Abstract

Since over thousands of years ago, tea has become one of the most popular drinks in China. As the economy and technology making the world a melting pot, Chinese tea culture is also getting popularity around the world. However, still we have many problems on translation of Chinese tea culture. For example, we often use literary allusions as sources of names. Interpreting both literal meanings and deeper meanings is very difficult. In addition, we don’t have uniform standards for technical tea terms so that interpreters have all sorts of ways to translate. As a result, there might be mistakes on translated contents and foreigners may not be able to understand them. Therefore，finding proper ways to translate tea culture and keep its aesthetic feelings can help foreigners better tasting Chinese tea culture. It is also beneficial to facilitate further communication of China and the world. This essay analyses the connection between tea culture and Chinese culture and uses British as an example to explore differences and similarities of tea cultures between China and British. It aims to use different interpreting methods to translate items of Chinese tea culture well on the perspective of Reader-response theory. 

Key words: Chinese tea culture, Reader-response theory, transliteration, free translation, annotation

CONTENTS

中文摘要

Abstract

1. Introduction-1

2. Tea Culture-2

2.1 The Connection Between Tea Culture and Chinese Traditional Culture-2

2.2 The Differences of Tea Culture Between British and Chinese-3

3. Translation of Chinese Tea Culture-4

3.1 Introduction of Reader-response Theory-5

3.2 Translation of Tea Names-6

3.2.1 Tea names in real life-6

3.2.2 Tea names in literary work-8

4. Translation of Tea Sets-8

4.1 Translation of tea sets in real life-8

4.2 Translation of tea sets in literary work-10

5. Translation of Tea Art Performance-11

6. Conclusion-13

Works Cited-15