An analysis of idiom translation strategies in A Dream of Red Mansions from the Perspective of eco-translatology theory——Taking the two English versions of A Dream of Red Mansions as an example
生态翻译理论视域下《红楼梦》中成语翻译策略研究——以《红楼梦》两英译本为例

摘要

自20世纪80年代起，翻译研究在“文化转向”理论浪潮推动下实现范式革新。作为文化传播的重要手段，翻译旨在将源语言的文化意义精准传递至目标语言的跨文化语境中。由于中西文化的差异，文学作品中文化元素的翻译成为难点，尤其以《红楼梦》为代表。这部中国古典文学经典，被誉为中国封建社会的百科全书，其英译本如霍克斯与闵福德的《石头记》及杨宪益与戴乃迭的《红楼梦》，成功推动了这部作品的国际传播，向全球读者展示了其丰富的文化内涵。成语作为汉语独特语言形式，蕴含深厚文化意蕴，其翻译需结合语境、意象与情感色彩，采用直译、意译或解释性策略。基于生态翻译理论，本文选取《红楼梦》两部英译本，从语言、文化和交际三维度对比分析成语翻译策略与效果，旨在为中国典籍外译提供新视角，助力中国文学国际传播。

Abstract

Since the 1980s, translation studies have made significant progress under the impetus of the “cultural turn”. The goal of translation, a crucial tool for cross-cultural communication, is to faithfully translate the cultural meaning of the source language into the target language’s cross-cultural context. Due to the differences between Chinese and Western cultures, the translation of cultural elements in literary works has become difficult, especially represented by A Dream of Red Mansions. Its English translations, including Hawkes and Minford’s The Story of the Stone and Yang Xianyi and Dai Naidie’s A Dream of Red Mansions, have effectively aided in the work’s global distribution and shown readers all over the world its rich cultural meanings. This classic Chinese literary work is referred to as the encyclopedia of Chinese feudal society. As a unique form of Chinese language, idioms contain deep cultural meanings, and their translation needs to take into account the context, imagery and emotional color, and adopt direct translation, intentional translation or interpretive strategies. This essay chooses two English versions of A Dream of Red Mansions based on the ecological translation theory, and analyzes the translation strategies and effects of idioms from the three dimensions of language, culture and communication, aiming at providing new perspectives for the translation of Chinese canonical books, and assisting in the international dissemination of Chinese literature.