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Western translation criteria most often cited Alexander Fraser Tytler. In his book, On the Principles of Translation, the famous translation of three principles is put forward. “A translation should give a complete transcript of the ideas of the original work; the style and manner of writing should be of the same character as that of the original; a translation should have all the ease of the original composition.” (Tytler, 1797, P15). The most popular translation standards in West are equivalent value, equivalent effect, and functional equivalence. In China, the most popular is Yan fu’s translation standards of “faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance.” Fu lei put forward “spiritual conformity”-emphasizing the reproduction of the spirit of the flavor of the original). Qian Zhongshu put forward “sublimed adaptation”-focus on the translator’s smooth and idiomatic. Now, we often accept Zhang Peiji’s principles. He advocates “faithfulness” and “smooth”. Those translation criteria are all regarded as the highest realm of art.
1.2 Research Significance and Purpose
The world today has entered a globalization era, in which everything is getting more and more globalized due to the development and prosperity of information technology and mass of media. Since everything is part of culture, it is no denying that culture is being globalized too, no matter what people tend to feel or what measures people try to take to resist it. Translation, as a form of communication, should follow the general trend and contribute to the development and cultural exchange of the world. Therefore, it is of great significance to enhance studies of translation from the perspective of cultural studies.
As the American translation theorist Nada said that “translation is the communication between two cultures, for truly successful translation, familiar with two cultures is even more important than to master two languages.” Therefore, how to deal with culture factors in translation becomes a vital task .As a translator, we are faced with an alien culture that requires that its message should be expressed in anything but an alien way. So the key point of translation will depends on our understanding of the culture we are working with. Four solutions are mentioned in this paper which is designed to help people translate accurately and effectively.
II. Cultural Differences between English and Chinese
2.1 Differences in Geography
The fact is that a certain culture exists in a certain place determines that culture will reflect the natural characteristics of the place. Geographical differences are mainly including three parts: geographical position, climate and regional products.
First, let’s talk about geographical position. British is an island country and used to be a maritime power, while Chinese have been living on the continent for several thousand years. Differences in geographical positions have decided their way into some expressions meaning the same. For instance, they say “spend money like water ” in English, but we say “挥金如土” in Chinese, because water is common in British while earth is common in China .
Meanwhile, geographical environment also have an effect on the family name. In British, to live in town or village for the last name is common phenomenon. For instance, York(纽克), Kent(肯特)，London(伦敦). And many family names’ appearance is based on the nearby terrain or physiognomy. In the movie, we can often hear those names, Hill(西尔), Lake(莱克), Wood(伍德),and so on. In fact, those words’ original meanings are 小山，湖波，森林. In China, according to legend, the earliest original family names are associated with the totem worship of primitive people.
Second, let’s share climate. Different geographical positions determine that the two countries have different climate. Britain is located in the western hemisphere, belongs to the marine climate. It is the west wind to send message of spring. China is in the east, the east wind is the wind of spring. British is surrounded by water, so the summer there is mild and lovely, but it is too hot in China and Chinese people have wonderful spring, which is warm, nice and refreshing. So Chinese people say “对同志要像春天般温暖” while Shakespeare wrote “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”, referring to the wonderful feeling of being in love. Shelley, the famous British poet, his famous poem Ode to the West Wind, is also the powerful illustration of this difference.