纵向翻译单位与《红楼梦》人名英译解析

Vertical Translation Unit and Analyses of Translation of Figure's Names in Hong Lou Meng

《红楼梦》中人物姓名数量众多,且原作者曹雪芹在命名时普遍采用谐音、双关等修辞手段,令译者翻译时倍感艰难,也对译语读者构成理解障碍。在收集近60年间比较典型的4种英译本基础上,本文选取了《红楼梦》中一位女性人物"袭人"的人名翻译展开比较研究,尝试借助纽马克的欠额翻译与超额翻译理论以及诺德的纵向翻译单位观点,解析《红楼梦》人名英译中音译和意译的选择困境以及文中夹注、尾注和附录等补偿手段的运用,旨在揭示翻译中译者应发掘、凸显原作的主题旨向,在译文中再现、补偿源语文本的意义和艺术效果。

As an abundantly peopled Chinese novel, moreover, the author Cao Xueqin turned frequently to homophones and puns while naming his figures, Hong Lou Meng （The Story of the Stone） posed great difficulties to the translator and the readers of translation. After a comparative study of the four English versions of the novel published in the recent 60 years, taking translation（transliteration） of ＂Xiren＂, one of the major figures, as a case for detailed analysis, this paper turns to Newmark＇s under translation vs. over translation and Nord＇s vertical translation unit and attempts to probe into the dilemma between transliteration and paraphrasing of the proper names, the application of compensatory devices such as footnote, endnote and appendix, aiming to argue that the translator should discover and highlight the leitmotif of the original. Hence in this way can the translator reproduce the signifi cance and artistic effect in the target language and make compensation for the possible loss.