"Lament" Thai Translation Of A Comparative Study

Qu Yuan is the first great patriotic poet in china. He influenced Chinese literature in the later stages by creating narrative skill of romanticism and enriching expressive forces of Chinese poems. Li Sao is one of Qu Yuan’s masterpieces. As the longest political lyric poetry, Li Sao consists of373sentences, that is,2490words. Qu Yuan describes his depression and criticizes dark reality by narrating his background, morality and ideals. The poem expresses Qu Yuan’s lofty ideals and patriotism. Li Sao is the model of Chinese lyric poem and it constitutes its importance in world literature. It is regarded as the glory of national literature and has been translated to different languages, such as English, French, Japanese, Russian, German and Thai language.As an important part of classic culture,its translations hide great value of translation research. The dissertation aims to make a contrastive research of its two versions of Thai language translations. These two versions are respectively translated by Yong Ingkawet and Suphat ChaiwatnaphanThe dissertation is divided into five chapters.The First Chapter IntroductionThis part discusses research background, purpose, relevant research and research theory and scope.The Second Chapter Qu Yuan and Li SaoThis chapter introduces Qu Yuan’s background, main contents and features of Li Sao, and translation and reception of Chu Ci in Thailand.The Third Chapter Comparative Study of Two Versions of Li SaoFirst, the backgrounds of two authors and purposes of translations of Li Sao are discussed. Second, the essay analyses translation strategies in two versions. Yong Ingkawet’s version emphasizes mainly literal translation and foreignization. Suphat Chaiwatnaphan’s version adopts meaning-translation and Domestication. Then, the thesis points out that translators choose various translation strategies out of different translation objectives.The Fourth Chapter Research of Translation Strategies in Two Versions of Li SaoOn the one hand, two versions are analyzes in the perspective of traditional linguistics. In addition, it would evaluate three aspects of two versions:Liu Zhongde’s faithfulness, expressiveness and appropriateness, Pathama Aksoncharung’s translation principles, reappearance of the syntactic features of the original. On the other hand, translation strategies of Culturally-Flavored Words would be analyzed in the perspective of cultural translation. Wei Jing’s ten methods of culture translation are utilized as theoretical base.The Fifth Chapter Conclusion and RecommendationsValue of two versions of Thai language translation of Li Sao is evaluated. It provides recommendations of translation of Li Sao and other classics.