TRANSLATION STRATEGIES OF THE REALIA IN THE THREE-BODY PROBLEM: AN ANALYSIS BASED ON THE EXISTENTIAL MODEL OF TRANSLATION

The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu (2021) is regarded as one of the most representative works of Chinese science fiction and has achieved phenomenal success internationally. In this work, there are various Chinese realia that make it difficult for readers without related cultural knowledge to read and understand. Therefore, in translation, a series of strategies are needed to transfer these realia into the target language and culture. The present study centers on the realia in the first Portuguese version translated directly from the original Chinese work The Three-Body Problem and aims to identify the main translation strategies that demonstrate the realia,s denotation, connotation, role in text and role in norms in the target text. First, all Chinese realia and their translations are identified and then they are grouped based on the categorization proposed by N edergaard-Larsen (1993). Through the comparison with the Chinese realia, the Portuguese translation is described and analysed from the perspective of realia translation strategies proposed by Pedersen (2011) and existential model of translation by Loponen (2009). Finally, the frequency of use of translation strategies for each category of realia is described and analyized. The results of the study indicate that the translation is oriented towards the source language and culture and mainly resorts to direct translation, transliteration, specification and addition of notes. By using these strategies, the meanings of realia at the level of denotation, connotation, role in text and role in norms are efficiently transferred from the source text to the target text.