On The English Translation Of The Regional Culture In Contemporary Western Literature From The Perspective Of Schema Theory

The thesis,taking the schema theory as the framework,selects the representative works of contemporary western literature Da Mo Ji and Lie Yuan and their English translations Desert Rites and Desert Hunters by Goldblatt as the objects of study.The thesis aims to probe into the types of regionality and uniqueness of the original text schemata from three dimensions,namely linguistic schema,literary schema and cultural schema,and how the translators can optimize their own cognitive schemata under the mechanism of assimilation and accommodation based on its regionality and uniqueness,so as to use effective translation methods to reproduce the regional characteristics of western literature,and whether the translator would adopt different translation methods in the case of schema correspondence,conflict or default.At the same time,based on the analysis of the cognitive schema types of language schema,literary schema and cultural schema,this paper attempts to construct the schematic cognitive process of schema in the English translation of western literature.On the basis of the analysis of language schemata include western dialects and proverbs,literary schemata include the unique rhetoric of the western writing scene,the poetic integration of the western folk song “Hua’er” and the literary use of Liangzhou Xianxiao and cultural schemata include the unique culture of western China include ecological culture(desert scenery,nomadic culture,hunting culture),material culture(rural western China’s food,clothing,housing,production tools),social culture(names,marriage customs,funeral customs,folk beliefs)and religious culture(Tibetan Buddhism)and etc.in the English translation of western literature,it is found that in the case of schema correspondence,Goldblatt mainly used literal translation or literal translation with addition to preserve the exotic features of the source text;in the case of schema conflict,substitution,paraphrase and addition were often used to ensure that the translated text can be understood by the target language readers;in the case of schema default,the translation methods of literal translation,transliteration,substitution,paraphrase,addition and annotation were used comprehensively to preserve the cultural characteristics of the source text and the readability of the target text.The conclusions of this study are as follow: Firstly,the translation schemata of western literature are activated or reconstructed by the translator in the process of translation.Secondly,in western literature translation,when the cognitive schema of the translator and the author are the same or similar,the translator often activates the existing schema and uses literal translation or literal translation with addition to reproduce the original text,which is the cognitive filter of assimilation.When the cognitive schema of the translator and the author conflict with each other or default,the translator usually changes or makes up for the existing schema by substitution and paraphrase,or constructs a new schema by transliteration,which is the cognitive filter of accommodation.Thirdly,for the unique regional schemata in the translation of western literature,the translator should absorb and integrate the regional schemata of the western China into the translator’s pre-existing mind before translation to supplement existing regional schemata,activate and construct the text-related schemata in decoding the original text,and activate the target language reader’s pre-existing schemata and help them establish new regional culture schemata in encoding the target text,so as to“introduce the specific schemata and cultures of the classics of Chinese western literature to the world”.The study thus proves the feasibility of schema theory in guiding the practice of English translation of contemporary western literature,and has certain reference significance for the dissemination of English translation of contemporary western literature.