A Study On Translating The Article "Shanghainese"

Yu Qiuyu, a famous cultural scholar in China, has been studying Chinese cultureby personal experience, investigation and research. His book Quest for ChineseCulture is a typical one. His article Shanghainese is rich in cultural expression.Shanghai, an important city in China, has its own story. In this article, the authortakes insight into Shanghai’s history, culture and human character. In the global agewhen cultural exchange is quite frequent and significant, to translate the Shanghaihistory and culture to foreign countries has a positive impact on internationalcommunication and understanding.The style of his article is full of personality. It involves many cultural words,various sentence patterns, rhetorical expressions and abundant abstract words. Thepaper first introduces the content and theme style, and the translation guidingtheories like the Seed Transplanting Theory by Susan Bassnett, High and Low ContextTheory by Edward T. Hall and the Cultural Dimensions Theory by Geert Hofstede, soas to put the theory into translation practice. The practice section is generally dividedinto two parts: words and sentences. Words include cultural words, abstract words,and emotional words. These are special words in the original article. In order totranslate them in a culturally exact way, the Seed Transplanting Theory and CulturalDimensions Theory are used, which involves how to preserve the unique culturalseeds, and how to fit into the foreign cultural environment. In this process, I analyzehow to apply translation methods and techniques into translation practice, such asliteral translation and liberal translation. Finally, from the perspective of high contextand high context theory, I analyze the rhetorical differences, syntax and differencesbetween Chinese and English modes of thinking. In this way, I use examples to showhow to carry the core meaning while taking the language style into consideration.