Abstract
Nowadays, the literature and custom exchanges are playing a more and more important role in the cultural globalization, as well as the dissemination of information. Language is absolutely part of the culture and in turn influenced and restricted by culture. Hence dealing with the culture-loaded words in an appropriate manner is the precondition for a successful translation, especially in the literary works. In view of this situation, this thesis chooses Fortress Besieged as the material and does a research on the culture-loaded terms of this novel by applying Communication Theory.
Fortress Besieged, as one of the greatest novels in the 20th century, consists of a great number of culture-loaded terms, which attracts many scholars and readers at home and abroad. Due to the cultural differences between English and Chinese, it is hard to find the counterparts of these culture-loaded terms in a different language. According to Harold Lasswell (1948), communication is divided into five parts, and they are “who, say what, to whom, in what channel and with what effect”.This thesis will carry out a contrast study of Fortress Besieged with its English version translated by Nathan K. Mao and Jeanne Kelly to explore the translation strategies of culture-loaded terms under the influence of Communication Theory.
The thesis draws conclusions as follows: firstly, when translating culture-loaded terms in Fortress Besieged on the basis of Communication Theory, communicative factors including translators’ triple identity, reader orientation and noise should be taken into consideration; secondly, in the study of culture-loaded terms translation of Fortress Besieged, to achieve translators’ triple identity requires them to apply paraphrasing. In consideration of readers’ subjectivity, the use of substitution is adopted. The influence of noise is displayed in the application of extension; thirdly, Communication Theory is not just confined to the study of linguistic level. It puts stress on the communicative functions in translation and it plays an important role in linking translation with the cultural background.
Key words: Culture-loaded terms, Fortress Besieged, Communication Theory
Contents
Abstract
中文摘要
Chapter One Introduction-1
1.1 Research Background-1
1.2 Research Objective-2
1.3 Thesis Structure-2
Chapter Two Literature Review-3
2.1 Definition and Classification of Culture-loaded Terms-3
2.2 Studies on the Translation of Culture-loaded Terms-4
2.3 Studies on the Culture-loaded Terms of Fortress Besieged-5
Chapter Three Theoretical Framework-7
3.1 Definition of Communication-7
3.2 Lasswell’s 5W Model-7
3.3 The Application of Communication Theory to the Translation of Culture-loaded Terms-8
3.3.1 Communicator—Translator-8
3.3.2 Communication Content—Culture-loaded Term-8
3.3.3 Communication Target—Reader-9
3.3.4 Communication Effect—Feedback-9
Chapter Four Culture-loaded Terms of Fortress Besieged: An Analysis-11
4.1 An Introduction to Fortress Besieged-11
4.2 Strategies for Culture-loaded Terms Influenced by Communication Theory-11
4.2.1 Strategies Used to Achieve Translator’s Triple Identity-11
4.2.2 Strategies Used to Fulfill Reader-oriented Translation-13
4.2.3 Strategies Used to Overcome the “Noise”-16
Chapter Five Conclusion-20
5.1 Major Findings of the Study-20
5.2 Limitations of the Study-21
5.3 Suggestions for Further Research-21
References-22
文献综述报告-24
