On Translation of Culture-loaded Words in Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung
1. Introduction
The culture-loaded words in Selected works of Mao Tse-tung are worthy of having a study for their abundance, colorfulness, expressiveness and representativeness. The translation of culture-loaded words is a most significant as well as the most challenging part of the English edition of Selected works of Mao Tse-tung translated by famous translators like Qian Zhongshu, Cheng Zhenqiu, Wu Jingrong, etc. From that point, the translation of the culture-loaded words calls for even further studies. As a matter of fact，the particularity of the culture-loaded words has given rise to the difficulties in translation. Firstly，the culture-loaded words epitomize the cultural characteristics of a certain nation. Secondly，they embody the rhetoric devices of a language in a foculized way which reflects the grammatical, syntactical, or structural form of a language. Thirdly，the culture-loaded words are independent，irregular but stable elements of a language. On account of the differences in language and culture, the Chinese culture-loaded words can rarely find their corresponding counterpart in English. It is necessary for translators to do the proper translation of these culture-loaded words.
This thesis is about the translation of culture-loaded words in Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung. Translation is a very complicated phenomenon; the study may be
conducted from many perspectives. In fact, the development of modern translation theory is the process of constant absorbing and learning from other relative discipline including linguistics, philosophy, literature, sociology, intercultural communication psychology and also cognitive science. This thesis attempt a research on the Chinese to
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English translation of the culture-loaded words in Selected works of Mao Tse-tung on the light of Cultural Translation Theory. The thesis analyses the features of culture-loaded words and cultural translation theory. Meanwhile, through the discussion of translating principles and strategies the author point out that foreignization should be taken as the principle translation method and domestication the assistant. Also, there are some suggestions for the further study in chapter 4.
2. Reviews of Features of Culture-loaded Words and Cultural Translation Theories
2.1 Definitions of Culture-loaded Words
People instinctively know that they live in a specific culture which is different from others. \"Culture is whatever one has to know, master or feel in order to judge whether or not a particular form of behavior shown by members of a community in their various roles conforms to general expectations and in order to behave in this community in accordance with general expectations unless one is prepared to bear the consequences of unaccepted behaviors.\" (Gohring, 1978:10; Nord 2001:3)However definition of culture-loaded words is notoriously difficult. In this part, we will find several typical definitions and classifications of culture-loaded words both in the west and in China.
Peter Newmark (1988) gives a rather clear-cut definition of culture-loaded words: \"(culture-loaded words) are associated with a particular language and can't be literally translated.\" His definition is fuzzy and a little too general.
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Mona Baker (1992)gives such a definition to culture-loaded words:“The source-language word may express a concept which is totally unknown in the target culture. The concept in question may be abstract or concrete; it may relate to a religious belief, a social custom, or even a type of food. Such concepts are often referred to as \"culture-specific\". ”
Aixela (1996) states: \"In translation a CSI does not exist of itself but as a result of a conflict arising from any linguistically represented reference in a source text which, when transferred to a target language, poses a translation problem due to the nonexistence or to the different value (whether determined by ideology, usage, frequency, etc.) of the given item in the target language culture.\" It shows a culture-specific item is identifiable only with reference to a particular source text and a particular target language.
Hu Wenzhong(1999:64) presents the definition: \"Culture-loaded words refer to those in a specific culture sphere. They are the direct or indirect reflections of ethnical cultures.\" He distinguishes culture-loaded words from non-culture-loaded ones.
Xu Jun(2001)defines culture-loaded words as below: \"From the cultural perspective, a word's meaning contains linguistic denotation and cultural connotation. The cultural connotation of a lexicon is the reflections of its contrastive culture features in cross-culture communication.\"
Sun Zhili(2003)describes culture-loaded words in this way: \"There are many words in both English and Chinese which has rich cultural connotation, especially those idioms, adapts, slang and dialects. These words are called culture-specific words or
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culture-loaded words.\"
Tang Xiuqiong(2006)says in her article culture-loaded Words and Their Translation From Chinese to English: \"Culture-loaded words are the words or expressions that carry
the meaning of a cultural trait to a certain socio-cultural community, and their referent also exists in other communities, but doesn't overlap the one in other community completely in semantic category, and therefore that just has to some extent, a corresponding equivalent when used in cross-cultural communication. Culture-loaded terms include cultural specialties, idioms, allusions, figurative expressions, etc. They can be in the form of words or phrases. It goes without saying that words rarely occur on their own. They are usually combined together to form stretches of meaning. Culture-loaded terms are deeply engrained into different aspects of culture.\"
Nida (1964) divides the cultural elements into five categories: 1) ecological culture; 2) material culture; 3) social culture; 4) religious culture; 5) linguistic culture.
Adapting to Nida, Peter Newmark (2001:95) defines culture \"as the way of life and its manifestations that are peculiar to a community that uses a particular language as its means of expression. More specifically, I distinguish `cultural' from `universal' and `personal' language.\" With this cognition, he categorises culture-loaded words and offers some typical examples: 1) ecology; 2) material culture (artifact); 3) Social culture- work and leisure; 4) Organizations, customs, activities, procedures, concepts; 5) Gestures and habits.
Lian Shuneng(1997) gives a list of 26 types of culture-loaded words& , including
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color terms, animal words, plant words, political words, euphemism, taboos, idioms, proverbs, allusions etc.
2.2 Features of Cultured-loaded Words
As the author mentioned in the very beginning, culture-loaded words are the cream of the language and language is closely related to culture, and language is part of the culture, and plays a very important role in it. We can know that the culture-loaded words in Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung actually reflect the four systems of culture.
2.2.1 The Techno-Economic System
There are a lot of culture-loaded words in Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung reflecting the agriculture and people's daily life. For example,“瓜熟蒂落”(when a melon is ripe, it falls off its stem),“沧海一粟”(a drop in the ocean),“水到渠成”(when water flows, a channel forms),“青黄不接”(when the crop is still in the blade and the old stock is consumed),“看菜吃饭，量体裁衣”(fit the appetite to the dishes and the dress to the figure),“上无瓦片，下无插针之地”(have neither a tile over their heads or a speck of land under their feet),“扁担没扎，两头打塌\"(when the carrying pole is not secured at both ends, the loads slip off), etc.
Meanwhile there are many other culture-loaded words showing this kind of system. For instance, these idioms or phrases reflect the geographical feature of China:“不到长城非好汉，'(If we fail to reach the Great Wall, we are not men);“东方不亮西方亮，黑了南方有北方”(when it is dark in the east, it is light in the west; when things are dark in the
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south, they are light in the north).
2.2.2 The Social System
Many culture-loaded words also reflect the Chinese social system, for example, the following idioms or phrases have shown us the feudal system of China as well as the influence of the feudal ideology, viz. “在天之灵”(one's ghost),“积阴功”(to gain merit in the next world),“钦差大臣”(the imperial envoys who rushed here, there and everywhere),“带到棺材里头去见阎王”(they can take them with (their mistakes) into their coffins when they go to see the King of Hell),“懒婆娘的裹脚布，又长又臭”(foot-bindings of a slattern, long as well as smelly),“秀才不出门，全知天下事”(without stepping outside his gate, the scholar knows all the wide world's affairs)
2.2.3 Ideological System
Some culture-loaded words convey the values which might be called the social harmony, brotherhood, or \"doing good\". For instance,“十年树木，百年树人，'(years to grow trees but a hundred years to rear people);“到什么山上唱什 歌\"(sing different songs on different mountains);“世上无难事，只怕有心人); (nothing in the world is difficult for one who sets his mind to it); “一个篱笆要打三个桩，一个好汉要有三个帮”(a fence needs the support of three stakes, an able fellow needs the help of other three people). Some also reflect the political views, express the military strategies of ancient China, and show the influence of Buddhism. There are many examples,“兼听则明，偏信则暗”(listen to both sides and you will be enlightened, heed only one side and you will be benighted);“识实物者为俊杰”(whoever understands the signs of the times is a great
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man);“声东击西”(making a feint to the east but attacking in the west);“知己知彼，百战不殆”(know the enemy and know yourself, and you can fight a hundred battles with no danger of defeat);“避其锐气，击其惰归”(avoid the enemy when he is full of vigor, strike when he is fatigued and withdraws);“做一天和尚撞一天钟”(so long as one remains a monk, one goes on tolling the bell);“放下屠刀，立地成佛”(the butcher who lays down his knife and at once becomes a Buddha).
2.2.4 Linguistic System
Meanwhile, many culture-loaded words in Selected Works of Mao Tse-Tung are just idioms, proverbs and set phrases. As Baker said, \"Idioms and fixed expressions are at the extreme end of the scale from collocations in one or both of these areas: flexibility of patterning and transparency of meaning. They are frozen patterns of language which allow little or no variation in form, and, in the case of idioms, often carry meanings which can not be deduced from their individual components.\"(Baker, 2000:63).
For example,“青黄不接”(when the crop is still in the blade and the old stock is consumed) is the idiom which has been used for a long time, and it is peculiar not grammatical construction, but also in its meaning. By the way, many culture-loaded words especially some idioms and fixed phrases which are quoted from ancient Chinese literature and historical affairs, carry many names of famous figures or historical images. When we translate these kinds of culture-loaded words, the names can not be changed at random. For instance,“班门弄斧”(show off one's proficiency with the axe before Lu Pan the master carpenter),“庆父不死，鲁难未已。\"(Until Ching Fu is done away with, the crisis in the state of Lu will not be over.),“姜太公钓鱼，愿者上钩”(like Chiang Tai Kung
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fishing, they have cast the line for the fish who wants to be caught),“司马昭之心，固已路人皆知矣”(this Szuma Chao trick is obvious to every man in the street), and etc. As the author just mentioned, these \"proper names\" can not be changed when they are translated, we have to maintain what they should be.
2.3 Cultural Translation Theory
2.3.1 Concept of Cultural Translation Theory
After the re-definition of translation studies and the illustration of the relationship between language and culture, Bassnett(1990) further explores her theory of culture translation in the book Translation, History, and Culture. The basic contents of cultural translation theory are as follows: First, translation should take culture as the translation unit, not always linger on the discourse level. Second, translation is not a simple process of decoding and recoding, but an activity of communication. Third, translation should not be restricted as the description of SL text, but viewed as the functional equivalence in the TL culture. Fourth, translation will have different principles and norms in different times in order to meet different needs. Translation, in a word, is to satisfy the needs of different cultures and the needs of different groups in a certain culture (Bassnett and Lefevere, 1990: 4). However, translation from the cultural angle is not to translate culture, and it is just to study the culture of the two languages and transmit one culture to another so as to make readers get to know the culture of other countries, then promoting cross-cultural communications.
2.3.2 The Significance of Cultural Translation Theory
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Susan Bassnett(1990)holds translation is the communication of both intra-culture and inter-culture and should achieve cultural functional equivalence between the SL and the TL. Therefore, the influence of cultural translation theory on translating of culture-specific words demands translators to achieve the cultural communication consciously. Translators should recognize the significant role played by cultural translation theory and bring them into full play. In fact, this principle should be given first consideration during translation process.
Upon Susan Bassnett, we may conclude that translation has four points of significance: 1) Enhancing the development of the history of literature since translation itself is a component part of literary history; 2) Influencing the acceptance and absorption of the norms and things of the source culture by the target culture; 3) Placing the emphasis on the comparative arrangement of linguistic elements between the SL and the TL text; 4) Promoting the theory and practice of literary translation.
Looking back on the history of translation, we find that it is gradually overlapped with culture. We can also see that translation studies have already shared common ground with rapidly developing cultural study. With the cultural turn in the translation studies and with the significance of culture recognized in the process of translation, translation is now perceived as something more related to cultures than to language. The goal of translation is switched to realize the intercultural translation.
3. Cultural Strategies for the Translation of Culture-loaded Words in Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung 第 9 页 共 17 页
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In recent years, in whatever sort of text, domestication and foreignization, two translation strategies, are discussed ardently by translation circles. Theoretically, based on various characteristics of culture, absolute domestication and absolute foreignization do not exist. This thesis considers that domestication and foreignization are not two opposite ones but overlapping ones. Therefore, these two strategies are main directions during translation process while the different techniques would be chosen in different texts. The author points out that foreignization should take the first place in the translation of culture-loaded Words in Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung and domestication be the second. 3.1 Domestication
In the translation of culture-loaded words in Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, the translators have adopted the translating strategy of domestication. Let us see the following examples:
(l)私塾:The old-style schools(Vol. l Chn.Ed.P40)
As we know, the word“私塾”refers to the studying place set up by individual in ancient China, actually there was only one teacher there. And often there were no unified textbooks and limitation of studying years.
Because in Chinese edition of Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung the author wanted to convey more conceptual meaning than the cultural meaning, the translator dealt with the word through the strategy of domestication in order to achieve the conveying of
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conceptual meaning so that the TL readers can better understand the meaning of the whole context. In other words, the use of domestication has avoided, to some extent, the confusion caused by cultural difference. This kind of confusion is unnecessary under the premise of less importance of the cultural meaning of this word than its conceptual meaning.
(l) 愚公移山: The foolish old man who removed the mountains (Vol.3 Eng.Ed.P321)
When translating the phrase, there is also no need to use other strategies except domestication.
Generally speaking, the use of domestication in translation turns the alien elements of one culture and language (the source language) into the well accepted part of the other culture and language. However, for Venuti the term domestication has negative connotations as it is identified with a policy common in dominant cultures which are \"aggressively monolingual, unreceptive to the foreign\" and which he describes as being ‘Accustomed to fluent translations that invisibly inscribe foreign texts with (target language) values and provide readers with the narcissistic experience of recognizing their own culture in a cultural other’. (Shuttleworth&Cowie, 2004: 44)
From this point of view, this strategy limits the cross-cultural communication in the translation.
3.2 Foreignization
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The term alienation was also put forward by Venuti opposite to the concept ‘domestication’ as mentioned above. This strategy is that ‘the translator leaves the author in peace, as much as possible, and moves the reader towards him (Shuttleworth&Cowie, 2004: 59) If the strategy of domestication is built on the basis of the ‘sameness’ or ‘alikeness’, the strategy of foreignization reversely is the important strategy to overcome the cultural obstacles that exist between the different cultures of the various countries and nations. The translation strategy of foreignization aims at transferring the original information of the source language and culture into the target language and culture in a very close way, enriching the latter one with fresh information-this is actually a process which lies in the necessity of exact exchange and communication between two different cultural and linguistic systems. Superficially, foreignization has pulled close the two different languages and cultures. However, when we analyze the development of the communication between language and culture, we can find that this strategy is just separating the SL and culture from the TL and culture. Actually the difference of the two languages and cultures also exists. Therefore the employment of foreignization is conducive to the mutual communication and penetration of two languages and of cultures.
Because the political writings have their own features and functions, diffusing the cultural differences becomes impossible through translating. It is the same with the translation of culture-loaded words in Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung.
(3)秧歌: Yangko dance (Vol.3 Eng.Ed.P236)
As we know, “秧歌”is a traditional Chinese performance under the aid of the
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instrument of gong and drum. As a proper name in China, it can bring about the aesthetic association among the Chinese people who are familiar with it. However, if we use domestication to translate this word into \"a kind of rural dance popular in north Chinao transfer the information, we can use the skill of \"transliteration\" plus \"annotation\". By using foreignization, the translation can acquire the same effect of other culture-loaded words such as“豆腐”(tofu),“点心”(dimsum), etc.
As a whole, the use of foreignization is more frequent than that of domestication in the translation of culture-loaded words in Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung. Why does this happen? It is because of Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung itself. As we know,
Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung was the most important political writing and was highly
thought of at that time. Therefore, the translation of Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, especially the special expressive way and political connotation, was significantly treated. In order to maintain the original features such as meaning and flavor, the translators use a lot of foreignization in the translation. Meanwhile, the translators also use domestication to keep the right meaning of the SL text and the acceptability of the translation avoiding losing the effect of political propaganda. That is to say, under the premise of seeking the effect of political propaganda, maintaining the faithfulness, expressiveness and the political flavor of the original text, and making the translation acceptable, we should adopt much the strategy of foreignization, and appropriately use the strategy of domestication.
4. Research limitations and suggestions for further research
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Upon completion of this research, it is plainly clear that this thesis has only begun to touch on the topic that is really quite expansive and difficult to handle, especially when there is not much previous information. Nowadays, foreign languages are more and more popular, more and more writers will use their second language to create wonderful works, and their works in TL can be regarded as a special kind of translation and this phenomenon deserves further research in the near future. The transaction of culture-loaded words is very complicated. Dr. WangZuoliang(1989) pointed out: ‘The translator is confronted with two whole different culture when he dealt with some single word.’ Translation is just about the exchange of tow kinds of culture. Besides possessing a deep understanding of his own national culture, the translator should learn the foreign culture and get the deep meaning of the original text. Adopt the two strategies properly, never neglect anyone and we would do a better job in translation. Only in this way, can we convey the cultural information within the text to the TL.
5. Conclusion
Translation is one of the most precious crystallizations of human thought. The new development of translation studies depends on that of studies in human thinking and cognition. Meanwhile, the translation in Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung was the most important political writing and was highly thought of at that time. Therefore, the translation of Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, especially the special expressive way and political connotation, was significantly treated. The cultural theory has provided a new angle and theoretical model for translation of culture-loaded words .
Two tendencies have become noticeable in translation studies over the last two
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decades. One is that more importance is attached to the culture oriented approach than the linguistically oriented approach. The other is that translation theories bear a marked brand of culture theories. This paper firstly attempts to give some insight into the definition and features of culture-loaded words, also the definition and significances of cultural translation theory are mentioned in the thesis. Also, the thesis discussed the cultural strategies for the translation of culture-loaded words in Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung. The author emphasized that the combination of foreigization and
domestication can not be ignored in the translation of culture-loaded words in
Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung. While, foreigization should take the first place when
translating.
References：
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[5]Nida：Eugene A. Language and Culture: Contexts in Translating [M]. Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2001.
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[15]赵华,从文化翻译论角度看文化负载词汇的解读一评析《京华烟云》中文化负载词汇的翻译策略[MA]. 南华大学，2008
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