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A study on the translation of culture-specific items in character depiction in the English version of Pu Songling‟s Liaozhai Zhiyi


Citation

Yi, Shuihan and Ng, Chwee Fang and Abdul Halim, Hazlina (2024) A study on the translation of culture-specific items in character depiction in the English version of Pu Songling‟s Liaozhai Zhiyi. World Journal of English Language, 15 (1). pp. 216-224. ISSN 1925-0703; eISSN: 1925-0711

Abstract

The characterization through literary translation is crucial to the international dissemination and reception of literary works. Nevertheless, the research on the translation of character depiction in Liaozhai Zhiyi greatly falls behind other translation themes of Liaozhai Zhiyi. This study is intended to explore the translation of culture-specific items (CSIs) in character depiction in Liaozhai Zhiyi from Chinese to English, within the framework of character‟s three dimensions: physiological, sociological and psychological. This study reveals the shifts in the characterization by investigating translator‟s strategies, and the significant integration of CSIs and character depiction. The findings demonstrates that the translator‟s choice of strategies influences the rendering of character depiction. It is found that the character depiction in the original text of Liaozhai Zhiyi is more mysterious, whereas in the translated text, it seems to possess a stronger sense of intimacy. This study suggests that translators thoroughly consider the culture-specific elements in character depiction, and take into account the combination of multi-strategies. It is hoped that this study contributes to the research field of character depiction translation in Liaozhai Zhiyi, and sheds light on the translation of ancient Chinese classics.


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Additional Metadata

Item Type: Article
Divisions: Faculty of Modern Language and Communication
DOI Number: https://doi.org/10.5430/wjel.v15n1p216
Publisher: Sciedu Press
Keywords: Character depiction; Culture-specific items; liaozhai Zhiyi; Literary translation
Depositing User: Ms. Che Wa Zakaria
Date Deposited: 11 Aug 2025 00:55
Last Modified: 11 Aug 2025 00:55
Altmetrics: http://www.altmetric.com/details.php?domain=psasir.upm.edu.my&doi=10.5430/wjel.v15n1p216
URI: http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/119211
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