An Analysis on the Translation of Big Breasts and Wide Hips from the Perspective of Cultural Difference

1. Introduction

Big Breasts and Wide Hips is a novel written by Mo Yan in 1995 for his deceased mother. Mo Yan eulogizes his mother as the original creator of lives， and makes the continuity of lives significant. The translator of this novel， Howard Goldblatt， who has rendered other works of Mo Yan， makes great contribution to conveying Mo Yans ideologies as well as the traditional Chinese culture to the world.

Culture is indispensable to our daily life， and language is the carrier of culture. As such， the cultural differences between English-spoken countries and China exert great influences on the process of translation. This paper aims to discuss excerpts of English version of Big Breasts and Wide Hips with respect to regional culture， thinking patterns， social customs and religious beliefs. This paper also analyzes how Goldblatt uses translation strategies to tackle these cultural differences.

2. Cultural Differences and Translation

2.1 Regional Culture

Different regional cultures form different cognitions on the same thing that can be embedded with rich connotation and denotation in one language context. Meanwhile， it can also be nothing special in other language background. From this perspective， how source text is appropriately translated into the target language？ The following example will show detailed information. “牛鞭” is translated into “horsewhips” in the target text， because of non-corresponding connotation of this word between two languages. The words “ox” and “horse” have similar function in two languages. In China， ox has played an important role in the agricultural society since Shang Dynasty made a significant contribution to the development . But in western countries， horse is an indispensable tool used on farming and in wars. As a result， Westerners prefer using horse instead of ox to describe some abstract things in daily life. If “牛鞭” had been translated into “oxwhipes”， it would be strange in the culture of target language， and Westerners would get confused by its meaning. For tackling this problem， translator takes the strategy of “naturalization” by replacing with a similar term in target culture. In this way， the ox culture in China can be delivered to target readers as logical and accurate as possible.

2.2 Thinking Patterns

2.2.1 Ethical thinking vs cognitive thinking

Confucianism has a great influence on the Chinese society， thus Chinese pays great attention to ethics while English to cognition. This ethical thinking manifests itself in Chinese. For example， “三綱五常”（莫言 105） originally means three cardinal guides （ruler guides subject， father guides son and husband guides wife） and the five constant virtues （benevolence， righteousness， propriety， wisdom and fidelity）（Xiang-Yun Du 82） . However， Goldblatt simply rendered it as “three cardinal values of social relations” （Goldblatt 135） with “五常” omitted， because Goldblatt does not want to burden its target-readers. Since “五常” is a word highly advocated in the Chinese feudal society， we deem it would be better if Goldblatt adopts the strategy of foreignization to faithfully convey its original meaning to target readers and thus carry forward traditional Chinese culture.

2.2.2 Figurative thinking vs logical thinking

Chinese is a figurative language， which can be traced back to hieroglyphic-old Chinese characters to convey meaning by drawing pictures similar to physical objects. Chinese prefers using figurative words to illustrate abstract meanings. Chinese is characterized by parataxis， with sentences loosely connected and running in a linear way， which requires readers to read between the lines to get its meaning. Whereas， English is a language of logical and analytical thinking. Thus， English is hypotactic by using lots of connective words to make it a logical and comprehensible unit. For instance， 打開窗户说亮话（莫言 83）Goldblatts translation is to have a heart-to-heart talk. （Goldblatt 112） In Chinese， this phrase means people having a candid talk with each other without concealing secrets. 打开窗户is a figurative way of expressing the meaning of opening the heart. Instead of literal translation， Goldblatt employs free translation to convey its deep meaning to the target readers.

Social Customs

We call behavioral differences caused by “natural conditions as feng and the social cultural differences as su” （李旭219）. Social customs indicate certain habit within certain community during certain time and bring different associations in this novel. Mo Yan describes surrounding scenery and creature with cultural associations to show underlying meanings.

“喜鹊在院子外那棵白杨树上噪叫。看来今天真是有喜了”（莫言3）

“Magpies， the so-called happiness birds， chattered in poplar trees outside” （Howard Goldblatt 1）

In Chinese culture magpie is a lucky bird to inform good news and represent the fortune of the family when flying into peoples house in the New Year. This association paves the way for giving birth to the baby of the heroine in next plot. However， the magpie brings misfortune and is seen as a gossiper in the west. The strategy of intratextual gloss （Aixela 59） is used to handle different intertextual status （58）， adding annotation and explaining the association of magpie as “the so-called happiness birds”. Readers who dont know Chinese social customs get the additional information to understand the connection between the lucky bird and child birthing.

“鸡的喉咙便豁然开朗，一股黑色的血淅淅沥沥地”（莫言 12）

“The roosters throat opened up， releasing a torrent of inky red blood” （Howard Goldblatt 16）

The derogative meaning of “black” indicates death in Chinese culture. But in the west， black is a symbol of elegant and high class. Howard Goldblatt deleted black and substitute “black blood” to “inky red” （16）. As for the foreign readers， they just base their judgment on the information that they are looking at without the consideration of underling meanings， especially when they are espoused to the unfamiliar cultural background. Therefore， by using the translation strategies of adaptation and appropriate deletion （Aixela 59）， the translator tries to use the concept that is more familiar to the target readers and closer to their cultural background .

Religious Beliefs

“Religious belief is the belief in the reality of the mythological， supernatural， or spiritual aspects of a religion”（http：//en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_belief）. Throughout Mo Yans Big Breasts and Wide Hips， religious belief is rife which presents that Taoism has a wide-ranging influence on the social life of Chinese people. However， westerners have a better understanding of Christian living. For example，

“菩萨……祖宗保佑……所有的神、所有的鬼……你们都保佑我吧、饶恕我吧……天公地母、黄仙狐狸，帮助我吧……”

（莫言 5）

“Lord in Heaven， protect me… Worthy Ancestors， protect me… gods and demons everywhere， protect me， spare me . . . Father or Heaven， Mother of Earth， yellow spirits and fox fairies， help me， please…” （Howard Goldblatt 5）

In order to bridge the gap between Chinese and Western culture， Goldblatt “brings the CSI into the intertextual corpus felt as specific by the target language culture” （Alvarez， Roman， and M. Carmen Africa Vidal 63）. By employing naturalization strategy， he translated “菩萨” into “lord in heaven” ， and “神”into “god”.

However， the religious belief between Western Countries and China is extremely different. Taoism is an original polytheism. There is no limit and distance between ordinary people and “神” in Taoism. Conversely， Christianity believes that people have no right to approach Lord. In his translation， readers will be so confused that Christianity is the same as Taoism. In this sense， to gain a better understanding of Chinese religious culture， transliteration plus an explanation of the meaning or implications of the CSI can be a more adaptable way.

3. Conclusion

In conclusion， local flavor of northeastern China in Big Breasts and Wide Hips can be traced in regional features， thinking patterns， social customs and religious beliefs. The translation of this novel is inevitable engaged in the handling of cultural clashes between the East and the West. Howard Goldblatt downplays these divergences by adopting naturalization， intratextual gloss and deletion. These translation strategies contribute to narrowing the gap between target and original text to convey the essence of the novel to foreign readers. However， some cultural differences cannot be completely bridged by applying these translation methods. Intercultural communication is fundamental to resolve this issue.

References：

[1]Aixelá，Javier Franco.“Culture-Specific Items in Translation”.Translation，Power，Subversion.Ed.Román ?varez and M.Carmen-?frica Vidal.Clevedon：Multilingual Matters，1996.52-78.

[2]Goldblatt，Howard.Trans.Big Breasts and Wide Hips.By Mo Yan.New York：Arcade publishing，2005.

[3]Kirkeb?k，Mads Jakob，Xiang-Yun，Du and Aarup Jensen，Annie.“Negotiating the Context”.Teaching and Learning Culture.The Netherlands：Sense publishers，2013

[4]劉小林.翻译中的文化差异[J].郑州航空工业管理学院学报（社会科学版），2007，（3）：118-120.

[5]李旭.中西方文化差异对文化的影响[J].鸭绿江（下半月版），2014， （6）：218-219.

[6]莫言.丰乳肥臀[M].上海：上海文艺出版社（第一版），2012.

【作者简介】宋勖元，广东职业技术学院。