Translation and modification

Both phonemic transliteration and semantic translation have been widely used in translating the names of characters in literary works. Nonetheless, discussion as to which of them is more appropriate continues. An investigation of the English translation of characters’ names in the Chinese classics Hong Lou Meng has suggested that either phonemic transliteration or semantic translation is reluctantly accompanied by some modification from the originals due to cultural and literary contextual constraints. Many of the past studies have reviewed the cultural context for explaining and considering the merits of each, though the literary angle has sometimes been disregarded. The case study of the translation by D. Hawkes has provided insight into that cultural context was not the only one that mediated the translation of names, instead the literary context acted in much the same way.