Strategies For English And Chinese Intercultural Translation Based On Frame Theory

The complicated translation process is not a simple amalgamation of decoding and encoding. The message sender's intention, the target receiver's expectation and the translator's interpretation of the two sides should be taken into consideration. What impels the translator to match the intention and the expectation subconsciously is"a transfer mechanism" within his mind, which is actually the culture-bound-frames. The establishment of a frame is an accumulative process, a continuum which is influenced by the reality, and as a consequence, the frame allows bear close relations to culture. Tennen (1993:9) has made it clear that frames are culturally determined.According to cognitive linguistics, linguistic expressions function both as triggers to activate and as anchors to stabilize the cognitive frames on which meaning in language relies heavily on its generation. Therefore, the notion of 'frame' in cognitive psychology is firstly introduced to analyze the cognitive process with the illumination of its definition, types, features, and the relationship between 'frame' and 'culture' in the thesis. Since different languages are networks of different frame systems, sub frames, and cultural frames, the translator must strive to avoid a conflict among frames components and to reestablish the harmony in the target language.Firstly, the thesis gives a concrete description of frame theory, intercultural translation and the relationship between frame and culture, and then, discusses expressive forms of cultural implication in cognitive frames in intercultural translation. Furthermore, the author concludes 3 kinds of intercultural translation strategies. We can raise the activities at subconscious level to conscious level and thus help the translator to make decision during translation process.