehension. Liu Mingdong (2002) linked the two by examining schema theory in text comprehension and proposed strategies to cope with problems caused by the lack of cultural background knowledge. Later in his research, the concept of cultural schema was presented with a thorough discussion of its translatability. His three models of translating cultural schema including A-A, A-B, and A-Zero (Liu Mingdong,2003:30), namely cultural schema correspondence, cultural schema conflict, and cultural schema default, serve as a guidance for culture-specific translation. he also concluded that in translation, one has to translate schema by decoding the ST schema and encoding the TT schema. He went a step further with Liang Wei by illustrating the strategies in both English and Chinese translation of cultural schema conflict through comparing cultural schema in the two languages. What’s more, he worked with Chen Xibei (2008) and gave a detailed analysis of the domestication and foreignization approach to the translation of cultural schema and brought the discussion of translation strategy up to the level of culture, poetry, and politics. They continued to give a summarized account of cultural schema theory and the research that had been done before, which greatly contributed to the full understanding of the theory(Liu Mingdong,2003:30).

Previous Studies on Cultural Schema Theory

With the aim of promoting cross-culture communication, much attention has been paid to the task of interpreting culture-loaded words since the cultural turn in translation studies. Throughout previous studies, quite a number of scholars mainly concentrate on the translation principles and approaches of translating culture-loaded terms. Besides, applying various translation theories into the translation of culture-loaded words in different sorts of text is also highlighted.

Most scholars proposed translation methods or strategies for handling translation problems on the basis of their own translation practice. For example, in Mona Baker’s In Other Words: A Coursebook on Translation, culture-specific concepts are defined and eight methods by professional translators are proposed. Those eight methods include “(1) translation by a more general word (superordinate); (2) translation by a more neutral/less expressive word, (3) translation by cultural substitution; (4) translation using a loan word or loan word plus explanation; (5) translation by paraphrase using a related word; (6) translation by paraphrase using unrelated words; (7) translation by omission; (8) translation by illustration” (Mona, 2000:26-42).

Chinese scholars also did a lot to explore appropriate support for the translation of culture-loaded words. On the one hand, some scholars concluded translation methods to solve specific problems or express their tendency to some translation strategies in translation practice. While Xu Jun (2001) believed that transliteration, literal translation, and literal translation plus denotation should be employed in the translation of culture-loaded terms. Wang Dongfeng summarized five methods to deal with the cultural default in the translation of culture-loaded words and expressions: “(1) annotation outside text; (2) contextual amplification; (3) adaptation; (4) omission; (5) literal translation without annotation” (Wang Dongfeng, 1997:58-59).

In recent years, in response to the national strategy of “going out”, some scholars take the introduction of Chinese culture as the first priority, especially in translating culture-loaded words in literary works. Wu Wenyan summarized the translation principles of culture-loaded words in her paper, which are retaining the cultural information of the original text, making the expressive pattern of translated text conform to the target language, and ensuring the targeted text closing to the readers’ thinking mode (Wu Wenyan, 2014:166).In order to promote Chinese culture to the world, Zheng Dehu argued that “translators should try to adopt a method based on alienation when translating Chinese culture-loaded words. in his opinion, the diversification of translations may hinder the spread of Chinese culture and weaken the international influence of Chinese culture” (Zheng Dehu, 2016: 55).

Moreover, some different theories are applied to analyze the translation of culture-loaded terms, including eco-translatology theory, skopos theory, register theory, and so on. Still, much room has been left to the study of the translation of culture-loaded words based on culture schema theory. Therefore, in this thesis, the translation of culture-loaded terms will be expounded from the perspective of cultural schema theory.

Theoretical Framework

In this chapter, the author is to give a brief introduction to cultural schema theory, including its definition, main features, and classification.

The Definition of Cultural Schema

To get a whole understanding of cultural schema theory, it’s necessary to know what the cultural schema is and its main features. Different scholars gave their own explanations of the cultural schema in their studies. Anderson (1978) thought that culture schema is a conceptual approach to describe one’s stored cultural knowledge. It determines the way how he or she explains cultural expressions and experiences. This cultural conceptual framework is stored in people’s minds as a series of abstract cognitive structures or schemata that consist of objects or events. Bedir thought that cultural schema is the background knowledge related to the cultural part of a learned language (Anderson, 1992: 8). According to Malcolm and Sharifian (2002), cultural schema refers to some conceptual structures where expressions and experiences relating to culture are stored. George Yule saw it as “pre-existing knowledge structures based on experience in a particular culture” (Yule, 2000: 87).

Taking the definitions given by western scholars as references, Liu Mingdong and Chen Xibei gave their own understanding of cultural schema. In their opinion, the cultural schema is the already existing knowledge connected with the customs, traditions, and habits of a certain culture, which can be obtained from people’s past experience and stored in their minds. All the background knowledge could be concluded in culture schema, such as region, geography, custom, and so on. That is to say, people in different cultures or different districts may have a different cultural schema.(Chen and Liu, 2011: 28-31)

Main Features of Cultural Schema

According to Zhou Wenwei and Liu Mingdong’s researches, cultural schemata entail various characteristics. The first one is the feature of similarity. People possess identical recognition towards the same things, although they live in divergent geographical environments. It is notable that “our cultural environment provides ubiquitous experiences and cultural schemata are built up through many encounters with similar events or information in one’s own culture”. Endowed with the characteristics of similarity, cultural schemata are shared by people in different nations. (Nishida,2014: 410)

Uniqueness, in the second place, acts as another apparent characteristic of cultural schemata. Cultural schemata in different nations differ from one another, due to the fact that people’s recognition in different nations is affected by distinctive cultures and civilizations. For instance, the uniqueness of ancient Chinese culture. Egyptian culture as well as Greek and Roman cultures lead to people’s different perceptions of the world. “Some experiences are established on the basis of people’s past experiences.” In view of these experiences’ idiosyncrasy, cultural schemata are evidently unique in different nations. (Nishida, 2014: 403)

Inclusiveness, reveals still another feature of cultural schemata. In this sense, “cultural schemata are not immutable and frozen” (Chen and Liu, 2004:127), instead they are plastic and can be expanded. For example, cultural schemata of Christmas Day and Thanksgiving Day in Western countries are undoubtedly embraced by Chinese people with the passage of time. Chinese people gain a good mastering of these foreign cultures, which are taken in their original cultural schemata. By the same token, Chinese Kong Fu, being alien to western people, has been widely known to them nowadays. “Experience is the impetus for the construction of cultural schemata” (Nishida, 405). With the accumulation of people’s experience, newly encountered cultural schemata can be accessible to their previously acquainted cultural schemata. In other words, cultural schemata are inclusive, which contributes to broadening peoples’ exotic cultural knowledge. (Nishida, 405)

Classification of Cultural Schema

According to related studies on cultural schema theory as well as Chen Qian and Liu Mingdong’s researches, it is concluded that in the process of translation there are three categories of cultural schema. They are respectively corresponding cultural schema, divergent cultural schema and vacant cultural schema.

Corresponding cultural schema

Corresponding cultural schema means the cultural schema of the SL text is identical or similar to that of the TL text. Under such circumstances, the pre-existing cultural schemata in the SL and the TL reveal identical or similar cultural connotations. Since people in different nations share different cultural norms and ways of thinking, “at least ninety percent of the fundamental structures of all languages are quite similar, and language universals far outweigh the divergences" (Nida, 2004: 99). As cultural schema is the abstract collection of knowledge stored in people’s minds, it is closely linked with people’s thinking modes. Accordant cultural norms and thinking modes, to some extent, gives rise to the corresponding cultural schema.(Nida, 2004: 99)

For a translator, this kind of corresponding cultural schema between English and Chinese can be found. For example, snakes in Chinese culture are symbols of evilness and cruelty, as shown in the four-character phrase “蛇蝎心肠”. While the image of the serpent can be found in the Garden of Eden, which demonstrates a similar cultural schema. Commonalities of cultural schema between Chinese and English also occur in some other expressions, such as “以眼还眼，以牙还牙” and “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”, “祸不单行” and “misfortunes never come singly”, etc.

Divergent cultural schema

Divergent cultural schema refers to inconsistent or opposite cultural schemata between the SL and the TL. “Schemata can represent knowledge about the meaning of a particular word and it is some configuration of these schemata that ultimately forms the basis of our understanding” (Rumelhart, 1980: 41). Cultural schemata abstracted from specific culturally salient words can supply consistent and correct comprehension among different nations.

As a matter of fact, “Schemata not only contribute toward the development of an accurate perception habit. In particular, people in different cultures hold divergent cultural schemata towards the same thing. For instance, “dragon” in Chinese culture is highly regarded as the auspicious and magnificent symbol of the Chinese nation that we Chinese call ourselves the descendants of the dragon. In western culture, however, “dragon” is a symbol of viciousness. In Bible, it’s an alternative to Satan.

Vacant cultural schema

The cultural schema in the SL absent in the TL leads to the default of cultural schema. As Carrell and Eisterhold point out, “one of the most obvious reasons why a particular content schema may fail to exist for a reader is that the schema is culturally specific and is not part of a particular reader’s cultural background” (Scott, 2001: 2). It shows that culturally specific schema sometimes is unavailable to people in different cultures. According to cultural schema theory, texts will appear disjointed and incomprehensible when readers fail to motivate the related cultural schema, for there is an important role assigned to the schema in comprehension and perception.

Vacant cultural schema can be easily found in two distinct cultures. Chinese culture and western culture are both full of cultural schemata absent from each other. For example, in Chinese culture “鸿门宴” or Feast at Hongmen is historically specific. Deriving from the Chinese literary canon Shiji, it is related to Chinese historical heroes Xiangyu and Liu Bang and refers to an ill-disposed trap. “完璧归赵”, whose literal meaning is to return the jade intact to the State of Zhao, is endowed with the implication “to return something to its owner in perfect condition”. These terms fail to arouse corresponding schemata in western readers. Similarly, “Hippies” and “The judgment of Solomon”, being peculiar to western culture, are unfamiliar to Chinese people.

Translation of Culture-loaded Words in The Travels of Lao Ts’an from the Perspective of Cultural Schema Theory

In this chapter, the author mainly elaborates on Shadick’s approaches of translating culture-loaded terms in The Travels of Lao Ts’an from the Perspective of Schema Theory. In terms of cultural schema theory, three types of culture-loaded terms are presented at first. Then the approaches of translating culture-loaded terms in The Travels of Lao Ts’an are analyzed.

Words with Corresponding Cultural Schema

As is mentioned in the last chapter, despite the huge gap between different cultures, people share the same or similar experiences with their material life, which leads to common features in their cognition and ideas of things. In this case, mutual understanding is easily achieved through correspondent cultural schema. InThe Travels of Lao Ts’an by Harold Shadick, there are many cases where typical Chinese cultural elements in the ST, when translated into English, evoke cultural schema among English-speaking readers the same way as they do among Chinese readers. A few examples are given below to further illustrate the point.

[1a]这路虽非羊肠小道，然忽而上高，忽而下低，石头路径，冰雪一冻，异常的滑。(Liu, 2015:52)

[1b] Although it was winding “sheep gut path”, still it had sudden ups and downs, and the rock surface, frozen with ice and snow, was extremely slippery. (Liu, 2015:76)

“羊肠小道” in the source text means a narrow winding trail or a narrow tortuous path, which is a tough road difficult to go through. When translating the phrase, Shadick employs literal translation. The analogy between a path and a sheep gut may be rarely seen in western culture, but the image of sheep gut is pretty vivid. Target readers could immediately understand the implicated meaning of the phrase by thinking about the sheep’s gut.

[2a]那儿不是积功德呢。 (Liu, 2015:76)

[2b] Isn’t this a way of piling up merit? (Shadick, 2015:82)

The word “功德” is from Buddhist scriptures, which refer to virtues and merits. It may be a bit difficult for westerners to understand the scripture of Buddhism as most of them are followers of Christianity, which is quite different from Buddhism. However, the two religions do share some values. They both advise their followers to respect and honor goodness and despise disgrace and evil. The word “merit” could conjure up the same mental image in westerners as the word “功德” does in Chinese people.

[3a] 虽说富贵浮云，未免太高尚了罢。(Liu, 2015:33)

[3b] “Wealth and honor” may be “floating clouds”, but aren’t you a bit too high-minded? (Shadick, 2015:41)

As seen from the above discussion, if people with different cultural backgrounds have correspondent cultural schemata, coupled with the fact that they are properly activated through translation, they would have no problem understanding each other in intercultural communication. In this case, culture-loaded words are transferred literally for the integrity of the content, during which cultural characteristics are retained along with the information for the full preservation of the original flavor of the ST. This saves translators a lot of effort. And more importantly, it makes things easier to understand as it appears more coherent by keeping the information flow of the ST. Of course, there are occasions when a certain amount of fine-tuning is needed to make the ST and TT seem more connected.

Words with Divergent Cultural Schema

Ideally, when two cultures share enough culture-related content and the gap between their boundaries is to be minimized, it’s hopeful for the translation to be on point. However, all cultures evolve relatively independently as a closed system, which invariably brings up the distinct features within the core of the culture. Therefore, more often than not, finding the right match for the cultural schema in the ST is no longer an act of taking something out from the shop window and giving it to the customer. Here comes the scenario: meet the need of the customer even if there is not the exact goods he/she demands. An accurate translation requires different strategies according to how the connection between the cultural schemata of the ST and the TT is formed. As for the case of cultural schema conflict, the main concern for the translator should be on the activation and adjustment of the preexisting cultural schema of the translation readers. From Shadick’s translation of The travels, we can see that the translator tries to transcend the cultural boundaries and create a deeper connection in translation instead of just duplicating linguistic features.

Literal Translation with Note

Literal translation, as the most common translation method, is a preferable way of preserving the linguistic meaning of the ST. However, to make up fpr the information loss resulting from the occasional cultural conflict, extra notes are often added in order to inform the readers of the implied cultural contents that may serve as the key to the proper understanding of the text.

[4a]先生必有成竹在胸，何妨赐教一二呢？ (Liu, 2015:62)

[4b]But perhaps you are like the painter of bamboo who ‘had the complete bamboo in his mind’.(Liu, 2015:68)

Note: A poem by Ch’ao Pu-chig (1053-1110) contains the lines When Yu-k’o painted the bamboo, In his breast he had the completed bamboo. Yu-k’o is the tzu of Weng T’ung (1018-1079), celebrated peot, calligrapher and painter. (Shadick, )

In Chinese, “成竹在胸” is an idiom meaning “know how to deal with an affair”. This is an idiom with specific Chinese culture that can’t be easily understand by westerners. Hence, literal translation plus notation here make the target reader fully understand the meaning and origin of this idiom.

Literal translation with explanation

[5a] 老残道: “承两位过爱，兄弟总算有造化的了，只是目前尚无出山之志，将来如要出山，再为奉恳。” (Liu, 2015:23)

[5b] Lao Ts’an answered, “I count myself fortunate to enjoy the goodwill of you two gentlemen, but just now I have no intention of ‘leaving the mountains’ and entering the official life. In the future, if I want to do so I will ask your help.” (Liu, 2015:27)

Literally, “出山” means “leaving the mountains”. Yet there is a story behind the word. In ancient China, some people with talent who didn’t want to be involved in a mundane world especially officialdom chose to live a secluded life in the mountains. When they wanted to end such a recluse life and enter the official life, they had to leave the mountain. Gradually, “出山” bears a metaphorical meaning of being an official. When translating the word, Shadick employs literary translation with explanation, which manages to activate the cultural schema stored in the TT readers and in the meantime brings new cultural information to them.

Free translation with notation

[6a] 这一群人来了，彼此招呼，有打千的，有作辑的，大半打千的多。(Liu, 2015:16)

[6b] As this crowd of people arrived there were mutual greetings, many genuflections, and a few low bows. (Liu, 2015:22)

Note: The genuflection (ta-ch’ien-erh) is the salutation of the Manchu, the left leg bent, the right stretched behind, the right knee and right hand almost touching the ground. The lie bow (tsoo-i) is the common formal Chinese salutation consisting of a low bow with the hands hanging loosely below the knees and hidden by the sleeves, after which the clasped hands are raised to the level of the eyes.

Etiquette codes vary from culture to culture. “打千” and “作辑” are etiquette specific to China. in this case, Shadick’s translation of “打千” as “genuflection” and “作辑” as “ low bow” is comprehensible to target readers. However, “打千” is different from “genuflection” after all, and “作辑” is not the same as “ low bow”. The notation here can satisfy the needs of target readers who are interested in Chinese culture.

4.3 Words with Vacant Cultural Schema

As is mentioned before, cultural differences sometimes could be a serious matter. When it comes to cultural schema default, translators are confronted with a tricky task. And the biggest challenge in this type of translation comes from when certain aspects of one culture risk getting lost in translation since no correspondent cultural schema exists in TT culture that will remind TT readers of the cultural content presented in the ST. Under such circumstances, the communication will most likely end in failure if the text is translated literally. The right way to handle the challenge is to create a new schema by laying out all the information that is needed for the full comprehension of the text in the linguistic environment suitable for TT readers. We shall see examples in the Travels of Lao Ts’an and analyze how Shadick deals with vacant cultural schema in his translation.

Free translation with annotation

[7a] 风餐露宿 (Liu, 2015:2)

[7b] an uneventful journey (Liu, 2015:5)

Note: Feng ts’an lu su, lit., “eating in the wind and sleeping in the dew,” a conventional phrase.

Here, the Chinese four-character idiom “风餐露宿” is rendered as “an uneventful journey” for Lao Can was not really “eat in the wind”. Shadick sacrifices the pattern of Chinese idiom and adopts free translation, which contributes to the comprehension among western readers, adapting to their cognition. However, it is worth noting that annotation is added to enrich the cultural schema of the target readers and help promote Chinese culture.

Transliteration with annotation

[8a]“那二郎、关爷多少正神常附在他身上，难道就不管管他吗？”(Liu, 2015:56)

[8b] “If good spirits like Erh Lang and Kuan Yeh often visit him, how is it that they don’t retrain him?”(Liu, 2015:61)

Note: Erh Lang, lit, “Second Son”, was a magician variously identified as son of the Jade Emperor, a Taoist deity, and as son of Li Ping, a third-century official noted for this success in flood control. Erh Lang was given posthumous titles by several later emperors. Kuan Yeh (Old Gentleman Kuan) is another name for Kuan Ti.

Literal translation with annotation [9a]“若要顾念 ‘父母官’ 三字，求为民除害，亦有化盗为民之法。” (Liu, 2015:34)

[9b] If, on the other hand, you want to keep before you the ideal of a true “father and mother official”, and seek to remove those who harm the people, then there is the policy of turning robbers into honest people. (Liu, 2015:42)

Note: The expression occurs in the Classics, e.g., Mencius. It was later applied specifically to district magistrates who are the officials nearest to the people.

Chinese culture is one with hierarchical values. In old times when China was a feudal society, ordinary people were at the bottom of the class hierarchy and deemed officials as their father and mother, who could protect them and whose order they obeyed. With the title “father and mother official”, officials also hoped to win the trust of people in their precinct. However, in western culture, no such expression as “father and mother official” exists. Literal translation plus notes employed here by Shadick successfully transmit the cultural information.

Conclusion

To sum up, there is a certain correspondence between the processing of cultural schemas and their translation strategies in the translation of Chinese-English cultural load words under different cultural schemas. Therefore, identifying the types of cultural schema and dealing with them flexibly can better help translators select corresponding translation strategies in a targeted manner and improve translation efficiency. At the same time, it is important to be aware that divergent schema and vacant schema are the key points and difficulties in translating culturally loaded words, and translators need to fully activate and construct new schemas to achieve accurate transmission of cultural information.

It’s still a long way to go to have a mature opinion on the translation of culture-loaded words given the large quantity and complexity of these words. Besides, the classification of culture-loaded words may not be so scientific and somewhat subjective. Therefore, more examples should be adopted to make the study a more objective and comprehensive one for future studies.

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                                                           Written by ——--Gao Mi (talk) 14:44, 13 December 2021 (UTC)