Translation Of Abusive Language

Generally speaking, abusive language means those rude and offensive speeches or expressions which are used to scold or curse other people. It is included in vulgar language. It becomes a necessary part of any language. Through such a channel, many people who are angry or disappointed can release themselves and keep their feelings balanced. In a more civilized society, people often release themselves by some abusive expressions. Although cursing is undoubtedly an uneducated behavior and must be forbidden, abusive language is objectively rich in cultural connotations. People can understand a special thinking method, customs and value concepts of a nation through the small window.For a long time, abusive language has been considered as rubbish of language and culture. It is not suitable for a person to use in a decent place. So, for some years, many scholars keep away from it. There are few systematic researches on its translation. In some cases, translators omit it, or change it, or translate it unclearly, for example, in the Chinese classic novel All Men Are Brothers, Pearl Buck, who had won the Nobel Prize in Literature, tries to avoid translating abusive language in the original text again and again. Thus in the literary works, if a translator makes an effort to do like Pearl Buck, how does he convey the characters’ images and style in the original? As an old China hand, she was criticized by many scholars in the translation circle. However, in recent years, more and more translators have paid much attention to translation of abusive language. For instance, during selecting some English-Chinese translation materials, the scholar Feng Qinghua has a specialized study on it. In his opinion, lots of abusive expressions, whose connotations are not equivalent to their literal meanings, are related to sexual organs or behaviors. People can release their pent-up emotions, such as annoyance, indignation, contempt, resistance and so on through them. However, a translator should adopt foreignization to deal with such abusive expressions with cultural information in order to preserve the original style, especially in the literary works.Hong Long Meng, one of the four celebrated Chinese classic novels, has been translated into more than twenty foreign languages, including English, France and Japanese and so on. These versions are almost popular with the foreign readers. In this book, there is a lot of information of Chinese traditional culture behind all varieties of abusive expressions. Among seven or eight English versions or so, the author selects the following versions to make a comparative analysis:one is translated by Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang, the other by David Hawkes and John Minford. By categorizing and analyzing translation of abusive language in the versions through the qualitative analysis, the author makes an effort to discuss their appropriate and inappropriate aspects for finding out the better strategies and methods. Moreover, when Chinese culture is introduced to the western world, the cultural deficit should be reduced.Findings show that:(1) there are different features and cultural connotations between Chinese and English abusive expressions. During translating them, a translator should pay attention to their cultural features;(2) Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang adopt mainly foreignization, while David Hawkes and John Minford employ mainly domestication;(3) during translating the abusive expressions, a translator needs to consider the equivalent principle, such as, the railer’s tone and connotations of abusive remarks.Abusive language is an objective and special language phenomenon, which can be found in each language. It is extremely vulgar, but it carries a nation’s culture and social morality. We can understand and obtain social situation and people’s value orientations by studying the abusive remarks in the specific period. Therefore, we must attach importance to their cultural connotations. As a translator, he must not keep himself away from them, especially translating them in Chinese classic literary works. Only through adopting the foreignizing translation, can the cultural deficit be better reduced during the international exchanges. Moreover, Chinese cultural features can be also completely brought into the western world.