Culture Schema And The Translations Of Tea Culture

As the peak of traditional Chinese literature,Hong Meng has great aesthetic value,and is rich in traditional culture,including tea culture.Based on schema theory,this study carried out a comparative analysis between Yang Xianyi’s and Hawks’ translations of tea culture in Hong Lou Meng,focusing on four key aspects,i.e.verbs,nouns,adjectives and metaphors related to the tea culture.In the translation of "verbs",while Hawks’ choice of the verbs is more diversified and retains some of the classical tone of Hong Lou Meng,Yang’s translation is more precise in conveying the exquisite features of Chinese tea arts.In the translation of "nouns",Yang’ s translation of the names of teas and tea sets reveals more about the culture and connotations behinds those names,which may better help promoting Chinese tea culture,while Hawks prefers to transliterate the tea names according to the phonetic rule of English.In the translation of "adjectives",Yang’s translation is more faithful to the original style,and reflects the elegance of Chinese tea arts.In the translation of"metaphors",Yang’s translation accurately conveys the implications of those metaphors and stresses the important role played by tea in Chinese society.In sum,Yang Xianyi has a good knowledge of Chinese tea culture and with the help of Chinese tea culture schema,Yang is able to gain a full understanding of the tea cultures in text,and translate them accordingly.However,it seems that Hawks’ Chinese tea culture schema falls short of enabling him to convey the tea culture fully and faithfully.Undoubtedly,Hawks is well acquainted with the English language,so with the help of his English linguistic schema,his translation seems to be more idiomatic and natural.