《On the Cultural Translation of Chinese Poetry From the Perspective of Peter Newmark’s Theory》.doc

【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 c