On the translation of museum commentaries and cultural communication from the perspective of cultural translation theory——A case study of the suzhou museum
文化翻译观视角下博物馆解说词的翻译及其文化传播研究——以苏州博物馆为例

摘要

近年来，随着中国对外文化交流的日益深化，博物馆解说词作为文化传播的重要媒介，在文化传播方面发挥着越来越重要的作用，其翻译质量直接影响中华优秀传统文化的国际传播效果。因此，本文以文化翻译观为理论指导，以苏州博物馆解说词的英译文本为研究对象，系统分析了解说词英译文本存在的问题。研究发现，苏州博物馆解说词的英语译文主要存在四类问题：一是漏译导致文化内涵缺失；二是文化差异导致的翻译不准确；三是选词不当；四是中式化英译思维。针对这些问题，本文提出四项改进策略：一是采用“音译+注释”法保留文化专有项；二是通过“创译”实现中西历史对比：三是运用“增译”补充隐含的文化信息；四是借助“意译”化解文化意象冲突。研究表明，文化翻译观指导下的灵活翻译策略，能够有效弥合语言与文化差异，助力博物馆解说词在跨文化交际中准确传递中华文化精髓，进而提升中国文化软实力。

Abstract

In recent years, with the deepening of China's international cultural exchanges, museum commentary texts have played an increasingly vital role as a crucial medium for cultural communication. The quality of their translation directly impacts the international dissemination of China's outstanding traditional culture. Guided by cultural translation theory, this study systematically analyzes issues in the English translations of Suzhou Museum's commentary texts. The research identified four main problems: 1) cultural connotation loss due to omission in translation; 2) translation inaccuracies arising from cultural differences; 3) inappropriate lexical choices; and 4) Chinese-oriented translation thinking. To address these issues, the paper proposes four improvement strategies: 1) adopting "transliteration + annotation" to preserve culture-specific items; 2) implementing "creative translation" for East-West historical comparisons; 3) employing "amplification" to supplement implicit cultural information; and 4) utilizing "paraphrasing" to resolve cultural image conflicts. The findings demonstrate that flexible translation strategies guided by cultural translation theory can effectively bridge linguistic and cultural gaps, facilitate accurate transmission of Chinese cultural essence in cross-cultural communication of museum commentaries, and thereby enhance China's cultural soft power.