he Studyof Culture—loaded Words’ Translation StrategyinLife and Death Are Wearing Me Outfrom the Perspective of Skopos Theory

楊燕

Abstract：Withthedevelopmentofournationandthecross-culturalenvironmentoftheworld，thetranslationcultureloadedwordsisawindowoftheexternalexchangeasaspecialmediaofcross-culturalactivitiesanditinevitablycarriestheculturalbackgroundwiththedevelopmentoflanguage.Andthetranslationofculturalloadedwords，oneofthedifficultiesintranslatingliteraryworks，shoulddeservemoreandmoreattentiontoitsdeepstudies.

ThestudytakestheSkopostheoryasthefoundation，GoldblattsLifeandDeathAreWearingMeOut，acase，andattemptstostudyhowtochoosetranslationstrategies，howtotranslatetheculturalloadedwords，howtodealwiththeculturalvacancyandsoforthduringthetranslationprocessfromtheperspectiveofSkopostheory.ItalsointendstoexploretheimpactoftranslatingSkoposontranslatorschoiceoftranslatinginordertoachievetheexpectanteffectofthetranslationofculturalloadedwordsandpreservetraditionalandoriginalflavorofChinesecultureinordertopromotetheChineseculturetoabroaderreadershipoutsideChina.

Keywords：Culture-loadedwords，Skopostheory，LifeandDeathAreWearingMeOut

摘 要：隨著國家大發展，世界大融合，文化負載詞作為跨文化交際的特殊媒介，是中國文化對外交流的窗口，同樣隨著語言的發展也被打上了文化的烙印。文化負載詞的翻譯是文學作品中的翻譯難點，其翻譯應得到越開越多的重視。

本文以目的論原理為基礎，以葛浩文英譯本《生死疲勞》為個案，試圖分析在英譯過程中從目的論的視角下如何選擇文化負載詞的翻譯策略，如何處理語義空缺并且探索翻譯目的是如何影響譯者對翻譯的選擇從而達到理想中文化負載詞翻譯的預期效果。

關鍵詞：文化負載詞；目的論《生死疲勞》

1.Introduction

Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out is an important work of Mo Yan who is a Chinese writer and firstly own the Noble Prize for literature in 2012. From then on， Mo Yan with his novels arouse an enormous influence at home and aboard， and his novels began to be sold in bookstores and on-line bookstores immediately. Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out is one of the books that is most received by western countries written by Mo Yan. Then， many foreign countries thought highly of this novel.

This novel depicts Chinese village culture with Mo Yans unique writing method and special word. Howard Goldblatt， the books translator， is very familiar with Chinese culture and he knows the expressions of western readers. Therefore， he translated this novel on his own way and made it understand and welcome by English reader. There is no doubt that the success of Mo Yans novels is indivisible with the success of translator and translation.

There are many culture-loaded words and expressions in Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out. In translation， Glodblatt tries his best to translate to take norms and conventions of target language and culture into consideration， andhe still keeps some place with the original Chinese culture flavor， which makes the target readers prefer to read it with interests. Through the analysis of the translation of the culture-loaded words in English translation of Goldblatt， we could find out the translating strategies and expression that are better accepted by the target readers and keep the characteristics of Chinese culture.

The thesis will apply qualitative analysis to explore the translation strategies of culture-loaded words from the perspective of the Skopos theory. A representative novel， Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out， will show the culture-loaded words connection with the Skopos theory，namely， skopos rule， fidelity rule and coherence rule inorderto come to the conclusion to cover the cultural vacancy and call on more scholars to study the success of translation of modern and contemporary Chines literature. In this way， the Chinese will be promoted widely.

2.Major Rules of Skopos Theory

Skopos theory attaches great importance to the intended target text readers who have a specific culture background， world knowledge and specific communicative needs， which was proposed by Hans. J. Vermeer based on the action theory and communication theory. Skopos theory means that the whole translation process should be guided by the purpose of the target text. Meanwhile different strategies are adopted to the skopos. Skopos is “purpose” in Greek word. Vermeer puts skopos as follows：

Translation is a type of human action， an intentional， purposeful behavior that takes place in a given situation. It is a form of translational action based on a source text. Any action has an aim， a purpose， so does translation activity the Greek word “skopos” which was introduced into translation in 1970s.（Nord 2005）

Vermeer also considered the teleological concept of aim， purpose be equivalent. And they are subsumed under the generic of Skopos. So Vermeer pointed put three rules of purposes in the field of the translation. First， the general purpose aimed at the translator in the process of translation. Second， the communicative purpose aimed at the target text in the target situation. Third， the purpose aimed at a specific translation strategy or procedure. Vermeer further camp up with Skopos rule， coherence rule and fidelity rule.

2.2.1 Skopos Rule of Skopos Theory

Skopos rule is the important and the first of the Skopos theory in the translation. Vermeer defined the Skopos rule as follows：

Each text is produced for a given purpose and should serve this purpose. The Skopos rule thus reads as follows： translate/interpret/speak/write in a way that enables your text/translation to function in the situation in which it is used and with the people who want to use it and precisely in the way they want it to function. （Nord 2001：29）

The Skopos rule can help to deal with translation problem. But there may be many kinds of Skopos in one translational action， a particular Skopos should be chosen in a given translational situation. At the same time， different strategies should be chosen depending on the purpose that the translation needs. Nevertheless， essential as the Skopos as， we must keep a reasonable relationship between the source and target texts so that Vermeer brought up another two important rules： coherence rule and fidelity rule.

2.2.2 Coherence Rule of Skopos Theory

Translators choose with translation tasks so that certain information can be transmitted to the target readers， so coherence rule requires understandability to the readers. The “coherence rule” pointed out that a translation should be acceptable in a sense which is coherent with the receivers situation. Making the translation coherent is being a part of the receivers situation. Therefore， coherence rule is the essential factor in translation.

2.2.3 Fidelity Rule of Skopos Theory

Although the target text as a translation result is a requirement of information that stemmed from the original text， it is also expected to bear some relationship with the corresponding source text. The fidelity rule is considered subordinate to intratextual coherence and both coherence and fidelity rules subordinate to the Skopos rule. If there is a change of the function that is required by the Skopos， the standard must be adequated with the Skopos rather than intertextual coherence with the source text. The form of coherence rule and fidelity rule depend on not only the translators interpretation of the source text but also the translation Skopos.

The three rules are the kernel of the Skopos Theory and the Skopos rule is the most important one. In the process of translation， the translators should abide by three rules.

3.The Application of the Skopos Theory in the Translation of Culture-loaded Words in Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out

3.1 Documentary Translation and Instrumental Translation

Nord proposed two basic translation types： Documentary translation is a kind of translation strategy that aims at retaining the original flavor of the source text. Documentary translations aim is to produce in the target language a kind of document of a communicative interaction that a source-culture sender communicates with a source-culture audience via the source text under source text conditions. In translating literary works， documentary translation strategy is of great value.

Instrumental translations aim is to produce in the target language an instrument for a new communicative interaction between the source-culture sender and a target-culture audience， using source text as a model. It intended to bring about an effect which can let readers feel as if they read the literary in their native language in order to make their understanding and appreciation of the literary works maximum.Therefore， the target readers would have no difficulty in reading this king of translation.

With the above mentioned， the documentary translation should be used in the literary works for culture-loaded words. However， there is no absolute ambit of the two translation strategies. With the consideration of the translation Skopos， translators should bear in mind the clients or the requirement to apply the strategies where they suit.

3.1 Documentary Translation of Culture-loaded Words

3.1.1 Transliteration

Transliteration is a kind of translation that translates source text into target text using the pronunciation or alphabet directly， which is always used in the translation of the peoples names and places names. In this way， the phonic form of Chinese characters and the features of Chinese culture can be retained. So far， there have been lots of transliteration words in English-speaking countries， such as “jiaozi”（餃子）， “koutou”（扣頭）and so on.

There are many such words employed in Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out， and examples are following：

A. Person Names

Example1： The man standing behind the donkey with a broad grin on his face was my hired hand Lan Lian（藍臉）.（Goldblatt 2012）

B. Names of Places

Example 2：I was living anonymously in Xian（西安）…

From the above examples， Goldblatt translated the names of people and place by using the pronunciation actually. In fact， Lan Lian means blue face in Chinese. In this way， the target readers may be easy to understand because this kind of translation is not an obstacle.

3.1.2 Translation plus Interpretation

In general， transliteration retains original flavor and features of source text， and achieves the skopos of transmitting culture connotation. But there are still some names of people in this novel representing the features and information of the era. Golablatt added some interpretation to make more details so that the implication of names can be understood by readers.

Example 3：“這兩個女孩，長名互助，幼名合作。”

The first one out was named Huzhu—Co-operation， and her sister was called Hezuo—Collaboration.（Goldblatt 2012）

As we can see， the interpretation of these culture-loaded names was added by Goldblatt because they all have a reflection of the feature of that era. After the founding of China， the cooperation became the popular way in the developmental path. Therefore， two girls names carry the certain meaning of the background of the era rather than randomly adopted. Interpretation not only can help target readers back to the real rural era but also make readers experience the Chinese traditional customs.

3.1.3 Literal Translation

Literation translation is called word for word translation. It demands not only the content but the form of translation should faithful and coincidence with the source text so that the original flavor and cultural features will be preserved. According to the Skopos theory， the means of translation is determined by the Skopos. The Skopos of translation in Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out is to transmit the cultural information to the English readers， and literal translation is the best choice to translate this novel to convey the information. In Goldblatts version， this translation strategy is adopted mostly. Some examples are following：

Example 4：牛頭馬面，送他回去吧！

Ox Head and Horse Face， send him back！ （Goldblatt 2012）

“牛頭馬面” are two attendants underworld who have a responsibility for bringing people to the underworld and sending people to the world. “Ox Head and Horse Face” is used here is to convey the meaning and retain the image vividly in literal translation so that the English readers can immediately realize the image of ghost.

3.2 Instrumental Translation of Culture-loaded Words

3.2.1 Free Translation

Free translation is mainly as a supplementary way to convey the spirit of the original information rather than reproducing words with the figure of speech. This translation is only used when there are no equivalent target words to describe. Even though this may be lack of certain cultural connotation， to some extent， it can make target readers understand. So the coherence rule would be achieved firstly when free translation is used.

Example 5：在人世間應該讓你騎木驢游街示眾！

You should be paraded up and down the street on a criminals rack！

“騎木驢” is a cruel punishment that is to punish women who has an adultery with others. Since “rack” is made specially in the procedure of this complex and cruel punishment， using “a criminals rack” to refer to “木驢” is reasonable.

3.2.2 Substitution

Substitution is to use a word that defines or belongs to the kind of the original word. The target readers will take no extra effort to achieve adequate cultural information when translating in this way although the cultural information is not identical with the original text.

Example6：接生婆心里十分緊，生怕從她的產道里生出妖精。

…she was afraid that monsters might come shooting out.（Glodblatt 2012）

“妖精” is to refer to the animals changed into a woman through a long time in Chinese culture. Snce there is no equivalent word in the target text， “monster” is used here.

3.2.3 Omission

Omission is to omit the difficult part that is very difficult for target readers to understand. It would translate not only the cultural image but the core sense of culture-loaded words. In this way， the target readers will realize the information what the author wants to convey.

Example 7：“盡管我剛剛回憶了他敲牛胯骨時在我面前點頭哈腰的形象，但人走運時馬走膘，兔子落運遭老鷹，作為一頭受傷的驢，我對這個人心存畏懼。”

Even though I was able only moments before to conjure up an image of him bending over obsequiously in front of me， ox bone in hand， he installed fear in this wounded donkey. （Goldblatt 2012）

“人走運時馬走膘，兔子落運遭老鷹”means there may be occasions when someone was unlucky. The whole sentence is clearly that “he” was inferior to me before， but now “I” am in a difficult situation and afraid of him. Here， Goldblatt omit the two sentences to save trouble for the target readers without distorting original meaning.

4. Conclusions

Though analyzing Goldblatts version of Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out， the author of this thesis finds that Goldblatt mainly used the documentary translation in translating culture-loaded words， and the literal translation strategy is mostly used in the process of translating the culture-loaded words， which is coincided with the skopos of the translation in order to convey the Chinese cultural information to English readers. Every translator should choose proper translation strategy but this choice must be made under the guide of Skopos theory. In Goldblatts version， he considered the comprehensive ability of the target readers and his translation has achieved the purpose of the exchange of culture.

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