 As reliable results necessarily stem from data analysis, convincing suggestions have to relate themselves to the results.
Read the following Results and Suggestions and consider if the latter is relevant to the former. Please write your answers to the questions in the space provided.
Results
Are there any principles to guide the translation of character names in Chinese literary works to English? Based on the above analysis, we find that the two principles suggested by Newmark (2001), transliteration and translating, are both applied by the translator in translating the character names in The Story of the Stone (¡¶ºìÂ¥ÃΡ·) to English.
The advantage of transliteration is to reserve the nationality of the SL. Though it is used frequently in dealing with name translation, the principle of transliteration usually fails to convey the linguistic and cultural information as well as the SL author¡¯s creative purpose to the TL readers.
Considering the loss of semantic and cultural meanings during transliterating process, the principle of translating is nominated to render character names with rich annotations. The specific translating strategies like the translation of key-word, adaptation, literal translation and borrowing from non-English languages are used to smooth the semantic defaults and conflicts caused by social and cultural difference between the languages. Though the translated names transmit the semantic and cultural meanings of the SL to the TL readers to a certain extent, partial loss of the original style and meanings still occurs owing to the linguistic and cultural differences between Chinese and English.
Suggestions
Then what implications do the above results have for the future practice of C>E character name translation?
When we translate to English some classical Chinese literary works, such as The Story of the Stone, Outlaws of the Marsh (¡¶Ë®ä°´«¡·) and The Journey to the West (¡¶Î÷Óμǡ·), the principles of transliteration and translating can both be applied in translating the character names. By the complementary use of these two principles, the translation of the various characters in these literary works can be distinguished by the adoption of different strategies.
If a character name has become an important symbol in the SL culture, such as Lin Daiyu (ÁÖ÷ìÓñ), Jia Bao-yu (¼Ö±¦Óñ) or Zhuge Liang(Öî¸ðÁÁ), it is better to be transliterated for the sake of keeping the original cultural image of the SL. If the semantic meaning of a name can be replaced by the TL equivalent without any cultural conflicts, it is good to translate the name literally. Amber (çúçê), Pearl(ÕäÖé) and Parrot (ðÐðÄ) are all cases in point. If a two-word Chinese name is verbose and complex to the TL readers, only the key-word in the name presenting the major image can be translated to make the translation more comprehensible to the TL readers. Such examples include Caltrop (ÏãÁâ), Inky (Ä«Óê) and Musk (÷êÔÂ). If the literal translation of a name may arouse annoyance or misunderstanding among the TL readers£¬the translator can consider to adapt it to avoid the possible negative reactions of the readers. That is why the names Zi-juan (×Ͼémeaning purple cuckoo) and Bao-chan (±¦ó¸ meaning precious toad) are adapted into Nightingale and Moonbeam. If a name betokens a special cultural element relating to religion or art, some non-English languages£¬such as Latin or French, can be borrowed to help represent the original religious or artistic flavour in the translation. For example, Jing-xu (¾»Ðé), Miao-yu (ÃîÓñ) and Zhi-neng (ÖÇÄÜ), the names of the nuns and monks, are translated respectively to Euergesia, Adamantina and Sapientia in Latin and Ling-guan (Áä¹Ù), Yu-guan (Óñ¹Ù) and Fangguan (·¼¹Ù), the names of some actresses in Chinese Opera, to Charmante, Topaze and Parfum¨¦e in French.
|
