Translation and interpretation: Translation redundancy reconsidered

Abstract

Interpretation is an integral part of the process of translating. This article raises the question of whether interpretation of a literary work by a translator should be guided by extratextual factors or not. The discussion is illustrated with examples taken from David Hawkes’ translation of a Chinese classic. A Dream of Red Mansions. As the work of a scholar‐translator, Hawkes’ version is richly supplemented with disclosures concerning the characters and explanations of the cultural environment embodied in the novel. In many cases, however, this translation procedure is redundant and explanatory, enlighting the readers but at the same time robbing them of the pleasure of literary interpretation and cultural exploration. By means of this illustration of translation redundancy, the author points out that there is difference between a scholar who helps the interpretation of a work and a translator who presents a work close to its original version. It is particularly important to pay attention to this difference in literary translations in a cross‐cultural situation involving two enormously different cultures.