Cult Load Words EN 5
5 孙雅诗 Study on the translation of culture loaded words under the ecological translation theory——Take the English translation of Dou E Yuan as an example
Abstract
Based on the ecological translation theory, this article takes Yang Xianyi and Dai Naidie’s translation of cultured loaded words in Dou E Yuan, a drama in Yuan Dynasty, as the research object, and analyze how the translators deliver the culture information to the foreign readers in terms of language dimension, culture dimension and communication dimension to promote the valid dissemination of drama culture in English-speaking countries. Also this article hopes to provide an effective reference for the current drama translation by analyzing the merits and deficiencies of Yang and Dai’s Translation.
Key Words
Culture loaded words; Ecological translation theory; Drama
题目 生态翻译学视域下文化负载词翻译研究——以《窦娥冤》英译本为例
摘要
本文基于生态翻译学理论，以元代戏剧、杨宪益和戴乃迭译本《窦娥冤》中的文化负载词为研究对象，探究译者如何从语言维、文化维和交际维对戏剧中文化负载词进行翻译，并把这些词所承载的文化信息有效地传递给目标受众，以促进元代杂剧文化在英语国家的有效传播。本文也同时希望通过分析杨戴译本的优缺点给当前的戏剧翻译提供有效的参考。
关键词
文化负载词；生态翻译学理论；戏剧
Introduction
Background
Chinese drama is the artistic treasure of Chinese classical culture and an important part of Chinese culture. In order to make the Chinese drama culture go out and let more foreign readers appreciate it, translation plays a very key role as a communicating bridge. However, due to the complexity of drama language and its historical culture, drama translation is difficult. To convey its original culture connotations as much as possible, an appropriate translation strategy is required. At present, there are many translation theories. This article chooses to study Yang Xianyi and Dai Naidie’s translation of Dou E Yuan based on the ecological translation theory for two reasons. First, Yang Xianyi and Dai Naidie are excellent translators and they are good at translating traditional Chinese works. Doing research on their translations can make us learn a lot from them. Second, drama translation readers are not only the text readers, but also the directors, actors and audiences, so the translator needs to consider how to properly deal with the drama translation elements in the ecological environment. In this way, the ecological translation is necessary when we are translating dramas.（Huang 2021:113）
Relevant basic concepts
1. Culture loaded word
Culture loaded words, also known as unique culture words and culture connotation words, are the words or phrases that indicate things and concepts which belong to a certain culture. They only exist in a certain culture and can’t be found in another culture. According to the classification of Eugene A. Nida, culture loaded words can be roughly divided into five types, which are the ecological words, material words, social words, religious words and linguistic culture words.
2. Dou E Yuan
Dou E Yuan is a representative Yuan miscellaneous drama written by Guan Hanqing, and it’s also a model of Yuan miscellaneous drama tragedies. It is based on the folk story of Filial Women in the East China Sea in the Eastern Han Dynasty. And it is very popular with people of that time and has high value in the culture aspect. About 86 dramas have adapted from it. In the aspect of art, it reflects the integration of realism and romantic style. With rich imagination, bold exaggeration and the design of the surreal plot, it shows the huge power of justice, embodies the author's distinct love and hate, and reflects the people’s desire to punish the evildoers and fulfill the justice.(Yang 2012:128)
3. Structure of the study
This study is comprised of five parts including introduction, literature review, theoretical basis, body and conclusions. In the introduction part, the background and the relevant basic concepts are introduced to help readers understand this article better. In the literature review part, this article will review the domestic research on the translations of Chinese dramas. In the theoretical basis part, I will introduce the ecological translation theory, including its definition and its three dimensions——language dimension, the culture dimension and the communication dimension. In the body part, the English translation of Dou E Yuan is analyzed in terms of those three dimensions. This study will choose some typical examples to analyze, which comes from the translation of Yang Xianyi and Dai Naidie. In the end, the conclusions and suggestions will be proposed based on the analysis in the Part four. (Jiang 2020:55)--Du Lina (talk) 12:32, 15 December 2021 (UTC)
4. Significance of the study
This study has significance both in theory and practice. In the theory aspects, this study will fill the blank of the research on English translation of Dou E Yuan in terms of ecological translation theory. In the practice aspect, this study may promote the application of ecological transition theory in more translations. I also hope it can delight translators in translating dramas.
Literature review
In terms of the domestic researches, I find that domestic researches mainly concentrate on three aspects: 1) Analyze translations based on some theories, such as functional translation theory, ecological translation theory, rewriting theory, teleology and correlation theory（Lin 2021；Wang 2014；Huang 2014；Chu 2020）. 2) Analyze the current problems in translations（Meng 2009；Lv 2015）. 3) Study some famous translators’ styles of translating, such as Ying Ruocheng, Yu Guangzhong, Wang Zuoliang（Cheng 2007；Li 2008；Chen 2019）. From the researches above, we can see there are lots of scholars doing studies on translations based on various theories, including the ecological translation theory. So I search “Dou E Yuan” on CNKI to see if there are scholars have done studies on the translation of Dou E Yuan based on ecological translation theory. However, there is only one paper related to the ecological translation theory. And it just does the research in terms of culture dimension and doesn’t fully apply the theory. In this way, this article may have a value of reference in some degree by make a complete analysis of Dou E Yuan based on ecological theory and help us learn from Yang and Dai’s translation strategies.
Theoretical basis
Ecological translation was put forward by Professor Hu Gengshen of Tsinghua University. He combined Darwin's basic principles of "natural selection" with the translation research work, and creatively put forward the view that "translators should adapt to the translation ecological environment and accept the control of the translation ecological environment". He believes that "translation is an activity in which translators should adapt to and select the translation ecological environment". This definition of the translation makes the translators be in the center during the translating process. He also advocates that translators should give full play to their subjective initiative and focus on the three dimensions, which are language, culture and communication. Here are the detailed introductions of these three important dimensions in ecological translation.The language dimension translation of culture loaded words requires the real translation environment to be included into the target translation text. Translators should make effective conversions between the word pronunciation and semantic, word collocation, grammar structure and discourse layout to ensure that the translation can accurately convey the real meaning of the culture loaded words from the source language, and make them adapt to the expression habits of the target language utmost。The culture dimension translation of culture loaded words requires the translator to compare and analyze the culture backgrounds and connotations of the source language and target language to realize the effective conversions between culture connotations which are from different culture backgrounds and to prevent the occurrence of culture misunderstanding or culture ambiguity phenomenon.The communication dimension translation of culture loaded words requires the translator to translate in terms of objective, true and accurate translation principles and effectively convey what the original author or discourse speaker intends to express emotional attitude and communication information to achieve the real communication utility.From the introduction above, we can see that ecological translation requires the translator, also the center, to make a comprehensive analysis of translation adaptation conditions and conduct valid conversions between the three dimensions to achieve a good effect in translations, which is challenging for translator but meaningful for translation.(Huang 2021:113)
Multi-dimensional analysis of English translation of Dou E Yuan
Ecological translation theory requires translators to have a good comprehension of those three dimensions and make proper conversions between them. Yang and Dai are famous translators in the world. They have translated many ancient Chinese literary works, including novels, proses, dramas and so on, which are widely and highly praised. Dou E Yuan is one of them. Below, we will use the ecological translation theory to analyze it. Hope that we can learn from them, but also can make some advice about the deficiencies meanwhile.
Adaptive selection of language dimension
Adaptive selection of language dimension requires translators to make adaptive conversions in language level when translating. The most basic part of the adaptive selection is the word meaning conversion. However, the word meaning conversion is not a "word to word conversion" in the traditional sense, but needs the translator to adapt to the language characteristics of the source works when translating, and then selectively reflect them in the translation. Let's take a look at Yang and Dai's handling of Dou E Yuan text based on the language dimension.(Huang 2021:114)
Example1: 莫不是八字儿该载着一世忧？ Is it my fate to be wretched all my life?(Yang,Dai 2001:12)
“八字”is an eight-word method of traditional numerology in ancient China. From the perspective of traditional numerology, it can deduce the development direction of people's life, which is unchangeable. Yang and Dai translates “八字”into “fate”, which means “the power that is believed to control everything that happens and that cannot be stopped or changed”. We can see these two meanings are similar. In this way, foreign readers can understand the translation text better.
Example2: 我当初将你嫁与他家呵，要你三从四德。三从者：在家从父，出嫁从天，夫死从子；四德者：事翁姑，敬夫主，和妯娌，睦街坊，此乃为之 四德。今乃三从四德全无，刬地犯了十恶大罪。常言道，事要前思，免劳后悔。我窦家三辈无犯法之男，五世无再婚之女。 When I married you to the widow’s son, I expected you to observe the Three Duties and Four Virtues. The Three Duties are obedience to your father before marriage, obedience to your husband after marriage, and obedience to your son after your husband’s death. The Four Virtues are to serve your parents-in-law, to show respect to your husband, to remain on good terms with your sisters in-law, and to live in peace with your neighbors. But regardless of your duties, you have committed the gravest crime of all! The proverb says: Look before you leap, or you may be sorry too late. For the generations no son of our clan has broken the law; for five generations no daughter has married again.(Yang,Dai 2001:55)
In China, “三从四德” refers to the moral standards that restrict women by feudal ethics. Yang and Dai translates “三从四德” to "Three Duties and Four Virtues" and “从” to "duties", which realizes a very appropriate conversion in language dimension. According to the Oxford dictionary, the "duty" means “something that you feel you have to do because it is your moral or legal responsibility”, which is similar to the meaning of “从”——women have to comply with their father, husband and son based on moral standards. So Yang and Dai make a good conversion between these two words and make it easier for readers to grasp the meaning of “三从四德”.
Example3: 道可道，非常道。名可名，非常名。 The law that can be told is not the invariable law; the names that can be named are not invariable names.(Yang,Dai 2001:3)
In my opinion, translating “道”into “law” is not appropriate. “道”in China refers to “the essence of the universe”, which reflects Chinese traditional Taoism. However, law in English means “the whole system of rules that everyone in a country or society must obey”. They don’t have the same meaning and the latter doesn’t have any religious meaning. So it’s difficult for foreign readers to understand this word. I suggest that maybe we can just translate “道”into “Dao” and add some explanations to it. In this way, it’s not only easy for foreign readers to understand the text but also make them know some knowledge about Taoism.
Adaptive selection of culture dimension
The adaptive selection of culture dimension requires translators to be of a high translation level. Translators should not only have a good understanding of the local culture, but also be familiar with the language and culture of the translation. Then, they should fully understand the culture differences between the two. In this way can the original culture connotation of the text be conveyed to foreign readers as much as possible. Let's look into Yang and Dai's translation of Dou E Yuan text based on the culture dimension.
Example4: 窦娥冤 Snow in midsummer(Yang,Dai 2001:1)
Instead of translating the title “窦娥冤” into Dou E Yuan directly, Yang and Dai use words with Chinese culture connotation to express it. "Snow in midsummer" in traditional Chinese culture means that there are mistrials, which is also one of the plots of Dou E Yuan. If they adopt the direct translation method and translate “冤”into “injustice”, the title may lose the culture connotation and can’t relate to the plot closely. Therefore, the translator adopts this translation method is to try his best to convey the culture connotation, so that readers can have more understanding of Chinese traditional culture.
Example5: 那一个似孟光般举案齐眉？ Or like Meng Guang，who showed such respect to her husband?(Yang,Dai 2001:23)
“举案齐眉”is a four-character idiom in Chinese that describes husband and wife who respect and love each other. Yang and Dai adding "showed such respect to her husband" in the translation can help readers understand the meaning of this idiom easier and more clearly.
Example6: 你去那受刑法尸骸上列些纸钱，看你那化去孩儿面。 Burn some paper coins to my headless corpse, For the sake of your dead son.(Yang,Dai 2001:45)
“纸钱”is a product of Buddhism after it was brought into China. It refers to a kind of ghost coins which is used in folk to worship ghosts, gods and the dead. This custom of burning paper money originated in the Wei, Jin, Northern and Southern dynasties, flourished in the Tang and Song dynasties, and passed down to today. The translation "paper coins" appears to be the same with the meaning of original text, but it does not reflect the Buddhist ideas. So foreign readers may not get the culture connotations of “纸钱”. So translators should make some explanatory notes about it to convey the precise meaning of “纸钱”。
Example7: 那里有走边廷哭倒长城？那里有浣纱时甘投大水？那里有上山来便化顽石？ Where is the woman whose tears for her husband Caused the Great Wall to crumble? Where is she who left her washing And drowned herself in the stream? Where is she who is changed into stone Through longing for her husband?(Yang,Dai 2001:25)
Example8: 这婆娘心似风刮絮，那里肯身化作望夫石，旧恩情倒不比新佳配。他则百年为婚眷，那里肯千里送寒衣? Now her heart is like a willow seed in the breeze, Not steadfast as a rock. Old love is nothing to new love: She wants to live with this new man for ever, Without a thought for the other man far away. (Yang,Dai 2001:27)
The two examples include four allusions, one is Meng Jiangnv crying on the Great Wall; the other is in the Spring and Autumn Period, Wu Zixu fled out of the Zhaoguan and felt very hungry. Then a woman who was washing her clothes gave him a bun. Wu told the woman his real name, but after a while, he was also afraid that the woman would tell others. Seeing Wu’s suspicion, the woman threw herself into the river to commit suicide. The third is a legend, which is about a faithful woman whose husband left to join the army, then she went to the northern mountain of Wuchang with her weak son, looking over for her husband and turning into a stone. The last allusion is Meng Jiangnv walked for thousands of miles to send her husband winter clothes. The four allusions with abundant culture connotations reflect the profound Chinese culture and history. It can be seen from the translation, Yang and Dai have made great efforts and attempts to try to restore the story behind the allusion. However, in order to meet foreign readers’ needs to have a deep understanding of Chinese culture, it is recommended to provide a more detailed explanation.
Example9: 枉着你烦恼没理会，人生死是轮回。 It’s no use grieving for him; all mortal men must die when their time is up.(Yang,Dai 2001:27)
Example10: 莫不是前世里烧香不到头，这前程事一笔勾。劝今世早将来世修。Did I burn too little incense in my last life, that my marriage was unlucky? We should all do good betimes.(Yang,Dai 2001:13)
Example11: 我才看头一宗文卷，就与老夫同姓；这药死公公的罪名，犯在十恶不赦。 Curious that the first culprit’s surname should be the same as mine! To murder one’s father-in-law is one of the unpardonable crimes. (Yang,Dai 2001:51)
The three examples above reflect Buddhist thought. In the example 9, “轮回”also known as “流转” and “轮转”, means that human live and then die, die and then live, all life and death are not the end. It is just like the wheel rotation which never stops cycling. The concepts of “前世” and “今生” are derived from this. However, Yang and Dai don’t express this meaning in the translation. In the example10, “烧香” is a ritual in Buddhism. People ignite the incense and insert it in the incense burner to express their sincere respect to Buddha when they are in worship. Yang and Dai don’t explain the meaning of “烧香”to the readers, which may make the readers feel confused of it. In example 11, “十恶”, a term in Buddhism, refers to ten evil behaviors that would be punished by the hell, hungry ghosts and beasts. Similarly, Yang and Dai don’t make a detailed explanation about it. It will be difficult for foreign readers to understand these words with profound culture connotations. So I think translators should pay more attention to the culture words when translating and try to make good conversions.
Example12: 门神户尉不放我进去。我是廉访使窦天章女孩儿。因我屈死，父亲不知，特来托一梦与他咱。 Now the door-gods will not let me pass. I am the daughter of Inspector Dou. Though I died unjustly, my father does not know it; so I have to come to visit in his dreams.(Yang,Dai 2001:51)
Example13: 若说的有半厘差错，牒发你城隍祠内，我着你永世不得人身，我把你罚在阴山永做饿鬼。 If you utter one false world, I shall send you to the tutelary god; then your spirit will never re-enter human form, but remain a hungry ghost forever in the shades. (Yang,Dai 2001:57)
The two examples above all reflect the Taoist thought. In example12, “门神护尉” is the official of the hell.“托梦”, in Taoist and folk beliefs, means that if ghosts and gods want to express something, they can appear in people's dreams and tell them, or tell them in the form of various scenes and predict good or bad fortune.“阴山” and “城隍寺” are the names of the locations in the hell. In the above translation, Yang and Dai follow the communicative ethics, but the "tutelary god" does not seem to correspond in the original text, and the connotation of "god" is far from the concept of Chinese Taoist "emperor". So I think Yang and Dai should not only make conversions between words, but also add some background knowledge about those words for a better understanding for readers.
Example14: 自家赛卢医 I am Doctor Lu.(Yang,Dai 2001:9)
“卢医” represents Bian Que here, a famous doctor in ancient China.“赛卢医” means that he is boasting his medical skill which even can be comparable to Bian Que. However, foreign readers do not know the story of Bian Que. So if it is translated literally, it will not be understood by readers. Yang and Dai omit the “赛” and only translated it as "Dr. Lu", which would inevitably destroy the aesthetic connotation and artistic tension of the original work. Maybe Yang and Dai can introduce Bian Que appropriately so that readers are able to know exactly what “赛卢医” means.
Adaptive selection of communication dimension
In the actual translation process, except to considering about the transmission of culture connotation and the transformation of language information, translators should also focus on the adaptive selection of communication dimension. And they should pay attention to whether the communicative intention in the original text is reflected in the translation. Language is an important tool to realize the communicative intentions of both sides, and translation is an important means to achieve "cross-language, culture and temporal communication". In translating dramatic culture load words, translators should not only realize the culture value and meaning of such words, but also realize their communicative intentions.
Example14: 相公，他是告状的，怎生跪着他。 Your honor, this is a citizen who’s come to ask for justice. Why should you kneel to him? Example15: 小人是原告张驴儿便是，告媳妇儿合毒药药死俺老子，望大人与孩儿做主。 I am the plaintiff. I accuse the young woman, Dou E, of poisoning my father with soup. Let justice be done. Your honor!(Yang,Dai 2001:35)
There is a difference between Chinese and western officialdom culture. In China, there are many names for different officials, while in western countries, they can only use the words "Your Honor" or "His or Her Excellency". So translating“相公”and “大人”as “Your honor” is very proper here, which is easy for English readers to understand. It’s no need to convey the connotation of the official names, which would make the translation more complex.
Example16: 既将你出嫁从夫，便学习廉耻仁义。全不思九烈三贞，到犯了十恶大罪。 As a married woman, you should have studied the propriety and morality, but instead you penetrated the most terrible crime.(Yang,Dai 2001:57)
“九烈三贞” is an idiom, and is also the moral standard that restricts women in ancient China. The feudal society used it to praise women of the chastity. Yang and Dai translate it as "the propriety and morality", and do not translate the numbers “九” and “三”, which is a good translation. Because “九” and “三”here are not actual numbers, but represent a broad concept. So there is no need to translate it into "nine kinds of proprieties" and "three kinds of" moralities ".Translating in this way not only makes the text more concise, but also facilitates the readers to understand it.
Conclusions
Based on the ecological translation theory, this paper analyzes Yang Xianyi and Dai Naidie's translation of Dou E Yuan from the three basic principles of ecological translation theory —— language, culture and communication dimension to learn Yang and Dai’s skills for translating culture loaded words. I also boldly point out the inappropriate translation and put forward suggestions based on my own limited knowledge. As we can see from the above analysis, a good translation must comprehensively consider the three dimensions of language, culture and communication and make adaptive selections between them. In terms of language dimension, translators should find the corresponding words in the translation culture to replace the words in the original text without destroying the original meaning. In culture dimension, translators can introduce the background of culture loaded words by adding annotations, tail notes or in other ways to make readers understand the culture connotations behind the words, and then understand the connotation of the whole discourse better. In communication dimension, translators are required to pay attention to the communicative function of the words and convey the communicative intention of the original text. They should not blindly pay attention to the meanings, which will make the text more complicated and make readers confused. The three dimensions are interrelated and also indispensable. Based on these three dimensions, translators should actively adapt to the different ecological environments of translation, and flexibly choose the translation methods, so as to effectively convey the traditional Chinese drama culture to foreign readers and promote the effective dissemination of Chinese drama culture.(Huang 2021:116)--Du Lina (talk) 12:29, 15 December 2021 (UTC)
Especially in translation of Chinese traditional literature, three dimensions of the ecological translation theory are considered for that Chinese is a paratactic language with a covert coherence and needs to deep understand. On the one hand,it contains diverse cultural elements and creates an aprropriate context to analze. On the other hand, developing Chinese traditional culture meets the requirements of our time of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. Therefore taking communication as the final purpose, a Chinese translator should explore and carry forward the Chinese traditional culture.--Du Lina (talk) 07:13, 14 December 2021 (UTC)
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