Abstract

Culture is the treasure of every ethnic, especially religious culture. The best way to understand a nation is to study its religious culture, which will inevitably cause translation---- a bridge to different cultures, so the importance is obvious. Religious culture has permeated into every aspect of the world because translating religious culture is the earliest translation activity among all countries. As we all know, English-Chinese translation theories are originated from religion transmission, especially the Bible translation and Buddhist scriptures. This thesis profoundly analyzes the origin, spread and development of Chinese and western religious culture and its influence in translating Chinese and western religious scriptures. For existing differences between Chinese and western culture, we will make mistakes in application and misuse of language and sentences. To try to avoid these, the paper put forward some translation strategies, not only commonly used literal translation and free translation, but also addition, conversion, omission etc. The paper also introduces domestication and foreignization, the extension of literal translation and free translation.

Key words: religion; culture; English-Chinese translation; translation strategies

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1. Introduction-1

2. Literature Review-2

3. The Origin and Transmission of Religious Cultures-2

3.1 The Definition of Religious Culture-2

3.2 The Origin of Religious Culture-3

3.3 The Spread of Religious Culture-5

4. The Impacts of Religious Culture on Translation-6

4.1 The Impacts of Western Religious Culture on Translation-7

4.2 The Impacts of Chinese Religious Culture on Translation-8

5. The Strategies to English-Chinese Translation-10

5.1 Literal Translation and Free Translation-10

5.2 Addition-11

5.3 Conversion-12

5.4 Omission-12

6. Conclusion-13

Works Cited-15