文化翻译论下《红楼梦》中辈分群姓名之英译

On the English Translation of Generation Group Names in Hong Lou Meng from Cultural Translation Theory

《红楼梦》中的辈分群姓名具有丰富的文化内涵,但现有翻译均未能足够体现其文化内涵。目前较为完整而经典的杨宪益、戴乃迭夫妇译本和大卫·霍克斯译本,都采取了音译法;杨氏夫妇译本采用的是威妥玛式拼音系统(同时附有零星附注),霍译本采用的是现代汉语拼音系统。两个译本均未对《红楼梦》中辈分群姓名的丰富文化内涵加以呈现。基于文化翻译论,为有效呈现《红楼梦》中辈分群姓名的丰富文化内涵,可采用如下翻译策略:音译加附注(如脚注、尾注)形式;在辈分群姓名的音译旁附上其汉语姓名;在译本的序或跋中给出辈分群姓名翻译一览表,对其文化含义系统地加以介绍。

The generation group names in Hong Lou Meng bears colorful cultural connotations which have not been embodied enough in its existing English translations. Transliteration method is adopted both in the present complete and classic versions translated by the Yangs and Hawkes. The Yangs adopted Wade-Giles romanization(with scattered annotations), and Hawkes used the modern Chinese phonetic system, but both versions haven’t presented the rich cultural connotation of the generation group names in Hong Lou Meng. In order to demonstrate effectively the abundant cultural implications of the generation group names in Hong Lou Meng, translators may adopt the following translation strategies on the basis of cultural translation theory, namely transliteration with annotation(such as footnotes, endnotes);attaching the Chinese names to the transliteration of the generation group names;systematically introducing the group names in the preface or postscript the translated version, and giving a translation list of them.