A Study On The Translation Of Culture-loaded Words In Steve Jobs From The Perspective Of Hermeneutics

Hermeneutics is the subject and methodology of meaning, understanding and interpretation. Likewise, the central task of all translation activities is to comprehend and interpret the original texts. Hence the application of hermeneutic theory to translation studies is of vital significance both theoretically and practically. At the same time, due to the fact that translation is deeply rooted in specific social environment, a simple transference of language is far from enough, the potential purpose of cross-cultural communication can never be neglected. Considering culture-loaded words is the direct or indirect reflection of national culture at the level of lexeme, their translation asks for an in-depth interpretation of the source language. A study on the translation of culture-loaded words from the perspective of hermeneutics is of positive rationality and feasibility.Steve Jobs is the only authorized biography of the world-famous former Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Written by the distinguished biographer Walter Issacson, it faithfully records the roller-coaster life of the deceased computer tycoon. The original English version was published by American publisher Simon&Schuster in October,2011. Nowadays two Chinese versions are widely available in the book market. They are respectively released by the mainland CITIC Press and Taiwan Commonwealth Co., Ltd. According to Reiss’ text-type theory, this biography is a compound-type text. Firstly, it belongs to the informative texts since its main writing purpose is to introduce the life experiences of the central character Steve Jobs to the public. Meanwhile, the biography is also a worth-reading literary work. In order to attract readers, the writer pays special attention to the form of language. Various kinds of rhetorical devices are adopted and a great number of culture-loaded words can be found throughout the book. Therefore, it also pertains to the expressive texts.According to Nida’s classification of culture-loaded words, the author tries to conduct a comparative study on the translation of five classes of culture-loaded words in the two versions from three aspects, namely, pre-understanding, historicity of interpretation and fusion of horizons in the philosophical hermeneutics. Facts prove that philosophical hermeneutic theory provides a brand-new angle for the translation of culture-loaded words in that it is conducive to the preservation of cultural distinctiveness as well as facilitates cultural exchange between different countries.This thesis is made up of six parts:Chapter One gives a brief introduction of research background, significance and the structure of the thesis; Chapter Two is literature review, which presents a review of hermeneutic translation studies at home and abroad, previous studies on the translation of culture-loaded words and Steve Jobs; Chapter Three provides the overall theoretical framework for the thesis, including the historical development of hermeneutics, basic concepts of philosophical hermeneutics and the relation between language, culture and translation; Chapter Four gives a general account of the definition, classification and translation strategy of culture-loaded words; Chapter Five, the main part of the thesis, is a comparative study on the translation of culture-loaded words in the two Chinese versions. A number of examples are selected and elaborated from the hermeneutic perspective. Chapter Six is the concluding part in which the author sums up the major implications and limitations of the study, and gives some suggestions for future research on the translation of culture-loaded words.