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As is known to all, language is not only the culture’s content but also the carrier of culture. In order to translate Hong Lou Meng, the encyclopedia of the China classical culture, translators must know its fundamental cultural obstacles. Only by doing that can they translate it more correctly and suitably.
2.3 Cultural Images in Hong Lou Meng
Hong Lou Meng is at the top of Chinese classic novels with incomparable achievement. In fact, it is a miniature of the feudal society. The well known redologist Zhou Ruchang acclaimed that it is Hong Lou Meng that connects with Chinese culture most directly(104). What makes the job more onerous is the fact that Hong Lou Meng is known to all as an encyclopedia of the Chinese culture. It’s generally considered to be China’s greatest literary work with a reflection of Chinese culture and sheds light on virtually every aspect of both elite and popular culture, from family life, social roles and values to religious practices and attitudes, amusement, food, medicine, clothing and architecture. There is a growing appreciation for the novel and its cultural significance.
Basing on the transference of the cultural image in two translated versions of Hong Lou Meng from cultural comparison, the present paper endeavors to search the factors which influence the translation and studies the choice of different strategies and techniques on the transfer of cultural image.
Among these traditional Chinese cultural aspects, a lot of cultural images exist and inflame their special sparks. Here the author just list a few ones and we can find some typical Chinese cultural images in this great classic, which will be discussed in detail later in the paper, for example:
龙王 Dragon King (Yang’s) the King of the Ocean(Hawkes’)
凤751子 Fiery Phoenix9 (Yang’s) Peppercorn Feng (Hawkes’)
醋坛子 vinegar bitch (Yang’s) jealous bitch (Hawkes’)
潇湘馆 Bamboo Lodge (Yang’s) Naiad’s House (Hawkes’)
云雨 the secrets of sex (Yang’s) the art of love (Hawkes’)
神仙 immortal (Yang’s) God (Hawkes’)
III. Classification of Cultural Images and Case Study
Cultural image consists of all the shared product of human society, which includes not only material things such as cities, organizations and schools, but also intangible things such as ideas, customs, family patterns and languages. In this paper, the author pays attention to religious cultural image, cultural loaded animal words, Ding and Mu and color words to compare the two English versions of Hong Lou Meng.
3.1Religious Cultural Image
Religious cultural image is the sign about what people think, value, believe and hold as ideals. China is a country of many nationalities with many religious beliefs. The main religions are Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. In Hong Lou Meng, we can find a wide range of expressions branded with these religious beliefs. However, in western countries, Christianity is the dominant religion, which also influences the English people and the English language. Translating Hong Lou Meng into English will inevitably meet the translation problems resulting from the conflicts between different religious beliefs.