ON TRANSLATIONS OF SEATING EXPRESSIONS IN HONG LOU MENG

ABSTRACT
Hong Lou Meng, with its minute description of daily life and rich cultural connotation, is a novel second to none as a mirror of Chinese classical culture among the large collection of Chinese classic works. In the exchange of Chinese and Western cultures, translation plays an important part. In the light of cultural translation, the author of this study has selectively analyzed and commented on the translation strategies adopted in the translation of seating expressions sorted out from the first eighty chapters of Hong Lou Meng in the Yangs’ and Hawkes’ translation versions. The author mainly studies the following three distinct aspects of seating: distance in space; relative position: opposition, left/ right, above and below; and directional expressions, i.e., east/ south/ west/ north. Comparative study of these three aspects leads to the following findings: (1) The Yangs’ version shows high loyalty to the original version, with most of the seating expressions translated with literal translation approach; Hawkes is more flexible in using omission, amplification and rewording; (2) The Yangs and Hawkes tend to choose the same strategy when their perception of the seating expressions is the same; when their perception diverges, their strategies show a great difference; (3) Hawkes’ use of amplification can be found in high frequency and a regular pattern. He shows the tendency to restructure descriptions of informal feature space into descriptions of fixed or semifixed-feature space in his translation by externalizing an object of reference hidden in the original scene. In comparison, the Yangs rarely use amplification in dealing with seating expressions.
Keywords: Hong Lou Meng, seating expressions, English translation
Contents
Chapter 1 Introduction    1
Chapter 2 Literature Review    2
2.1 Translation and Culture    2
2.2 Previous Research into the Translation of Hong Lou Meng    2
2.3    Seating Arrangement    3
2.3.1 A Comparison of Chinese and Western Seating Practice    3
2.3.2 Fixed and Semifixed-feature of Seating    4
2.3.3 Informal Feature of Seating    5
Chapter 3 Methodology    7
3.1 Translation Texts Search    7
3.2 Extraction and Classification of Seating Expressions    7
Chapter 4 Translation of Seating Expressions    9
4.1 Translation Strategies of Seating Expressions Adopted in the Two Versions    9
4.2 Distance in Space    10
4.3    Relative Position    10
4.3.1 Opposition    10
4.3.2 Left/ Right    11
4.4 Directional Expressions    12
Chapter 5 Major Findings and Further Discussion    14
Bibliography    15