外宣翻译中的文化专项词翻译策略研究

外宣翻译中的文化专项词翻译策略研究-以《舌尖上的中国》为例_英语论文    

On the C-E Translation Strategies of the Cultural Specific Items in A Bite of China 

摘要

随着中国经济的不断发展，文化交流的重要性日益突出。目前，在对外宣传工作中，汉英翻译对有效的文化交流依然起着重要的作用。以翻译作为媒介，《舌尖上的中国》已经成为中外文化交流中的一个重要的载体，它不仅介绍了中国食物的多样性，同时也介绍了与饮食相关的历史文化，在中外文化的交流中有着非常重要的作用。

为了探讨文化交流中文化专项词的可译性，以及翻译策略的选择与文本功能对等的关联，本文结合巴斯内特的文化翻译观与艾克西拉的文化专项词理论，以第一季《舌尖上的中国》中出现的文化专项词作为研究对象，采用描述和分析的定性研究方法，研究了在不同的文化背景下，当出现文化缺省和意义真空时，纪录片《舌尖上的中国》的官方译本中翻译策略的选择是否能够最大程度的实现文本功能对等。从文化翻译理论看，翻译策略的选择体现出译者对文化差异的认识及对读者期待的关注：解释性泛化、文化替换、情景替换等策略侧重发挥译者的主观能动性；保留、借译和适应性直译的译文则是有意识地将源语文化介绍给译文读者，从而承担起文化协调者的责任。通过案例分析，本文发现替换、解释性泛化、文外解释是译者主要的翻译策略，这种翻译策略既考虑了文化之间的差异，同时也发挥了译者的主观能动性；而对于出现频次较低的边缘文化专项词，译者主要采用保留、借译和适应性直译的翻译策略，这些策略有利于将原语文化介绍给译文读者。

关键词：文化翻译理论；文化专项词理论；翻译策略；文化专项词；功能对等

Abstract

With the development of China's economy, Chinese culture has aroused the interest of many foreigners. At present, in the publicity work, Chinese-English translation still plays an important role in cross-language communication. Translation is increasingly important nowadays. People from different countries deal with political affairs, coordinate global economy and trade, and promote cultural communication by translation. Translation is used as a medium. A Bite of China has become an important carrier of Chinese culture, which not only describes the Chinese food, but also introduces the history and culture related to the food. 

CSIs refer to the materials, social customs, religious concepts, and traditions available in one language and culture but nonexistent in the other language and culture. Drawing upon Susan Bassnett and Javier Franco Aixel’s studies on CSIs, this thesis discusses the CSIs in a Bite of China conducted by means of the combination of description and analysis so as to explore the functional equivalence of the CSIs in cross-culture communication. Reviewed with cultural translation theory and the theory of CSI, translation strategies for CSIs reflect the translator’s awareness of cultural differences and attention to the target reader’s expectation. The results of the study revealed that while the most frequently used strategy by the translator was extra-textual gloss, paraphrase, cultural substitution, and situational substitution. By choosing strategies such as target language-adjusted retention, calque, and shifted direct translation, the translator serves as a cultural interpreter who retains the strangeness of the marginal CSIs, rather than domesticating the marginal CSIs, and introduces it to the target reader.

Keywords: cultural translation, the theory of CSI, translation strategies, cultural specific items (CSI), functional equivalence

Contents

摘 要 II

Abstract III

Acknowledgments IV

Chapter One  Introduction 1

  1.1. Research background 1

  1.2. Significance of the research 1

  1.3. Rationale of the research 2

  1.4 Research questions 3

  1.5 Research methods 4

  1.6. Structure of this thesis 4

Chapter Two  Literature Review 5

  2.1. Previous research on the features of translating CSIs 5

  2.2 Previous research on the difficulties of translating CSI 6

  2.3 Previous research on translation theories and strategies 7

  2.4. Comments on the previous study 8

Chapter Three  Theoretical Framework 9

  3.1 Cultural Translation 9

  3.2 The theory of CSIs 10

Chapter Four  Analysis of the Translation Strategies in A Bite of China 13

  4.1. The choice of the culture text 13

  4.2. Case analysis of the CSIs 13

  4.2.1 Retention 14

  4.2.2 Direct translation 15

  4.2.3 Specification 17

  4.2.4 Paraphrase 19

  4.2.5 Substitution 21

Chapter Five  Conclusion 23

  5.1 Major findings 23

  5.2 Limitations 23

References 25

Appendix 26