On The Translation Of Characters’ Names In John Minford’s And Sondergard’s English Versions Of Liao Zhai Zhi Yi From The Perspective Of Prototype-Model Translation Theory

With the continuous enhancement of China’s national strength,external translation and introduction of Chinese national culture has become an indispensable part of the construction of China’s foreign discourse system.The theories of “strengthening the consciousness of the Chinese nation’s community” and “promoting the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind” have provided guidance for translation practice and research on the dissemination of Chinese ancient literature.This has promoted the continuous development and progress of the practice and dissemination research of translating Chinese classics to the world.There are a large number of Chinese classics,reflecting the excellent traditional culture of the Chinese nation,and carrying the spirit of the Chinese nation,with high ideological value,academic value and communication value.As a branch of translation,the translation of Chinese ancient classics plays an important role in the development of history.The purpose of Chinese classics translation is to spread Chinese culture and create a good international image of China.The thesis focuses on the application of the Prototype-Model Translation Theory in the English version of Liao Zhai Zhi Yi,and selects representative English versions of John Minford and Sidney L.Sondergard for analysis.Liao Zhai Zhi Yi is a collection of short stories in classical Chinese created by Pu Songling,a Chinese novelist in the Qing Dynasty.The earliest transcript has been spread during the reign of Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty.Since the 19 th century,more than 60 foreign language versions have appeared,including English and German versions.Its wide spread has made it compiled into encyclopedias of major countries in the world,thus becoming a world masterpiece with high reputation.This provides us with very typical research material.At the same time,it also shows the necessity for research.In recent years,Chinese scholars have put forward the Prototype-Model Translation Theory on the basis of referring to the western Prototype-Model Theory.According to the theory,“imitation” is regarded as the essence of translation.Translation is to imitate the source text on the basis of translation criteria of “fitness” and “faithfulness”.The source text is essentially the prototype of the target text,and the target text is essentially the model of the source text.The translation criteria of “fitness” and “faithfulness” provide a lot of space for the translator’s authority in the translation process.The translator does not passively imitate,but actively imitates based on faithfulness,which broadens the horizon of translation studies and has a new understanding of the essence of translation.Chinese name culture plays an important role in political,cultural and social activities,and it is also one of the important ties connecting the material and spiritual life of the Chinese nation.Moreover,Chinese name culture also records the exchange,integration,production and progress of the Chinese nation.Characters’ names have an indelible impact on Chinese culture,and the study of characters’ names also helps Chinese culture to “go global”.The thesis consists of five chapters.The first chapter introduces the research background,research purpose and research significance.The second chapter is a literature review of the Prototype-Model Translation Theory and previous study of characters’ names in the English version of Liao Zhai Zhi Yi.Chapter three illustrates the Prototype-Model Translation Theory.The fourth chapter makes a concrete analysis of the characters’ names in the English version of Liao Zhai Zhi Yi by Minford and Sondergard,using three imitation techniques of the Prototype-Model Translation Theory.The fifth chapter summarizes the research results.Through the research,the thesis believes that the Prototype-Model Translation Theory has strong guidance for the translation of Chinese classics.Although the Minford’s version and the Sondergard’s version have different ways of dealing with the translation,they both achieve the purpose of cultural transmission to a certain extent.The purpose of this study is to broaden the research scope of the Prototype-Model Translation Theory,to provide more references for future translation practice in the same field,to enrich the research results of cultural translation of Chinese classics,to promote the external dissemination of Chinese characters’ name culture and to enhance the understanding of Chinese characters’ name culture by foreigners.