The Translation of Color Terms in A Dream of Red Mansions = A Cultural Perspective

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Hong Lou Meng is full of brilliant colors which, among other features, represent Cao Xueqin’s remarkable literary achievements. The frequencies of occurrence of color words in Hong Lou Meng are relatively high, from the figures’ appearance, home furnishings, description of the garden scene, clothing, alternation in the season’s changes, to even the facial expression changes. Clever use of color words shows Cao Xueqin"s talent in language on one hand, and reveals the prevailing social and cultural psychology and aesthetic standards on the other hand.
Based on Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang’s English?version A Dream of Red Mansions, this paper is devoted to the exploration of the translation features of color terms from the cultural aspect. How to deal with color words in translation of Hong Lou Meng has always been a heated topic. Concerning the purpose of a translation, especially for disseminating traditional Chinese culture, this paper emphasizes that color terms are a reflection of culture differences between eastern and western cultures. It also puts forward that translators should not simply domesticize or foreignize the culture elements but deal with them from a cultural and developmental perspective when do translation and try to obtain the cultural equivalence in translation.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• 1. Introduction
• 2. Cultural differences in the translation ofcolor terms
• 3. The translation of color terms in A Dream ofRed Mansions
• 4. Conclusion
• Reference