从“龙”的翻译看汉语国俗词语的英译方法

On translation of Chinese culture-loaded words as seen from the translation of “龙”

从古至今,"龙"一直是中华民族神圣的图腾和象征。然而,"龙"的英译对应"dragon"在西方普遍被视为一种邪恶的怪兽。"龙"具有独特的民族文化特色,是一个典型的汉语国俗词语。如何恰当地传达此类汉语国俗词语其特有的文化内涵对译者来说是一大挑战。以"龙"的翻译实践为例,归纳探讨汉语国俗词语的翻译策略,以期促进国际的交流和中国文化的传播。研究发现,翻译国俗词语时,要考虑到多种因素,如原文的类型,译文的对象,翻译的目的,翻译"对等"的要求等,灵活采用直译、意译、直译加意译、音译、替代、还原、直译或意译加注、补述等翻译方法。

＂龙＂ has always been a sacred totem and symbol for the Chinese nation since ancient times. However, its English version ＂dragon＂ is generally regarded as an evil monster in the West. ＂Dragon＂ is a typical Chinese culture-loaded word with unique national and cultural characteristics. How to convey the specific cultural connotations of such words poses a great challenge to translators. This paper explores and summarizes translation methods of culture-loaded words as seen from the translation practice of ＂龙＂ with the purpose of promoting the international communication and spread of Chinese culture. It is found that in translation of culture-loaded words, various translation methods should be adopted flexibly inclusive of literal translation, liberal translation, literal translation plus liberal translation, transliteration, replacement, reduction, literal or liberal translation with annotation and supplement etc in view of diverse factors such as the type of text, the translation object, the purpose of translation, translation ＂equivalence＂ and etc.