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An Analysis of the Untranslatability of Language and Culture

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An Analysis of the Untranslatability of Language and Culture
An Analysis of the Untranslatability of Language and Culture
A case in A Dream of Red Mansions

By
杜微
Duwei

A term paper

Submitted to the Foreign Language and Literature Department Baoji

University of Arts and Sciences

Class:6
Grade:2011
Term paper advisor: Student’s signature:
Date:
An Analysis of the Untranslatability of Language and Culture
A case in A Dream of Red Mansions
目录

Ⅰ.Introduction
The purpose of translation determines that the translator should objectively reflect the contents of source text during the process of information translation. The differences of languages make this task so challenging that the failure in translation appears in bilingual translation. The untranslatability of classical verse in the novel is analyzed in this paper from the perspective of linguistic and cultural untranslatability by taking several English translation versions for example. Some useful translation methods are illustrated and appropriate translation standards are proposed in this paper as well so as to seek appreciate method of translation.
Ⅱ. Brief description of translation and untranslatability
2.1. The definition of translation
Translation is the art of recomposing a work in another language without losing its original flavor. (Columbia Encyclopedia) Translation is the replacement of textual material in one language (SL) by equivalent textual in another language(TL) (J.C.Catford). Translation is a kind of transcultural communication, and what translation needs is the reappearance of the spirits, as well as the artistic form of original text so as to make different language-learners fully understand and accept this information. Translation is divided into domestication and foreignization in western theory. Domestication is one of the translation strategies,which refers to the apply of transparent and fluent style in the translation, the maximum desalting of the strangeness of the original



References: 曹雪芹,红楼梦.北京:人民文学出版社,2007:23 J.C.Catford, A linguistic theory of translation. Oxford: Oxford university Press,1965. Xianyiyang, Glady Yang. A Dream of Red Mansions. Beijing: Foreign Language Press.1978:91. David Hawkes. The Story of The Stone. Penguin Book.1993:53. 冯庆华,文体翻译论(Stylistic Translation),上海外语教育出版社,2002.

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