2.3 The translation of The Border Town6

Chapter Three  Methodology7

3.1Resaech questions.7

3.2 Research methods7

3.3 Data collection..7

Chapter Four  Results and Discussion..9

4.1 Results9

4.2 Discussion9

4.2.1 Translation of the names of characters and places in The Border Town.9

4.2.2 Translation containing Chinese traditional cultural elements..11

   4.2.3 Translation of Chinese sayings.13

4.3 The effects of foreignization used in the translation of The Border Town14

4.4 The auxiliary use of domestication in the translation of The Border Town..16  4.5 Factors influencing the translators’ translation strategies.17

4.5.1 The characteristics of the original work17        

4.5.2 The purposes of translation18.

       4.5.3 The translators’ cultural attitudes18

Chapter Five  Conclusion.19

5.1 Majors findings..19

5.2 Limitation and recommendation19

References .21

Appendix 22

On the Translation Strategies Used in The Border Town Translated by Yang Xianyi and Dai Naidie

Chapter One  Introduction

1.1 Research background

    As we all know, with the acceleration of globalization, China is getting more and more attention in the international community. Obviously, cultural communication plays an important role in the process of globalization. Translation is a helpful tool that promotes the spread of Chinese culture all over the world. However, the translation of literary works is difficult and strict in that literary works usually include the particular cultural elements of specific nations, the special characters and the thinking styles of people. Under the circumstances, respecting the original works and at the same time making the translation accepted by readers becomes a formidable task. In order to achieve this goal, translators need to choose suitable translation strategies, which have become a hot topic in the recent years. 

1.2 Purpose and significance of the research

Translation strategy consists of domestication and foreignization. The two concepts were first put forward by an American translation theorist Lawrence Venuti and they are two opposite translation strategies. Domestication is the strategy of making the text closely conform to the culture of the language translated to, which may involve the loss of information from the source text. Foreignization is the strategy of retaining information from the source text, and involves deliberately breaking the conventions of the target language to preserve its meaning. Translation strategy is closely related to the effect of the translation. Views on the two kinds of translation strategies vary from inpidual to inpidual. Some scholars think that foreignization is becoming the main translation strategy in the translation of literary works in the 21st century (Sun, 2005). Some hold the view that domestication will be the main translation strategy in the translation of literary works (Cai, 2002).

    The Border Town is one of the representative works of a famous Chinese writer Shen Congwen, whose achievements in literature bring him the honor of “the Dumas of China” (Kinkley, 1987, p.111). It is a novella set in a small town called Chatong located in the border of Sichuan Province and Hunan Province in the 1930s. The writer describes the typical local customs and culture of the western area of Hunan Province with a beautiful written style. He reflects the beauty and kindness of human nature and the purity of human heart by telling the love tragedy of a girl named Cui Cui who ferries people for a living.