Culture Is the Essential Factor in the Translation of Tang Poems

董陶

【Abstract】Tang poems are the gem of Chinese literature and the precious culture heritage of the Chinese language and the valuable treasure of Chinese culture. Tang Poems in English version could help to introduce the Chinese culture and literature to the whole world. Thus， the translation of Tang Poems is tightly related to the understanding of the background and ideology of the original text. Thus， culture plays a very important role in the translation of Tang Poems.

【Key words】Tang Poems translation culture

Professor Ye Gongchao the former director of Foreign Literature Department of Beijing University said： “Writing a poem， the author must express cultural quality as far as possible or else the achievement of the poem will be very limited if the author just want to show his own talent when writing the poem”. Language is the carrier and the portraiture of the culture. Meanwhile， we could regard poem as the reflection of culture. Culture is the essential part when translating the poem. Therefore， translation focuses more on culture rather than the linguistic level. The real meaning of translation shall be “the interpretation of transferring from words to culture”.

Tang Dynasty is a peak period of ancient China. Political stability and economic development have brought prosperity of culture. Lots of great poets appeared in Tang Dynastic， such as Li Bai， Bai Juyi， Du Fu， Li Shangyin， Wang Wei， Meng Haoran， Wang Changling， Han Yu， Liu Zongyuan， etc. They wrote lots of excellent poems and made a great contribution to Chinese literature. Tang poems are the gem of Chinese literature and the precious culture heritage of the Chinese language and the valuable treasure of Chinese culture. Tang Poems reflect the cultural life of Tang dynasty. In another word， the translation of Tang Poems may be considered as a rivalry between two cultures which vies to express the original idea best. That is to say， it is very important to grasp the cultural background in Tang dynasty before translating the Tang Poems. Besides， the language of Tang poems is condense and concise， but the cultural meaning， especially the meaning of some culturally-loaded words contained in them is bountiful. However， Chinese culture differs from Western culture in many aspects such as language， history， religion， beliefs， values and ways of thinking. Therefore， cultural factors pose great difficulties in translation of Tang Poems. On one hand， they are zero equivalence. On the other hand， the semantic associations are different between different cultures. The concept in the source language may be utterly unfamiliar to the target readers. So it is quite natural that some words in one culture cannot find equivalents in another. For instance， many things mentioned in Tang Poems are totally unknown to foreigners， such as clothes， household utensils and musical instrument— zither（古箏）， lute（琵琶）， erhu（二胡）， etc. Naturally， translators have difficulties in translating these words. Now let us look at the following examples.

涼州詞

王翰

葡萄美酒夜光杯， 欲飲琵琶馬上催。

醉臥沙場君莫笑， 古來征戰幾人回。

A Song of Liangzhou

They sing， they drain their cups of jade，

They strum on horseback their guitars.

Why laugh when they fall asleep drunk on the sand？

How many soldiers ever come home？

（Bynner， 1920， P 267）

Just before Leaving for the Front

Wang Han

Under the moon in vessel made of jade，

Are brandy and sherry of the best grade.

Lute-playing hurries us into drinking fast.

Horses ready， we may be drinking our last.

Laugh not at me， if I should be drunk；

Or in the wilds or marshes be sunk.

From ancient times few for the border bound—

Have returned from a campaign safe and sound.

（Xu Zhongjie， 1983， P47）

Starting for the Front

With wine of grapes the cups of jade would glow at night；

Drinking to pipa songs， we are summoned to fight.

Don't laugh if we lay drunken on the battleground！

How many warriors ever came back safe and sound？

（Xu Yuanchong， 2000， P.55）

“夜光杯” is a kind of Chinese container made of first-class jade from Qilianshan Mountain or mandarin duck jade from Wushan Mountain. It is the perfect drinking-cup for enjoying grape wine. It is said that the taste of the wine will be sweeter and better appreciated when the wine is contained in the cups of jade. That is part of the wine culture in China， just as the Westerners drink red wine in a goblet. Filled with wine， the cup gives out bright light as the moon does since the cup is as thin as paper. Thus， it is also called “luminous cup”. Therefore，“夜光杯” in the first line means the wine cup of jade， which gives out light itself instead of reflecting the moonlight. From this， we can see that， in the first English version： “They sing， they drain their cups of jade”， Bynner obviously has the knowledge of“夜光杯”， but he neglects the important feature of the cup which glitters in the moon. While， in the version translated by Xu Zhongjie： “Under the moon in vessel made of jade”， obviously he adds a moon image which the Chinese version does not have. Probably the translator has deduced it from“夜光”. Compared with the first two translators， Xu Yuanchong has a better understanding of “夜光杯” both literally and culturally. He not only points out what it is made of， but also clearly describes the feature of it： “it glows at night”.

Comparing the three versions， we can easily find Xu Yuanchong's version is quite different from the other two in containing“琵琶”. Xu Yuanchong transliterated “琵琶” into “Pipa”， while the other two translators free translated “琵琶” into “Guitar” and “Lute”. Guitar is a musical instrument that usually has six strings that play with fingers or with a plectrum. Lute is an early type of musical instrument with strings， played like a guitar. While， “琵琶” is a classical Chinese musical instrument with four strings and shaped as a half pear， which is very distinctive in Chinese culture. Both “Guitar” and “Lute” are the similar objects in western culture as “琵琶”， but they are not “琵琶”. Hence， the best way to translate “琵琶” is transliteration.

Many words associated with the local tradition and social custom are also unfamiliar to foreigners， such as “元宵節”， “重陽節”，“端午節”. It is not only difficult to translate them literally， but hard to present their deep meanings. Take “清明節” as an example.

①The Qingming Festival

②Pure Brightness Day

“清明節” falls around April 5th every year and is the traditional day for the Chinese people to pay homage to their ancestors' tombs. It is an occasion of sorrow and sadness. Yet， festival is an occasion for feasting or celebration and is full of happiness and excitement. Thus， it is not suitable to translate it into “The Qingming Festival”， which gives foreigners an illusion that it is a joyful day. Though the second one is better， it still cannot associate the occasion with sadness as the Chinese people do.

Beside the unique Chinese musical instrument and Festivals， there are lots of things appear in Tang Poem which we could not find the equivalent objects in Western culture either， such as the following examples：

嫦娥

李商隱

云母屏風燭影深，長河漸落曉星沉。

嫦娥應悔偷靈藥，碧海青天夜夜心。

問劉十九

白居易

綠蟻新醅酒，紅泥小火爐。

晚來天欲雪，能飲一杯無。

江雪

柳宗元

千山鳥飛絕，萬徑人蹤滅。

孤舟蓑笠翁，獨釣寒江雪。

“屏風” is a furniture used inside the architecture to ward off wind in ancient time. Rich people use “屏風” not only to ward off wind but also to decorate the house. “嫦娥” is the goddess of the moon （the lady in the legend who swallowed the elixir stolen from her husband and flew to the moon）. “綠蟻” is the green foam on the newly made liqueur. It is called “綠蟻” since the green foam looks like green ants. “蓑” is a kind of special clothes made of grass or palm fiber which could prevent people from getting wet from rain. “笠” is a kind of special hat made of bamboo or palm fiber which could ward off the sunshine and rain. All the nouns mentioned above could not be found in western cultures. Thus， the translator should make them fully understood by Western readers in very short language in the translation of Tang Poem.

Besides zero equivalence， there is another difficulty caused by cultural factors， let's talk about another difficulty： A noun may not represent the unique object but represent some deep cultural meaning in Tang Poem. Consequently， it is not an easy task for translators to convey the deep meanings of them， and more difficult for Westerners to comprehend them. Now let's look at the examples below：

相思

王維

紅豆生南國，春來發幾枝。

愿君多采擷， 此物最相思。

①Love Peas

Red beans are grown in a southern clime，

A few branches burgeon in spring time.

On your lap， try to gather as many as you can.

The best reminder of love between woman and man.

（ Xu Gujie， 1990， P.77）

②Love Seeds

Red berries grow in southern land，

In spring they overload the trees.

Gather them will full is your hand，

They would revive fond memories.

（ Xu Yuanchong， 1998， P 81）

③Red Beans

Red beans come from the Southern Land，

In Spring， the trees grow some new wands.

Please pluck more of these seeds with your hands，

To show your love to friends it's grand.

（Wu Juntao， 1998， P.82）

“紅豆” is a kind of plant seed in the south of China， but a legend gives it a touch of affection. It was said that a woman was weeping sadly under a tree because her husband was dead on the frontier. She was so sorrowful that she cried to death and later was changed to a red been because of her lovesickness for her husband. As a result， the red bean symbolizes love or friendship ever since. Pea is different from bean， thus the first version is inappropriate. Red berry is a kind of juicy fruit different from bean， so the second version is not appropriate either. Compared with the first two， the third one is better.

As for the difficulties mentioned above， we should have a thorough understanding of the content and background， and accordingly use various techniques of translation. For instance， transliteration， literal translation， free translation and so on. Moreover， the phonetic context analysis， syntax context analysis as well as the syntactic context analysis should also be paid great attention to.

To sum up， it is very important to fully understand the cultural information behind the original text. Both inadequate and over translations can hurt the representation of the cultural information of the original text. Translation is a rewriting of the original text. The translator should try to express the author's original intention and ideology instead of creating the translator's own ideology.

【References】

[1]楊波. A Functional Equivalence Perspective on the Cultural Meaning of “Moon”as Translated in Tang Poetry. 北京語言大學碩士論文，2005（6）.

[2]王麗萍. 王維《相思》英譯文中的“三美”. 宜春學院學報，2010（7）.

[3]呼亞萍. 翻譯是翻譯文化. 時代教育， 2009（6）.

[4]鐘玉龍. 論文化在翻譯中的主體地位. 海外英語， 2010（12）.