A Translation Study On Culture-loaded Address Forms In Pilgrimage To The West

Pilgrimage to the West is a classical Chinese novel and also one of the Chinese four classics.It contains rich Chinese ideology,Chinese philosophy and Chinese religions,and embodies typical Chinese culture.In recent years,with the rapid development of Chinese economy,numerous scholars at home and abroad have studied and researched Pilgrimage to the West,and some of them have translated the novel into English and other languages.However,in the process of translating the novel,how to reflect the Chinese culture between the lines is a difficult point for all translators.Moreover,there is a great number of address forms in the novel,and these address forms are imbued with Chinese culture.For instance,plenty of official titles,or names of gods and demons,and the alternative names of Tang Seng's disciples contain abundant Chinese Confucian culture,Buddhist culture and Taoist culture.The research found that the majority of the address forms in Pilgrimage to the West derive from Chinese Confucian culture,Buddhist culture and Taoist culture,which is greatly different from western culture.However,most times,Jenner and Yu adopt literal translation and free translation method to translate those address forms.Their translations are only equal to the original text in form,but not in culture,which is not beneficial for cross-cultural communication.Thus,both W.J.F Jenner's and Anthony C.Yu's English versions of Pilgrimage to the West have mis-translated or inaccurately translated official titles,names of gods and demons,and the alternative names of Tang Seng's disciples in terms of presenting Chinese Confucian culture,Buddhist culture and Taoist culture.Therefore,in this research paper,the author intends to explore why some of the address forms in the two English versions of Pilgrimage to the West have failed to deliver Chinese Confucian culture,Buddhist culture and Taoist culture to target readers accurately under the guidance of Nida's Functional Equivalence Theory,and tries to figure out the retention and loss of cultural connotation in those address forms.This research will adopt literature review,comparison case study and induction as the research methods.It is hoped that the deficiency of the two English versions of Pilgrimage to the West can be analyzed accurately through these methods.