中国文化海外传播视域中“酒”的英译

On the English equivalent of Chinese Jiu in overseas circulation of Chinese culture

"酒"是中国传统文化传播绕不开的一个词汇,如何准确地用英文表达其文化内涵十分重要。在对中国古诗词的英译研究中发现,"酒"几乎都被翻译成"wine"。古典诗词翻译史上用"wine"来翻译"酒",反映出历史背景下外国译者的文化自信和中国译者的文化不自信,或者反映出译界的"从众"心理。本文认为,在中国传统文化世界传播过程中,翻译也应该培养文化自信的习惯,在"酒"的翻译上应该采取更为灵活的方式。

'酒' is a word that cannot be circumscribed in Chinese traditional culture circulation. This makes important the translation of Chinese culture, especially in English. This paper has made a research on the translation of '酒' in the translation of ancient Chinese poems from Chinese to English in different books, and the finding is surprising: '酒' was unexceptionally translated as 'wine' and the results show that the Chinese translators were in lack of cultural confidence, so translators, both the Chinese and the foreigners, naturally adopted 'domestification' in the translation of '酒'. The present paper suggests that we can be more flexible in translating '酒' and cultivate the translation cultural confidence in Chinese culture circulation.