A Contrastive Study Of Chinese And English Kinship Terms

Both English and Chinese kinship terms are part of their own culture and language, thus great similarities and differences exist between the two kinds of kinship terms. Five thousand years'history has formed Chinese numerous and intricate kinship terms, whereas English kinship terms are very simple because of their strong mobility.Such a big difference will surely become the barrier of kinship term translation. Therefore, the contrastive study of differences between English and Chinese kinship term systems will help us get a better understanding of the histories and cultures of the two nations. It will help to smooth away the difficulties in mutual understanding when such kinship terms are involved in intercultural communication. It is also helpful to foreign languages learning and translation practice.This paper using the technique of comparison and contrast, based on the novel"Moment in Peking"to explore the differences between Chinese and English kinship terms and the causes of those differences as well as Dr. Lin Yutang's strategies dealing with these differences.By analyzing examples in Moment in Peking the author is trying to get the tentative conclusion: Lin Yutang's unique approach of expressing Chinese kinship terms allows them to be accepted by the readers who were baptized by two cultures. A balance was obtained between the two different cultures due to Lin's foreignization-oriented translation strategy combining domestication strategy. Thereby, to convey all the connotation of Chinese kinship terms accurately and to achieve a satisfactory translation of kinship terms, the translators had better choose foreigniztion strategy.The main content of this thesis runs as follows:This paper consists of 5 chapters. Chapter 1 is the introduction, talking about aims and purposes, research background, significance of kinship terms studies and methodology of the research. Chapter 2 is a literature review, from the aspects of sociolinguistics and anthropology respectively. The author makes a general review over the previous researches on kinship terms. These researches become the theoretical background of this paper. In Chapter 3 the author first makes clear the definition of kinship terms, and then compares the similarities and differences of Chinese kinship terms with English ones and probes into the cultural reasons of these differences. In chapter 4 a contrastive study of kinship terms is made based on the original version and translation of Moment in Peking. The study of kinship terms will be focused on four terms: Cousin, Koko and Meimei, Lao Taitai, Bad son. After comparing the author gets the strategies and method of translating kinship terms used in Moment in Peking. Chapter 5 is a conclusion. After study the author gets the conclusion: kinship term is a part of the culture, when translating it we need to take cultural element as a part of consideration. The expression of Chinese kinship terms in Moment in Peking crosses the cultural barriers successfully. It can get a balance between foreignization and domestication method. So it is worthwhile for us to learn from it when translating other Chinese classics.The author believes that the significances of the paper are the followings:1. It is helpful to fill the lexical gap and cultural gap in kinship term translation and seek the best ways of translating kinship terms according to Dr. Lin's success of finding"equivalents"in Chinese and English.2. Deepen the contrastive study of English and Chinese kinship terms and overcome the translation obstacles.3. The understanding of differences and similarities between Chinese and English culture will improve cross-cultural communication of the two parts.