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【Abstract】This thesis intends to study strategies for C-E/E-C translation of allusions in a pragmatic implicature perspective. Both Chinese and English languages abound with allusions, whose succinct forms and profound meanings make themselves more condensed and expressive. Allusions, as a particular kind of language, are indicating the distinctive features of culture. The cultural connotation of allusions is not always identifiable; it is rather implied or remains implicit and approachable only to those readers who are grounded in the same culture. So it is necessary to glance at the cultural background of allusions. The implied meaning here refers to the pragmatic implicature of the allusions. Thus it can be said that the conveyance of the implied meaning of allusions just equals the translation of pragmatic implicature. In order to present the source-language culture for the target language readers, allusion translation should be conducted under the guiding principle,cultural facsimile'. And in order to convey the pragmatic implicature of allusions, a wide range of strategies for translating allusions are listed with authentic examples in C-E/E-C translation of allusions.
【Key Words】:allusion translation;pragmatic implicature;cultural facsimile;strategy
【中圖分类号】H315.9【文献标识码】A【文章编号】1005-1074(2009)02-0101-02
1introduction
Different nations have different cultures during the long developing history. Various culture factors resulted in different language forms. And allusions, as a particular kind of language, are indicating the distinctive features of culture. Both Chinese and English languages abound with allusions, whose succinct forms and profound meanings make themselves more condensed and expressive. This thesis just concerns about English and Chinese allusions with the following features:
①They are formed of several Chinese characters or English letters.②They are implied or indirect references.③They are from historical events, folk tales, legends, classics, myth, etc.④The purpose of using them is for their implicature.
As we know, almost each allusion has two levels of meanings: literal meaning and implied meaning. The implied meaning here refers to the pragmatic implicature of the allusions, which refers to the cultural connotation and figurative meaning of the allusions. Thus it can be said that the conveyance of the implied meaning of allusions just equals the translation of pragmatic implicature.
2Culture Facsimile: the Guiding Principle of Allusion Translation
As noted above, Language is the vehicle of the culture, and every allusion is culturally bound. But different languages of Western countries and China cause the communicative obstacles between them, which is called cultural differences.
Because of the cultural differences, there are unavailable difficulties in the translation of allusions. It indicates that allusion translation is not a surface conversion, but a transplantation of cultures. Therefore, it is much more worthwhile to note that translation of allusions should be conducted in the underlying principle, cultural facsimile', which means that the foreignness of the allusions should be retained to the greatest extent; thereby the horizon of the target language reader will be expanded in such a way that they may be enlightened. (Sun Zhili:1998)
3Strategies Used for Translation of Allusions
3.1Literal TranslationLiteral translation is often adopted for those whose figurative meaning has been accepted by target readers for long, and also for those who do not require much of their contexts, their implicature can be easily identified either in the source or target language. E.g.
ST: Jia Baoyu“……好容易熬了一天，这会子，瞧见你们，竟如死而复生一样。真真古人说‘一日三秋’。(曹雪芹《红楼梦》)
TT: “……But I survived in somehow, and now that we’re together again I feel as if I’d just risen from the dead. ‘One day apart seems three autumns’……（by Tr. Yang and Yang）
The Chinese allusion “一日三秋”comes from “the Book of Songs”. Since its implicature can be easily identified either in the source or target culture, it was literally translated into English.
3.2Contextual Amplification“Contextual amplification”is a means to add some extra—allusive guidance within the text. And it is effective only when the cultural flavor of the allusion is not so profound and is likely to be understood by the target language readers with the help of several explanatory words. e.g.
ST: 三顾频频天下计
TT: The Emperor trice called on him for people’s sake.
“三顾茅庐”is a story familiar to Chinese readers, but in translating it to the English reader, it should be pointed out that it was the Emperor (Liu Bei) who called on Zhu Geliang for three times to serve for him to reconstruct the country. So the addition of "the Emperor" is required.
ST: But soon after writing them, Crane jumped to his death from a New-York-bound ship; an act which was taken as proof that his endeavor, like that of Icarus, was foredoomed.
TT:但是他写了这些诗篇以后不久，便从一艘开往纽约的船上滔海而死，人们说他这个行动足以证明它的努力，就像希腊神话中的那个鼓着蜡翼飞行的伊卡拉斯的努力一样，是注定要失败的。
Icarus is the son of an architect, Daedalus, in ancient Greek myth. It is recorded that the little boy Icarus’ death is due to his obstinacy in believing that the wax may serve as the wring for him to fly high to the sky. The fact that wax will get melted as it approaches the sun later leads to his tragic ending. The rich implicature of the imageIcarus' is by no means within common Chinese readers' comprehensibility. Thus the image ofIcarus' is retained in the Chinese version with some additional explanations.
3.3AnnotationAnnotation refers to add a footnote or endnote to give overt explanations outside the text itself. In another words, annotation is in fact a method ‘amending the translated text’. This technique is used when the implicature of a source—cultural allusion cannot be fully conveyed in the target text either by literal translation or by contextual amplification. E.g.
ST:寶玉说： “……比如这水仙庵里面，因供的是洛神，故名水仙庵。殊不知古来并没有个洛神，那原是曹子建的谎话……”（曹雪芹《红楼梦》）
TT: Pao-yu said: “……In this river Goddess Convent, for example, they worship the Goddess of the River Lo. That’s how the convent got its name. But of course in ancient times no such goddess existed. She’s Tsao Tzu-chien's invention"
Note: Tsao Tzu-chien(192-232), Tsao Tsao's son and a noted poet, wrote a poem on the Goddess of the River Lo
In the above example, the allusion Tsao Tzu-chien is well known in our Chinese. Since it happens in a text with a strong national flavor, it is kept in the English version with footnotes.
ST: Let both sides unite to heed in all corners of the earth the command of Isaiah to "undo the heavy burdens(and) let the oppressed go free".
TT:不管我们在地球的什么地方，让我们双方都记住以赛亚（圣经中的人物，是位先知）的重托：“卸下重负……让所有受压迫的人都获得自由”。
Isaiah is a prophet in the Old Testament. In the translation, with detailed explanation in the brackets, Chinese readers understand the target text quite easily.
3.4ReplacementReplacement is a strategy adopted to replace the source-cultural allusions by the target-cultural allusions in the translating practice. It is usually not an advisable way to translate allusions which bear a strong national flavor unless any other treatment of the source-cultural allusion may appear awkward and funny. E.g.
ST:今若前进，倘不如意，正如画蛇添足也。（罗贯中《三国演义》）
TT: If you attempt more, things may go wrong, and you will only paint the lily.
“画蛇添足”is a Chinese allusion which means ruining the effect by adding something superfluous. But in the English allusion ‘paint the lily', lily refers to a beautiful, perfect flower. There's no need to put some colors to it. So both the allusions have the same implied meanings with different cultural flavor. The English version here successfully conveys the pragmatic implicature of this Chinese allusion.
ST: Disconsolate, Soapy ceased his unavailing racket. Would ever a policeman lay hand on him? In his fancy, the island seemed an unattainable Arcadia.(O. Henry: The Cop and the Anthem)
TT: 苏比怏怏地停止了白费力气的吵闹。难道就没有一个警察来抓他了吗？在他的幻想中，那座岛成了可望而不可及的蓬莱仙岛。
The Arcadia in the original text was in ancient Greek, which had landscapes and people enjoyed a peaceful life there. It is a heaven in people’s minds. But this cultural connotation is unknown to most Chinese. Thus, it is translated here as蓬萊仙岛, which is an Arcadia in Chinese culture.
3.5ParaphrasingSometimes, for the sake of easy accessibility and smoothness, conveying the implicature or figurative meaning of a source—cultural allusion is sufficient, which makes its meaning overt and dispensed with the allusive itself, It is often termed as “paraphrasing”. Eg.
ST:To his disappointment, he asked for bread and was given a stone.(Jane Austen “Pride and Prejudice”)
TT:令他失望的是，他所得非所求。（林娟译）
3.7Re-creationIn translating practice, if the translator finds any other means can't achieve the optimal relevance to the target reader, another method called re-creation to convey the meaning and spirit of the original can be adopted. In another words , re-creation is a demanding strategy, although sometimes inevitably resulting in the loss of the original style as well as the original culture. E.g.
ST:无论是忙是闲，因为那歌，从她身上总迸出采菊东篱下的悠闲恬淡。 (散文《总能有歌唱》)
TT: At work or at leisure, her songs always create an aura of an idyllic life she enjoys, unruffled, carefree and indifferent to fame and gain.
采菊东篱下is an allusion coming from a poem written by Tao Yuanming. And there is no slandered and corresponding English version to it. So here it is inevitable for the translator to recreate his own language concerning the implicature of the Chinese allusion. Comparing with other translation strategies, re-creation sometimes regarded as the optimal way in allusion translation.
4Summary
Nowadays the world has ushered in a new era in which world cultures have been gradually interwoven at the ever-increasing speed. Translation of allusions is largely a matter of cultural transmission. Therefore, it is highly necessary to applycultural facsimile' in allusion translation. It is the author's standpoint that no matter what strategies used for conveyance of pragmatic implicature in the target text, it should not bring cultural dislocation and distortion especially in dealing with the allusions loaded with rich national flavor. And according to the strategies for allusion translation, the translator can produce successful translation of allusions, which will benefit the cultural exchange in broad cultural context.
5Bibliography
[1]楊自检.英汉语比较与翻译[M].上海：上海外语教育出版社,2000:133
[2]曹雪芹，高鄂.红楼梦[M].长沙：岳麓书社,1987
[3]Cao,Xueqin (translated by Yang Hsienyi and Gladys Yang). A Dream of Red Mansions. Beijing: Foreign Language Press, 1978
[4]Leppihalme, R. Culture Bumps: An Empirical Approach to the Translation of Allusions. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 1997.
[5]赵建忠.《红楼梦》在国外传播的跨文化翻译问题[J].天津外国语学院学报第3期, 2000,(3):27-30
[6]范东生.文化的不同层次与翻译标准[J].外国语, 2000,(3):67-72
【Key Words】:allusion translation;pragmatic implicature;cultural facsimile;strategy
【中圖分类号】H315.9【文献标识码】A【文章编号】1005-1074(2009)02-0101-02
1introduction
Different nations have different cultures during the long developing history. Various culture factors resulted in different language forms. And allusions, as a particular kind of language, are indicating the distinctive features of culture. Both Chinese and English languages abound with allusions, whose succinct forms and profound meanings make themselves more condensed and expressive. This thesis just concerns about English and Chinese allusions with the following features:
①They are formed of several Chinese characters or English letters.②They are implied or indirect references.③They are from historical events, folk tales, legends, classics, myth, etc.④The purpose of using them is for their implicature.
As we know, almost each allusion has two levels of meanings: literal meaning and implied meaning. The implied meaning here refers to the pragmatic implicature of the allusions, which refers to the cultural connotation and figurative meaning of the allusions. Thus it can be said that the conveyance of the implied meaning of allusions just equals the translation of pragmatic implicature.
2Culture Facsimile: the Guiding Principle of Allusion Translation
As noted above, Language is the vehicle of the culture, and every allusion is culturally bound. But different languages of Western countries and China cause the communicative obstacles between them, which is called cultural differences.
Because of the cultural differences, there are unavailable difficulties in the translation of allusions. It indicates that allusion translation is not a surface conversion, but a transplantation of cultures. Therefore, it is much more worthwhile to note that translation of allusions should be conducted in the underlying principle, cultural facsimile', which means that the foreignness of the allusions should be retained to the greatest extent; thereby the horizon of the target language reader will be expanded in such a way that they may be enlightened. (Sun Zhili:1998)
3Strategies Used for Translation of Allusions
3.1Literal TranslationLiteral translation is often adopted for those whose figurative meaning has been accepted by target readers for long, and also for those who do not require much of their contexts, their implicature can be easily identified either in the source or target language. E.g.
ST: Jia Baoyu“……好容易熬了一天，这会子，瞧见你们，竟如死而复生一样。真真古人说‘一日三秋’。(曹雪芹《红楼梦》)
TT: “……But I survived in somehow, and now that we’re together again I feel as if I’d just risen from the dead. ‘One day apart seems three autumns’……（by Tr. Yang and Yang）
The Chinese allusion “一日三秋”comes from “the Book of Songs”. Since its implicature can be easily identified either in the source or target culture, it was literally translated into English.
3.2Contextual Amplification“Contextual amplification”is a means to add some extra—allusive guidance within the text. And it is effective only when the cultural flavor of the allusion is not so profound and is likely to be understood by the target language readers with the help of several explanatory words. e.g.
ST: 三顾频频天下计
TT: The Emperor trice called on him for people’s sake.
“三顾茅庐”is a story familiar to Chinese readers, but in translating it to the English reader, it should be pointed out that it was the Emperor (Liu Bei) who called on Zhu Geliang for three times to serve for him to reconstruct the country. So the addition of "the Emperor" is required.
ST: But soon after writing them, Crane jumped to his death from a New-York-bound ship; an act which was taken as proof that his endeavor, like that of Icarus, was foredoomed.
TT:但是他写了这些诗篇以后不久，便从一艘开往纽约的船上滔海而死，人们说他这个行动足以证明它的努力，就像希腊神话中的那个鼓着蜡翼飞行的伊卡拉斯的努力一样，是注定要失败的。
Icarus is the son of an architect, Daedalus, in ancient Greek myth. It is recorded that the little boy Icarus’ death is due to his obstinacy in believing that the wax may serve as the wring for him to fly high to the sky. The fact that wax will get melted as it approaches the sun later leads to his tragic ending. The rich implicature of the imageIcarus' is by no means within common Chinese readers' comprehensibility. Thus the image ofIcarus' is retained in the Chinese version with some additional explanations.
3.3AnnotationAnnotation refers to add a footnote or endnote to give overt explanations outside the text itself. In another words, annotation is in fact a method ‘amending the translated text’. This technique is used when the implicature of a source—cultural allusion cannot be fully conveyed in the target text either by literal translation or by contextual amplification. E.g.
ST:寶玉说： “……比如这水仙庵里面，因供的是洛神，故名水仙庵。殊不知古来并没有个洛神，那原是曹子建的谎话……”（曹雪芹《红楼梦》）
TT: Pao-yu said: “……In this river Goddess Convent, for example, they worship the Goddess of the River Lo. That’s how the convent got its name. But of course in ancient times no such goddess existed. She’s Tsao Tzu-chien's invention"
Note: Tsao Tzu-chien(192-232), Tsao Tsao's son and a noted poet, wrote a poem on the Goddess of the River Lo
In the above example, the allusion Tsao Tzu-chien is well known in our Chinese. Since it happens in a text with a strong national flavor, it is kept in the English version with footnotes.
ST: Let both sides unite to heed in all corners of the earth the command of Isaiah to "undo the heavy burdens(and) let the oppressed go free".
TT:不管我们在地球的什么地方，让我们双方都记住以赛亚（圣经中的人物，是位先知）的重托：“卸下重负……让所有受压迫的人都获得自由”。
Isaiah is a prophet in the Old Testament. In the translation, with detailed explanation in the brackets, Chinese readers understand the target text quite easily.
3.4ReplacementReplacement is a strategy adopted to replace the source-cultural allusions by the target-cultural allusions in the translating practice. It is usually not an advisable way to translate allusions which bear a strong national flavor unless any other treatment of the source-cultural allusion may appear awkward and funny. E.g.
ST:今若前进，倘不如意，正如画蛇添足也。（罗贯中《三国演义》）
TT: If you attempt more, things may go wrong, and you will only paint the lily.
“画蛇添足”is a Chinese allusion which means ruining the effect by adding something superfluous. But in the English allusion ‘paint the lily', lily refers to a beautiful, perfect flower. There's no need to put some colors to it. So both the allusions have the same implied meanings with different cultural flavor. The English version here successfully conveys the pragmatic implicature of this Chinese allusion.
ST: Disconsolate, Soapy ceased his unavailing racket. Would ever a policeman lay hand on him? In his fancy, the island seemed an unattainable Arcadia.(O. Henry: The Cop and the Anthem)
TT: 苏比怏怏地停止了白费力气的吵闹。难道就没有一个警察来抓他了吗？在他的幻想中，那座岛成了可望而不可及的蓬莱仙岛。
The Arcadia in the original text was in ancient Greek, which had landscapes and people enjoyed a peaceful life there. It is a heaven in people’s minds. But this cultural connotation is unknown to most Chinese. Thus, it is translated here as蓬萊仙岛, which is an Arcadia in Chinese culture.
3.5ParaphrasingSometimes, for the sake of easy accessibility and smoothness, conveying the implicature or figurative meaning of a source—cultural allusion is sufficient, which makes its meaning overt and dispensed with the allusive itself, It is often termed as “paraphrasing”. Eg.
ST:To his disappointment, he asked for bread and was given a stone.(Jane Austen “Pride and Prejudice”)
TT:令他失望的是，他所得非所求。（林娟译）
3.7Re-creationIn translating practice, if the translator finds any other means can't achieve the optimal relevance to the target reader, another method called re-creation to convey the meaning and spirit of the original can be adopted. In another words , re-creation is a demanding strategy, although sometimes inevitably resulting in the loss of the original style as well as the original culture. E.g.
ST:无论是忙是闲，因为那歌，从她身上总迸出采菊东篱下的悠闲恬淡。 (散文《总能有歌唱》)
TT: At work or at leisure, her songs always create an aura of an idyllic life she enjoys, unruffled, carefree and indifferent to fame and gain.
采菊东篱下is an allusion coming from a poem written by Tao Yuanming. And there is no slandered and corresponding English version to it. So here it is inevitable for the translator to recreate his own language concerning the implicature of the Chinese allusion. Comparing with other translation strategies, re-creation sometimes regarded as the optimal way in allusion translation.
4Summary
Nowadays the world has ushered in a new era in which world cultures have been gradually interwoven at the ever-increasing speed. Translation of allusions is largely a matter of cultural transmission. Therefore, it is highly necessary to applycultural facsimile' in allusion translation. It is the author's standpoint that no matter what strategies used for conveyance of pragmatic implicature in the target text, it should not bring cultural dislocation and distortion especially in dealing with the allusions loaded with rich national flavor. And according to the strategies for allusion translation, the translator can produce successful translation of allusions, which will benefit the cultural exchange in broad cultural context.
5Bibliography
[1]楊自检.英汉语比较与翻译[M].上海：上海外语教育出版社,2000:133
[2]曹雪芹，高鄂.红楼梦[M].长沙：岳麓书社,1987
[3]Cao,Xueqin (translated by Yang Hsienyi and Gladys Yang). A Dream of Red Mansions. Beijing: Foreign Language Press, 1978
[4]Leppihalme, R. Culture Bumps: An Empirical Approach to the Translation of Allusions. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 1997.
[5]赵建忠.《红楼梦》在国外传播的跨文化翻译问题[J].天津外国语学院学报第3期, 2000,(3):27-30
[6]范东生.文化的不同层次与翻译标准[J].外国语, 2000,(3):67-72