On the Cultural Translation of Chinese Poetry From the Perspective of Peter Newmark’s Theory

Abstract】As a type of classical Chinese literature with a long history, the ancient Chinese poetry has long attracted the attention of scholars at home and abroad and been translated by them. This paper attempts to make a tentative study on Peter Newmark’s theory in the culture translation of Chinese poetry. It proves that the theory plays a key role in the culture translation of Chinese poems.
【Key Words】Peter Newmark;communicative translation;semantic translation; poem translation



As a type of classical Chinese literature with a long history, the ancient Chinese poetry has long attracted the attention of scholars at home and abroad and been translated by them. For different translators, the translated versions and methods are quite different. Based on his own past research and some other transdisciplinary knowledge, Peter Newmark, the famous English translation theorist, has put forward the principles of “semantic translation” and “communicative translation”.

1. The Characteristics of Poem Translation

Poem translation is quite different from the translations of novels, dramas, proses and film scripts. This is determined by its own characteristics. Then what are its characteristics? Generally speaking, there are three prime aspects.

Firstly, poem emphasizes on the beauty of tempo and metre. A beautiful poem must have much attractiveness between the lines. When you hear some reading the charming poem, it seems that you are listening to a beautiful song.

Secondly, from a lingual perspective, the languages of poem is quite succinct and the information in one unit structure. Its structure is rather different from some common lingual structures, due to the requirement of its metre, rhythm and form.

Finally, a poem is the most senior form of literature, its metre, form and idea becoming integration. The lack of anyone of them will lead to the destruction of the whole poem. What’s more,the significance should be read between the lines, because the lines consist of many constituents of imagination when the author produces the poem. That is to say, we can always see the beauty of obscurity from poems. The understanding and feeling towards a poem depends on the appreciator, time and space.

2. About Peter Newmark’s Translation Theory
According to Peter Newmark, communicative translation attempts to produce on its readers an effect as close as possible to that obtained on the readers of the original. Semantic translation attempts to render, as closely as the semantic and syntactic structures of the second language allow, the exact contextual meaning of the original. In theory, there are wide differences between the two methods.

Communicative translation must emphasize the effect rather than the content of the message, and semantic translation would be more informative but less effective. Semantic translation attempts to recreate the precise flavor and tone of the original and it relates to the “expressive” function of language, whereas communicative translation responds to the representational and vocative functions. Thus for “Wet Paint!”, the communicative translation “Don’t touch the wet paint” is mandatory; the semantic translation(‘paint is wet’) would be more informative but less effective.

3. A Study on the Cultural Transference of Chinese Poetry
3.1 Appellation Culture

Appellation culture is a dual-property semiotic system which concerns with appellation and involves both linguistics and culture. It is a semiotic system because it is marked by words or phrases in languages. The evolution of Chinese history and the continuous blending among nationalities in ancient China has given rise to a complex Han culture. Appellation culture is a good case in point. Appellation can be divided into relative appellation and association. A relative appellation is a cultural symbol produced by marriage system. After long-term cultural sediment, it has become well established. In ancient China, the complex marriage system finally led to a complicated relative appellation system, which inevitably causes troubles in translation.

交际能力与交际文化

一、培养交际能力是外语教学的主要目的

我们进行语言教学的根本目的是什么？是学习、研究语言本身，还是掌握语言这个工具？大家知道，语言具有社会交际功能，是一种交际工具。我们外语教学的目的是要在打好扎实的语言基础知识，进行认真严格的听、说、读、写训练的基础上，培养听、说、读、写的交际能力。这一教学目的被明确写进了国家教委颁布的英语教学大纲。

几十年来，我国的外语教学走过不少弯路。解放以后很长一段时间，由于种种原因，我国的外语教学只是偏重语言形式（语音、语法、词义）的讲解传授，培养出不少的学生，他们精通语法规则，却只会认读，不会听说，不能真正具备交际能力。改革开放以后，国外先进的语言教学理论与教学手段得以引进，我国的外语教学水平提高得很快，尤其是明确提出了外语教学的主要目的是培养学生的交际能力，其意义是十分重大的。

二、交际能力与交际文化的提出

那么什么是交际能力？它的内涵是什么呢？交际能力是一个语言学术语，它是针对语言能力而言的。语言能力通常是指语言规则内在化的体系，即语音、词汇、语法等语言规则体系；而交际能力的概念不仅包括语言能力，还包括语言运用，说通俗一点就是能否恰当地使用语言的能力。看来要完成某一门语言的交际能力的培养，就不可避免地要对使用这种语言的国家的文化进行了解与学习，因为语言与文化是密不可分的。

文化是一个涵义极广的概念。《辞海》里对文化是这样定义的：从广义上说，文化是指人类社会历史实践过程中所创造的物质财富与精神财富的总和。但为便于区分，人们习惯上将文化分为两类，把社会、政治、经济、文学、艺术、历史、哲学、科技成就等称为知识文化；把社会习俗、生活习惯、思维方式及行为准则等称为交际文化或常识文化。本文着重探讨的是交际文化。

当然，人类文化中有着许许多多共性的东西。但也不可否认，不同的民族、不同的文化之间也存在着差异，尤其是在交际文化方面，东西方之间存在着较大的差异，这给我们学习与正确使用英语带来一定的困难。有时对同一个词汇，对同一个称呼，对同一个手势，对同一句话，英美人的理解与中国人的理解就大不一样。所以我们的英语教学，几乎是从第一天起就开始接触东西方两种交际文化差异这个难题。

三、要注意识别和了解英汉两种交际文化的差异

交际文化涉及面非常广，从日常见面问候、称赞、致谢、道歉到了解掌握委婉语、禁忌语乃至体态语言等，所以在中学英语教学中，我们要在培养学生英语语言能力的同时，更多地让同学们识别和了解英汉两种交际文化的差异。

中国人见到老师总是称呼：“老师，您早”；而像我们中学英语课堂上常用的“Good morning， Teach-er"就不是太正确，因为在英语里teacher只是一种职业，一般不用作称呼，应改为"Good morning， Sir"或"Good morning，Madame"。

“小张、小李”在汉语里是很亲切的称呼，而用“小米勒”称呼一位英国青年却是不礼貌的；用汉语称呼“张老、李老、老人家”，中国老人听得心里美滋滋的，很自然地接受年轻人对他们的尊敬和照顾。可是英美老人对此却不习惯。

几年前一个美国退休教师讲学团来我系讲学十天，我们的接待工作热情周到。有一位老先生临别对笔者说：“I have been spoiled these days"。因为在美国，个人均讲究独立，老人也不例外，否则他的自尊心将受到伤害。

笔者见到我系年轻的外籍教师，称赞他“You speak very good Chinese"时，他总是笑着回答："Oh，thank you！"，其实他只会说一点极简单的汉语；而当笔者称赞中国学生"Your English is very good”，他不管心里多高兴，嘴里却说“No， no，My English is not gOOd enough，"其实他英语说得真是不错，但谦虚是美德嘛。然而如果这样回答英国老师的赞扬，就不太得体了，因为在这种场合他总是希望得到Thank you这样一类肯定的答复。
反之亦然。英美学生学汉语也要首先了解中国的交际文化。笔者一同学在某大学给外国留学生讲授汉语。一天，他请新同学作自我介绍，一位同学很认真地用汉语说：“我没结婚，没有孩子。”这句话中国人听起来总觉得那么别扭。老师纠正他说，汉语只要说没结婚就够了，在中国人印象中没结婚一般是不会有孩子的。这位留学生对中国的交际文化了解不够。

禁忌语和体态语言也属于交际文化范畴。我国电影的“金鸡奖”，先译成Golden Cock Prize，谁料到cOck一词除"公鸡"外，还有"雄性器官"的意思，在英语里属于禁忌语，后改译为Golden RoOster Prize。伸出食指和中指，中国人表示"二"，可美国人表示V（胜利）；我们用大拇指和食指表示"八"，可我们的"八"字造型在美国人的眼里却是"二"，就这个"二"和"八"，在中美交往中闹出过不少笑话。

英汉交际文化上的差异很多，这里只信手拈来几个例子，不－－赘述。

四、关于中学英语交际文化教学的几点建议

1、要明确中学英语教学的主要目的，时刻不忘培养学生的为交际初步运用外语的能力这个根本目标。

2、《全日制中学英语教学大纲》（1990）对英语交际文化的教学提出了具体的要求，即教学大纲的附表一－－功能意念项目简表。我们的英语教师要充分意识到这个附表的重要意义，努力完成教学任务。

3、教师要理智地对待不同文化间的差异。在介绍一种文化内容时，要持中立态度，不要轻易他说别人的如何不好，我们的如何好。反之亦然。

4、要充分利用我们现在使用的教材Junior English for China，这套教材将中国文化与英美文化交织在一起，要不失时机地向学生进行交际文化差异的教学。