Zhang Hui

【Abstract】In recent years，translation theorists begin to take translation as an activity of cultural exchange，that is，it is not only a linguistic transformation，but essentially a cultural communication.Language and culture are interactive.Language，as the carrier of the culture，can break through the limitation of time and space and carry all the aspects of the culture information.As a main means of cross-cultural communication，translation is connected with the culture tightly.However，in cross-cultural translation，especially between those cultures with great difference like Chinese and English，many cultural elements surface from the confrontation of cultural deposits，making it impossible to capture the relationship of the source text to the source culture in the target text.Thus，problems in translating cultural elements arise.Different approaches shall be adopted to solve this culture barrier.They are omission，transliteration，alienation and domestication.Using what kind of solutions is determined by many complicated factors.Under the circumstance of cultural globalization，these solutions are supposed to complement each other.Thus the translation action can become more scientific.

【Key Words】language translation； culture conflicts； culture barrier

Introduction

With the development of international communication and the increasing globalization of economy，people from different countries are influencing each other in every field，which makes different cultures have the tendency of integration.So，translation，as a bridge between people with different cultural background，is concerned by people all over the world.But because of different cultural backgrounds，translators have to take cultural factors into their consideration.In other words，they have to solve a problem in translation—cultural conflicts.In my thesis，I will give a brief introduction to cultural conflicts：1.The definition of cultural conflicts and the necessity of solving this problem are studied； 2.Barriers of cultural difference in translation and some typical examples are analyzed； 3.Some solutions to cultural conflicts are given.In the conclusion，the necessity is emphasized again to prove the importance of overcoming cultural conflicts.

ⅠThe definition of cultural conflicts and the necessity of solving this problem

Refer to the definition of cultural conflicts，many scholars have brought out their own ideas from different aspects.In a word，different factors of culture will be put into consideration in translation because of the differences of cultural backgrounds between the source language and the target language.So difficulties occur in the procedure of information transmission.These are called cultural conflicts.

In the present academic circle，more and more requirements and standards about translation are brought forward.People need better approaches to improve their translation，so that they can get a better understanding of people in different cultures.Without solving the cultural conflicts，readers can not get a complete understanding of the original works，although the translation version is fluent or even elegant，for the translator does not transmit the cultural elements to the readers.Look at the following example：

（1）“To teach grandmother how to suck an egg”.

“教奶奶吸鸡蛋”。

If you do not know any culture knowledge of his language，you will never figure out what it means maybe，if you put it into “教奶奶吸鸡蛋”，your translation will even be laughed at by others.

In translation，such kinds of problems often appear，because different culture factors perform like obstacles.Thus，it is quite necessary to pay attention to the cultural conflicts and try to think out some approaches to avoid the misunderstanding resulted from the ignorance of the Chinese culture.

Ⅱ Barriers of Cultural Difference in Translation

1.Different Historical Background

Historical background has exerted great influence on language.Every nation has its own history and its history is often displayed in its language.

Different peoples have developed a great many classical allusions，idioms and expressions under different historical background.Classical allusions and idioms convey complicated messages by means of simple signs.They are of strong cultural features，simple in structure but rich in connotation.The connotation of these allusions and idioms will be lost if they are translated or understood literally.As the following example say：

（2）“三个臭皮匠赛过一个诸葛亮”.

“Three cobblers surpass Zhuge Liang”.

If it is rendered literally as “Three cobblers surpass Zhuge Liang”，the western people will feel puzzled as they do not know who Zhuge Liang is.Actually Zhuge Liang was a historical person in the Three Kingdoms Time，and he is a symbol of intelligence in Chinese history.The reason of that failure in comprehension is that the version fails to convey the connotation of the rich historical cultural knowledge in this Chinese idiom.

2.Different Religious Beliefs

Religion is an important part in culture.To a certain extent，the history and the development of it is longer than that of some languages.The exchange among various languages began with the exchange of religious thoughts.Therefore，the impact of religion upon language is extremely great and thus cannot be neglected.Look at the following examples：

（3）Good God！ （Exclamation of surprise，shock，etc.）老天啊！

（4）God knows！ Goodness knows！ 天知道！

（5）For Gods sake！ 看在老天的份上！

（6）God bless you！ 老天保佑！

From example （3）to （6），people can easily find out that while Westerners use “God” to express a kind of strong emotion，Chinese use “Heaven”（天）to express the same emotion.The cause of this difference lies in the religious difference between the two countries.

3.Different Living Environment or Geographic Positions

Regional segregation and different living environment have resulted in different cultures.So peoples cognition and analogy of the nature are different.Different nationalities have their own peculiar cultures under different natural environment.The cultural connotation of words and things differs from one culture to another.This leads to another barrier in translation.For example，people living in North China almost always feel puzzled when they read the English poet，Shellys poem “Ode to the West wind （西风颂）”.China is located in the Eastern Hemisphere and has the monsoon climate.In Chinese culture，“east wind”，namely “the wind of spring” is a commendatory term.It symbolizes hope and strength.On the contrary，“west wind”，a derogatory term in Chinese，refers to the wind of autumn suggesting something declining，or something miserable.England lies in the Western Hemisphere，and belongs to the oceanic climate.So “west wind” in England has the same denotation and connotation as “east wind” in China.It is a commendatory term in English and is often employed to depict something hopeful，full of vitality.

Refer to translation，different factors of culture will be considered，such as customs，religious beliefs，history and so on.Because of their existence between the source language and the target language，difficulties occur in the procedure of information transmission.As readers，they need more and more contents about the original works，not only the simple translation version，but also those underlying cultural elements.They need to have a better understanding of the authors ideas，the cultural background of the author and other cultural elements.As translators，we should give readers not only a fluent translation，but also those cultural elements.The latter are the real attraction for readers.So we should use proper method to solve cultural conflicts.Thus，a fluent，elegant translation version with a good transmission of cultural elements can finally appear.As to this question on how to solve cultural conflicts，we will have a discussion in the next section.

Ⅲ Solutions to Cultural Conflicts

Some translators try to omit them to get a good translation version，while，even the basic meaning of the original text is translated linguistically.The essence-original cultural factors are omitted.

Some translators try to translate the original cultural element according to the original pronunciation，thats transliteration.After creating these new words，the translator uses an explanation to offer readers more information about the source language.

Alienation and domestication are also adopted by some scholars to solve cultural conflicts.

1.Omission of Cultural Elements

Differ from neglect of cultural factors，in order to make their translation linguistically fluent，translators omit some cultural elements consciously in their translation.Thus，the readers can understand their translation clearly，but the flavor of the original version is missing.But，this kind of solution is determined by the styles of original versions.

If the original version is some kind of technical text or instructions of some products，and there are not so many cultural elements underlying which do not have an effect on using and understanding the function of those products.Translators can simply omit those cultural elements in this kind of articles.Thats because，the main purpose of translating such kind of article is transmitting the main explanation and basic information of its products.Cultural factors do not play an important part in this kind of text.Thus explaining the content of the article is much more important than transmitting the original cultural elements.

To the opposite，there is another situation.If the original version is of literature，like a novel，a poem or even a prose，you should take cultural conflicts into your consideration.And in all of these literal articles，poem is full of cultural elements in both its style and content.Thus in translating such kind of original version，we need more translation skills to solve cultural conflicts to give readers a good taste of the original style of culture.

2.Transliteration of Cultural Elements

Apparently，in translation cultural conflicts have an effect on transmitting the whole meaning of the original works.Simply omitting cultural conflicts is not good enough to solve this problem.So，here comes another solution of cultural conflicts—transliteration.It means creating a new word in target language followed by some explanations.This method is frequently exerted in addressing people or places and translating some new words which have no exact counter-part in the target language.Cultural elements have their unique pronunciations to express their unique culture elements.If a translator uses idiomatic expression instead of transliteration，the style of the original work will be changed.But when the readers come across words created by the translators in translation，they will make full use of their imagination to create a concrete impression in their mind with the help of those explanations.In order to keep the original meaning，we use the method of transliteration.

3.Alienation and Domestication

Refer to the solution of cultural conflicts，there are still two solutions to solve this problem—alienation and domestication，which was brought out by American scholar L.Venuti in 1955.

L.Venuti says alienation means that the translators should express the original cultural elements to the readers of target language and try to take them to the “foreign” atmosphere.It is source-culture oriented or source-language oriented.

In short，alienation and domestication are two approaches to translation.Which path should we follow：reader-to-author or author-to-reader？ Or is there “the third path” to follow？ It is hard to say which of the two approaches is exclusively used，rather，the two are both used，or in other word，the two are used in combination or in unification.We hold that the essence of translation lies in establishing cultural equivalence.Because of different styles of the original versions and the translators different goal，alienation and domestication can never be superior to each other completely.We should try to find a good balance between them.

Conclusion

Cultural conflicts that exist in translation perform as obstacles in transmitting original cultural elements to the readers in target language.In this thesis，the necessity of solving cultural conflicts is emphasized.Different barriers of cultural difference in translation are put forward.Some translators neglect cultural elements consciously，and then lead to failure in translation.Therefore，we should take this problem seriously.Followed these illustration，solutions to cultural conflicts，namely，omission of Cultural Elements，Transliteration of Cultural Elements，Alienation and Domestication are discussed.Although these are some kinds of solutions，they have their disadvantages respectively.So we should make use of these translation tactics according to different circumstances.In translation，to be faithful to the authors idea is what we should pay attention to.However，there is no perfect solution to cultural conflicts.We should adopt different ways to solve different problem in translation.Only in this way，can a fluent，elegant translation version with successful transmission of cultural elements be possible.Thats the best way in solving cultural conflicts in translation.