Study On Metaphor Translation In The English Version Of The Scholars

The Scholars is one of the most famous Chinese classic work written by Wu Jinzi. This book mainly talks about the scholars in Ming and Qing Dynasty, including their lives, official career and ideality. Yang Xianyi, a well-known translator in Chinese history, finished the only existing complete English translation of The Scholars together with his wife, who is also very interested in Chinese classical literature. In order to spread the splendid Chinese culture, the Yang’s tried their best to reproduce the traditional culture of the original in the target text, holding the belief that translators should be loyal to the core of Chinese culture. With this clear translation purpose, the translators endeavor to keep the Chinese traditional culture in original work, meanwhile to make sure the translation is readable and understandable by TL readers.This thesis focuses on the metaphor translation in The scholars. By collecting lots of examples in the work, classifying them according to different translation strategies and analyzing the characteristics of the Chinese metaphors and their translation, the author find that the Yangs took foreignization as the major translation strategy with domestication as a supplementation one. On the whole, their translation has set a good example in the transplanting of Chinese culture, which is successful in keeping the original flavor and meaning and choosing translation strategies flexibly. This can be best illustrated in the translation of The Scholars, especially in the metaphor translation. At the same time, this opinion is in accordance with the spirit of foreignizating translation. The author of this paper also appreciate the translation principle in retaining the culture and characteristics in original language. Besides, it holds the idea that we should evaluate a translation with a specific situation taken into consideration, as translation itself a communication between different cultures, only if the translator works with a clear aim, lay more attention in keeping the original culture or in the culture transferring successfully, can the translation be supported.