Abstract

Translation is a language communication activity, which is a conversion of cross-culture; it aims to seek the balance of source language and target language in different cultural contexts. Untranslatability refers to a relatively small extent to which source language can be equivalently translated into target language. As is well known, it is cultural difference that gives a rise to the problem of untranslatability. Therefore, culture difference is one important factor that we have to take into account in the process of translation. It is almost impossible for a translator to create an idiomatic version for a culture-loaded source text if s/he lacks cultural awareness in the course of translation. This paper analyzes the phenomenon of untranslatability in the Chinese-English translation from the perspective of culture difference to point out that untranslatability is an unavoidable issue in translation. In addition, some translation strategies are proposed for the purpose of tackling the problem of untranslatability in the last part of the paper.
 
Key words: culture differences; untranslatability; Chinese-English translation; compensation strategies

摘要

翻译是一项语言交际活动，它是一种跨文化的转换。它致力于在不同文化的语境中寻求源语言和目标语言之间的平衡。不可译性是指在相对较小程度上能把一种语言对等地翻译成另一种语言。众所周知，正是文化差异造成了不可译性这一问题。因此，文化差异是翻译过程中我们必须考虑的一个重要的因素。如果译者翻译过程中缺乏文化意识，对一个充满文化信息的源文本来说，他/她几乎不可能创作出地道的译文。本文主要从文化差异的角度分析英汉翻译中出现的不可译现象，说明不可译性是英汉翻译过程中无法回避的问题，此外，本文最后提出解决不可译性这一问题的一些翻译对策。

关键词：文化差异；不可译性；英汉翻译；补偿策略