On The Transmission Of Cultural Information In Dialect Translation From The Perspective Of Translator’s Subjectivity

In the 1980 s,the “Cultural Turn” in the West began to prevail and brought new perspectives to translation studies.The emergence of these new perspectives updated the understanding of culture,making scholars reexamine the role of translators and the relationship between culture and translators.The status of translators has experienced a process from being ignored to being valued.The “Cultural Turn” focuses on the most active factor in translation—the translator.The translator’s subjectivity has gradually become an essential perspective in studying cultural elements in translation.While in the process of cultural communication,dialect can clearly reflect regional characteristics,and it is the part where cultural information is highly concentrated.Lao She is an outstanding contemporary Chinese writer,while Cha Guan(referring to Lao She’s original work)is a peak of Lao She’s dramatist career and monumental work that reflects the language art of Lao She.The words used in Cha Guan are plain and easy to understand,but a large number of authentic Beijing dialect make this drama unique and full of Beijing flavor.In the English translation of Cha Guan,how to convey cultural information in dialect has become a difficulty.Among the numerous versions of Teahouse,two versions are selected for a comparative study: the version by a local translator Ying Ruocheng and the version by a foreign translator John Howard.This thesis aims to study the influence of the translator’s subjectivity on their translation activities by comparing the transmission of cultural information in the Beijing dialect in the Teahouse.This thesis classifies and compares the cultural information in dialect and then studies the translator’s subjectivity from the view of hermeneutics.Based on George Steiner’s four steps of hermeneutic translation theory,this thesis discusses the embodiment of the translator’s subjectivity in translating dialect cultural information from a new perspective.Furthermore,it analyzes the cultural information transmission of the two versions in the Beijing dialect,discusses the influence of translators’ subjectivity on their respective translation activities based on hermeneutic translation theory,and analyzes the reasons for the differences in the two translators’ subjectivity.It is found that :(1)From the aspect of translation effect,Ying Ruocheng’s translation is easier for the target audience to understand the cultural information in dialect,and the expression is more dramatic,while Howard’s translation is characterized by fidelity and accuracy;(2)From the view of the translator’s translation strategy,Ying Ruocheng adopted free translation,while Howard adopted literal translation;(3)From the perspective of hermeneutic translation,the differences of the translator’s subjectivity in the transmission of cultural information are due to translators’ different cultural backgrounds,different translation purposes,and different translation views.The findings enable readers to understand better the connotations of the translation versions and the original work.It is also expected that the findings will provide ideas for further translation studies.