论文总字数：29364字

摘 要

《红楼梦》作为中国文学史上一部重要作品已经被翻译成多国文字，其中被广泛接受的英文版本为杨宪益和霍克斯的译本。本文着重对比研究了这两种不同英译版本中称呼语的翻译以及他们在翻译时所采用的方法――归化法和异化法。通过对比研究可以发现，在翻译过程中，杨主要采取了异化法，而霍主要采取了归化法，但当他们各自所使用的方法有所不当时，他们就灵活地采取归化和异化相互结合的方法来进行翻译。通过比较，我们不能绝断地说某一版本的翻译是优于另一版本的，或归化比异化好或者差。每位译者都有他自己的理解与他自己的文化背景。

关键词：《红楼梦》；称呼语；归化；异化

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 1

2.1 Brief Introduction of A Dream of Red Mansions 2

2.2 Two Translation Versions of A Dream of Red Mansions 2

2.3 Domestication and Foreignization 2

2.4 Related Research on Domestication and Foreignization 3

3. Comparative Analysis of the Translation of Address Forms in the Two English Versions of A Dream of Red Mansions 4

3.1 Different Strategies Used in the Two English Versions 4

3.2 Yang Xianyi’s Foreignization 4

3.3 David Hawkes’s Domestication 4

3.4 Comparison of the Translation of Address Forms in the Two English Versions 5

3.5 Summary 11

4. Conclusion 11

Works Cited…………………………………………………………………...13

1. Introduction

Cao Xueqin’s A Dream of Red Mansions is one of the greatest novels of Chinese literature and it has been translated into some other languages. It is generally accepted that there are two most famous translation versions, A Dream of Red Mansions translated by Yang Xianyi and his wife, Gladys Yang and The Story of The Stone done by David Hawkes, a professor of Chinese at Oxford University, and his son-in-law John Minford ( the first 80 chapters was translated by Hawkes). Hawkes’s translation is regarded as one of the best modern translation works by newspapers and Yang’s the most complete and the most accurate one. Yang’s translation faithfully bases on the original novel and is outstanding with its beautiful language and the translator’s serious attitude. Through careful study of these two translation versions of the two masters, the writer found that the address forms translated by them have great differences. The main reason for these differences is that they used different translation strategies and they had different translation purposes when they translated the novel.

This article is based on domestication and foreignization translation strategies and it selects two English translation versions of the address forms in A Dream of Red Mansions to analyze the strategies used by the two translators.

As a result, it can be conclude that Yang’s translation faithfully bases on the original novel, so the translation strategy used mainly is foreignization translation strategy while David Hawkes usually adopts the domesticating translation strategy. However, while translating, they find that the strategy they preferred respectively is not always the best. As a result, they have to apply the other translation strategy. So we can say that foreignization and domestication can be applied flexibly in literary translation, they supplement and complement each other. Of course, there is no winning or losing between the two versions. Both are first-rate translations of A Dream of Red Mansions. Why they are different from each other lies in their own understanding of this novel and their background culture.

2. Literature Review

In this part, the author firstly introduces briefly A Dream of Red Mansions and two English translation versions of this novel. Then it touches on domestication and foreignization strategies. Finally, it reviews the related studies and explains the significance of the present study.

2.1 Brief Introduction of A Dream of Red Mansions

A Dream of Red Mansions is one of the most famous novels of Chinese literature. It tells us a long story about love and the development of a big family. Since it was released, it has been read by many people. Moreover, it has become a popular and classical television series. Many actresses are famous for the television series.

2.2 Two Translation Versions of A Dream of Red Mansions

Among the English translation versions, what are mostly circulated and highly praised are Yang Xianyi and his wife Gladys Yang’s version and David Hawkes and his son-in-law’s one. Yang once said A Dream of Red Mansions is a piece of work of authority. Therefore, he thought that when translating it, translator should make the translation be accurate and try his best not to change the original novel. What’s more, translator shouldn’t explain too much, or else, translation isn’t translation any more. Only by doing like this can translator show the original Chinese Culture to the western readers. As a result, he mainly used the foreingnizing translation strategy. While David Hawkes said that the translation that he done was according to Wang Shichang and Zhao Gang’s explanation of A Dream of Red Mansions. Besides, the translation purpose of him was that A Dream of Red Mansions can become popular among the western readers. In order to make the western readers feel more natural when reading the novel, Hawkes used the domesticating strategy.

2.3 Domestication and Foreignization

“Domesticating translation” and “foreignizing translation” are the terms created by Lawrence Venuti (1995) to describe the two different translation strategies. The former refers to the translation strategy in which a transparent, smooth style is adopted in order to minimize the strangeness of the foreign text for target language readers, while the latter refers to the type of translation in which a target text “deliberately breaks target conventions by retaining something of the foreignness of the original” (Shuttleworth and Cowie, 2004: 59)

“Domestication” and “foreignization” can be traced back to the speech of On the Different Methods of Translation by German philosopher Schleiermacher on June 24, 1813. He argued that “there are only two, 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, 2000: 19-20).

Domestication strategy eliminates the differences between cultures and replaces the source language culture with the target language culture, so that cultural exchange can be easier. Sometimes it makes the target language readers think that what they are reading is not a translation.

As for foreignization strategy, it “registers the linguistic and culture difference of the foreign text, send the reader abroad” (Shuttleworth and Cowie, 2004: 43). It means that when translating literary works, translators must keep an open mind to face differences between cultures and reveal them in the translation in order to enable target language readers to appreciate them by themselves.

2.4 Related Research on Domestication and Foreignization

In the past two decades, the attention of translation studies shifted from the language translation to culture translation. Recently, translation is also known as a cross-cultural communication activity. Venuti argued that translators can adopt two strategies to deal with cultural differences in literary translation, one is “domestication” and the other is “foreignization”. Lu Xun (1958) once said that “before translating, the translator has to make a decision: either to adapt the original text or to retain as much as possible the foreign flavor of the original text”.

Domestication tends to present the target language culture instead of retaining the source one. While foreignization is just the reverse, it displays cultural differences in the target language and introduces foreign culture to the target readers.

For many years, the debate over domestication and foreignization has been discussed by Nida, Ventui, Sun Zhili, Guo Jianzhong, Wang Dongfeng and many other scholars. Nida is one of the representatives of domestication, he advocated that domestication is referred to the target language to replace the original one and the two expressions have the same semantic meaning but differ only in form, and Lawrence Ventui pointed that “foreignizing translation is an attempt to recognize and allow those differences to shape cultural discourses in the target language.” (Ventui, 2000: 146)

3. Comparative Analysis of the Translation of Address Forms in the Two English Versions of A Dream of Red Mansions

3.1 Different Strategies Used in the Two English Versions

The Yangs and Hawkes are famous translators of A Dream of Red Mansions; Although Hawkes knows Chinese well, it’s still very difficult for him to translate the address forms. Just as Nida said, “Anything that can be said in one language can certainly be said in another, but it doesn’t mean that corresponding concepts can be formulated with the same degree of efficiency or precision.” (Nida, 1964: 167)

Throughout the whole version of the Yangs, we can see that they prefer foreignization when translating. They try their best to translate as faithfully as possible to the original text, and the language is easy and smooth but some places needs polishing. Hawkes is in favor of domestication but sometimes he also uses foreignization. His words and phrase are more properly and close to artistic form of the original text. Why did they choose different translation strategy? And can we make a conclusion that Hawkes’s version is better than the Yangs’s one? Of course, the main purpose of comparing these two versions is not to point out which version is better, but to study different translators’ translating experience and learn something from them to improve our translation.

3.2 Yang Xianyi’s Foreignization

The Yangs adopt the foreignization strategy so that they can make the originality of the source-text culture shown through in the target text to retain as much as possible the cultural features of the original text. The main translation methods used by the Yangs to suit such an approach consistently can be summarized briefly as the following: literal translation, literal translation with footnotes or annotations, transliteration and paraphrase.

3.3 David Hawkes’s Domestication

Domestication is based on the fact that different cultures share some common or the common cultural core. Nida advocates that domestication is referred to the target language to replace the original one and the two expressions have the same semantic meaning but differ only in form.

To Hawkes, the targeted readership and conditions of the target situation come into focus. Hawkes stresses the importance of the readability of the target text. In the translational action, he, as possible as he can, tries to bridge the gaps between two different cultures and languages to ease his readers’ understanding, thus more often than not; he applies the domesticating approach and produces translated text characterized by fluency, or in Venuti"s term, transparency. Hawkes’ main translation methods are as follows: free translation, free translation with built- in-text annotations or appendixes, cultural substitution and contextual amplification.

3.4 Comparison of the Translation of Address Forms in the Two English Versions

3.4.1 Translation of Kinship Address Forms

As we all know, China has complicated kinship forms, which is also reflected in this novel. The most common kinship forms are the ones used to address relatives. In the third chapter of this novel, there appears the highest frequency of kinship forms: “舅舅”(uncle), “舅妈”(aunt), “妹妹”(sister), “嫂” (sister-in-law) as vocatives; “内兄”(brother-in-law), “外祖母”(grandmother), “外甥女”(niece), “妹丈”(brother-in-law), “外孙女”(granddaughter) as designatives. Because Jia was a big family with lots of relatives living together, so the intricacy of kinship forms is embodied in the novel and the difficulty of translating them is typically indicated.

1）黛玉忙赔笑见礼以嫂呼之。（第 3 回）

Y: Tai-yu lost no time in greeting her with a smile as “cousin”.

H: Dai-yu accordingly smiled and curtseyed, greeting her by her correct name as she did so.

In this example, the strategy used by the Yangs is to have converted a distinct form“嫂” which means literally “sister-in-law”, to a general form “cousin”. While the strategy used by Hawkes is to generalize the specific by using the words “correct name”, which does not tell what form on earth Dai yu used to address Xifeng.

2）当下/贾母一一指与黛玉/这是你大舅母/这是你二舅母/这是你先珠大哥的媳妇珠大嫂子（第 3 回）

Y: “This,” she (Lady Dowager) said, “is your elder uncle’s wife. This is your second uncle’s wife. This is the wife of your late Cousin Chu.”

H: Grandmother Jia now introduced those present,“This is your elder uncle’s wife, Aunt Xing. This is your Uncle Zheng’s wife, Aunt Wang. This is Li Wan, the wife of your Cousin Zhu, who died.”

In this example, the Yangs paid enough attention to the translation of euphemism by rendering “先” into the word “late”. The strategy they used is simply literal translation. While Hawkes directly translated the meaning of the Chinese character “先” into “die”without considering its euphemism

3) 况且这通身的气派，竟不像老祖宗的外孙女，竟是个嫡亲的孙女。（第 3 回）

Y: “Her whole air is so distinguished! She doesn’t take after her father, son-in-law of our Old Ancestress, but more like a Jia.”

H: “And everything about her so distingue! She doesn’t take after your side of the family, Grannie. She’s more like a Jia.”

It is generally accepted that Chinese kinship forms have a unique characteristic—distinction between the inner and outer. Relatives on the father’s side are insiders(内), while relatives on the mother’s side are outsiders (外). When translating the above example, the two translators adopt the same strategy－domestication and offer a free translation in which the two Chinese kinship forms are given up, but they present the deep meanings that these two forms suggest.

4）……湘云走来，笑道：“爱哥哥，林姐姐，你们天天一起玩儿，我好容易来了，也不理我一会儿。”黛玉笑道：“偏是咬舌儿爱说话，连个‘二’哥哥也叫不上来，只是

‘爱’哥哥‘爱’哥哥的。回来赶围棋儿，又该你闹‘幺爱二四五’了。” ……湘云笑道：“这一辈子我自然比不上你。我只保佑着明儿得一个咬舌儿的林姐夫，时时刻刻你

可听‘爱’呀‘厄’的去！阿弥陀佛，那时才现在我眼里呢！”

Y: … “Why, Ai Brother and Sister Lin!” She cried cheerfully, “You can be together every day, but it’s rarely I have a chance to visit you; yet you pay no attention to poor little me.”

… “The liaper loves to rattle away,” said Tai-yu with a laugh. “Fancy saying ‘ai’ instead of ‘erb’ like that. I suppose when we start dicing, you’ll be shouting one, love, three, four, five…”

… “Naturally I’ll never come up to you in this lifetime. I just pray that you’ll marry a husband who talks like me, so that you hear nothing but ‘love’ the whole day long. Amid Buddha! May I live to see that day!”

*Erb means “two” or “second” and ai “love”.

H: … “Couthin Bao, Couthin Lin, you can thee each other every day. It’s not often I get a chance to come here; yet now I have come, you both ignore me!”

… “Lisping doesn’t seem to make you any less talkative! Listen to you: ‘Couthin!’‘Couthin’! Presently, when you’re playing Racing Go, you’ll be all ‘thicktheth’ and‘theventh!’”

“I shall never be a match for you as long as I live,” Xianyun said to Daiyu with a disarming smile. “All I can thay ith that I hope you marry a lithping husband, tho that you have ‘ithee-withee’ ‘ithee-withee’ in your earth every minute of the day. Ah, holy Name! I think I can thee that blethed day already before my eyeth!”

This paragraph describes two young girls－Xiangyun and Daiyu joked with each other and amused themselves. The witness, liveliness and loveliness of Xiangyun and Daiyu are decribed vividly. Xiangyun has a slight lisp and she pronounced “二” (two or second, er) just like “爱”(love, ai). As to dealing with this detail, these two translators use different techniques. The Yangs use the strategy of annotation to let the English readers know that the pronunciation of “二” means “two” or “second” in English, and the pronunciation of “爱” means “love” in English. Then his translation show readers the irony meaning included in the word “爱”. But his translation can not reflect the original sentence’s witness and humor. Hawkes uses a series of lisps to reproduce the original sentence’s witness and humor. But the powerful weapon that Xiangyun used to fight back Daiyu－ “爱”(love) is not reproduced.

3.4.2 Translation of Social Address Forms

In feudal society, Chinese people attached much importance on people’s social status. In this novel, Jia family can be regarded as a small society and social address forms are widely used. There are several kinds of social address forms; the author mainly talked something about names here.

1）平儿，丰儿等哭的泪天泪地。（第 25 回）

Y: …where Ping’er and Feng’er gave way to a storm of weeping.

H: Patience and Felicity wept piteously to see their mistress in such a state.

2）平儿指着鼻子，晃着头笑道：“这件事怎么回谢我呢？”（第 21 回）

Y: Pointing at her own nose, Ping’er shook her head and laughed. “How are you going to thank me for that?”

H: Patience pointed a finger at her own nose and wagged her head from side to side.‘How are you going to thank me for that?’

In the above two examples, the translators deal with Ping-er’s name differently, one translate directly its pronunciation by means of Chinese pingyin, the other the meaning.

3）二姑娘的诨名是“二木头”，戳十针也不哎哟一声。三姑娘的诨名是“玫瑰花”。（第 65 回）

Y: Our second young lady, the one we call Dumbbell, won’t let out a peep even if she’s pricked with a needle. The third has the nickname Rose.

H: The second one－that’s the master’s sister－we call her “Miss Doddyblock”. She’d probably forget to say “oh” if you stuck a pin in her. The third－Master Bao’s younger sister－we call “The Rose”

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