A Tale of Two Grannies：On the English Translation of the Language of Grannie Liu and Grandmother Jia in Hong Lou Meng.doc

 PAGE 4 《红楼梦》 中刘姥姥与贾母的语言英译 A Tale of Two Grannies：On the English Translation of the Language of Grannie Liu and Grandmother Jia in Hong Lou Meng Thesis Statement: Successful translation of the language of Grannie Liu and Grandmother Jia not only requires a faithful conveyance of meaning, but also demands an accurate portrait of the two characters’ personalities. Outline: Ⅰ. Introduction The literary value and important position of the novel Hong Lou Meng The success of the two complete English translations Ⅱ. Literature Review Different Chinese originals of Hong Lou Meng for the two English translations The English translation of the characters’ language in Hong Lou Meng Ⅲ. A Comparative study of the English translations of the language of Grannie Liu and Grandmother Jia A. The English translation of Grannie Liu’s language Grannie Liu’s language that reveals her profundity and insightfulness Grannie Liu’s language that reveals her tactfulness and smartness a) Conversation with the doormen b) Conversation with Zhou Rui’s wife c) Conversation with Wang Xifeng B. The English translation of Grandmother Jia’s language Grandmother Jia’s language that reveals her amicability Grandmother Jia’s language that reveals her knowledgeability Grandmother Jia’s language that reveals her decisiveness and calmness Ⅳ. Conclusion 摘 要 刘姥姥和贾母是《红楼梦》中一对鲜活生动、独具个性的艺术形象，在小说布局上起着至关重要的作用。刘姥姥的几进荣国府、贾母在贾家至高无上的地位都使得这两个人物成为了贯穿全书的重要线索。 与小说中喜好吟诗作对的小姐们不同，刘姥姥和贾母的语言通俗直白、简明易懂。虽然在社会地位、教育水平上存在着巨大的差距，但刘姥姥和贾母同样精明能干、见解独到。因此，如何在英译文中通过看似简单的语言体现这两个人物独特的性格特征便成为《红楼梦》译者必须考虑的问题。 本文选取了突出刘姥姥精明深刻、机智得体以及贾母见识广博、果断冷静等性格特征的对话作为研究对象，从如何通过人物语言展现人物性格这一角度，比较分析了由霍克斯、闵福德及杨宪益、戴乃迭分别翻译的两个英文全译本对这些语言的翻译。 在借鉴了如张映先、吕敏宏、刘源甫等人对《红楼梦》人物语言英译研究的基础上，笔者认为为了忠实再现刘姥姥和贾母的人物形象，译者不仅需要准确传达人物语言字面上的意义、在必要时添加适当的注释，而且还应该在译文中保留原文所传达出的情感信息，以求最大程度地展现人物的性格特征。 关键词：刘姥姥 贾母 语言 翻译 性格特征 Abstract In Hong Lou Meng, Grannie Liu and Grandmother Jia are two successfully created literary images with distinctive personalities, both of w