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Translators play a very important role in the process of translation. The two most well-known English versions are A Dream of Red Mansions by Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang and The Story of the Stone by David Hawkes. They have different culture backgrounds and different purposes, so they choose different translation strategies to their translation.
A Dream of Red Mansions has been considered as the most faithful one by now and has been very popular in China as well as in English-speaking countries. Through translating hongloumeng into English, Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang have made great contributions to the cultural exchange between China and the Western countries. In order to translate accurately as far as possible, Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang try their best to make it faithful to original works. In Order to recreate meanings of the original text, A Dream of Red Mansion by Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang transmits information more or less literally and makes the target readers could perceive cultures and concepts of the local and original factors. They also explain some of the formal characteristic which could not be adequately represented, for such expressions may have significance in terms of Chinese culture by means of footnotes.
In the 1970s, the upsurge of Hongloumeng in the West had inspired David Hawkes to translate Hongloumeng. The goal he translated Hongloumeng was to make Hongloumeng be popular among the Western readers. The Story of the Stone is what David Hawkes chooses as the name of his translation of Hongloumeng. Hawkes’ translation is praised highly by Chinese scholars. The scholars said that it gives successful representation of the original spirit. Hawkes has a duty to his author, his readers and the text. Hawkes’ choice originates from his opinions about a qualified translation without footnotes.
Through the comparison and contrast between the two famous English versions of Hongloumeng, we can see the different translations of kinship terms in Hongloumeng by different translators with different translation strategies. The two translation strategies are domestication and foreignization, they both have advantages and disadvantages. A translator should not be confined to one translation strategy but learn to use the translation method flexibly.
Ⅱ. Culture
Culture is a defining aspect of what it means to be human and a central concept in anthropology, including the range of phenomena that are transmitted through social learning in human societies. The word is used in a general sense as the evolved ability to categorize and represent experience with symbols and to act imaginatively and creatively. The meaning of the word “culture” covers people’s behaviors and social systems. Up to now, culture has gained more than two hundred definitions. No matter how many definitions have been given to the word “culture”, there is one thing clear: the core of culture in human being. Culture can only be created by human being, and is the manifestation of people’s wisdom and originality. Different people in different nations can create different culture. Mankind enjoys the culture they created and be limited by culture.
2.1 Differences between Chinese and Western Family Culture
There is a word which said that people are supported by the land where they live. And culture is created by people. Chinese culture and western culture formed in China and Europe, which leads to the differences between Chinese culture and western culture.
The development of Chinese culture has a long history. It is the crystallization of wisdom of Chinese people. Confucian ideology is the essence of Chinese traditional culture. It is utterly different from the western culture. Chinese culture advocates modesty and selfless dedication, moderation and unity. The “filial piety” is the traditional Chinese virtue, there is the old saying “Piety is the foundation of all virtues”. If one doesn’t follow an order or decision from elderly people, he would be regarded as a “disrespectful” and even “regicide” people. So since ancient time, Chinese family system is a pyramid, in a family of China, the elders have absolute command and decision-making right. In China, people have strong sense of hierarchy, the structure of families are more complex than western families.