Translation of Culture—Loaded Words in Tales of Hulan River from the Perspective of Functional Equivalence Theory

邹雨轩

【Abstract】This research analyzes the culture-loaded words in English version of Tales of Hulan River bases on functional equivalence theory. The major point is what strategies Howard Goldblatt uses to achieve the equivalences in semantic message，stylistic message，cultural message and response of readers，and the reasons why he uses them.This thesis contains four chapters，starting with the background，significances and the organization of the research.Chapter two introduces Tales of Hulan River as well as Xiao Hong and Howard Goldblatt，as well as the functional equivalence theory. To analyze the translation strategies of Goldblatt，chapter three divided the culture-loaded words into three categories，which is dialect，custom and proverb respectively，in this translation work of Tales of Hulan River from the perspective of functional equivalence theory.Last one is conclusion，summarizing the whole research.This paper highlights the translating of this novel into different languages and the spreading of Chinese culture.

【Key words】Translation；Functional Equivalence theory；Tales of Hulan River；Culture-loaded words

1 Introduction

1.1 The Background of the Research

The development of globalization is fast and furious，so as the culture.The direct factor of culture globalization is economy globalization.Nowadays，China has officially become the worlds second-largest economy and plays an essential role in the world. Chinese culture is a shining pearl of world culture and our culture should communicate with others in order to intensify the state of it.Chinese-English translating is an important way to spread Chinese culture，which is helpful for the world to understand our culture，so that the study of this field is needed.

As a great work of Chinese literature，Tales of Hulan River，which was written by Xiao Hong，describes the culture and customs of a little town in Chinas Northeast，the first half of the 20th century.The great writer of China named Mao Dun regarded it as an“epic of Northeast China.”（the authors translation茅盾，10）

Until now，the only English version of this book was translated by Howard Goldblatt who is one of the most remarkable sinologist of America. Hence，there is a great need for scholars to research this field and study the strategies of cultural translation of this book.

1.2 The Significance of the Research

A Cultural-loaded word is the word vacancy which means that as a carrier of culture，the source language has no counterpart in the target language （the authors translation包惠南，2004：10）.Folk culture is displayed in the Cultural-loaded words. Translation of Chinas folk culture is become further popular as Mo Yan won the Nobel Prize in Literature.

The study of the translation of culture-loaded words in Tales of Hulan River is to be conducive to the translation between Chinese and English. Meanwhile，Howard Goldblatt is the scholar who started studying Xiao Hongs works in the early period of his life and had a deep understanding.Choosing his translated version to analyze the cultural-loaded words might be meaningful to Chinese-English Translation and spreading Chinese culture.

2 Introduction of Literature Works And Theory

2.1 Introduction of Howard Goldblatt，Xiaohong and Tales of Hulan River

2.1.1 Howard Goldblatt

Howard Goldblatt，the translator of Tales of Hulan River，hailed as the“midwife of contemporary Chinese literature”by John Updike（Liu， 2011）.He has translated more than thirty works written by Chinese writers，including Xiao Hong，Mo Yan，Su Tong，Jia Pingwa，Zhang Jie.As he is a master on translator of Chinese literature，studying on his translation is conducive to the study of Chinese-English translation.

2.1.2 Xiao Hong and Tales of Hulan River

Xiao Hong （originally Zhang Naiying） was bom in 1911 in Hulan County，the north of Harbin， Heilongjiang province.She is one of the most influential female writers of China in twentieth century.Xiao Hong has a lonely childhood in Hulan County for there are almost no companions. This is the writing background of Tales of Hulan River.She endured ups and downs but never stopped writing. During her short life，she published a ten-volume work and Yang Yi regarded her as“The goddess of literature”in the 1930s of China （Zhou，2013：16）.

Tales of Hulan River is the most important work of her after the publishing of The Field of Life and Death.In this novel，Xiao Hong describes the hardship of the toiling masses，with sympathy and satire.Every stories and characters in it shows the feudalism and clanism of this little town. Actually， it is not only about this town but also reflecting the society of China in that period.This novel breaks through traditional boundaries of arranging the novel for it was written without typical characterization，compelling story，protagonist and necessary coherent chapters （the authors translation茅盾，10）.Her special language shows the vivid characters of the people living in Hulan town and Chinese folk culture.

2.2 Introduction of Functional Equivalence Theory

2.2.1 The Origins and Development of the Functional Equivalence Theory

Equivalence was a mathematical term at first，which means one thing is exactly equals to the other （Yang，2013：5）.At the 1950s and 1960s，lots of scholars carried out a large number of research and discussion to obtain translation equivalence theory by using different methods. Jacobson was early noticed the relationship between translation and linguistic theory （the authors translation唐艺朗，2008：74）. Catford divided translation into levels shift and paradigm shift， considered that translation shift is in the process from the source language to the target language，it separates from the formal equivalence （the authors translation唐艺朗，2008：74）.

Formal equivalence is a translation theory put forward by Eugene Nida.In 1960s，he proposed the concept of‘formal equivalenceand ‘dynamic Equivalencein Toward a Science of Translating and The Theory and Practice of Translation （the authors translation赵丹丹，2011：54）.As the term‘dynamichas sometimes been misunderstood，he changed it into‘functional equivalence.Nida，honored as "Father of Modem Translation"，is the representative figure of the equivalence theory for his great influence on translation field. Since the Functional Equivalence theory was introduced in the 1980s，it has huge impact on Chinese translation community （Yang，2013：5）.

2.2.2 Principles for Producing Functional Equivalence

Here are the principles proposed by Nida， which might be helpful in deciding what should be done to achieve the closest functional equivalence.

The equivalence contains four levels：1.equivalence of semantic message of source language and target language，2.equivalence of stylistic message of source language and target language，3.equivalence of cultural message of source language and target language，4.equivalence of response of source language readers and target language readers and this research evaluates the quality of the translation according to these four principles of equivalence （the authors translation郭建中，2000：67）.

3 Analysis of Translation of The Culture-Loaded Words in Tales of Hulan River from The Perspective of the Functional Equivalence Theory

Culture-loaded words are the active words in a language， which reflect the special culture of a nation.Many scholars have categorized them in many different ways.Eugene Nida divides them into five categories：ecology culture，material culture，social culture，religious culture，gesture and habits （Nida，2001）.In order to analyze the deep cultural meaning embedded carefully，this research would deal with 3 categories of Culture-loaded words：dialects，customs and proverbs.

It contains two ways to handle this issue，first one is literal translation，and the second one is free translation （Hornby，2009：2149）. Literal translation means the translated text contains both the same information and form of the source language，so it can keep the characters of the culture in the source language，but using this way to translate the dialect should be careful to avoid the misunderstanding（Liang，2000：123）.Free translation means the translated text only contains the same information of the source language but different in form.

3.1 Dialect

Dialect is a distinctive variety of a language containing some different words and grammar，etc（Liang，2000：56）.Dialect would be useful for studying the implication of folk culture.

Hulan is a town of Chinas Northeast and its dialect has a strong local color which shows the folk culture of that region. Different from English，Chinese doesnt have any tense or form of words so that the adding of affix is a way to change the tense. For instant，“阿、老、初”are the formal prefix of Chinese，and the element like“了、儿、过、起来” would be the suffix. Chinese Reduplications not only can make the language become vivid but also have the rhyming beauty.For example，the worlds“收拾收拾、眼睁睁、哽哽的”are reduplications.This makes a great incumbrance in Chinese-English translating.

The following examples show the strategies that Howard Goldblatt uses to deal with this situation.

Example 1

“小狗冻得夜夜的叫唤，哽哽的，好像它的脚爪被火烧着一样.” （萧红， 2012： 3）

“A puppy is so freezing cold it yelps and cries night after night， whimpering as through its claws were being singer by flames.”（Goldblatt， 2002：103）

In the source language text，the reduplication，“哽哽的”，is an adjective means making mournful sounds.The translated text only uses a word，“cries”，to pursue the equivalence. Looking at the first level of functional equivalence，the semantic message of source language and target language are match.However its a little different in stylistic and cultural message between Chinese and English.“Cries” is stronger and more direct than“哽哽的”which is easy to raise a feeling of readerscompassion.Although the two different ways have little discrepant，the purpose of them is the same， showing how cold the weather is.

Example 2

“那小人是黄头发，蓝眼珠，跟我相差太远，虽然祖父告诉我，说那是毛子人，但我不承认她，我看她不像什么人。”（萧红， 2012： 83）

“ The differences between that little girl with her yellow hair and blue eyes and me were enormous， and even though Granddad told me it was the figure of a maozi ren or ‘hairy one，I wouldnt accept the notion that she was supposed to be a real person.”（Goldblatt，2002：161）

In Hulan River，maozi ren means foreigner.Howard Goldblatt translates it directly by borrowing， literal translation.Using literal translation means they share the same semantic， stylistic and cultural message.He used“or ‘hairy one”，which paraphrases the meaning of maozi ren，for avoiding confusion.

Cause of the difference between Chinese and English in grammar， sometime the translation should change the tense or the part of word to adapt to the target language. If the word doesnt exist in target language， literal translation is a good chose，as the original style of the source language is kept in this way.However，some appropriate notes or extra words are needed in case of misunderstanding.

3.2 Custom

Chinese custom is an essential part of traditional culture and it also has a direct impact in the process of China.Peoples thought and universal ethical principle orientation are displayed through customs.

Tales of Hulan River tells a story happened in 1920s in the northeast of China. In this novel，there are lots of word related to customs showing the social situation and folk-culture.Its not an easy thing to translate it into English while the English country dont have this custom.The following example displays Goldblatts translating strategies.

Example 1

呼兰河除了这些卑琐平凡的实际生活之外，在精神上，也还有不少的盛举，如跳大神；唱秧歌；放河灯；野台子戏；四月十八娘娘庙大会…… （萧红，2012：41）

In hulan river， besides these inconsequential and common realities of daily life，there are special events not immediately related to the villagers hand-to-mouth existence，such as：

The dance of the sorceress；

The harvest dances；

Releasing river lanterns；

Outdoor opera performance； and

The festival at the Temple of the Immortal Matron on the eighteenth day of the fourth lunar month.（Goldblatt，2002：128）

“跳大神”is a term relating with the Shamanism and its a traditional custom，a dance for curing disease，fete and driving out evil spirits.The Shaman will ware a special custom and beg the Gods coming by dancing.Considering the readers might not have heard of the word“Shaman”，professor Goldblatt use“sorceress”which is a familiar figure to the readers instead of Shaman.

Example 2

等我睡醒了，回到屋里去，老厨子第一个就告诉我：“老胡家的团圆媳妇来啦，你还不知道，快吃了饭去看吧！”（萧红，2012：128）

The Hu familys child bride arrived，and you werent even aware of it.Hurry up and eat so you can go have a look at her！（Goldblatt，2002：193）

Child marriage is a formal marriage or informal union entered into by an individual before reaching the age of 18.Child brides，productions of conventional social system，are sold by their family because of extreme poverty and often abused by their husband and mother-in-low.The same image exists in these two languages，so Goldblatt uses the word“child bride” to express this custom.

In order to produce the closest translation and natural equivalence， target language text should enable the reader to understand the customs. If the target language exist the same or similar images，literal translation should be used.In Goldblatts translating version，literal translation has been used for translating custom and this helps reader understand it fluently.As is shown in example one and two，in stylistic and cultural message levels，these two words that belong to different language system are not totally match. However，it works in equivalence of response of source language readers and target language readers.

3.3 Proverb

A proverb is a short popular saying of unknown authorship， expressing some general truth or superstition（梁泉胜，2000：180）.As a part of culture，lots of proverbs are used Tales of Hulan River，but its not very easy to translate it appropriately.The following examples can give us a glimpse of how Howard Goldblatt manages this.

Example 1

“去，买上半斤来，给她治一治。”

（旁边有着赞成的说：）

“反正治不好也治不坏。”

（她的婆婆也说：）

“反正死马当活马治吧！”（萧红，2012：139）

“We have to try，”her mother-in-law said，“because where theres life theres hope！”（Goldblatt，2002：201）

Here the sentence“死马当活马治”literally means to cure a dead horse as it is alive.However， this is an ancient proverb of China，which means making every possible effort.Howard Goldblatt translates it into“where theres life theres hope！”by using the strategy of domesticating translation，because “where theres life theres hope！”has the same form with“Where there is a will，there is a way”，an ancient proverb in English.Using this strategy to achieve equivalence between the source language and target language，could help the readers better understand the sentence.

Example 2

我问他敢走夜路不敢？

他说：

“走黑路怕啥的，没有愧心事，不怕鬼叫门。”（萧红， 2012： 188）

I asked him if he had the nerve to walk down dark roads.

Whats there to fear from a dark road？If one has done nothing shameful，one has naught to fear from ghosts at the door.（Goldblatt，2002：238）

“没做亏心事，不怕鬼敲门”is an ancient proverb of China，and it means if someone is innocent，he has nothing to worry about.Both in Chinese and English， the image ghost is existent，so Goldblatt uses that word directly.That way，equivalence of stylistic，cultural message and the reaction of the readers between source language and target language could be achieved.

Generally，there are three strategies to be adapted：1）If the target language has another proverb having the similar meaning，we could use that proverb if its appropriate.2）A proverb could be a model of adaptation by using its form and adjust its words until it reach the equivalence.3）If the source language shares the same image in code word with target language，we could use the word directly.

The first two strategies belong to free translation，and the third one is literal translation.

4 Conclusions

In the framework of functional equivalence theory，this research focuses on the culture-loaded words in Tales of Hulan River and sums the strategies up.

The functional equivalence theory contains four levels of equivalence：semantic message，stylistic message，cultural message and response of readers.In the guidance of functional equivalence theory，this paper analyzes the strategies Goldblatt used in translating and the reasons.The result shows that the English version of Tales of Hulan River translated by Goldblatt is a great sample， for it delivers the massages appropriately and keep the cultural elements.Making a general survey，Goldblatt combines the literal translation and free translation to translate the culture-loaded words in Tales of Hulan River.Overall，it could be reduced to three strategy：1）If the target language has another words having the similar meaning，we could use that if its suitable.2）Some words could be a model of adaptation by using its form and adjust its words until it reach the equivalence.3）If the source language shares the same image in code word with target language，we could use the word directly.

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