论文总字数：48960字

摘 要

本文选取2012年诺贝尔文学奖得主莫言的中篇小说《师傅越来越幽默》以及葛浩文的英译本（2011）为例，采用文献收集、定性与定量相结合的研究方法，旨在从归化与异化角度探讨该小说中文化负载词的翻译问题。

归化和异化是翻译中常用的两种方法，也是处理文化差异的两种策略。自1995年美国翻译理论学家劳伦斯·韦努蒂提出“异化法”和“归化法”后，对于文化差异究竟应该采取更贴近源语文化的异化策略还是更贴近目的语文化的归化策略的争论一直僵持不下。

文化负载词的翻译问题是国外翻译家在翻译中国文学作品时遇到的最为典型的难题。根据美国著名翻译理论学家奈达划分的五类文化系统，本文将《师傅越来越幽默》中的文化负载词也分为五类：生态文化负载词、物质文化负载词、社会文化负载词、宗教文化负载词以及语言文化负载词，并且对以上五类文化负载词进行个案研究。

通过研究发现，葛氏在翻译《师傅》中的文化负载词时，并没有拘泥于一种翻译策略，而是灵活运用。事实上，归化和异化各有所长，又各有所短，但是过度的归化和异化都会对文学翻译造成不利影响。若想达到最大程度的传意，就不能简单地采用单种策略，而应根据翻译内容和目的以及读者接受水平，将这两种方法灵活地结合起来，努力寻找最佳的切合点。

关键词：归化与异化；文化负载词；师傅越来越幽默

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments i

Abstract ii

摘要 iii

Table of Contents iv

List of Tables vi

Chapter One Introduction 1

1.1 Background of the Study 1

1.1.1 Mo Yan 1

1.1.2 Howard Goldblatt 1

1.1.3 Shi Fu Yue Lai Yue You Mo 2

1.2 Significance of the Study 3

1.3 Layout of the Thesis 4

Chapter Two Literature Review 5

2.1 Definition of Domestication and Foreignization 5

2.2 Previous Research of Domestication and Foreignization 6

2.2.1 Previous Research of Domestication and Foreignization Abroad 6

2.2.2 Previous Research of Domestication and Foreignization at Home 7

2.3 Domestication and Foreignization in Literary Translation 8

Chapter Three Domestication and Foreignization in Translation of Culture-Loaded Words in Shifu, You’ll Do Anything for a Laugh 10

3.1 Classification of Culture-Loaded Words in Shi Fu Yue Lai Yue You Mo 10

3.2 Translation Guided by Foreignization 12

3.2.1 Transliteration 12

3.2.2 Literal Translation 13

3.2.3 Amplification 15

3.2.4 Omission 16

3.3 Translation Guided by Domestication 17

3.3.1 Free Translation 17

3.3.2 Substitution 19

Chapter Four Conclusion 22

4.1 Summary 22

4.2 Limitations and Suggestions for Further Study 23

References 24

List of Tables

Table 1: Frequency and percentage of culture-loaded words in Shi Fu Yue Lai Yue You Mo………………………………………………………………………………………11

Table 2: Frequency and percentage of six translation methods of culture-loaded words in Shifu, You’ll Do Anything for a Laugh………...……….……………………………12

Chapter One Introduction

1.1 Background of the Study

1.1.1 Mo Yan

As a celebrated Chinese short story writer and novelist, Mo Yan, with the original name Guan Moye, was born in a peasant family in Northeast Gaomi Township, Shandong Province, China in 1955 (Wang 2000: 487). In 2012, aged 57, he won the Nobel Prize in literature, the first Chinese writer ever to win that prize.

Altogether, Mo Yan has accomplished 11 novels, more than 30 novellas and over 80 short stories. In 1986, the publication of Red Sorghum, the first to be translated, laid his position in Chinese contemporary literary world (Liu 2011: 21). Among Chinese contemporary novelists, Mo Yan ranks first whose most works have been translated into foreign languages (Shao 2013: 62). A total of over 100 types of his works have been distributed overseas with multi-language translated versions (Bao 2015: 15).

Mo Yan’s works are epic historical novels characterized by hallucinatory realism, black humor and stream of consciousness. In the view of western critics, cannibalism is also reflected in Mo Yan’s novels, the same as German writer Patrick Süskind’s best-seller Perfume (Inge 2000: 501). Howard regards Mo Yan as “the most imaginative writer to deal with the issue of cannibalism” (Goldblatt 2000: 480). He also evaluates Mo Yan “as the most accomplished and creative novelist of his era” and “a master of diverse styles and forms, from fable to magic realism, hard-core realism, (post)modernism, and more.” (Goldblatt 2009: 29)

1.1.2 Howard Goldblatt

Howard Goldblatt, born in Long Beach, California in 1939, is Research Professor at the University of Notre Dame and a widely well-known translator of modern Chinese literature who has translated more than 40 works of over 20 contemporary Chinese writers (Shan amp; Wang 2014: 202). In 1999, he won the “Translation of the Year” award, which was granted by the American Translators Association. In 2009, he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for the translation of Mo Yan’s Death by Sandalwood (Goldblatt 2013: 10).

Among western literary scholars of recent years, Howard Goldblatt has contributed most to Chinese contemporary literature in terms of the largest volume he has translated (Wen, Wang, Lai 2007: 78). Mo Yan’s works account for the largest proportion in all his translations, and among all the Chinese-English translators, Goldblatt enjoys the highest recognition around the world (Shao 2011: 47). The three most popular translations of Mo Yan’s works in western countries are Red Sorghum, The Garlic Ballads, Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out (Shao 2013: 62).

“I may be naïve, but to me, the translator is always visible and always invisible,” says Goldblatt in a self-interview, “and I consider myself a bit of a dinosaur, in that forging through the underbrush of a literary text in search of linguistic prey requires no theoretical sophistication.” (Goldblatt 2011: 100) Besides, Mo Yan once mentioned that “my novels could have been translated by someone else and published in United States, but the English versions would never have been so beautifully translated, if not for him [Howard Goldblatt].” (Mo 2000: 473)

1.1.3 Shi Fu Yue Lai Yue You Mo

Shi Fu Yue Lai Yue You Mo (hereafter referred to as Shi Fu) is one of the novellas written by Mo Yan in 1999 and translated into English by Howard Goldblatt in 2001. Moreover, the book has been translated into French, German, Italian, Dutch, Hebrew and many other foreign languages, which indicates the influence this novella has generated. In 2000, it was adapted into the film Happy Times by Zhang Yimou, a celebrated Chinese director, which was successively brought onto the screen of more than ten countries such as Korea and America.

Shi Fu is one of the few works which takes city life as the background. The story centers round an advanced model worker Ding Shikou who was laid off even though he was scheduled to retire in a month. Penniless to desperation, he converted an abandoned bus into a "love cottage" for people to tryst. One day, he thought a couple made suicide inside the bus and reported to the police. However, it turned out that there was no one inside the bus. The seemingly nonsensical ending brings the whole story to highlight. The writer uses folk languages and black humor to describe those couples’ furtively releasing their imprisoned love through the eyes of Ding Shikou, presenting a vivid picture of life in his time.

1.2 Significance of the Study

We are living at an age when different cultures collide and integrate more than any time in history. With increasingly frequent international exchanges and the deepening of China’s opening up, Chinese culture gradually attracts worldwide attention, whether the ancient literature or contemporary famous works which have almost been translated into various foreign languages and spread all over the world.

Literary translation usually carries the task of cultural communication, and culture-loaded words epitomize the richness and complexity of literary language, thus worth more attention and efforts of translators. Besides, what kind of processing method should be adopted in translation is the choice that translators must make.

The thesis intends to choose Mo Yan’s novella Shi Fu Yue Lai Yue You Mo and its English version as the research subjects to discuss the application of foreignization and domestication in translation of culture-loaded expressions. The significance of the thesis lies in three main aspects as follows. First of all, the research can provide some advice and guidance for literary translation, thus helping translators produce more qualified works. Second, the specific analysis on application of foreignization and domestication can help translators choose proper translation strategies when dealing with culture-loaded words. Third, the research may attract more scholars and translators to contemplate how to make translation more acceptable to target readers so as to increase cultural exchanges between China and the West.

1.3 Layout of the Thesis

The paper consists of four chapters.

Chapter One provides a general introduction of the thesis including research background, research significance and layout of the thesis.

Chapter Two centers around the strategies of domestication and foreignization. The first part is about the concepts of these two strategies. The second part has a brief review of previous research on domestication and foreignization at home and abroad. The third part briefly states principles of domestication and foreignization in literary translation.

Chapter Three gives a detailed analysis of culture-loaded words in Shi Fu Yue Lai Yue You Mo and their translation strategies. Based on Nida’s culture system theory, the chapter briefly classifies the culture-loaded terms and expressions in Shi Fu. Afterwards, the chapter analyzes the Goldblatt’s adaptation of translation principles and techniques when he translates the five categories of culture-loaded words through some typical examples and the effect it produces.

Chapter Four indicates the major findings of the study and points out limitations and suggestions for further study.

Chapter Two Literature Review

2.1 Definition of Domestication and Foreignization

The root of the terms -- domestication and foreignization -- could be traced back to the notion of Friedrich Schleiermacher, a German theologian and philosopher. In 1813, he stated in a lecture On the Different Methods of Translating, “Either the translator leaves the author in peace, as much as possible, and moves the reader towards him; or he leaves the reader in peace, as much as possible, and moves the author towards him.” (Venuti 1995: 37)

According to the above two kinds of translating situation, Schleiermacher proposed the author-centered translation and the reader-centered translation. This approach broke traditional boundaries of literal translation and free translation and had a great impact on other scholars. Over one hundred years later, Lawrence Venuti, an American distinguished translation theorist, formally put forward the concepts of these two strategies. He defined domestication as “an ethnocentric reduction of the foreign text to target-language cultural values, bringing the author back home” and defined foreignization as “an ethnodeviant pressure on those values to register the linguistic and cultural difference of the foreign text, sending the reader abroad” (Venuti 1995: 20).

Mark Shuttleworth and Moria Cowie hold the opinion that domestication refers to a transparent and fluent style of the translation strategy which can reduce the strangeness of the translated text to the minimal level, while foreignization means a strategy which deliberately breaks the conventions in the target language and retains foreignness of the original text (Shuttleworth and Cowie 1997: 59).

To sum up, domestication is a TL oriented translation strategy in which the translated texts are acceptable and intelligible for target readers. Foreignization refers to SL oriented translation in which the original flavor is maintained to a large extent by preserving the foreignness of the source language culture.

2.2 Previous Research of Domestication and Foreignization

2.2.1 Previous Research of Domestication and Foreignization Abroad

In the West, the argument on domestication and foreignization could be traced back to word-for-word translation and sense-for-sense translation argued by Cicero, Horace and St. Jerome in ancient Rome. Since ancient time, a large number of scholars have been arguing which strategy should be adopted in translation and the dispute seems to end in a deadlock.

Eugene A. Nida, a well-known American linguist and translation theorist, strongly supported the strategy of domestication. He put forward the functional equivalence theory and classified the equivalence into two levels. In his opinion, the translation is inadequate if it fails to reach the minimal level where target readers can understand and appreciate the translation to the same point where original readers understand and appreciate the text (Nida 1993: 119). Stressing complete naturalness of expression, Nida advocated domestication mainly from the angles of reader response and communicative function of translation. For one thing, domestication can help target readers better understand the message which is conveyed within the scope of their own language culture. For another, it can reduce cultural conflicts and misunderstandings caused by linguistic hindrances. If the translated text is natural and intelligible for target readers, they can appreciate it from their own cultural perspective, thus creating effective intercultural communication.

Nevertheless, Lawrence Venuti firmly supports adopting foreignization in translation. He believes the ultimate aim of translation is to help target readers recognize linguistic and cultural differences between the source text and the target text (Venuti 1995: 23). His favor of foreignization lies in three main reasons. First, it enables target readers to have acquaintance with the spirit and quintessence of the source-language country’s culture and feel exotic flavor maintained in cultural authenticity and original cultural features, which may in turn enrich the native culture and realize the real sense of cultural exchange. Second, it can reduce translators’ invisibility which makes them devalued and even annihilated and help them leave the inferior and subordinate position, freeing their own personality. Third, it is beneficial for building democratic relationships in geography and politics as foreignization can inhibit ethnocentrism and racism and resist cultural narcissism and imperialism.

2.2.2 Previous Research of Domestication and Foreignization at Home

The research on domestication and foreignization in China started with the debate over literal translation and free translation, which can be divided into three main periods in history.

The first period is translation of Buddhist scriptures from about the Han Dynasty to the Song Dynasty. Zhi Qian, an advocate of free translation, stated his own viewpoints on translation in The Dhammapada Sequence. He insisted on following the original meaning without any embroidery. However, Dao’an strongly favored literal translation, who preached in a strict accordance with the original scripture without any deduction or addition. Xuanzang, a well-known monk and translator in the Tang Dynasty, supported the flexible combination of literal translation and free translation.

The second period is translation of western political, philosophical and literary works from the 19^th century to 1970s. The study of translation theories in this period was chiefly carried out in the way of traditional Chinese literary criticism. During the Self-Strengthening Movement, domestication was the mainstream of translation strategies. Yan Fu, for example, raised the notion of “faithfulness, expressiveness, elegance” and often made his own comments on the original content when translating. During the May Fourth period, a controversy over translation standards was carried out between the school of “faithfulness” represented by Lu Xun and Qu Qiubai and that of “smoothness” represented by Liang Shiqiu and Zhao Jingshen. It was since the last century that “Europeanization” or foreignization began to catch the public attention.

The third period is translation of modern western works. There are more and more scholars studying domestication and foreignization and taking their own position. The Chinese scholar Sun Zhili analyzes Chinese literary translation from the late 19^th century to the 20^th century and predicts the strategy of foreignization will take the leading position in China in the 21^st century (Sun 2002: 40). Cai Ping, holding the opposite opinion yet, believes that with more frequent international exchanges and deeper understanding between different nationalities, cultural heterogeneity will gradually fade away. Besides, translators should conform to the norms of target language in most cases so as to acquaint target readers with source language culture. Therefore, domestication will always take the leading position in translation (Cai 2002: 39). In addition, Sun Yifeng holds that the acceptance-leaded translation theory has already transferred to reader-centered pattern and the translation should try to fit the aesthetic and cultural habits of target readers (Sun 2012: 21).

2.3 Domestication and Foreignization in Literary Translation

During the last decade, cultural research has increasingly become the focus of humanities and social sciences and gradually permeated to peripheral disciplines. Translation theorists thus take translation into more account of global cultural communication and think about the problems of domestication and foreignization from the perspective of cultural differences and infiltration, that is, regarding translation not only as the conversion of different languages but as the exchange between different cultures.

Literary translation has always been regarded as an important approach of cultural communication and transmission. Whether literary works can accomplish such a purpose largely depends on the translation strategies adopted by translators. Xiong Bing believes that foreignization should be adopted as much as possible in literary translation on the premise of not affecting the understanding of the original text (Xiong 2003: 6). However, Xu Jianping and Zhang Rongxi suggests that English-Chinese literary translation should take foreignization as supplementary to domestication, whereas Chinese-English literary translation should adopt the strategy of domestication (Xu amp; Zhang 2002: 38).

Unlike scientific and journalistic works, literary translation has the characteristics of affectivity, ambiguity and uncertainty which require translators to use strategies flexibly instead of being confined to only one form and theory. They should combine domestication and foreignization appropriately to preserve the original aesthetic and leave enough space for readers’ imagination.

Chapter Three Domestication and Foreignization in Translation of Culture-Loaded Words in Shifu, You’ll Do Anything for a Laugh

In this chapter, the specific analysis will be made of culture-loaded words in Shi Fu Yue Lai Yue You Mo and its English version. The author classifies these words into five categories based on Nida’s culture system theory and adopts Venuti’s domestication and foreignization theory to analyze how Goldblatt deals with these culture-loaded words and make a balance between original cultural flavor and naturalness of translation.

3.1 Classification of Culture-Loaded Words in Shi Fu Yue Lai Yue You Mo

Due to the complexity and richness of culture, its vehicles -- culture-loaded words -- are enormous in scope and scale. According to Nida culture is classified into five kinds: ecological culture, social culture, material culture, religious culture, and linguistic culture (Nida 2004: 91). Subsequently, culture-loaded words can be categorized into five types as well. To study the translation strategies of culture-loaded words in Shifu, You’ll Do Anything for a Laugh, the author will adopt Nida’s theory and summarize some representative culture-loaded words and expressions in the novella.

The ecology of a place has relations with the pattern and balance of local plants, animals, people, and environment. In Shi Fu, the words of this type can be subdivided into geographical, meteorological, botanical and zoological.

Material culture-loaded words and expressions can reflect ways of life in a certain community and have fixed corresponding referents in the real world, including food, clothing, transportation, architectures, tools of production, and household appliances, etc. Since the background of Shi Fu is set in a northern city in the late 20^th century, the material culture-loaded words in the novella present people’s living conditions of that period.

Living in a community for a certain time, people will subconsciously create a corresponding culture that will pass on from generation to generation. Social culture-loaded terms are the reflection of customs, lifestyle, regulations, historical background and behavior patterns of an ethnic group. The social culture-loaded words in Shi Fu can be mainly subdivided into three categories, that is, names, addressing terms, and customary words.

Religious culture plays an important role in human civilization, centering around what people value, believe, and worship. Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism prevail in China since ancient times whereas Christianity is widely believed in the western world. In Shi Fu, words of this type account for the least, most related with Buddhism and few associated with Confucianism.

Linguistic culture-loaded words mirror the distinctive characteristics of different language families in phonetic, grammatical and formal systems. Chinese is a member of Sino-Tibetan language family whereas English belongs to Indo-European language. In Shi Fu, Mo Yan demonstrates the characteristics of Chinese mainly through the elements of idioms, proverbs and dialects.

Table 1. Frequency and percentage of culture-loaded words in Shi Fu Yue Lai Yue You Mo

Table 2. Frequency and percentage of six translation methods of culture-loaded words in Shifu, You’ll Do Anything for a Laugh

3.2 Translation Guided by Foreignization

Since not all of words and expressions in the source language have counterparts in the target language, translators thus have to adopt foreignization to preserve the original flavor and promote cultural communication which can not only highlight the importance of cultural heterogeneity but also enrich the culture and language of target readers. In Shifu, You’ll Do Anything for a Laugh (hereafter referred to as Shifu), Goldblatt mainly adopts the techniques of transliteration, literal translation, amplification and omission in translating culture-loaded words.

3.2.1 Transliteration

Transliteration is to write words in the alphabet of a different language so as to preserve the pronunciation of original references in the source text. Therefore, it is an effective way to retain the original cultural message and increase the inclusiveness of language. In Shifu, the technique is most often used in translating geographical terms, like “Hainan” for “海南”, and names of people, like “Wang Dalan” for “王大兰” and “Ding Shikou” for “丁十口”.

(1a) 早晨，他像往常一样骑着那辆六十年代生产的大国防牌自行车去上班，又黑又顽固的笨重车子在轻巧漂亮的车流里引人瞩目，骑车的青年男女投过了好奇的目光后就远远地避开他，就像华丽的轿车躲避一辆摇摇晃晃的老式坦克。(Mo 2010: 159)

(1b) One morning, like all other workday mornings, he rode to the factory on his 1960s black and obstinate, clunky Grand Defense bicycle, which presented quite a sight among all the sleek lightweight bikes on the street. Young cyclists, male and female, first gave him curious stares, then steered clear of him, the way a fancy sedan gets out of the way of a lumbering tank. (Goldblatt 2011: 2)

The tank originally means a large container for holding liquid. In World War I, to break the deadlock of trench warfare on the Western Front, the British army built tanks in extremely confidential and attached the word “Tank” on the tanks which were sent to the battlefield so as to conceal their real purpose, declaring that those tanks were containers for holding food and water. Thus the name has been used up to now.

In the context, Mo Yan compares Ding’s clunky Grand Defense bike to a lumbering tank, which presents the poverty and low status of old Ding. As is known to all, the term “坦克” in Chinese is the transcription of the English word “tank”. In translating this culture-loaded word, Goldblatt adopts transliteration to preserve the pronunciation and convey the original meaning in the source text. It reflects the current trend of cultural communication and integration.

3.2.2 Literal Translation

Literal translation means to keep the original sentiments and style, including figures of speech and sentence structures. As a translation method of foreignization, it has the advantage of maintaining the original flavor of rhetoric characteristics and national peculiarities while conveying the information embodied in culture-loaded words. In Shifu, Goldblatt adopts literal translation to deal with some botanical and zoological words, titles of positions as well as some material and linguistic culture-loaded words.

(2a) 就像砍到了高粱闪出了狼一样，工人们散开，管供销的副厂长就显了出来。(Mo 2010: 161)

(2b) Like a wolf exposed in the filed when sorghum stalks are cut down, the assistant manager for supply and marketing popped into view. (Goldblatt 2011: 4)

“高粱” is a traditional Chinese crop mainly grown in the northern region of China. The sorghum is an element frequently used in the novel of which the background is set in the last century, and it is always associated with plain peasants in North China toiling in the field from dawn to dusk. In the novella, faced with unexpected unemployment, the workers beat the assistant manager, angry and annoyed. Soon a pair of police cars stormed up to the compound, and one of the cops ordered the workers to disperse, which they did. Thus the assistant manager stood out from the mass. Mo Yan compares the workers to the sorghum field and the assistant manager to the wolf. In the translated version, Goldblatt uses literal translation and retains the figurative device, which describes the scene concretely and vividly.

(3a) 紧接着老丁看到，自己的徒弟吕小胡伸手揪住了副厂长脖子上那条像结婚被面一样鲜艳的领带，猛地往下一顿，副厂长就像落进了地洞一般消逝了。(Mo 2010: 161)

(3b) The next thing he saw was Lü Xiaohu reach out to grab the assistant manager’s colorful necktie, which looked like a newly-wed’s quilt, and jerk it straight down; the assistant manager disappeared from view, as if he’d fallen down a well. (Goldblatt 2011: 4)

In the traditional Chinese wedding customs, quilts are necessities prepared by the families of the bride and the bridegroom. The color is very bright, mainly in red and green. The new and beautiful quilts converge the blessings from all the relatives and friends for the newlywed, symbolizing a new start towards the happy life after marriage.

In the source text, after being abruptly laid off, Lü Xiaohu was so annoyed that he jerked the assistant manager straight down. The description of the assistant manager’s colorful necktie actually reveals his social status in a sarcastic tone, creating a sharp contrast with the plain workers. In translating this material culture-loaded expression, Goldblatt preserves the original flavor by using literal translation. It not only vividly displays the bright color of the assistant manager’s necktie, but also to some extent conveys the Chinese wedding customs to the target readers.

3.2.3 Amplification

Amplification is a method of adding some background knowledge and further explanation to make implicit content in the source text explicit in the target text so as to help target language readers to understand the meaning more easily and accurately. In Shifu, this method is often employed to translate idioms, proverbs and a few social culture-loaded words.

(4a) 卖猪汉子摇动三寸不烂之舌，把方才讲过的那套话更加丰富多彩地讲述一遍。(Mo 2010: 169)

(4b) The peddler saw it was time to put his three-inch weapon of a tongue into play. (Goldblatt 2011: 16)

“三寸不烂之舌” is a traditional proverb originating from a classical Chinese allusion. In the 5^th century BC, Mao Sui, one of Lord Ping Yuan’s followers, volunteered to negotiate with Chu State and accomplished the mission. After returning to Zhao State, Ping gave him a rather high evaluation that Mao’s eloquent talent surpassed millions of troops. Since then, the proverb indicates someone who is eloquent and persuasive.

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