Translating Religion in The Dream of the Red Chamber

The world seems aware that China is among the countries with the largest Buddhist population. The global village may say that in Taiwan and Mainland China, Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism are combined, mixed and blurred. Dream of the Red Chamber (紅樓夢 Hóng Lóu Mèng) was written in the 18 century against such a backdrop. Since the 1990s, English as a Foreign Language teaching and learning, especially in Taiwan, has aimed at mastering five skills—translation added to traditionally recognized skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. Taiwanese students may feel translating from English to Chinese easier due to their firm grasp of the target language and culture; however, students should be aware that translating from Chinese to English aids not only in disseminating source language cultural knowledge but also is more profitable than translating from English to Chinese in terms of wages earned. When rendering Chinese literary works to English, a translator inevitably encounters the problem of cultural translation. This paper concentrates on translation of texts, including Taoism and Buddhism expressions in Hóng Lóu Mèng by Cáo Xuěqín, into English by David Hawkes and Xianyi Yang & Gladys Yang. Translating Hóng Lóu Mèng in the 1970s, both renditions made use of endnotes, transliteration, as well as a number of other methods. Examples will explain how they did the tedious job. While translating Hóng Lóu Mèng to English, both made the religious background a little confusing to target language readers. Xianyi Yang & Gladys Yang’s version was found to be more faithful to the religion but at the cost of readability. Implications for teaching translation of texts with religious contexts are discussed.


INTRODUCTION
Dream of the Red Chamber (紅樓夢 Hóng Lóu Mèng) or The Story of the Stone, written by Cáo Xuěqín (曹雪芹) (1792/1988) is one of China"s four great novels (Wong 1996).Dream of the Red Chamber (henceforth HLM) has been so influential that a field of study, Redology (紅學 Hóng Xué) has emerged due to its continued close analysis.A major portion of studies have been conducted using one of two translations: the first complete English translation done by David Hawkes (1978), a native speaker of English and the equally respected version by Gladys Yang (1986), a native speaker of English, and Xianyi Yang (楊憲益 Yáng Xiànyì), a native speaker of Mandarin Chinese.Owing to the novel"s comprehensive depiction of Chinese culture, the Buddhist religion plays a strong role in the lives of the main characters of HLM.In David Hawkes" (henceforth DH) translation, Buddhism (禪 Chán) was translated as Zen, while Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang (henceforth YY) used the transliteration Chán.Zen seems a conventional English way to refer to a particular school of Buddhism (Zen 2014), with this word first being borrowed from Japanese (List of English words of Japanese origin (n.d.)).However, YY were faithful to the Hànyǔ pīnyīn transliteration possibly because they were in China at the time the translation was undertaken, while DH in England was not restricted to Chinese politics (Wang & Chen 2008).As was the decision on whether to use "Zen" or "Chan" to refer to the particular sect of Buddhism important to the characters in HLM, many other choices regarding terminology had to be made by the translators-a number of which involved the Buddhist religion.
Buddhism was first imported from India to China in the second year B. C. (Chen, Chen & Chen 2006).When HLM was written, Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism had been integrated into the lives of Chinese people for more than 1700 years.HLM was written with such a Chinese audience in mind without the intention of someday being read by foreigners; however, to make the novel accessible to others, translation was necessary.A translation of any text will be judged based on a number of criteria, including how much the translation does not read as an actual translation."Translations read fluently when they give the impression of being the original.To achieve that, the translator has to aim for linguistic and stylistic normality in line with target-cultural norms, and avoid intervening in the translated text" (Winters 2010, p.165).When translating texts that contain cultural elements, especially those related to religion, translators must make decisions on how to translate concepts that may not be familiar to the target language (TL) readers.Firstly, translators can be faithful, presenting a realistic representation, which may or may not sacrifice readability.Next, translators can be unfaithful, sacrificing realistic representation for readability.Lastly, concepts can be totally neglected or even removed in translation.For example, reading One Thousand and One Nights, a ninth century A.D. Arabic novel, in Chinese, TL readers may have no inclination of its Islamic background, while the novel itself surely contains Muslim legends and complex points of Islamic philosophy.
This article aims to explain how DH and YY translated Buddhist religion-related concepts in HLM from Mandarin Chinese into English.To do so, we investigate the attitude towards religion that the translators reveal in the translations, how these attitudes are different from those in the Chinese source language (SL), and how these differences reveal the translators" attitudes towards the importance in providing TL readers a means of comprehending the cultural aspects of the Buddhist religion found throughout the novel.Based on the findings recommendations are provided for teachers and students of translation.

LITERATURE REVIEW
Much research has been conducted on the difficulties of translating Chinese culture into English (Mu 1995, Tseng 2003).Lin and Soong (1976) even wrote a book discussing renditions of HLM into English by different translators; however, they failed to focus on the religious cultural aspect of translation.Mu (1995) advised five strategies in translating Chinese idioms to English: (1) using TL idiomatic or conventional terms as an equivalent of the Chinese idiomatic usage if they exist; (2) literal translation, keeping the SL syntax and semantics; (3) literal translation plus paraphrase; (4) literal translation plus foot-/endnote; and (5) translating the origin of the idiom into the TL.Mu"s approaches may be more valid for translating an idiom that appears within a single sentence.For idioms in a paragraph or chapter, however, a paraphrase-only strategy may make the TL translated text more fluent.
Although both DH and YY have garnered praise in the field of translation studies, Pan (2011) finds DH"s "thick translation" to be superior in its ability to transmit a more accurate representation of the culture to TL readers.YY"s rendition of HLM is full of endnotes; DH never uses foot-/endnotes.Still, YY"s endnotes do not explain religious terms; they are mainly used for explaining puns or references of names used metaphorically.Wu (2010) also noted that when YY translated the names of characters there was a tendency to use transliteration.Wu feels that while transliteration can be a convenient method for translating names, the drawback is that no background knowledge is carried over in the translation.On the other hand, DH used transliteration for translating the names of main characters and meaning translation for the names of secondary characters.Wu claims the use of meaning translation allows for the reader to appreciate the role and status of characters (master verses servant).Zhang (2007) also praises DH"s translation, noting that from a reader"s response theory point of view, the use of meaning translation is an appropriate method to translate Chinese culture into English.This method allows for a reader to interpret the meaning of the text rather than having the text interpreted by the translator.
Although Zhuang (2007) considers both DH and YY to be successes due to their ability to draw foreigners" interest in traditional Chinese literature through translation, Zhuang goes on to claim YY"s is more faithful to the author"s opus than that of DH.Zhuang further claims that YY"s translation shows the true beauty of Buddhist and Taoist culture by remaining true to the original imagery from the novel by applying direct translation in contrast to DH who seems to have allowed for a bias in the translation by applying Christian ascetics to the Buddhist and Taoist culture through meaning-oriented translation.Though Christianity was once popular in China during the Tang Dynasty (Huang 1996, pp. 17-28), HLM in the SL does not show any direct trace of the religion.Any incorporation of Christianity would then need to be regarded as a (sub) conscious decision by the translator.

METHODOLOGY
The following procedures were used to locate religious contexts in the translated and SL versions of HLM.The SL version of HLM was first searched for religious contexts and then matched with those translated religious contexts in DH and YY (see Step 1 in Figure 1).The religious contexts were then categorised into four groups based on whether DH and YY biased or kept to the religion.Following this, contexts from DH and YY not matched to HLM SL religious contexts were then searched for any possible additions of religious contexts by DH or YY (see Step 2 in Figure 1).If found, these added religious contexts in DH and YY were matched to the non-religious contexts of HLM SL for comparison.This method allowed for location of any religious contexts that appeared in any of the three analysed versions of HLM.

RESULTS
Theoretically the results could be divided into four sections: the context where (1) DH and YY both kept to the religion; (2) DH biased the religion, while YY kept to the religion; (3) DH kept to the religion, while YY biased the religion; and (4) DH and YY both biased the religion.However, when analyzing the translations and the original, it was found that DH included some religious terms in non-religions contexts.Therefore, a fifth section was added: (5) DH creation of religion context.In each section first the analysis is given with the relevant quotes from the SL and TL translations appearing after.
DH AND YY BOTH KEPT TO THE RELIGION Here are nine examples to show that both DH and YY kept to the religion of the original text, though the detailed analysis still shows that YY may have been more faithful than DH.
Example 1 shows that DH and YY were both faithful to translate 道士 (dàoshi) as Taoist.In Example 4, DH"s use of Lord Buddha sounds like a mixing of religions in that Lord could be in reference to the Christian deities.Although Lord in English can trigger a Christian religious reference, lord in English can also mean ruler or a person in a high rank.By adding lord in front of Buddha, this may demote the status of the Buddha to that of a man instead of a god-like entity.DH seemed to make Buddha a lord, which Chinese native speakers seldom do; therefore, in Example 4 YY seems a better translation.YY is also a better translation than In Example 6, DH"s use of the lowercase letter in the word hell separates it from the Hell in YY; the capital letter signifies a real place whereas a lowercase may indicate only a state of being.Copes used by DH in Example 6 are often described as worn by priests of Christian religions but usually when referring to Buddhists or Taoist, the term robes, as in YY"s translation, will appear.Ksitigarbha, the Saviour King used by DH in Example 6 is less geared towards Buddhism than YY"s translation of Prince Ksitigarbha.Jesus is called King of Kings and Saviour as well; DH"s use of Saviour King could call up images of the Christian deity.Yama, the Judge of the Dead used by DH in Example 6 is in reference to the God of Death in Hinduism and Buddhism (Bowker, 1997); however, YY"s the King of Hell might call to mind images of Satan from the Bible.Shown in Example 6, DH used the translation swinging of censers, might remind TL readers of Catholic Mass, while YY"s translation of burned incense is closer to practice of Buddhism.DH"s Zen monks shown in Example 6 is easier to understand for TL readers though earlier they were only referred to as monks.A consistent translation of Zen monks or even YY"s Buddhist monks seems more acceptable.Furthermore, YY"s use of Bonzes may be the best translation but also could be quite unfamiliar to TL readers unless they have a background in Buddhist or Taoist religion.TL readers could mistake mention of the Three Pure Ones by both DH and YY in Example 6 as a reference to the Holy Trinity in the Bible.The use of YY"s incantations may cause TL readers to call up images of witchery or sorcery whereas DH"s decision to use dharani may be more appropriate, although more difficult for the TL readers to comprehend without adequate background knowledge.
Example 6 The Thirty-fifth had now arrived-an important day in the penitential cycle of seven times seven days preceding the funeral-and the monks in the main hall had reached a particularly dramatic part of their ceremonies.Having opened up a way for the imprisoned souls, the chief celebrant had succeeded by means of spells and incantations in breaking open the gates of hell.He had shone his light (a little hand-mirror) for the souls in darkness.He had confronted Yama, the Judge of the Dead.He had seized the demon torturers who resisted his progress.He had invoked Ksitigarbha, the Saviour King, to aid him.He had raised up a golden bridge, and now, by means of a little flag which he held aloft in one hand, was conducting over it those souls from the very deepest pit of hell who still remained undelivered.
Meanwhile the ninety-nine Taoists in the Celestial Fragrance Pavilion were on their knees offering up a written petition to the Three Pure Ones and calling on the Jade Emperor himself in his heavenly palace.Outside, on their high staging, with swinging of censers and scattering of little cakes for the hungry ghosts to feed on, Zen monks were performing the great Water Penitential.And in the shrine where the coffin stood, six young monks and six young nuns, magnificently attired in scarlet slippers and embroidered copes, sat before the spirit tablet quietly murmuring the dharani that would assist the soul of the dead woman on the most difficult part of its journey into the underworld.(p.275) YY: On the thirty-third day Buddhist monks performed the rites to cleave the earth asunder, break open Hell and light the dead down with lanterns to pay homage to the King of Hell; to arrest evil demons; to invoke Prince Ksitigarbha under the ground to raise up the Golden Bridge and lead the way with streamers.Taoists offered prayers and invocations, worshipping the Three Pure Ones and the Jade Emperor.Bonzes chanting sutras burned incense, sacrificed to the hungry ghosts and intoned the Water Penitential while thirteen young nuns in red slippers and embroidered robes recited incantations before the coffin to lead the soul on this way.(p.

255)
In Example 7, DH translating 謝慈悲 (xiè cíbēi) as thanks to you, My Master dear seems to indicate thanks to a teacher; however, in the context of Buddhism, it could refer to Buddha.TL readers may, however, also think it is in reference to the Christian God.Master in English can refer to 1) teacher, 2) God, the father, or 3) Jesus, the Son.In Example 7, YY seems to ignore this problem all together by translating 謝慈悲 (xiè cíbēi) to the more ambiguous By grace divine.In Example 8, DH"s scripture could remind a TL reader of the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, since they are often referred to as scripture.YY"s sutras, in Example 8, seem more appropriate since the term refers to collections of discourses and teaching of the Buddha.YY is more specific to the Buddhist religion in Example 8.When reading this passage a TL reader may feel Bodhisattvas are quite similar to Catholic Saints or at least being able to associate those with one another will help with the understanding of the text but possibly through an incorrect interpretation of the culture.By not using the word saint both DH and YY seem faithful to the Buddhist religion and culture.It appears that DH"s carelessness caused the Prince of Nan-an to become An-nan as shown in Example 8.
Example 8 196) DH: Grandmother Jia was anxious to know if the afflicted person could be freed from these unwelcome attentions."Easily," said Mother Ma. "By doing good works.Giving a bit more to charity on the young person"s behalf.There is another way, though.According to what the Scripture says, there"s a Bodhisattva of Universal Light living in the Paradise of the West who spends his time lighting up the dark places where these evil spirits lurk, and if any believer, male or female, will make offerings to that Bodhisattva in a proper spirit of devoutness, he will grant their children and grandchildren his holy peace and protect them from possession by devils and from the powers of darkness.""What sort of offerings do you make to this Bodhisattva?"Grandmother Jia asked her."Nothing very special.Apart from the usual incense offerings, we take a few pounds of sesame oil each day and make what we call a "sea of light" by burning wicks in it.We believe that this sea of light is the trans-substantial body of the Bodhisattva.It has to be kept burning night and day and never allowed to go out.""How much oil does it take to keep it burning for one whole day and night?" said Grandmother Jia."I should like to do this for the boy." "There"s no fixed amount," said Mother Ma. "We leave it to our clients to decide how much they want to give.There are several members of the aristocracy among those I do this service for.Let"s see… There"s the Prince of An-nan"s lady.She"s my biggest subscriber.Her subscription is for forty-eight pounds of oil and a pound of lampwicks a day.Her sea of light is pretty nearly as big as a cistern.Then there"s the Marquis of Jin-xiang"s lady: twenty pounds of oil a day.Oh, and there"s some pays for ten pounds a day, some for eight pounds, three pounds, five pounds-all sorts.All of them I keep their seas of light burning for them, back at my house."(p.493-94) YY: "Is there no way to prevent it?"asked the Lady Dowager anxiously."Of course there is.Just do more good deeds on his behalf.The sutras tell us of a great Bodhisattva in the west whose glory illumines all around and whose special charge it is to bring to light the evil spirits in dark places.If faithful believers worship him devoutly, their descendants are assured of peace and health and no evil spirits can get possession of them.""What offerings does this Bodhisattva require?" "Nothing of any great value.Apart from incense and candles, a few catties of oil every day for the Big Lamp.For that lamp is a manifestation of the Bodhisattva.It has to be kept burning day and night.""How much oil does it take to keep it burning for one whole day and night?If you tell me the exact amount, I should like to donate it.""There"s no fixed amount, it"s up to the donor.Several of the royal consorts have presented offerings of this kind in our convent.The mother of the Prince of Nanan has made a generous donation, forty-eight catties of oil a day and another catty of lampwicks, so her lamp is almost as large as a water vat.The lady of the Marquis of Jintian comes next with twenty-four catties.Other families give another from five to three or one-it doesn"t matter.Some poor families who can"t afford so much may just donate a quarter or half a catty, but we keep a lamp burning for them just the same."(p.488-89) In Example 9, DH"s favouring the use of nun in translating unisex Buddhists and Taoists is interesting; this makes YY more faithful to the religion.Besides, YY provides a more specific and accurate translation of the Dharma Convent and Jade Emperor's Temple while DH renders miniature temples.Although DH is more faithful to HLM in Example 9, YY seems to have deviated in order to provide TL readers additional information.However, Bodhisattva should not refer to the Buddha but instead a person that has reached nirvana but delays doing so due to compassion he or she has for suffering people (Bowker, 1997).The chief monk shown in Example 11 used by YY may be considered a better translation than the great preacher-a translation that could be considered more Christian than Buddhist, due to the Christian connotation of preacher.
Example 10 HLM: 劉老老道： 『這倒也不然， 「謀事在人，成事在天，」偺們謀到了，靠菩薩的保佑，有 些機會也未可知。』(p.46) DH: "I wouldn"t say that," said Grannie Liu."Man proposes, God disposes.It"s up to us to think of something.We must leave it to the good Lord to decide whether He"ll help us or not.Who knows, He might give us the opportunity we are looking for.(p.152) YY: "Don"t be so sure," said Granny Liu."Man proposes, Heaven disposes.Work out a plan, trust to Buddha, and something may come of it for all you know."(p.117) Example 11 HLM: 尤氏笑道： 『好！好！纔是才子，這會子又做大和尚，講起參悟來了。』(p.659) DH: "Goodness!" said You-shi mockingly."A moment ago we had the great scholar; now, it seems, the great preacher has come to enlighten us!" (p.481) YY: "Fine!" Madam You crowed."A moment ago you were a talented scholar; now you"ve become a chief monk holding forth on enlightenment." Example 12 shows YY is more specific than DH to translate 齋僧布施 (zhāi sēng bùshī) as setting aside rice and money to give alms to Buddhists and Taoists, which is Buddhist, not Taoist, specific.DH"s use of more charitable and good works shown in Example 12 is not religious at all; YY is more faithful to SL text.The use of He of the Holy Name in Example 14 is more Christian than Buddhist.This gives TL readers a more Old Testament feel where the Christian God is often referred to with similar names such as Holy of Holies.Buddha is more general than the Chinese 如來佛 (rúlái fó).Example 14 thus shows that both translators try to make the TL readers comfortable in reading the rendition.
Example 14 HLM: 寶釵道： 『我笑如來佛比人還忙…』(p.201) DH: "I was thinking how busy He of the Holy Name must be," Bao-chai said.(p.506) YY: "I was thinking how much busier Buddha must be than men are.…" (p.505) DH"s use of Bless you in Example 15 is more like a common phrase for a native English speaker; however, Bless you may be religious for conservative native English speakers since it is the short version of God bless you.Its Chinese equivalent could be 辛苦 了 (xīnkǔle), although with no religious connotation.God bless you has been used so generally as a response after someone has sneezed that native English speakers would not think it religious, yet 阿彌陀佛 (ēmítuófó) in HLM is very religious in Chinese speaking countries.In addition, it must have been YY"s carelessness in writing you help instead of your help in Example 15.On the other hand, 道士兒 (dàoshier) usually refers to males but can at times refer to both males and females; therefore, DH"s use of nuns in Example 20 seems to be a careless translation.YY rendered saintly abode shown in Example 21 for HLM"s 禪關 (chán guan), which deviates more from the SL than DH"s mystic portals of Zen.YY"s acolytes in Example 22 is a Christian term referring to the person assisting a priest with religious ceremonies.DH"s use of Buddhist and Taoist novices in Example 22 seems more faithful to the SL.Example 23 斷除妄想，趨向真如。(p.779) DH: Adamantina arrived back at Green Bower Hermitage to find the old lay-sisters waiting for her return.They closed the gate after her and she sat with them for a while, intoning her Zen breviary.They had dinner, and after dinner the incense braziers were replenished.They all bowed before the shrine of the Bodhisattva and the women went off duty, leaving Adamantina alone.Her couch and back-rest were set out for her.Sitting cross-legged, she first regulated her breathing and closed her eyes.Then, cleansed of all wayward thoughts, her mind began to soar towards the realm of higher truth.(p.173-174) YY: Miaoyu returned to the nunnery, and the old deaconess waiting for her there closed the gate.
She sat down for a while to chant the sutra for the day, and after supper burned incense and worshipped Buddha.This done, she dismissed the deaconess for the night.As her couch and back-rest were ready, she quietly let down the curtain and sat cross-legged to meditate, banishing all frivolous thoughts to concentrate on the truth.(p. 1905).

DH CREATION OF RELIGION CONTEXT
Examples 24 and 25 show how the Christian religion influenced the translations of contexts in which religious references did not exist in the SL text but appeared in DH"s translation.Some might label us too critical, for it could be claimed these are mere exclamations; however, Chinese exclamatory terms are not religious and do not appear within the SL text.
Example 24 HLM: 邢夫人因說道： 『你這麼大了，你那奶媽子行此事，你也不說說他；如今別人都好好的， 偏偺們的人做出這事來，什麼意思?』(p.642) DH: "You"re not a child now.If you knew your nurse was doing this sort of thing, for Heaven"s sake why couldn"t you have spoken to her about it?Other people"s nurses don"t seem to get into trouble, why does it have to be yours?I don"t understand you!" (p.444) YY: "You"re no longer a child," scolded Lady Xing."Why didn"t you take your nurse to task for carrying on in that way?Other people"s servants don"t misbehave, only ours-how do you account for that?" (p.1580-1581) Example 25 賢愚混雜，賊盜事小，倘有別事，略沾帶些，關係非小！這事豈可輕恕？』(p. 640) DH: "You"re only a child," said Grandmother Jia."You don"t know how serious this is.You think that gambling is a trifling matter and that the only thing to be feared from it is an occasional quarrel.But where there is gambling, there is probably drinking as well; and if there is drinking, probably gates are being left unlocked so that people can slip out to buy things; and when that happens, before you know where you are they will be letting thieves in-the easiest thing in the world when it is dark and there are so few people about.And then-Heaven help us!-withonly you girls living there and the maids and women who wait on you-some of them no better than they should be, I dare say-anything could happen.There are things worse than burglary, the mere suspicion of which could have the direct consequences for all of you.No, this is not a matter to be dismissed so airily!" (p.440) YY: "You unmarried young girls can"t be expected to know how serious this is.To you gambling is nothing much; you"re only afraid that it may lead to quarrels.But this gambling night after night leads to drinking and unlocking the gates to buy this, that and the other or send to look for someone.At the dead of night when few people are about, thieves may hide themselves there and debauchees and bandits can easily be smuggled in, and then anything could happen!Besides, in those places where you girls live in the Garden the maids are a mixed lot, some good and some bad.Pilfering isn"t of much consequence, but if worse trouble came of it there could be a scandal!This isn"t something we can pass over lightly."(p.1576-1577)

DISCUSSION
Eleven examples were found when DH biased the religion but YY did not.On the other hand, five examples were found in which YY biased the religion but DH did not.One additional example was found where both deviated from the SL; however, DH might have biased the religion more than YY in this context.Eleven examples were found of both DH and YY being faithful to the religion and in two additional examples DH created religion contexts where they did not exist in the SL.These findings show that the translators paid much attention to religion translation in order to cater to TL readers.Even so, readers that are exposed to both DH and YY translations might sense a stronger Buddhist environment in YY"s translation, which may make it harder for TL readers to read.Wang and Chen (2008) point out that when translating the translator has an ethical obligation to be true to the original text; however, in doing so the translator may prevent the TL reader from fully understanding the context.Wang and Chen provide the example of the use of rice (米飯; mǐfàn) to make their point.If the literal translation of rice is used as in YY, then it may not carry the same connotations as a meaning translation of bread used in DH.A TL reader may have a stronger connection to the idea of bread as one"s livelihood than rice due to the role that bread plays in the lives of TL readers.Wang and Chen suggest being flexible in selecting method(s) of translation while keeping in mind that a translator"s duty is to try to understand the context of the TL readers and choose the appropriate route that will ensure understanding of a translated text.Wang and Chen claim that due to some of the decisions made by DH, most Western readers may tend to feel it is relatively easy to understand and thus may prefer DH to YY.Unlike previous research that has simply analysed HLM and its translations, we have focused our study on a neglected area of translation teaching in Taiwan, namely culture, and particularly religious culture.We believe this neglect has occurred due to an under emphasis of communicative competence in the translation classroom.This, however, is surprising given the emphasis that communicative language teaching is given in traditional skill-based courses in Taiwan.It seems the teaching of translation has lagged behind traditional skill-based courses, with some educators focusing more on the text as a final product without consideration of the future TL readers of said translated text.It is our belief that just as well developed writing tasks given to students with an obvious audience in mind, yields superior writing performance, we feel superior translations will result when students have an obvious TL audience in mind for their translations.We remind teachers of translation that the teaching of a language should be under the context in which the TL is viewed as a tool for communication with a TL population.This TL population will have their own culture that needs to be understood by the translators in order for a successful translation to occur, leading to the ultimate goal of communication.Therefore, we advise translation teachers in Taiwan to encourage their students to be TL culturally aware and culturally sensitive when translating.
We believe that an overemphasis on the text and under emphasis on the TL readers of translations has led to an overuse of direct translation in the Taiwanese translation classroom.We suggest the use of meaning translations that attempt to leave analogies intact.Take YY"s translation for example; it is filled with religious terminology such as the west (西方; Xīfāng) that does not contain illustrious translations as DH.Xīfāng is a conventional Buddhist term referring to Paradise.A translator needs to be culturally sensitive enough to know that translating directly with The west does not provoke the same shared cultural image as Paradise in the TL readers.Table 1 show common religious terms rendered into English by DH and YY; DH used Paradise of the West and YY the west.Paradise of the West seems to be DH"s attempt to provide a direct translation (being true to the SL) while also being TL culturally sensitive.With such illustration by DH, we found that for most examples, DH"s renditions included more words.This is due to DH rendering a more meaning translation or paraphrase dominant translation.To confirm this supposition, we counted the 25 examples and found the following mean and standard deviations of the number of words for the three versions as follows: SL (M = 51.4;SD = 64.4);DH (M = 56.2;SD = 78.0);and YY (M = 41.2;SD = 53.0).The fact that DH is a little more than original text arises from the choice of paraphrase when translating.YY uses fewer words because they do not paraphrase.We recommend English translation educators in Taiwan to encourage their students to use paraphrase translations that are target language culturally aware.

CONCLUSION
It is our hope that the results of this study can inspire teachers of translation to emphasise not only grammatical competence in their classrooms but also strategic TL communicative competence.We have shown through the analysis of the two translations of HLM that a translator must be TL culturally sensitive while balancing between being true to the SL and ensuring that TL readers can appreciate the translation.Our results offer a comparison of DH and YY"s rendering of religious terms into English.The results of this study will be helpful in translating of other religious texts into English.Teachers of translation, especially those in Taiwanese universities may find our results useful in providing suggestions to students in how to translate not only religious texts but also other culturally dense texts into English.
Although there are a number of university translation courses focusing on translating English to Chinese, fewer courses are offered in which teaching of the reserve occurs.We hope that the results of this study can be used to spark interest in the teaching of translating from one"s mother tongue into the foreign language.Ever since Buddhism was first imported from India to China in the second year B.C. (Chen et al. 2006), Buddhism has been well integrated with Taoism and Confucianism.They have become a part of Chinese culture.DH sometimes gave up the translation of Taoism and Buddhism.It might be due to his innocence (despite his great effort) or the consideration of TL readers.Reading so many examples, it became obvious that various other aspects of DH and YY"s renditions of HLM deserve attention.More systematic studies on these and other phenomenon are welcome.To conclude, we suggest that translators to stay true to the religion, sacrificing succinctness for illustration and understanding on the part of the TL readers.Still, decisions will have to be made in order to ensure readability of the translated text.A translator"s life is hard because the results will always be susceptible to criticism.

FIGURE 1 .
FIGURE 1. Schematisation of method used for religious context extraction from HLM SL and translations by DH and YY.
DH as shown in Example 5, because the SL 參禪 (cānchán) is only talk about Chan, not yet referring to an authority on Chan.Example 4 HLM: 劉老老聽了，搖頭吐舌說： 『我的佛祖！倒得多少隻雞配他！怪道這個味兒！』(p. 338) DH: Lord Buddha！ she exclaimed.That"s ten chickens gone into the making of it.No wonder it tastes so good！ (p.307) YY: Gracious Buddha!No wonder it tastes so good, cooked with a dozen chickens.(p.821) Example 5 HLM: 連我們兩個所知所能的，你還不知不能呢，還去參什麼禪呢！(p.173) DH: …even Bao-chai and I know more about it than you do.It"s too ridiculous that you should set yourself up as a Zen authority!(p.443) YY: But you mustn"t talk about Chan any more.You know even less about it than the two of us yet you dabble in metaphysics.(p.434) 。(p. 177) DH: The twenty-four little Buddhist and Taoist nuns having now been moved out of the two miniature temples in the garden, Jia Zheng had been thinking of dispersing them among various temples and convents about the city,…(p.452) YY: The twenty-four young Buddhists and Taoists from the Dharma Convent and Jade Emperor"s Temple in the Garden had now been moved out, and Jia Zheng had been thinking of sending them to various temples elsewhere (p.443) DH BIASED THE RELIGION Eight examples are used to show how DH biased the religion more so than YY.YY"s translation in Example 10 better represents the SL religion than DH.DH in Example 10, showing concern for TL reader, has translated 靠菩薩的保佑 (kào púsà de bǎoyòu) as the good Lord; this places the TL reader in the proper mindset.Additionally, in Western societies the capitalization of God only refers to the one true God; i.e. the Judeo-Christian god mentioned in the Torah and Bible.In Example 8 DH and YY is shown translating 菩薩 (púsà) as Bodhisattva.Here in Example 10 YY has promoted Bodhisattva to Buddha.
『阿彌陀佛！這全仗嫂子方便了。』(p.48) DH: "Bless you, my dear, for being such a help!" said Grannie Liu.(p.156) YY: "Buddha be praised!I"m most grateful for you help, sister."(p.121) Example 15, 16, and 17 show the use of 阿彌陀佛 (ēmítuófó) in the original HLM; however, DH translates 阿彌陀佛 (ēmítuófó) differently by using phrases more common to native English speakers: Bless you and Bless us and save us.Still, in such a context, Americans might use My God or Oh, my God to exclaim, but not as DH has done in Examples 16 and 17 with the use of Bless us and save us and Holy Name.Such an exclamation would fit in certain Christian denominations, whereas only pious Buddhists utter 阿彌陀佛 (ēmítuófó).Holy name sounds like something extracted from the Old Testament, but is actually short for Holy name of Jesus.YY"s translations shown in Examples 16 and 17Gracious Buddha and Amida Buddha also differs from the fixed Chinese expression 阿彌陀 佛 (ēmítuófó).
，夠我們莊家人過一年了。(p.320) DH: "Bless us and save us!That"d keep a farmer and his family for a year!" (p.265) YY: Gracious Buddha!That"s enough to keep us country folk for a year.(p.778) Example 17 HLM: 湘雲拍手，笑道：「 阿彌陀佛！真真好籤!」(p.546) DH: "Holy Name!" said Xiang-yun, clapping her hands delightedly."What a kind, thoughtful card!" (p.227) YY: "Amida Buddha!" she cried."This is really a lucky dip!" (p.1336) YY BIASED THE RELIGION Five examples are used to show how through translation YY biased the religion more than DH.Generally, priest means a religious leader of the Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Eastern Orthodox church-they administer sacraments, preach, and minister to a congregation (Priest 2014).Neither DH"s a Taoist nor YY"s a priest in Example 18 offer an appropriate translation for 出家 (chūjiā).Our suggestion of the translation is …he left home to become a secluded Buddhist more than a year ago.YY"s King of Hell in Example 19 would refer to Satan in Christianity ideology; however, DH"s Yama is not Christian at all.Example 18 HLM: 只有當日小壻姓甄，今已出家一二年了。(p. 10) DH: My son-in-law"s name is Zhen, but he left home to become a Taoist more than a year ago.(p.67) YY: My son-in-law"s name is Zhen, but he left home a year or two ago to become a priest.(p.25) Example 19 HLM: 閻王叫你三更死，誰敢留人到五更？(p.122) DH: If Yama calls at midnight hour, no man can put off death till four.(p.322) YY: If the King of Hell summons you at the third watch, who dares keep you till the fifth?(p.305) 小和尚道士兒 (xiǎo héshàng dàoshier) in HLM shown in Example 20 refers to Buddhists and Taoists.小和尚 (xiǎo héshàng) is a term that always is in reference to males.
，往家廟裏去了。(p.187) DH: …fifty or sixty nuns on his way to your family temple out in the country.(p.474) YY: …taking forty or fifty novices to your family temple.(p.467) Example 21 HLM: 妙公輕易不出禪關，今日何緣下凡一走?(p.777) DH: "Wherefore this rare excursion from the mystic portals of Zen?What Karma brings thee to Maya"s dusty realm?" (p.170) YY: "It"s rarely that you leave your saintly abode.Why have you descended today to the mundane world?" (p.1899) Example 22 HLM: 前兒夜裏，因那些小沙彌小道士裏頭有幾個女孩子… (p.787) DH: She had been having trouble with some of the Buddhist and Taoist novices at the Priory, who despite several warnings kept leaving their lights on at night.(p.192) YY: The other night some acolytes and novices refused to blow out the light when they went to bed.(Vol 4: 1929) DH AND YY BOTH BIASED THE RELIGION Only one example was found in which both DH and YY biased the religion.Neither translated 道婆 (dào pó) appropriately: DH made it old lay-sister while YY old deaconess (see Example 23).We would like to render 道婆 (dào pó) as old female Taoist novices.Example 8 shows DH having rendered 馬道婆 (Mǎ dàopó) as Mother Ma and YY omitting the term all together.In Examples 8 and 23 the term has been de-religionized by DH.Example 23 shows YY used the Protestant term deaconess to indicate a rank lower than that of Adamantina or Miaoyu (妙玉).Example 23 also shows that DH translated 菩薩 (púsà) as the more appropriate Bodhisattva while YY translated the term as Buddha.
To the east of our village, she said, there lives an old woman who"s over ninety this year.She fasts and prays to Buddha every day.And would you believe it, this so moved the Goddess of Mercy that she appeared to her one night in a dream.You were fated to have no descendants," she said."ButI"ve told the Jade Emperor how devout you are, and he"s going to give you a grandson.(p.784) 榮國府賈二老爺的夫人…如今上了年紀，越發憐貧恤老，最愛齋僧布施。(p. 46) DH: She"s now the wife of the younger of the two Sir Jias in the Rong Mansion.They say that now she"s getting on in years she"s grown even more charitable and given to good works than she was as a girl.(p.152)YY:She"s now the wife of the second Lord Jia of the Rong Mansion.I hear she"s grown even more charitable and is always setting aside rice and money to give alms toBuddhists and Taoists.(p.117)Literary use of ejaculations is quite dated, without sexual connotation in the eighteenth century.DH might have translated 咂嘴念 (zāzuǐ niàn), shown in Example 13, as such to let TL readers feel the archaism of the SL text.YY, on the other hand, is specific and true to original text.

TABLE 1 .
Some Religious Terms Rendered by DH and YY