Cultural Loss in Translation from Chinese into English

李永秀

Introduction

AS the world entered a state of Multiculturalism， the focus of translation studies shifted from linguistic items to cultural factors. From the very beginning of translation activities to the mid 20th century， the attention of translation fell mainly on how to translate the source text into the target language at the linguistic level. However， from the early 1970s， more and more scholars and translators began to focus on cultural translation. For instance， Lefevere and Bassnet （1990） were the first to raise “culture turn” in translation studies. This meant that “translation studies” changed to “culture studies”； Qiu （1998） analysed the problems of how to achieve cultural equivalence in translation and suggested seven translation methods. With the rapid development of China and its 5，000 year cultural history， more and more foreigners have become interested in Chinese culture. China Education Newspaper reported that more than 400，000 foreigners registered to take the HSK （Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi） in 2002.This would provide a good opportunity for the transmission of Chinese culture into the foreign countries. However， some cultures is lost in the translation process. As translators， what should we do？ This paper will mainly discuss the cultural loss in translation from Chinese to English. First， it will give a simple overview of translation and culture. Second， it will discuss the reasons for cultural loss in translation from Chinese to English. Third， it will provide some strategies to address cultural loss in translation from Chinese into English.

1. An overview of translation and culture

Translation and culture are closely related to each other. According to （Nord，1997，p36） “Translating means comparing cultures”. Translation is complicated， not only involveing two languages， but also two cultures and two societies （Venuti，1992）. Riccardi （2002） argued that translation is a cultural procedure， not translating language but culture. Karamannian （2002） claimed that as translators， we are not just dealing with words written in a certain time， space and sociopolitical situation； the cultural aspect of the text is the most important aspect to take into account. “Translation is to express the meaning expressed in another language in order to achieve the purposes of exchanging thoughts and feelings， and spreading culture and knowledge promoting the social civilization and most of all pushing forward the target language developed prosperously.”（Sun， 2003， p6）

In the western countries， there are a number of words used to designate the act of translation. Besides the word “translation”， there are words like“transfer， transposition， simulation， replication” （Wilss， 2001， p27）， and so on. Culture is similarly multifaceted as Riccard （2002， p93） point out “The concept of ‘culture has been the concern of many different disciplines such as philosophy， sociology， anthropology， literature and cultural studies， and the definitions offered in these fields vary according to the particular frame of reference invoke”. He also argued that there are two basic views of culture： the humanistic concept of culture and the anthropological concept of culture. The humanistic concept of culture use ‘cultural heritage as a model of refinement， an exclusive collection of a community masterpieces in arts， literature， music， and so on. The anthropological concept of culture refers to the overall way of life of a society or community， such as all those traditional， explicit and implicit behaviors for living. Tylor （1871， p1） also gave us a famous definiti of culture， he wrote， culture is “that complex whole which includes knowledge， belief， art， morals， law， custom， and any other capabilities and habit acquired by man as a member of society” . His definition of culture clearly shows that culture regulates peoples lives in every possible way. In reality， cultural elements vary from one society to another to different degrees， thus leading to different cultures. These different cultures have a strong impact on translation.

2. Reasons for cultural loss in translation from Chinese into English

Because these languages originate in vastly the different cultures， there are a lot of reasons of cultural loss in translation from Chinese into English. This paper will only analyze five major reasons： Chinese idioms， lack of equivalent words in English， Chinese culture-load words， classical Chinese poetry and Chinese emphasis on the depiction of beautiy. These will be elaborated as follow：

2.1 Chinese idioms （Chinese Chengyu）

Chinese Chengyu is an important of Chinese cultural heritage， and often approximate English idioms in terms of the message they convey. Most of Chinese idioms have a historical story or a background of national culture. For example，拔苗助長means when somebody wants to achieve a goal very quickly ， he/she may do something that defies nature. As a consequence， his excessive enthusiasm destroys everything. This Chinese idiom has an interesting historical story： A farmer grew cereal crop seedlings in his farm. A few days later， he found the neighbors cereal crop seedlings were growing better than his， so he wanted to help his crop grow quickly and spent all day pulling up the leaves of his cereal crop seedlings. At first， he felt very happy because his cereal crop seedlings were growing better than his neighbors. However， the next day， when he went to his farm， all his cereal crop seedlings had died. This example has illustrated Chinese idioms can cause dilemma of the translation from Chinese to English. While the translation can be understood by English –speaking reader， they are ignored of the cultural background information behind the idiom.

2.2 Lack of equivalent words in English

Because of difference between cultures， some Chinese words do not have an equivalent word in English. For example， the name of a famous Chinese film “紅高粱”must be translated into pingyin “Hong gao liang” for lack of an equivalent word in English， simply because this plan is not found in western countries. In addition， “陰陽（Yinyang）” “八卦（Bagua）” “氣功（Qigong）” are have no basis in English culture. As a translator， how can we make English readers understand these Chinese words when they have not background knowledge？ Not sharing backgroup knowledge or experiences and having no word to substitute for the original is another for reason cultural loss in translation from Chinese into English.

2.3 Chinese culture-load words

Words with different connotative meanings are typically culture-loaded words. For instance， “dog” in both English and Chinese is the same –a kind of animal. However， sometimes， “dog” in China has connotations of a person being “bad”. It is also a cursing word. “Pig” is also an animal in both English and Chinese， but in China， it sometimes describes a person who is silly. Whereas in English “Pig” used in their manner refer to someone who is rude and dirty. These culture-loaded words also bring dilemma to translators.

2.4 Classical Chinese poetry

In China， different dynasties have different styles of poetry. Classical Chinese poetry is an important part of Chinese culture. However， it is very difficult to translate classical Chinese poetry into perfect English poetry. For example，

登鸛雀樓

白日依山盡，黃河入海流。

欲窮千里目，更上一層樓

Mounting the Guanque Tower.

The white sun sets behind mountains.

The Yellow River flows into the sea.

Go further up one flight of stairs.

And youll widen your view a thousand.

According to this target text， the English –speaking reader can easily understand the meaning of this poetry. However， they may not deeply understand its character or historical culture. As it is a classical Chinese poetry of the Tang dynasty， every sentence is limited to five characters， we call this type of poetry “絕句Juiju”. Therefore， how does a translator translate this culture into English？

2.5 Chinese emphases on beautiful depicting

With regard to literature， the Chinese developed their own peculiar aesthetics， one of which is a unique emphasis on the depiction of beauty. They use a lot of beautiful adjectives in their literature. For example：

一眼望去，疏疏的林，淡淡的月，襯著藍藍的天，頗像荒江野渡光景；郁叢叢的，陰森森的，又似乎藏著無邊的黑暗：令人不相信那是繁華的秦淮河了。（朱自清：《槳聲燈影里的秦淮河》

As one looked into the distance， the sparse trees and the pale moon， set off the blue sky. It looks like a view of a deserted ferry on a desolate river； further yonder， it seemed to hide boundless darkness， one could hardly believe that it was still part of the busy Quihuai River

Emphasis on the depiction of beauty is an important character of Chinese literature. The target text above did not translate every objective into English， because English-speakers used to be more direct in their writing. These aspects of Chinese cultures are lost in translation from Chinese into English.

3. Strategies to address cultural loss in translation from Chinese into English

After the 1970s， more and more linguists and translators began to research the methods and strategies for cultural translation. Riccardi （2002， p102）） suggested “using loan words or loan translations， adaptations， explications， commentaries， definitions and paraphrases” in cultural translation. This paper will mainly discuss three main strategies of cultural loss in translation from Chinese into English： Adaptation， paraphrase and annotation.

3.1 Adaptation

The meaning of adaptation is that translators change the images and forms of the original text according to the mental culture mirrored by the target language and substitute expressions in the target cultural identity for expressions in the source cultural identity， in order to convey the real meaning of the original. Such as，

（1）山中無老虎，猴子稱霸王。

（2）蜀中無大將，廖化作先鋒。

（3）貓兒不在，鼠兒成災。

These sentences can all be translated as “When the cats away， the mice will play” with the replacement of image. This strategy not only helps to eliminate the target text readers barriers to comprehension， but it can also make the target text coherent with the source text.

3.2 Paraphrase

The meaning of paraphrase is translators to explain the meaning of cultural elements of the source text to target language readers. This approach has been extensively used in cultural translation because it retains the source information and gives the translator more freedom in the process of translation. If two culture involved in translation are very close or the source cultural elements are very important， it is necessary to adher to the forms of the culture-specific expressions of the source text； if the source cultural element is so linguistic or too difficult to put it into another language， the translator should not force the form of the original on the target text.

3.3 Annotation

A commonly used strategy for cultural loss in translation is annotation. Generally， there are two forms of annotation. One is transliteration supplemented with explanatory parts. For example， “紅高粱Hong gao liang ” （Hong gao liang is a famous Chinese film； it is also a kind of cereal crop in China ）. The other form of annotation is literal rendering with footnotes. Such as，

登鸛雀樓

白日依山盡，黃河入海流。

欲窮千里目，更上一層樓

Mounting the Guanque Tower.

The white sun sets behind mountains.

The Yellow River flows into the sea.

Go further up one flight of stairs.

And youll widen your view a thousand.

1.This is a classical Chinese poetry of the Tang dynasty， every sentence is limited in five characters， we call this type of poetry “絕句Juiju”. Guanque Tower is in Shanxi province， a lot of poets liked to visit there at that time.

The purpose of the footnotes is to introduce relevant knowledge of the source culture to the target text readers.

Conclusion

After the 1970s， more and more scholars and translators have shifted from the studing of linguistic items to the studying of cultural factors. However， in the cultural translation from Chinese into English， we still face the dilemma of cultural loss for a number of reasons. Such as， Chinese idioms， lack of equivalent words in English， Chinese culture-load words， classical Chinese poetry and Chinese emphasis on depiction of beauty. Annotation， paraphrase and adaptation are good strategies for cultural loss in translation.

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