Title Translation
Translated by David Hawkes (Sinologist) in 1973.
Translated by Yang Xian-yi and Gladys Yang in 1978.
The Main Difference Between the Two Titles
“
Redology（红学）” is the field of study devoted exclusively to this work.
Title Translation
The title has also been translated as Red Chamber Dream and A Dream of Red Mansions. The novel circulated in manuscript copies with various titles until its print publication, in 1791. The novel is also often known as The Story of the Stone (石头记).
红楼梦文化翻译对比趣赏
• Ecological culture • Linguistic culture • Material culture • Religious culture • Social culture
Ecological culture
癞蛤蟆想吃天鹅肉
A toad hankering for a taste of swan. (Yang: 164) A case of “the toad on the ground wanting to eat the goose in the sky.” (Hawkes:242)
Linguistic culture
《红楼梦》第21回平儿有这么一句话： “过了河就拆桥。” 杨宪益译为：As soon as the river’s crossed, you pull down the bridge. 霍克斯译为：Burn the bridge when you are safely over the river. 在中国文化里，“过河拆桥”来自《元曲选· 康进之<李 逵负荆>三》：“你休得顺水推船，偏不许我过河拆 桥。”而在英语里，to burn one’s boats / bridge是一 个固定的短语，源自军事领域，与当年凯撒大帝率兵越 过卢比孔河烧掉战船与庞培作战有关。从两种译文中可 以看出， 杨宪益竭力传达中国文化信息，而霍克斯只让 西方读者明白“平儿”所说话的意思，而忽略了对文化 信息的传递，不能不说是一种遗憾。
“凤姐听了，眼圈儿红了一会子，方说道："天有不测风云， 人有旦夕祸福，这点年纪，倘或因这病上有个长短，人生 在世，还有什么趣儿呢！”
Xi feng’s eyes became moist and for a moment she was toቤተ መጻሕፍቲ ባይዱ overcome to speak. " I know the weather and human life are both unpredictable,” she said at last, "but she’ s only a child still. If anything should happen to her as a result of this illness, I think all the fun would go out of life!"
Domestic Research
• 李梓、张映先（2003）判词的含蓄美及两种 英译本特色对比； • 刘婧（2003）判词翻译的形式美； • 陈科芳（2006）判词的修辞格的翻译； • 彭志瑛（2004）从人文语境的典籍文化、民 俗文化、礼仪文化和审美文化四个方面对翻译 中语用意图的实现过程进行了阐述； • 张芸（2008）、温玉斌（2008）分别从历史 文化和诗歌的语言模糊性的翻译价值对金陵判 词的两个译本进行了对比。
Brief Introduction
Dream of the Red Chamber,
composed by Cao Xueqin, is one of China's Four Great Classical Novels. It was written in the middle of the 18th century during the Qing Dynasty. It is considered to be a masterpiece of Chinese literature and is generally acknowledged to be the pinnacle of Chinese fiction.
巧姐 偶因济刘氏，巧得遇恩人 杨译 In time of need she is lucy a friend to find 霍译 Deliverance came for your afflicted life
Rhyme 押韵
• All of the Jinling Verdict are antithesis(对偶句) and adopt strict rhyme. Although translators can't totally adopt such kind of sentence pattern and rhyme, we can still see their endeavor.
Literary quotation
典故
Because of the differences between Chinese and Western culture in history,geography, religion and custom,the national colour implying in the literary qutation is also different.
中国古典名著《红楼梦》洋洋洒洒， 写尽世间百态，糅杂诗词曲赋多种文 体，篇篇都是值得细读的精品。金陵 判词是这些精品中的珠玉玫瑰，使 《红楼梦》这幅人情世态长卷增添令 人炫目的色彩。《红楼梦》普通文字 的翻译已经十分艰难，而金陵判词的 翻译更是难上加难。杨宪益夫妇与霍 克斯翻译的金陵判词各有千秋，再现 了翻译的“信”、“达”、“雅”， 是一种语言同写著，两部红楼异风流。
可叹停机德，堪怜咏絮才。
杨译“Alas for her wifely virtue，Her wit to sing of willow-down，poor maid!” 霍译“one was a pattern of female virtue，One a wit who made other wits seem slow.”
袭人 枉自温柔和顺，空云似桂如兰。 堪羡优伶有福，谁知公子无缘。
霍译:What price your kindness and compliance ， Of sweetest flower the rich perfume ? You chose the player fortune favoured, Unmindful of your master's doom.
Red Mansion has three different meanings in
Chinese culture. Luxury furnished buildings in ancient China Young lady’s room
Brothel (妓院)
“
Red” means evil in western culture .
• 杨译这两句实行了区分对待， 两个典故一弃一用，用 “wifely virtue”来表示“停 机德”,用“wit to sing of willow-down” 来表示“咏絮才” • 霍译完全跳过典故，对于没 有接触过《红楼梦》的英语 读者来说，霍译读起来更为 顺达易解。
Pun 双关
1.Phonetic pun 语音双关 2.Semantic pun 语义双关
David Hawkes avoided “red” and “mansion”.
Hawkes ’translation capability is deep, translating it in English with great fluency in a western way.
While Yang Xian-yi and Gladys Yang translated in a neutral way. Thus, many westerners prefer Hawkes’ version.
一种语言同写著，两部红楼异风流
——《红楼梦》金陵判词翻译
Two Brilliant English Versions from the Same Great Works
——
Translation of “Jinling Verdict”
The famous Chinese classical literary works A Dream of Red Mansions contains different forms of excellent classical Chinese poetry, melody and prose, each being worthy of detailed reading. Jinling Verdict is the treasure of treasures, adding charm for the long volume of novel. Common words of the novel are difficult to translate, while the translation of Jinling Verdict is much more difficult. The translation of Jinling Verdict by Mr. and Mrs. Yang Xianyi and that by David Hawkes have their own styles, representing Yan Fu’s translation criteria— faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance. They are two brilliant English versions translated from the same great works.