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A Cultural Turn In Translation Studies(1)

2016-04-29 01:00 Acknowledgements: This might be my first paper, although I’ve tried to do some translation work from Bai to English. Here I would like to give my respect and thanks to the teachers at the Foreign Language Institute of Yunnan Normal University, especially Prof. He Changye and Prof. Xie Ming. They taught me a lot about culture and language, giving me a new visual angle on cultures. Prof. He during his busy-time, also gave very good suggestions to my paper and detailed corrections both in spelling and grammar. I am also grateful to the authors of the books I’ve consulted and the nameless Bai people who created so many beautiful Bai folk stories and songs for us. And my British friend Bryan Allen shouldn’t be forgotten, it’s he who gave me many valuable suggestions on the first draft of this paper, and much insight into English culture.Yang HuashengThesis statement: A different cultural background hinders people in English-speaking countries from understanding Bai culture. In order to deal with this problem, the cultural turn should be successfully realized in translation.Abstract: Since a lot of foreigners come to Dali for tourism or business, most of them are touched by the beauty of the landscape of Dali, its wind, flowers, snow and moon, also its colourful local customs. And many of them become so interested in and eager to learn Bai culture and anything else of the Bai people, folk stories and Bai songs etc. Someone said, even a stone has a beautiful story in it, and a leaf from the tree can play a piece of nice Bai song here. But it’s a pity so many visitors fail to enjoy the beautiful Bai stories and songs, because of the blocks from the language, especially the puzzles from the differences between two types of cultures. Here, several cases from the translation of Bai folk stories and songs are given, then we try to analyse them from a cultural point of view, making a better translation, to build a smooth way for the people from English-speaking countries to learn about the Bai people and their culture.1. A brief introduction to the Bai people and their culture1.1 A nationality with over 3,000 years of historyThe Bai people are one of the oldest nationalities in Yunnan. “In 1957, some cultural remains of the Bronze Age (about 3,000 years ago) were found at Haimenkou in Jianchuan County, 15 bronze and copper articles, including a stone model for bronze axes were unearthed,”[i] even some fossilized rice, wooden building components, pillars and other parts are underneath. This indicates that formerly Bai people lived in houses of “Gannan” style which were built half on the water, half on the ground with the door opening to the land. And the archaeologists described a vivid picture for us, there was a village located along Jianhu Lake, people here lived on rice farming and fishing. This is a typical agricultural society, and the history of Bai civilization begins here. It has a 3,000 years old history.1.2 A unique culture witnessed in the life and work of Bai peopleIn this long period of history, Bai people developed their unique culture in their daily life and work. Since the Bai language had no writing system of its own Bai culture was always transferred orally from one generation to another. So Bai culture is more valuable to people today and treasured by people. More and more people outside, I mean people from other nations, are eager to learn more about Bai culture, but the different cultural backgrounds keeps them from understanding Bai culture well, so the cultural turn in translation becomes very necessary. “In general, oral works (folk stories and songs spread orally) are much more popular than written pieces (scholar's literature)”[ii]. We may say the most treasured part of Bai culture remains in the folk stories and songs. In this article, most cases we'll discuss are selected from the translation of Bai folk stories and songs.2. The character of the Bai people and their culture2.1 A kind and tolerant nationalityIn ancient history, war and peace always occurred in Bai people's area. The Tianbao war between the Nanzhao Kingdom and the Tang Dynasty took place in 742, but soon the Nanzhao king Gelufeng built the Dehua Tablet to express his worries about the result of the war and his desire to make peace with the Tang and he made it. As a result, the advanced Chinese culture and technology spread widely among the Bai people. Especially since the Ming Dynasty (1368—1644) a lot of scholars and politicians with high Chinese training have come to Bai areas. And Confucianism and Chinese education spread among the common people, that made most Bai men write and communicate in Chinese skilfully. That is one of the reasons why Bai does not have its own writing system, and the Bai language borrowed a lot of Chinese words. In a word, Bai is a kind and peace-loving tolerant nationality, that makes her live in peace with other nationalities for long periods in history, and that helps the Bai people learn from them and absorb aspects of other cultures and incorporate them into their own culture.2.2 Syncretistic religious beliefsThe syncretistic religious beliefs show the Bai attitude to the different cultures. Because Yunnan is close to India, in the past, many Indian monks came to preach Buddhism in Dali and they got support from the kings, authorities, and Dali kingdom, then Buddhism became very popular among Bai people, as Buddhism, Buddhist music, art, scriptures and architectural techniques were introduced to the Bai area. The Three Pagodas and the fine stone carving in Jianchuan Stone Bell Temple will reflect the light of the wisdom of Bai people forever. Daoism was also spread in the areas around the towns and became popular among the educated people. That leads to the Confucian worship in Bai area, and makes the Bai culture melt into the main Chinese culture, but keeps its own features. But Bai primary native religions still live in peace with the other religions. In a Bai temple, you can easily find Sakyamuni, the Jade Emperor and Benzhu at the same time. Benzhu worship still is the most popular religion of the Bai people. They have several Benzhu (protector gods), most of the villages each has its own Benzhu, just like in Greek mythology, Athena was the patroness of the city of Athens. On holidays, Bai people come to dance and sing in their temples, praying for safety and good harvests from the Benzhu. From the syncretistic religious beliefs, we can partly see the colourful and abundant Bai culture, blending the different cultures in new ways. “The formation of the Bai nationality, is the intrinsic main direction of the Bai’s social economical development, as well it’s the result of absorbing a lot of advanced culture of the Han and the other nationalities