View - Scholarly Commons Home

6.2.1 General references to American culture
In Season 3, Episode 1, Scene 5, Ross is being called a dog. The translator has used
repetition to reproduce the CSI “dog” in the target text. This meets the criterion of
conciseness, and that of synchronization, but not that of reliability, because although
“dog” is derogatory in both Chinese culture and US culture (at least in this context), the
associated cultural meaning is different. In the original source text, the word “dog” is
used to denote somebody who did something bad. To a Chinese audience, however,
“dog” means somebody whose rank is low. In other words, to the Chinese viewers, the
word dog is synonymous to a follower, or even a slave. Therefore, when repetition is
used as the strategy, the Chinese audience might be confused, seeing that Ross did not
do something that shows he is inferior to anybody.
My recommended translation strategy would involve “ 你是个不专一的人”, as in
my view this would provide the High probability Translation Equivalent in that it means
“You are a disloyal man”, which neatly conveys the intended and pragmatic meaning of
the Source Text. Hence, in this case, it would appear that the translator did not
understand the appropriate cultural association, which may have led him or her to
translate the word by means of the strategy of repetition.
Another general cultural reference concerns the range of well-known American ice
cream flavours. In Season 1, Episode 1, Scene 5, Ross is upset because he has just
divorced his wife after she identified with being gay. His friends Joey and Chandler are
trying to cheer him up and Joey makes an analogy between women and ice
creams. Ross says: “You know what the scariest part is? What is there is only one
woman for everybody, you know? I mean what if you get one woman and that‟s it?
Unfortunately, in my case, there was only one woman for her. Joey replies: “What are
you talking about? One woman? That‟s like saying there is only one flavour of ice
cream for you. Lemme tell you something, Ross. There‟s lots of flavours out there.
There‟s Rocky Road and Cookie Dough and Bing! Cherry Vanilla. You could get them
with Jimmies, or nuts or whipped cream! This is the best thing that ever happened to
you! You got married, you were, like, what, eight? Welcome back to the world! Grab a
spoon! (抓住勺子).”
The translator has used non-cultural translation as the strategy and has translated
54