Social and cultural influence on the Chinese translation of River Town : a comparative study

Abstract

Two Chinese translations of the book River Town have been published with one targeting readers from the mainland China translated by Li Xueshun and the other targeting readers from Taiwan translated by Wu Meizhen. In addition, one of the translations is abridged due to censorship. Although two versions have their own targeting readers, the readers from the mainland China have access to both. The two translations receive distinct acceptance among the mainland China readers. Within the frame of social impact and cultural awareness in translation, to find out the reasons why one translation is more acceptable than the other to the readers from the mainland China, this paper carries out a comparative study of these translations and discusses the importance of wording considering the target readers’ familiarity with the expressions by data collected from the online reviews and BCC, and discusses the challenges and issues in re-creating the cultural identity in the Chinese translation of River Town. This paper also shows that it is of great importance to adapt the expressions to the local culture in translation to improve the acceptance among the target readers and to achieve greater commercial success.