cheak the grammar and fix it

3.0 Howard Goldblatt＇s Translation Thought of Chinese Dialects--------2

4.0 The Translation Technique of the Dialect in the English Translation of Mo Yan＇s Works------------------------------------------------------------------3

4.2 Nesting Vulgarism------------------------------------------------------4

4.4 Literally Translates------------------------------------------------------7

5.0 Conclusion---------------------------------------------------------------------7

Acknowledgements--------------------------------------------------------------10

——Take Howard Goldblatt’s Version For Example

1.0 The Definition of Dialect

Dialect is a language variant formed by regional or social differences, so dialects can be divided into regional dialects and social dialects. Both regional dialects and social dialects reflect the imbalance of language development at the regional and social levels. It is the imbalance of the language that creates the uniqueness of dialects and local cultures.

2.0 The Importance of Dialect Translation

Dialect is the source and life of literary language, it is the most external symbol of regional culture, at the same time, it is the lowest implication of this culture, and the condition on which local culture exists. The use of vernacular dialect in literary works is helpful to display the image and character of the characters, and to reflect the strong local color and local flavor of the works given by the society.

Dialects add infinite vitality to literary works because of their unique linguistic characteristics, so how to deal with this special linguistic phenomenon in the process of literary translation? Huang Zhonglian once proposed seven conversion mechanisms for dialect translation, it provides a practical approach to the translation of dialects in literary works.

The other two methods of dialect translation that are often discussed are dialect Translation method and Oral style Translation method. "Dialect translation" refers to the use of the dialect in the target language to translate the source language, while "Colloquial translation" refers to the use of colloquial expressions to translate the dialect in the original language, making it a common language. Professor Liu Junping said, "translating dialects into common languages, It is the greatest harm to the text matrix of the translated work. It is funny to translate it in the native dialect. If you apply the native custom to the whole work on a large scale French, on the other hand, ignores the linguistic characteristics of the original text. Under the international background of the close intercommunion between Chinese and world culture, the dialect vocabulary is properly dealt with in the process of translation of literary works. Accurately conveying the cultural connotations has become an important assignment in the current Chinese culture and Chinese literature.

3.0 Howard Goldblatt＇s Translation Thought of Chinese Dialects

The vernacular color is the foundation of the local literature and the basic characteristic of the dialect. How to carry on the effective translation, really needs to carry on the careful research. Although he admits that what makes his works attractive for a long time is "local color", he is afraid of translation and believes that "to translate the local flavor of Chinese contemporary novels has become a difficult problem". However, difficulties can be overcome. With regard to the translation of Mo Yan's novel dialect, he said proudly: I translated six Mo Yan's works, he can use many dialects, not too difficult to translate. Su Tong's works are not difficult to translate. He writes meticulously, but the translation is very different from the original. Wang Shuo's works are also not difficult to translate, Beijing dialect in his works is actually very good translation. Bi Feiyu's works are the most difficult to translate, he uses subtle and cautious words in a thin book. This shows that the local flavor of dialects is different.

Howard Goldblatt confessed, "there are too many dialects", "the story is sad, the text is delicate, if you want me to translate, it may be broken." Some untranslatable dialects exist objectively. The translation of dialects is not only a difficult problem, but also the emphasis of cultural communication. Not only for local literature itself, but also for culture. According to Howard Goldblatt , I read a text translation of Czech. Although I don't understand Czech, but if I can think of this as a very smooth work,and it can let foreign readers understand, while still retain the original taste of the humanities, maybe it is good. If one of the two is missing, it is not good; if all losing, then even worse.

There is much to be discussed about dialects, some of which are "untranslatable" in practice, but there is no doubt that for its translation studies are meaningful. Then, how can to achieve the desired effect by translate dialect? Certainly, the practice of "thick translation" is one of the effective ways. But for the literary works intended for the entertainment of the people, the translator generally opposes the gratuitous insertion of the annotation in the translation of the novel, that it is better to place the annotation in the translation or the end of the text, or to incorporate it into the story, and not to influence the readability of the novel because of the annotation. Howard Goldblatt questioned the need for translators to "write what are translated, encounter the language, semantic, cultural troughs, to fill in the comments to the line, but Eco regarded it as a failure." However, himself had done the same things. And said, "In order to enable Western readers to understand the history of China, add some explanatory text to the content of the novel." "When translating words that are rich in Chinese cultural characteristics, such as dialect, slang, and proverb. The translator often use literal translation, both literal translation and paraphrase to obtain these."

4.0 The Translation Technique of the Dialect in the English Translation of Mo Yan＇s Works

In literary works, the author often makes use of the unique expression function of dialect words to form a special expression effect, and creates the unique local flavor of the works or the personal style of the writer with the dialect words and sentence patterns which are rich in unique local color. In the English translation of Mo Yan's works, Howard Goldblatt gets rid of the dispute between domestication and alienation in the traditional, takes the target language readers as the guiding, and uses various translation methods and techniques flexibly. While ensuring the readability and fluency of the translation, it also accurately conveys the local and cultural character of the dialect.

4.1 Contact Context and Create New Words

The endemicity and humanistic characteristics of dialects make many dialect words not suitable in the target language, which is difficult to achieve the desired translation effect. Therefore, in literary translation, translators sometimes need to adopt the rules of compound word-formation according to the original content of the novel to create new compound words.

Example 1: Mute was one of Commander Yu’s old bandits friends, a greenwood hero who had eaten fistcakes in the sorghum field.

哑巴是余司令的老朋友，一同在高粱地里吃过“拤饼”的草莽英雄。

Analysis: "吃拤饼" is a Gaomi’s dialect word in Shandong, referring to "become a bandit." "拤" is a dialect word, which meaning to pinch with both hands. In the translation, the translator Howard Goldblatt combines the motion image of "拤" with the "饼" to create a new compound word "fistcakes". It not only depicts the basic characteristics of the "拤饼", but also shows the heroic image of Gaomi’s brave people, leaving the target language readers with rich imagination and highlighting the local characteristics of men and dialects. Thus, readers can better understand the content of the original text and highlight the unique charm of local literature.

4.2 Nesting Vulgarism

Borrowing the vulgarism in the target language. In the process of translating dialects, the translator often use folk or colloquial words familiar to translate the content.

Example 2: "When your grandma was young she sowed plenty of wild oats…"

“你奶奶年轻时花花事儿多着咧……”

Analysis: “花花事儿” in Chinese is Gaomi’s dialect, and means people are frantically looking for fun fixes. By applying the English proverb "sowed wild oats", the author interprets the meaning of original content perfectly, which makes the figure of "grandmother" more lively, and at the same time increases the fluency and readability of the translation.

Example 3: "…something fishy between him and your grandma…"

“……他和你奶奶不大清白咧……”

Analysis: “Fishy” means an illegitimate affair between grandma and uncle Luo Han in the novel. The translator uses the informal colloquial word "fishy" in the English language to connect the words in the original text not only properly interprets the meaning of the dialect, and describe the relationship between the characters in the novel rightly.

Example 4: "How many Japs? Are they real Japs or lackeys?"

“有多少鬼子？是真鬼子还是二鬼子？”

Analysis: "Japs" and "Lackeys" were disparage the Japanese invader and traitor from Chinese during the Anti-Japanese War. On the basis of historical facts, Howard Goldblatt translated it into informal English words such as "Japs" and "lackeys" respectively. The translation gives more emotional and shows the scorn and disgust from Chinese to Japanese invader and traitor vividly. If "Japs" and "lackeys" are replaced by "Japanese invader" and "traitor" respectively, the tone will be slightly stiff and will weaken the effect of language expression in the original text.

In the process of translating dialects, the translator often use folk or colloquial words familiar to translate the content, which can help to depict the characters and narrow the distance between the readers and the characters in the novel. It also greatly increases the fluency and readability of the translation.

4.3 Translating into Standard English

The abstraction, randomness and colloquial characteristics of dialects make it necessary for translators to fully understand the meaning of dialects in the context of the original and, where necessary, to deal with them in the form of standard English interpretations.

Example 5: Detachment Leader Leng sneered. "…If you turn your cache of weapons over to us, we’ll make you a battalion commander. "

冷支队长冷冷一笑，说：“……只要你把杆子拉过来，给你个营长干”

Analysis: “拉杆子”was the dialect of Gaomi in Shandong province. The detachment Leader Leng wants to annex Yu Zhanao’s bandits. He wants not only they troops, but also they weapons. The translator accurately grasps the meaning of the dialect and the subaudition of the characters' speak, thus makes “拉杆子” turn to standard English “turn your cache of weapons over to us”. It can reflect the features of characters, and more conform the situational context in the novel and the mode of thinking of foreign readers.

Example 6: "…Japs butchered people, shit in their pots, and pissed in their basins. "

“……鬼子糟害人呢，在锅里拉屎、盆里撒尿。”

Analysis: “糟害”was the Gaomi’s dialect, and means the kill or slaughter. The words came from a weather-beaten, aged 92. She had seen the criminal acts by the Japanese invader and hated they evil. The interpretation of "butcher" in the fourth edition of Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English is "to kill someone cruely or unnecessarily, especially to kill a lot of people". The translator translates “糟害” into “butcher” rather than “kill”, giving the translation a strong emotional tone. It not only achieves the semantic and emotional equivalence between the translation and the original text, but also portrays the ugly image of the Japanese invader and the abhorrence from people’s to invader. Thus reflects the translator's serious attitude and well-intentions.

Example 7: "If I don’t get it within three days, this kidnap is going to end with a dead kid!"

限期三天，过期撕‘票’！

Analysis: “撕票” is a word of dialect, which means the captors taking hostages as a threat. If they cannot satisfy their requirements, they will kill the hostages. In the novel, the villagers of the northeastern rural areas of Gaomi, “绑票”and “撕票”are not uncommon. In the process of translation, Howard Goldblatt accurately understood the meaning of this word and adopted a paraphrase method to convert the dialect into standard English. The “撕票” was translated as "this kidnap is going to end with a dead kid". It weakens the heterogeneity of language and culture between Chinese and Western languages, making the translation easy to understand.

4.4 Literally Translates

In addition to the above, Howard Goldblatt uses a large number of literal translations to translate the original in the English edition.

Example 8: "What the hell do you think you are doing, your little turtle egg?"

他几乎要扣动扳机了。余司令按住他的手说：“小鳖羔子！你想干什么？”

Example 9: "I’ve heard enough! Don’t expect me to piss in your bottle. If you had any balls, you’d find your weapons in the hands of the Japanese!"

“你少给我啰嗦，老子不尿你这一壶，有种就从日本人手里夺去！”

From the above example, it can be seen that Howard Goldblatt chose to translate original by the literal translation according to the habits of Chinese colloquialism, which is in consideration of the character relationships and emotions. If these dialects are transliterated in the American slang, it is easy to change the emotions of the original characters and to undermine the delicate relationship between the language environment and the characters.

5.0 Conclusion

The use of local dialect in literary works is one of the important ways of expressing the regional culture of the works and shaping the personality traits of the characters. It can make the language style of the novel more lively and vivid, and make the character image more approach the essence of life, thus narrowing the distance between the reader and the work and inspiring readers' interest in reading.

The English translation of Chinese cultural words has the characteristics of “sociality, culture, symbolic transformation, creativity, and historicity”. The English translation of dialects is no exception. This article uses the Mo Yan works translated into English by Howard Goldblatt as an example, analyzes the translation method of the dialect words in his novel, and concludes that Mr. Howard Goldblatt mainly used the following four translation methods in the process of translating dialects: creating new words based on the original text, Apply the target language colloquialism, convert it into standard language and literal translation. The use of a variety of translation methods makes the translation well reproduce the expression of the dialect in the original text, vividly shows the characters of the novel, and highlights the unique regional culture.

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Acknowledgements

I am greatly indebted to my supervisor Ms. Yu Beibei, who has given me valuable advice and enlightened me on a number of academic problems concerning my thesis.

Thanks should also be given to teachers and my classmates, who helped me a lot during the accomplishment of my thesis.