A Study On Idiom Translation From Thai To Chinese Of The Historical Novel Four Reigns

The historical novel Four Reigns has portrayed the aristocratic life during the period from the fifth Bangkok Dynasty to the eighth Bangkok Dynasty(1868 AD-1946 AD).It is widely regarded as a remarkable work in the 20th century in Thailand literature giving insight into the Thailand before the Second World War and translated into Chinese,Japanese,English and French.The utility of simple and colloquial speeches together with many popular idioms in this work has transcended all other literary works in Thailand literature and thus exerted great influence on today’s society and culture in Thailand.Up to now,many idioms in Four Reigns have been a part of the daily communication among Thai people.In the previous studies,a researcher has investigated Four Reigns from the perspectives of literature and linguistics,with a focus on the analysis of the central characters,the rhetoric or a comparative study of language in Thai and Chinese versions.But there are few research-es on idioms translation of Chinese version.However,as a specific language form,idioms are different from the general phrases.Idioms are fixed structures bearing a nation’s past and culture transmission.The right interpretation of idioms does have some influence on the qual-ity of translation and the success of cross-culture communication.This thesis conducts a comparative study on idiom translation with an aim to deepen the research of Chinese-Thai translation,thus promote the communication between China and Thailand.The thesis is composed of five chapters.Chapter one is an introduction covering the sig-nificance of the topic,previous and current relevant studies,the methods,the question and the focuses under discussion.Chapter two deals with the language features with an emphasis on the characteristics of idioms in Thai language,a simple statistics is also made to give the idi-oms used in Four Reigns.The main body of the thesis is chapter three in which a detailed in-vestigation is made into how the idioms are translated from Thai to Chinese.By way of a comparative text analysis of examples of idiom translation,5 types of idiom translation are classified and 3 types of translation strategies are listed.Chapter four focuses on the dynam-ics in idiom translation,trying to reveal the cultural factor,the inter-subjectivity of the trans-lator and the other possible factors,presenting the author’s suggestions on idiom translation.The last chapter is a conclusion of the main findings and further questions under discussion.