On Translating Culture-Specific Words from Chinese to English——A Case Study of Lu Xun’s Fei Zao

文/李倩,中国人民大学外国语学院

On Translating Culture-Specific Words from Chinese to English
——A Case Study of Lu Xun’s Fei Zao

文/李倩,中国人民大学外国语学院

0 Introduction

Language and culture are many ways closely linked. Not only culture has its impact on the development of language, but also language is the carrier of culture. As Nida puts it, language “constitutes the most distinctive feature of a culture (2001:139).

In other words, the cultural peculiarity of a certain community can be observed from its language. However, in the case of translation, the cultureness might be difficult to transfer due to the linguistic differences and the equivalent gap of associative meaning behind the culture reference. In fact, it is acknowledged that the culture-loaded terms can be more problematic for translators than the semantic or syntactic difficulties of a text (Leppihelme, 1997:2). Therefore, this study attempts to examine the English translation of culture-specific words or expressions in Chinese literature.

One of Lu Xun’s fictions, namely Fei Zao is selected as the case study. As a chief commander of China’s modern culture revolution, Lu Xun was not only considered to be a great thinker and political commentator, but also the founder of modern Chinese literature. Lu Xun’s writing is famous for its profound moral edification, sarcastic tone and the use of vernacular language. Fei Zao is no exception. This study is going to compare two different versions of translation of culture-specific words in this story. It is hoped that this research will find answers to the following questions:

1)How are the culture-specific words rendered in two English versions?

2)Are there any differences in the translations methods and strategies?

3)What kinds of effects do the different strategies achieve in two TTs respectively?

4)What are the possible reasons behind translators’ decision making?

1 An Overview of Related Concepts

1.1 Definition of Culture-Specific Words

Ever since the appearance of the concept “culture turn”, more and more attentions have been paid to cultural perspective of translation studies. Several Scholars have put forward different explanations and definitions for culture-specific words or expressions. According to a Spanish translator and translation theorist Aisela (1996), it means that“some items appeared in the source text do not have equivalent items in the target reader’s cultural system or these items have different textual status with those in the target reader’s cultural system, thus leading to a translation difficulty while transferring function and meaning of the source text to the target text”. Likewise, Baker (2000:21) offers her clear-cut definition: “the source-language word may express a concept which is totally unknown in the target culture. The concept in question may be abstract or concrete; it may relate to a religious belief, a social custom, or a type of food. Such concepts are often referred to as‘culture-specific’”. Based on these two definitions, it can be implied that culture-specific words are difficult or impossible to find equivalents in other culture due to their culture peculiarity and richness in cultural connotation.

1.2 Domestication and Foreignization

Domestication and foreignization, proposed by Venuti in 1995, is a pair of distinguished translation strategies coping with cultural differences. Domesticating translation describes the style that is“transparent and fluent so to minimize the strangeness of the foreign text for the target language reader by leaving the reader in peace and moving the writer toward him” (Shuttleworth and Cowie, 1997:43); while foreignizing translation refers to the TT “deliberately breaks target conventions by retaining something of the foreignness of the original and in which the translator leaves the writer in peace and moves the reader towards him (ibid:59)”.

As far as the result of translation is concerned, domestication and foreignization help translators achieve different goals. On the one hand,by minimizing the foreignness of the TT, domestication requires the translation to be as fluent as an original, so that the reader can understand the author without difficulties. This strategy is for the benefit of the target readers. Foreignization, on the other hand, creates an exotic expression in the TT, conveying the cultural values which are excluded in the TL. This strategy needs the reader to spare some time and energy to catch up with the author. Different as they are, neither of them can be excluded from cultural translation, in other words, they are mutually complementary.

2 Methodology

The data is chosen from Lu Xun’s Fei Zao. As one of the early works of Lu Xun, it first appeared in the literary supplement of the Beijing Morning Post in two installments at the end of March 1924. This short story records only an ordinary evening of one ordinary family in an unspecified Chinese city. Ssu-ming, the husband or better say the master of the family has come back with a cake of western soap for his wife and asked his son Hsueh-cheng about the meaning of a foreign expression directed at himself by a teenager in the soap shop. Because Ssu-ming only gives Hsueh-cheng a transliteration of the expression which sounds like ‘o-du-foo’(old fool), Hsueh-cheng cannot tell the possible and appropriate meaning of the word until he is asked to check it out on the dictionary by his father. The dissatisfaction with his son’s causes Ssu-ming’s outburst of temper, including his strong opposition to the new education which his son is receiving and his antagonism to the ‘New Culture’ movement. In the middle of his outburst, he talks about the filial girl who he sees on the street begging with her blind grandmother. Not only does he feel pity for young beggar, but also he accuses the sexist comment which involves with soap that was made about her by some ruffians. However, after two more times Ssu-ming narrates the story of this beggar, his wife gradually draws the conclusion that the sexist comment that has been passed about the filial girl has prompted him to buy the soap, which means that he actually gets turn on by the comment made by those ruffians. Ssu-ming’s sexual unconsciousness is conscious to his wife, which also makes the story satirical. This depiction in this work of Luxun is not merely being satirical of hypocrite like Ssu-ming,but also an exposure of human weakness.

Two translated versions are selected for comparing the translation of culture-specific words: one is by Chi-Chen Wang titled The Cake of Soap (1941), the other by Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang titled Soap(1960). Both versions are done by famous translators, who have translated many works of Lu Xun’s. Chi-Chen Wang, a Chinese American scholar,being a pioneer in the field of Chinese literature translation, he makes great contribution to the early researches on Lu Xun’ works in America.As for Yang Xianyi and his wife Gladys Yang, they are famous for translating many ancient Chinese classics into English. Their four volumes of Selected Stories of Lu Xun are highly recommended in the academia of translation.

This study will firstly identify the culture-specific words in the ST,and then compare the translations in two versions, so as to find out what kind of translation methods and strategies translators adopt and whether these expressions are successfully conveyed in the TT. Finally, some possible reasons for the differences between the two translated versions are discussed.

3 Case Analysis

There are mainly three types of culture-specific words in the ST.They appear as proper nouns, idioms and swearword. For the convenience of discussion, Chi-Chen Wang’s translation will be TT1, which makes Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang’s TT2.

3.1 Translating Proper Nouns

Proper nouns with reference to culture are usually related to history,tradition customs and social convention. Translators usually employ transliteration since there are no equivalents in English. Some examples are shown.

Ex.1) ST:“有些地方，本来单用皂荚子是洗不干净的。”她自对自的说。

TT1: “There are spots where mere tsao-chia soap won’t do any good,”she said to herself.

TT2: “There are places you can’t wash clean just with honey locust pods,”*she muttered to herself.

(*In many parts of China, honey locust pods were used for washing.They were cheaper than soap, but not so effective.)

In this sentence, “皂荚子” is rendered differently in two versions.TT1 transliterates ‘皂荚’ into ‘tsao-chia’, which is accordance to the Wade-Giles, a romanization system for the Chinese language. Also,the italic font can make the foreignness more recognizable. However,translator adds ‘soap’, which is completely different with “皂荚子”for the former usually comes in solid moulded form, termed bar. Therefore,the meaning is lost and misunderstood by the substitution of soap. While in TT2, translator is trying to give the reader a clear idea about what “皂荚子” is. The word is rendered literally in the text. Moreover, translator makes an annotation of it, by which readers can learn new information about the source culture.

Ex.2) ST:“你在做什么？怎么爹叫也不听见？”她谴责的说。

“我刚在练八卦拳……。”

TT1: “What were you doing?” Can’t you hear your dieh calling?”she scolded.

“I was practicing pa-kua-ch’uan,”…

TT2: “What were you doing?” She asked disapprovingly. “Why didn’t you hear your father call?”

“I was practicing Hexagram Boxing…”

This above example is a conversation between Mrs. Ssu-ming and her son Hsueh-cheng. Two translations are quite different in translating the words in boldface. In TT1, both words are transliterated and written in italic. The foreignness is reserved, but the readers may leave confused. In TT2, on the contrary, both words are substituted with their counterparts in English which makes the text easier to understand.

3.2 Translating Chinese Set Phrases

Chinese set phrases refer to those idiomatic expressions or fixed word combinations formed by long-time usage. The examples selected in this section are characteristic with vernacular Chinese. The vividness in these expression are difficult to transfer in English, thus, most of them are literally translated or paraphrased.

Ex. 3) ST: ‘天不打吃饭人’，你今天怎么尽闹脾气，连吃饭时候也是打鸡骂狗的。……

TT1: Even ‘Heaven would not strike one who is eating.’ What has come over you today that you act like this, ‘striking the chicks and cursing the dogs’ even at the supper table?...

TT2: “ ‘Even thunder won’t strike folk at meat,’” burst out Mrs.Ssu-ming suddenly. “Why do you keep losing your temper today? Even at supper you can’t stop hitting the hen while pointing at the dog…

This is what Mrs.Ssu-ming says to his husband when he bursts out of temper at the dinner table. The two examples are literally translated in both versions of translation, yet, it can be noticed that TT1 adheres to the ST more faithful than TT2 in terms of lexical level. TT2 still changes some words such as “thunder” for “天” and “folk at meat” for“吃饭人”, while TT1, to some extent, are almost translated word-for-word. Therefore, even the foreignness can be sensed in both versions, TT1 is more exotic than TT2.

Ex. 4) ST: (两光棍)‘你只要去买两块肥皂来，咯支咯支遍身洗一洗，好得很哩！’

TT1: ‘All you have to do is to buy two cakes of soap and k-chee,k-chee, give her a thorough scrubbing and she will be as nice a piece of goods as you’ll ever find.’

TT2: ‘If you buy two cakes of soap and give her a good scrubbing,the result won’t be bad at all.’

This is the sexist comment said by the ruffian that is intentionally passed about the filial girl begging on the street. The word “咯支咯支”is omitted in TT2, but as an onomatopoeia referring the sound of scrubbing with soap, even omitted, readers can still understand the story with the complementary explanation from “a through scrubbing”.Compared to TT2, TT1 chooses to keep this expression by transliteration.As a matter of fact, this expression appears in the story several times,which are mentioned by Ssu-ming, his wife and his hypocritical friend respectively. The repeated appearance of this particular expression is an unconscious way to show that Ssu-ming’s sexual desire for the filial girl.For TT1’s translator consideration, the loss of this onomatopoeia may weaken the sexual innuendo which exists in the ST. Hence he decides to keep it in transliteration.

3.3 Translating Swearwords

Swearwords in this story are also words loaded with culture references. Here are two examples.

Ex. 5) ST: “学程，我就要问你：‘恶毒妇’是什么？”

TT1: “Hsueh-cheng, I want to ask you this: what is the meaning of o-du-foo?”

TT2: “Hsueh-cheng, I want to ask you the meaning of o-du-fu.”**

(**In Chinese this means “vicious wife.”)

This question is raised by Ssu-ming for his son. As a matter of fact,this ‘恶毒妇’ is the transliteration of an English expression “old fool”.Ssu-ming, depicted as an old Confucian figure, knows nothing about English, or he put it, the “foreign devil language”. When the teenagers in the soap shop mock him as “old fool”, he can only remember the similar pronunciation of the word and ask his son about it. The transliteration confuses Hsueh-cheng so much that he gives a few wrong answers, which are considered as out of the original context of this word by his father. In all, this is the conversation leads to the later plot of the story. In the two translations, this swearword is transliterated but the only difference is that TT2, once again, adds a small annotation of this word.

Ex. 6) ST: “……伙计本来是势利鬼，眼睛生在额角上的，早就撅着狗嘴的了.”

TT1: “…The clerk was one of those snobs that today to the rich, with his eyes growing upward on his forehead, and he assumed a doggish snout soon enough.”

TT2: “…The assistant was one of those supercilious young fellows with eyes on the top of his head, so he pulled a long dog’s face.”

This instance is about Ssu-ming recalling what happened in the soap shop. He becomes very judgmental and biased towards the clerk and the teenagers he met. “势利鬼” refers to a person who admires people in the higher social classes too much and has no respect for people in the lower social classes. The difficulty in translating this word also lies in the implied meaning of craftiness and slyness in the character of “鬼”.“Snobs” in TT1 can fully translate this idea and the addition of “today to the rich” can emphasize the degree of snobbish. However, TT2 renders it into “supercilious young fellows”, which does not fully convey the idea in ST in that “supercilious” only expresses the meaning of being arrogant. Therefore, in this case, the effect in TT1 is better achieved.

4 Discussion

From the analysis above, it is indicated that two translated versions adopt different approaches in dealing with culture-specific words.However, they do share some common grounds, for example, on the translating proper nouns. Both translators mainly employ transliteration according to Wade-Gile, which is a common system of transcription in the English-speaking world for most of the 20th century and used in several standard reference books and in all books about China published in western countries before 1979. Pinyin is only adopted by the government after that time. Since both English versions are produced before 1979, they use Wade-Gile. Besides “皂荚子” and “八卦拳”discussed above, there is other example like “光绪” which is also transliterated by this system into “Kuang Hsu”. This strategy is considered as a way to foreignize the text, making translation visible and explicit. But in generally, the strategy of foreignization appears more often in Chi-Chen Wang’ translation than that in Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang.

On one hand, Chi-Chen Wang’s translation is trying to bring the TT readers closer to Lu Xun. In the introduction, or better say, the preface of his translation, he (1972) says to some effect that via the translation the readers can “get glimpses of China through the eyes of one of its keenest and most original minds”. That is to say, readers are fully aware that they are reading a translation in Wang’s version. All the translation methods to keep the foreigness in the TT provide a more equivalent version of Lu Xun’s point of view. As far as Wang’s concerned, the cultureness behind Lu Xun’s work might be lost or distorted through a free translation or a culture substitution. Literal translation or word-for-word translation might not sound natural to the TT readers. Sometime it may even lead to their confusion. However, TT readers can experience a lot of foreignness and exoticness that the translator intends to keep in the translation. As a result, they can get closer to Lu Xun’s mind by the close adherence to ST.

On the other hand, Yang’s translation emphasizes more on readers’comprehension or their reading experience. Annotation is one of the methods that Yang uses to make the translation easier to understand.There are total eight annotations in Yang’s translation while there is none in Wang’s. Not only annotations are made for the explanation of the culture-specific words we discussed above, but also for some background information that readers might be interested to know. For instance, when Ssu-ming suggests writing about the filial girl begging on the street in the new poem that is going to be published, his friend who is in the same Poem Society is against this idea with the reason that the poem will not be interesting. This answer might be confusing for the readers, thus Yang makes an annotation which explains the romantic tradition of women exchanging ideas with men through poems in old China and those fashionable courtesans are able to write poems. By this explanation,readers can have a better clue about the logic in this conversation.Therefore, by the combination of both domestication and foreignization,Yang’s translation brings the ST closer to the TT readers through an easier-comprehended reading experience.

5 Conclusion

To sum up, this study tries to investigate the translation of culture-specific words in Lu Xun’s Fei Zao. Two English versions translated by Chi-Chen Wang and Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang are compared. From a close analysis, it is indicated with evidence that in dealing with culture-specific words, domestication and foreignization always go hand in hand in both two versions. However, Chi-Chen Wang employs foreignizing translation more frequently than the Yang’s. The possible reasons are mainly attributed to their different goals and purposes that they hope to achieve through their translation.

However, limitations are inevitable and more could be done in the future. Data in this study is rather limited. Only two translated versions are selected for the comparison study. It is encouraged to add more translated versions by other famous translators in the future studies.Secondly, due to the limited time and space, not all culture-specific words in the data can be listed and given a detail analysis. It is hoped that this study can shed some lights on the relevant subject and more interesting and valuable researches can be done on Chinese to English translation in the field of literature.

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