民族文学国际传播中的文化传递——以《尘埃落定》英译本为例

The Transmission of Culture via the International Dissemination of Ethnic Literature: A Case Study of the English Version of Chen'Ai Luo Ding

中国民族文学作品的国际传播必须注意文化的传递,这对于塑造中华民族形象、突破他人话语体系、提升文化影响力具有重要意义。但由于文化空缺的存在,中国民族文化向外译介面临诸多难点。葛浩文夫妇翻译的阿来小说《尘埃落定》是将民族文化向国际传播的优秀成果,分析其在民族文化传递方面的得失和方法对于提高我国民族文学翻译质量和传播民族文化具有重要的借鉴意义。通过英汉文本比较发现,葛氏夫妇的译本综合采用了音译、直译、意译、形象借用等多种翻译手法,尽量保留了原作的文化意境,但也存在误译现象,扭曲或丢失了一些文化意象。总的来说,译本忠实地再现了川西高原土司制度瓦解时期的社会文化韵味,有效地传递了中国民族文化。

Importance should be attached to the transmission of ethnic culture via the international dissemination of Chinese ethnic literature.It is very important for raising the profile of the Chinese nation, breaking through the discourse system of others,and enhancing the influence of Chinese culture. However,cultural gaps between different nations pose difficulties for the translation of ethnic culture. It would be helpful for improving the quality of the translation of ethnic literature and spreading of national culture if we dissect a successful translation with regard to its pluses and minuses,as well as its methods of transmitting ethnic culture. The English translation of the Tibetan writer Alai＇s novel Chen ＇Ai Luo Ding by Howard Goldblatt and Sylvia Li-Dhun Lin is a good case. Through the comparison of English and Chinese texts,we found that Goldblatt＇s and Lin ＇s translation adopts a variety of translation techniques,such as transliteration,literal translation,free translation,and image borrowing,in order to preserve the cultural concepts in the original text as much as possible, despite some distortion or loss of cultural imageries. Overall,the translation faithfully reproduces the social and cultural appeal of the chieftain system in the Western Sichuan Plateau,and effectively transmits Chinese ethnic culture.I. The Specialness of transmitting ethnic culture and Chen＇Ai Luo Ding Chinese ethnic literary works,which take ethnic minority culture as their background and sub-ject matter,present the unique lifestyles,customs,national character and social features of ethnic minorities in China. When translated, the original ethnic features and intent of the author ＇s writing should be retained. However, cultural gaps between the Chinese ethnic culture and the target language culture make an equivalent translation difficult. While Chinese culture is still marginalized within the world cultural system,many communicators adopted a strategy that adapted to the Western discourse system by using omission,modifications and misinterpretations,thereby depriving foreign readers of the opportunity to understand Chinese culture, which is incompatible with the trends of time.Thankfully, American translators Howard Goldblatt and Sylvia Li-Dhun Lin, working with Houghton Miffling,a U. S. publisher,adopted a rigorous translation strategy that vividly reproduced the Tibetan culture and history of the Kham region. The English version has been well received in English-speaking countries,and has promoted many readers＇ understanding of Tibetan culture,As such,it serves as an important reference for the international communication of ethnic culture.Chinese Tibetan author Alai＇s novel Chen ＇Ai Luo Ding（ Red Poppies in the English version） is one of the representative works of contemporary Chinese ethnic literature. The author, using an omniscient,first-person narrative perspective,depicted an epic of the chieftains in Sichuan Tibetan areas from the last days of their glory to their com-plete collapse. It is full of meticulous portrayals of the local customs and practices of the Tibetan areas in the 1940 s,and can be regarded as a comprehensive presentation of the feudal culture in the Kham Tibetan areas.II. Principles and effects of cultural transmission In the transmission of ethnic culture,at least two principles should be applied. First,the right method of communication should be adopted in order for foreign audiences to access, understand,and even accept the culture. Second,the essence of the culture should be refined, and correctly transmitted through the specific medium. To apply this to the international dissemination of cultural elements in literary works,the first principle requires the exploration of target readers＇ receptivity to foreign culture,and a comprehensive use of literal translation,interpretation,omission,conversion, selective translation, adaptation and other methods in line with the theme of the work,the development of the times,and the reading habits of target readers. The second principle requires an accurate understanding of the cultural connotations of the original text in order to make an accurate presentation in the target language.Different understandings of the original text and different translation methods will produce different effects,which can be divided into cultural preservation,cultural loss and cultural distortion.The following examination of Red Poppies,an example of the international dissemination of a product of ethnic culture,mainly analyzes whether it adopts an appropriate translation strategy and accurately conveys the source culture. It does this based upon the above principles of ethnic cultural transmission and the criteria of the effects of dissemination.III. The Preservation of culture in the English translation of Chen＇Ai Luo Ding The challenge of cultural transmission lies in the bridging the cultural gaps between the two languages,i. e. the cultural elements unique to the source language but which are absent in the target language. The preservation of the cultural images actually brings new concepts to the target culture and as such expands the foreign readers＇ cognition and changes their mindset. Therefore,translators must first understand the target readers＇ attitude towards and receptivity of foreign cultures. If the target readers are open and tolerant towards foreign cultures,and are willing to understand or even integrate them into their own culture,then,literal translation and transliteration can be used extensively. In this way the notions and concepts of the source language can be gradually absorbed into the target language. Within the cultural connotation of the source language,images become known to the target language readers. Then,the target language speakers can follow, and shift into the thinking mode of the users of the source language. This generally happens during the spread from a strong culture to a weak one. Conversely,if readers of target language are skeptical or scornful of foreign cultures,the sensible translation methods may be substitution,free translation,or omission,and by doing so attract the readers to skim and glimpse into the literary works. This phenomenon occurs when a weak culture is disseminated to a strong culture. Today, with the rise of China, the strength difference between Chinese and Western cultures has obviously narrowed. A considerable number of Western readers are curious about China. Moreover,with the deepening of globalization and accelerating cultural exchange among various countries,the sense of cultural superiority in the Western world has begun to diminish,and more Westerners are more accepting of foreign cultures.In this context, the translation strategy of ＂foreignization ＂ could be adopted in disseminating Chinese culture.Examples of the successful preservation of ethnic cultural characteristics in Red Poppies are listed and examined in the paper and some rules are found as follows.a. The names of local people and places are transliterated from Tibetan,not from Chinese mandarin（ the original language of the novel）. This method not only retains the pronunciation of Tibetan names more accurately than Chinese the transliteration,but also conveys the tradition of dual naming system in Tibetan names.b. Appellations and titles used during the time are paraphrased according to their meaning.Because most of the titles and appellations in the novel are Chinese translations from Tibetan,whose pronunciation and meaning are not equal to their original ones, it is not necessary to transliterate them. When expressions of similar meaning could be found in English language,borrowing the appellations of the target language is also a proper choice,despite the minor differences in connotation. For example,＂Tusi＂,the official title given by Chinese Central government to officially approved ethnic minority tribe leaders, and＂Touren ＂, the Chinese appellation for a tribal leader lower t