C-E Translation of Culture-loaded Words from the Perspective of Cross-cultural Communication: Taking A Dream of Red Mansions as Examples

Abstract

A Dream of Red Mansions, one of the four great classical novels in China, is world-renowned. From a cross-cultural perspective, this paper examines the translation of culture-loaded terms from Chinese into English, taking the English translations of A Dream of Red Mansions by David Hawkes and by Yang Xianyi & Gladys Yang as examples. The large number of culture-loaded words contained in it pose major challenges and difficulties in the translation work. Through a literature review, this paper sorts out cross-cultural communication and translation theories, and elaborates on the definition and classification of culture-loaded words. By analyzing examples of the translation of ecological, linguistic, religious, material, and social culture-loaded words in A Dream of Red Mansions, it examines the effects of different translation strategies adopted by Hawkes and Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang.