A Practice-based Research On The Thin Translation Of Yin Yu Tang-The Architecture And Daily Life Of A Chinese House

Thick Translation, proposed by the American scholar Kwame Anthony Appiah (1954-), aims at narrowing the cultural gaps between target language and source language. In thin translation, methods such as annotations, footnotes and contextualizing are used to compensate for cultural deficiencies.With the deepened exploration of Chinese culture by foreign scholars, a large number of books featuring Chinese traditional culture in foreign language(s) have been published. Based on their unique research perspective, the rigorous examination and the engaging description, they are not only wonders to the Western eyes, but also beneficial for Chinese readers to regain interest in Chinese traditional culture. However, due to the target readers’, i.e. Chinese readers’general awareness of their own culture, some cultural background knowledge will be redundant if being directly translated back into Chinese. In order to solve this problem, the author introduces a new translation principle-Thin Translation, the reversion of Thick Translation.Thin translation is a translation principle using various translation techniques such as omission, simplification, four-character to avoid the redundancy while translating the English texts with rich Chinese culture back into Chinese. Mainly, translating techniques are employed to avoid the redundancy of source texts. The third chapter of Yin Yu Tang-The Architecture and Daily Life of a Chinese House written by Nancy Berliner, the former curator of Chinese art at the Peabody Essex Museum was used as a case study. This chapter focuses on the professional introduction of Huizhou vernacular residences and regional culture. By examining specific cases from this chapter, the author defines thin translation, discusses the applicable rules of thin translation and proposes the translation methods under the guiding principle of thin translation. A tentative conclusion is made that thin translation principle is helpful while introducing Chinese traditional subjects from English back to the Chinese readers.