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PARAMETERS OF PERFORMABILITY: WANG ZUOLIANG’S
TRANSLATION OF THUNDERSTORM
Liang Ying
Beijing Foreign Studies University
Abstract: Compared with the vigorous translation of literary works, the translation of Chinese
dramas into English is scarce. By analyzing Wang Zuoliang’s translation of Thunderstorm, the
author tries to shed some light on drama translation and puts forward the four parameters of
performability in drama translation. Because of its performance-oriented nature, the translation
of the dialogue has to be able to portray the character vividly, that is to say, the translator has to
achieve the stylistic equivalence. Given the nature of drama, the lines have to be colloquial,
musical and actable. So the translation also has to keep the same trait of being colloquial and
musical. Because of the cultural differences, the audience may not be able to understand the
conventions or common knowledge in an alien culture. Thus the translator has to bridge the
cultural differences. In his translation of Thunderstorm, we can easily see that Wang Zuoliang
successfully showcased the four parameters of performability in his drama translation.
Key words: individualistic; colloquial; musical; cultural differences
Emerging from the necessity of cross-cultural communication, translation touches upon
the very existence of human beings in the reality of linguistic plurality. Drama, with its special
style and affecting features, can be called indisputably the gem of culture. The past decades have
witnessed the boom of foreign dramas in China. Compared with the vigorous translation of
foreign works, the translation of Chinese dramas is scarce. Drama translation is not only the
translation of the dramatic text from one language and culture into another, but also the
transposition of the translated or adapted text onto the stage. Drama translation has always been
the most neglected area in translation as well as in translation research, especially Chinese to
English translation.
Cao Yu was one of the most famous drama writers in Chinese history and his Thunderstorm
(1933) is regarded as the most accomplished work of modern drama, with its breathtaking twists
and turns and vivid portray of different characters. Bilingual master Wang Zuoliang has devoted
much devotion into the translation of Chinese works, among which stands the English version of
Thunderstorm（1958. In his work Translation: Experiments and Reflections, Wang Zuoliang
said, “I spent three weeks in accomplishing the translation of Thunderstorm in a summer
vacation. I exerted myself to the version. Actually, the version still bore defects. Namely, the
dialogues were not good enough; especially the cohesion was less flexible. It had not been
improved until an English friend read it through and embellished it”. (Wang Zuoliang 1989: 93).
This “English friend” he mentioned here is A. C. Barnes, another translator of Thunderstorm.
The English version is a masterpiece that has won global acclamation.
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Although drama translation is only one part of literary translation, it has its own features
due to the specific requirement of performance. Drama translation is a far more difficult job than
other literary works’ translation. The reason probably is the peculiar features of drama literature.
Since the purpose of drama is for actors to perform, consequently drama could not be isolated
from stage. Drama is a performance-oriented art; therefore translators should consider the
performance aspect and the reception of audience when doing translation. Robert W. Corrigan
(1961) has mentioned “His play would be no play if it remained words on paper”. Roger Pulver
(2002) also pointed out that “When translating plays, one has to direct them in the mind as one
translates”. Peter Newmark believes that drama translation is for performability, thus considering
the audience, and since it is for action, rather than description and explanation, drama translation
should be brief instead of over translation, should not be a description or explanation.
“Performability,” however, is a complex term. What are the guidelines of being
performable? The performance-oriented requirement of a drama decides that for instance, there
is no room for annotation in a live drama. The audience has to grasp the meaning of the dialogue
immediately. And dialogue should be performable, musical, and concise. Given the nature of
drama, the lines have to be colloquial and actable. The translation also has to keep the same trait
of being colloquial. Also, the modeling of characters is mainly accomplished by lively and
engaging dialogues. Every character speaks or acts in his or her own style, in accordance with his
character, status, background and the audience that he or she speaks to, which requires the
translator to deliver all those information to achieve a stylistic equivalence. The dialogue nature
of drama also indicates that it is written in colloquial language, which in turn requires the
translator to make it colloquial.
But in the meantime we need to be particularly concerned about how cultural identity is
demonstrated through translation, how it interacts with the recipient literary system and the
socio-cultural context. What “foreignness” there exists that befuddles comprehension is
manipulated, oftentimes either omitted from the scene or replaced by the Occidental religious
system as dominated by Christianity. Therefore, individualistic, colloquial and brief, musical,
and familiarized are four features of dialogue in drama translation and accordingly, the four
parameters of performability in drama translation.
Individualistic
Characters in this book have different identities and social status. Because of its
performance-oriented nature, the translation of the dialogue has to portray the character vividly,
that is to say, the translator has to achieve the stylistic equivalence. Wang has done a great job in
delivering the style and the personality in his translation. Each word when used in a new context
is a new word. In the following examples we will see how Wang artfully delivers the same word
differently due to the consideration of different contexts or speakers.
Example 1:
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鲁贵：（咳嗽起来）他妈的!(一口痰吐在地上，兴奋地问着)你们想,你们哪一个对得
起我? （向四凤同大海）你们不要不愿意听，你们哪一个不是我辛辛苦苦养到大?可是现
在你们哪一件事做得对得起我?(先向左，对大海)你说?(忽向右，对四风)你说?( 对着站在
中间圆桌旁的鲁妈，胜利地)你也说说，这都是你的好孩子啊！（啪，又一口痰）（95）
……你们想想，你们是哪一件事对得起我?……谁叫我是你的爸爸呢?大海，你心里
想想，我这么大年纪，要跟着你饿死；我要是饿死，你是哪一点对得起我?我问问你，我
要是这样死了(96) ?
Lu: (coughing):God almighty! (Heatedly.) Just look at you. There’s not one of you can look
me in the face! (Turning to Ta-hai and Ssu-feng.) It’s no good you pretending not to hear, either.
I’ve worked my fingers to the bone to bring you two up, both of you, but what have either of you
ever done to show your gratitude? (To Ta-hai.) Eh?(To Ssu-feng) Answer me that! (To Lu Ma,
who is standing by the round table in the centre.) Or perhaps you can tell me, seeing that they’re
your precious children?
(Silence. From outside comes the sound of someone singing to the accompaninement of a
Chinese fiddle.) (108)
Lu Kuei is the kind of person who bullies the weak, obsequious to the rich and meek to the
strong. In this scene, Lu Kuei has just been fired by the Chou’s. He is furious and after dinner he
is swearing his family at home. Two“对得起”are translated as “look me in the face” and “show
your gratitude” respectively. The former portrays his formidable air in front of the family; the
latter shows his insecurity when he sees his son Ta-hai has a revolver in hand.
Lu Kuei also says “你说” three times: to Ssu-feng, Ta-hai and his wife respectively. Wang
Zuoliang representes it in an admirable way instead of the obvious equivalent “tell me”. In the
first “你说”, he translates it into “Eh?”, a weak form of question. The audience can easily tell
that Lu is afraid of Ta-hai. He knows that a too abrupt language will put Ta-hai into overreaction.
In the second “你说”, he translates it into “answer me that”, for Ssu-feng is Lu Kuei’s daughter
and they are very close, thus “answer me that” has the strong trace of blaming and power. In the
third “你说”, he translates it into “perhaps you can tell me”, for the audience is his wife, and a
lighter tone shows his remaining respect or fear for his wife. His wife is one who has received
some education and is a person of principles, so his way of addressing her has some traces of
diplomacy.
Example 2:
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鲁大海：（挣扎）放开我，你们这一群强盗！
周萍:（向仆人们）把他拉下去！
鲁侍萍：（大哭起来）哦，这真是一群强盗！（走至周萍面前，抽咽）你是萍，--凭，----凭什么打我的儿子？
周萍：你是谁？
鲁侍萍：我是你的－--你打的这个人的妈(88)！
Hai (struggling): Let go of me, you hooligans!
Ping (to the servants): Hustle him outside!
Ma (breaking down): You are hooligans, too! (Going across to Chou Ping.) You’re my --mighty free with your fists! What right have you to hit my son?
Ping: Who are you?
Ma: I’m your --- your victim’s mother (98).
This is one of the most successfully translated passages in the book. Characters in
Thunderstorm all have complicated stories behind them, which contribute a lot to the implicit
manner of the language. For most translators, how to convey the complex emotional conflict is a
tricky thing. In reading, readers could easily tell the differences, but in dialogue, and in slippery
dialogue, audience may not tell the purpose of the dramatist in a minute. Lu Ma saw her son Ping
萍, whom she hasn’t seen for 30 years. But Ping has beaten her son Ta-hai. When facing Ping,
Lu Ma almost slips her tongue and tells him the truth. However, knowing clearly the utterance of
the truth would be disastrous, she suppresses her urge and alters “萍” to “凭”. When answering “
你是谁?”, she means to say “我是你妈” (I’m your mother), however, driven by reason, she
swallows the word “妈” and utters “你打的这个人的妈” (your victim’s mother). Wang
Zuoliang translates “我是你的－你打的这个人的妈” to “I’m your --- your victim’s mother”.
Wang renderes“你是萍……凭……凭什么打我儿子？” as “you’re my …Mighty free with your
fists!” Although the semantic meaning is expanded a little, the repetition of sound is reserved,
which is essential to show Lu Ma’s conflict in her mind. Wang thus not only keeps the closeness
in the language, but also keeps the charm of the language.
Example 3:
鲁大海：哦，原来是你！（拾起桌上铁刀，奔向周萍，鲁妈用力拉着他的衣襟）
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鲁 妈: 大海, 你别动, 你动, 妈就死在你的面前。
鲁大海: 您放下我, 您放下我! (急得跺脚)
鲁侍萍：（见周萍惊立不动，顿足）糊涂东西，你还不跑？
......
鲁大海：（跺足）妈！妈！你好糊涂！
......
鲁贵：他走了？咦，可是四凤呢？
鲁大海：不要脸的东西，她跑了。
鲁侍萍：哦，我的孩子，我的孩子, 外面的河涨了水！我的孩子。 你千万别糊涂！
四凤（跑）（122)
Hai: So it’s you, is it! (He snatches the kitchen knife from the table and rushes at Chou Ping
with it.)
Ma: (catching him by the sleeve and holding him back with all her strength): Stop, Ta-hai
stop! Over my dead body!
Hai: Let me go! Leave go of me! (He stamps his foot.)
Ma: (realizing that Chou Ping is still standing there rooted to the spot) Run, you fool!
Don’t just stand there!
(Chou Ping runs out through the door on the right.)
Hai: (shouting): Grab him, Dad! Grab him!
Ma: (waits until she is satisfied that Chou Ping has made good his escape before releasing
Ta-ha,i then sits down on the floor in a stupor): My God!
Hai: (stamping his feet) Mother, Mother! What an idiotic thing to do!
(Lu Kuei comes in.)
Lu: Has he gone? Whew! --- Where is Ssu-feng?
Hai: She’s bolted, the little bitch.
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Ma: Oh, my child! The river’s in flood out there! You mustn’t do it! Ssu-feng! (She goes to
run out)（140）
In this conversation, “糊涂” appears three times, carrying different meanings every time.
Wang Zuoliang grasps the connotation of each “糊涂” and translates them accordingly. When Lu
Ma reproaches Ping for falling in love with his half-sister, she cannot tell him the truth directly.
Wang Zuoliang renders the first “糊涂” as “you fool”, which expresses Lu Ma’s unspeakable
internal pain. When Ta-hai calls his mother “糊涂”, he actually means it is foolish for his mother
to let Ping get away so easily. Wang Zuoliang considers this and renders it as “What an idiotic
thing to do!” After knowing the truth, Ssu-feng is shocked and runs away. When Lu Ma finds her
daughter has bolted, she suddenly realizes that Ssu-feng might not be able to handle all these
shocks and commits suicide. She is very worried and cries out “你别糊涂啊！孩子”, Wang
Zuoliang translates it into “You mustn’t do it! Ssu-feng!” In this way, foreign audiences can
understand it perfectly and the line still remains its implicit style. Besides, “you fool” and “an
idiotic thing” are similar, so as to bring about the similarity between two “糊涂” in the original.
This dialogue also includes three “跑”, though with similar meanings. Wang flexibly translates
into “Don’t just stand there”(你还不跑? ), “She’ s bolted” (她跑了) and “goes to run out” (跑)
respectively.
Example 4：
周朴园：为什么？（停，向四凤）药呢？
周蘩漪：（快说）倒了。我叫四凤倒了。
周朴园:（慢）倒了? 哦? （更慢）倒了！——— ( 向四凤) 药还有么?
鲁四凤: 药罐里还有一点。
周朴园: （低而缓地）倒了来。
周蘩漪: ( 反抗地) 我不愿意喝这种苦东西(47)。
Chou: Why not? (Pauses, then turns to Ssu-feng.)Where is it now?
Fan (quickly): Down the sink. I told her to pour it away.
Chou (slowly): Pour it away? I — see! ( To Ssu-feng.) Is there any of it left?
Feng: There's still a little drop left in the jar．
Chou: Go and get it．
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Fan (protesting) : I won't touch it — it's too bitter (49)．
Fan Yi doesn’t want to drink the medicine. “我不愿意喝这种苦东西” (I don’t want to
drink this kind of bitter things) is divided into two parts in the translation. “I won't touch it”
shows her resistance. But then she stops and thinks it over and adds, “it's too bitter”, which
reveals her compromise and weakness inside.
Example 5：
周蘩漪：你父亲干什么呢？
鲁四凤：大概给老爷买檀香去啦。---他说，他问太太的病。
周蘩漪：他倒是惦记着我。（停一下忽然）他现在还没起来么？
鲁四凤：谁？
周蘩漪：（没有想到四凤这样问，忙收敛一下）嗯，——自然是大少爷。
鲁四凤：我不知道。
周蘩漪：（看了她一眼）嗯(33)？
Fan：What’s your father doing?
Feng: I don’t know. --- Oh, he said he was anxious to know how you’re getting on.
Fan: Humph，he would be.(After a pause，suddenly) Isn’t he up yet?
Feng: Who?
Fan (rather taken aback by the unexpected question, but hastily recovering herself): Why—
er— Master Ping.
Feng:I don’t know.
Fan (casting a swift glance at her): You don’t (32-33) ?
Fan Yi says “嗯” twice. The first “嗯” is made into “Why—er—”, an ordinary form of
injection. The second “嗯” is made very strongly into “You Don’t?” Fanyi loves her stepson
Ping and yet finds Ping has fallen in love with Ssu-feng. She believes Ping would see Ssu-feng
after getting up, therefore when Ssu-feng says she doesn’t know whether Ping is up or not, Fanyi
uses “嗯” with a rising tone to convey her doubt. If the second “嗯” is translated into an injection
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like the first, reads will totally miss the connotation. So Wang Zuoliang changes it into “You
don’t?” .
Example 6:
鲁侍萍：不过我觉得没有什么可谈的。
周朴园: 话很多。我看你的性情好像没有大改, --- 鲁贵像是个很不老实的人（83）。
Ma: I don’t think there’s anything to talk about.
Chou: On the contrary. You don’ t seem to have altered much in temperature---Lu Kuei
strikes me as being rather a shifty character (91).
Chou is a selfish, cruel, and sly figure. He knows Lu Kuei is aware of the Chou family’s
evils but instead of warning Lu Ma directly, he says Lu Kuei is “很不老实的人”, which literally
means “not honest”. It sounds appropriate according to his master status but actually reveals his
worry underneath. Thus “Lu Kuei strikes me as being rather a shifty character” is a wonderful
translation, which suits Chou’s social status as well as his deep worries.
Example 7:
周朴园：(低声走到周萍的面前)你知道你现在做的事是对不起你的父亲么？ 并且——
—（停）———对不起你的母亲么(51)?
Chou (walking up to him): Do you realize that what you’re doing is a disgrace to your
father? And also (pauses)-- to your mother (54)?
……
鲁四凤：哥哥哪点对不起您，您这样骂他干什么(17)?
Feng: What right have you to say such things about Ta-hai? What’s he ever done to upset
you (13)?
“对不起” appears three times in the two sentences above. In the first sentence, Ping is
scolded by his father as a prodigal son. Instead of the seemingly equivalent “sorry”, the translator
uses “disgrace to”, vividly describes Chou’s dignity and social identity. In the second sentence,
Ssu-feng believes that Ta-hai doesn’t do anything wrong to the whole family, therefore “ever
done to upset you” is a colloquial and accurate rendering.
Example 8: The different renderings of the two “懂事”.
A: 和许多大家的仆人一样，他很懂事，尤其是很懂礼节(14)。
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Like most servants in big houses, he is shrewd and has faultless manners (8).
B: 周繁漪：……我自己有一个儿子，他才十七岁，——恐怕刚才你在花园见过——
是个不十分懂事的孩子(73)。
Fan:…I’ve got a son, just seventeen—you may have seen him in the garden when you came
in—not particularly bright(80).
“懂事”can mean “bright” “intelligent” “sensible” “shrewd” and so on. In example A it
refers to Lu Kuei as a shrewd servant who knows what to do and what not. In example B Chou
Chung is a boy of 17. He is idealistic, naïve, and his love for Ssu-feng in Fan Yi’s mind is too
silly. Therefore “bright” “is a very good choice, better than “intelligent”, “clever”, or “wise”.
Colloquial and brief
If the translated text of a drama is not natural, it will be hard for the actors to articulate, nor
will it be immediately understood and appreciated by the audience. Because there is no room for
annotation or explanation in a live drama, the translator has to clarify the confusion and decode
the subtext for theatrical performance; because a drama’s major tool of communication to the
audience is dialogue, the translator has to make the dialogues colloquial with a lot of slangs and
short sentences. Thunderstorm is a well written drama, featuring intense but hidden emotional
conflicts. Wang Zuoliang decodes the subtext and clarifies the underlying messages for the
audiences. He also uses a lot of colloquial words to depict a real life scene, which is also crucial
to the successful translation of drama.
Example 1:
鲁贵：走，走，让他走。这孩子就是这点穷骨头。叫他滚，滚，滚！
鲁大海：你小心点，你少惹我的火（97-98）。
Lu: Out he goes. Don’t stop him. Cocky young whippersnapper! He can get out. Right out,
go on!
Hai: You’d better watch it. Don’t get me too riled (112).
In this conversation, Lu Kuei says “走” and “滚” three times. “走” Wang Zuoliang renders
it as “Out he goes. Don’t stop him”; “滚” is translated into “He can get out. Right out, go on!”
Chinese values repetition, while English always use synonyms to avoid repetition. Though the
repetition in the original is to stress the anger, which is somewhat obliterated, the three short
sentences in English, which grow stronger and stronger, convey the anger very well. There is a
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culturally-loaded word “这点穷骨头” in the sentence, which is translated into “Cocky young
whippersnapper”. In ancient China there is an old belief that the heavier the bones, the fortunate
a person will be. Instead of translating literally such as “your poor little bone” , the translator
uses “Cocky young whippersnapper” which sounds familiar to English readers.
Example 2:
鲁大海：（忍不住，立起，大声）你死就死了，你算老几？
鲁贵：（吓醒了一点）妈的，这孩子！
鲁侍萍：大海！
鲁四凤：（同时惊恐地喊出）哥哥（96）！
Hai (rising, unable to contain himself any longer): Get on with it and die, then! Who do you
think you are, any way?
Lu (brought back to earth with a jolt): Well, I am damned!
Ma (together): Ta-hai!
Feng(together ): Ta-hai (110) !
In this conversation, out of anger, Ta-hai says something really horrible to his father. His
mother and sister try to stop him by calling his name. In Chinese, his mother and his sister call
him as “大海” and “哥哥” respectively. However, Wang Zuoliang translates them both into “Tahai”, for it is known to all that Westerners always call each other simply by their names. In the
dialogue there is a very informal expression “你死就死了, 你算老几?”, which is successfully
translated into “Get on with it and die, then! Who do you think you are, anyway?” The use of
these colloquial expressions instills a lot of real life energy into the literary work.
Example 3:
鲁四凤：你看你又扯到别处。萍，你不要扯, 你现在到底对我怎么样?你要跟我说明白
。
…
鲁四凤(苦恼地)：萍, 你别这样待我好不好? 你明明知道我现在什么都是你的, 你还—
—你还这样欺负人。
…
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鲁四凤：萍, 我父亲只会跟人要钱, 我哥哥瞧不起我, 说我没有志气, 我母亲如果知道了
这件事, 她一定恨我。哦，萍，没有你就没有我。 我父亲，我哥哥，我母亲，他们也许有
一天会不理我, 你不能够的, 你不能够的(抽泣)（56）。
Feng: There you go again, getting away from the subject. Let. s get down to the brass tacks.
Tell me honestly how you really feel about me.
......
Feng: ( unhappily) I wish you wouldn’ t treat me like this, Ping. You know very well that
I’m yours now, all yours, and yet you --- you keep on taking the rise out of me.
......
Feng: You know how it is, Ping: my father’ s only interested in cadging money off me; my
brother looks down on me because he says I haven’t got any character; and my mother, if she
found out about us, she certainly wouldn’t have anything more to do with me. You are all I have,
Ping. They may throw over me one day , but you can’t, you can’t. (She breaks down sobbing.)
(59-60)
Ssu-feng tells Ping that she is putting her whole life into Ping’s hands. Sincere and honest
her language is, Wang translates into “You know very well that I’m yours now, all yours”; “You
are all I have”. Her other colloquial expressions such as “你不要扯”,“欺负人”, “跟人要钱”,“不
理我” are rendered into “Let’s get down to brass tacks”, “taking the rise out of me”, “cadging
money of me”, “throw me over” respectively.
Example 4:
周冲：（明白）什么，四凤，你预备跟他一块儿走？
鲁四凤：嗯，二少爷，我，我是—
周冲：（半质问地）你为什么早不告诉我？
鲁四凤：我不是不告诉你。我跟你说过，叫你不要找我，因为我—我已经不是个好女
人。
周萍：（向四凤）不，你为什么说自己不好？你告诉他们！ （指蘩漪）告诉他们，
说你就要嫁我！
周冲：（略惊）四凤，你—（152）
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Chung (now that the light has dawned)：What’s this, Ssu-feng? You’re going away with
him?
Feng: Yes, Master Chung. I—I’m—
Chung: (somewhat reproachfully): Then why didn’t you tell me so before?
Feng: But I did: I told you to leave me alone because I—I was no longer a—
Ping (to Ssu-feng): Go on, tell them all about it! (Pointing to Fan-yi.) Tell her that you’re
going to marry me!
Chung (rather taken aback): Ssu-feng, you— (174)
There are three pauses in the dialogue, among which two show Ssu-feng’s unspeakableness,
her awkwardness and the other pause reveals Chung’s surprise and anger after hearing the truth.
Wang uses a long dash to express and protect the vagueness in the original.
Example 5:
鲁贵：(一把抢过鞋来) 我的事用不着你管。（将鞋扔在地上）四凤，你听着，我再跟
你说一遍，回头见着你妈，别忘了把新衣服都拿出来给她瞧瞧。
鲁四凤：（不耐烦地）听见了。
鲁贵：(自傲地)叫她想想，还是你爸爸混事有眼力，还是她有眼力。
鲁四凤：（轻蔑地笑）自然您有眼力啊(15)!
Lu (snatching the shoe from her): I’ll thank you to mind your own business! Now listen,
Ssu-feng, while I tell you again: when you see your mother presently, don’t forget to get all your
new clothes out and show them to her.
Feng (impatiently): I heard you the first time.
Lu: Let her see who knows what’s best for you, she or your dad!
Feng (contemptuously): Why, you, of course (10)!
Ssu-feng’s “自然您有眼力啊” is of course an irony. Yet instead of translating into “Of
course you are!” literally, the translator uses “why” to show Ssu-feng’s impatience and adds
“you, of course” to show her reluctance to agree and her attitude toward her father.
Musical
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The stylistic feature and musical feature also need to be combined perfectly to achieve a
beautiful translation.
Example 1:
周冲: 有时我就忘了现在，（梦幻地）忘了家，忘了你，忘了母亲，并且忘了我自
己。我想，我像是在一个冬天的早晨，非常明亮的天空，……在无边的海上……哦，有一
只轻得象海燕似的小帆船，在海风吹得紧，海上的空气闻得出有点腥，有点咸的时候，白
色的帆张得满满的，像一只鹰的翅膀斜贴在海面上飞，飞，向着天边飞。那时天边上只淡
淡地浮着两三片白云，我们坐在船头，望着前面，前面就是我们的世界（107）。
Chung: Sometimes I forget the present—(with a rapt expression on his face) I forget my
home, I forget you, I forget my mother—I even forget myself. It seems like a winter morning,
with a brilliant sky overhead…on a boundless sea…there’s a little sailing-boat, light as a gull.
When the sea-breeze gets stronger, and there’s a salty tang in the air, the white sails billow out
like the wings of a hawk and the boat skims over the sea, just kissing the waves, racing towards
the horizon. The sky is empty except for a few patches of white cloud floating lazily on the
horizon. We sit in the bows, gazing ahead, for ahead of us is our world (124).
This is a monologue of Chung when he is alone with Ssu-feng. Chung is a naïve, idealistic
students who is full of illusions and hopes. He sees the world in a different way, a way of
incomparable purity. This monologue is more like a poem, calling forth liberty and brightness,
since“冬天的早晨”、明亮的天空”、“无边的海上”, 海燕似的小帆船”,“白云” are a series of
noun structures, describing an open, pure, and bright dream world. When reading it, we can find
the musical effect. “忘了……忘了……忘了……”，“有点…… 有点……”,“飞，飞…..” such
repetitions make such musical effects and Wang translates them into a graceful prose. And by
employing phonological measure, he achieves the same slow, leisurely, pure effect of this
passage. 冬天的早晨 --- a winter morning, 明亮的天空 --- a brilliant sky overhead, 无边的海
上 --- on boundless sea, 海燕似的小帆船 --- a little sailing-boat, bright as a gull; 白云 --- white
cloud. A sense of slow, poetic, resonant rthym is created. But he uses “skims” “kissing”,
“racing”、 “floating” and “sit”, verbs that have abrupt pronunciations, to portray Chung’s
eagerness to break away from the cage and go for a new world. As we read them, the feeling of
beauty arouses in our mind and Chung’s unrealistic dreamy world is unfolding right in front of
us.
Example 2:
周萍：你没有权利说这种话，你是冲弟弟的母亲。
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周蘩漪: 我不是! 我不是! 自从我把我的性命, 名誉, 交给你, 我什么都不顾了。我不是
他的母亲, 不是, 不是, 我也不是周朴园的妻子（61）。
Ping:You’ve no right to say that. You’re still Chung’s mother.
Fan: No! I’ m not! Ever since I placed my life and my reputation in your hands I’ve shut my
self off from everything else. No, I’m not his mother, no more than I’m Chou Pu-yuan’s wife
(66)!
“不是” repeats 6 times. If translated word-by-word Western readers may not understand
Fan’s anguish and actors may find hard to perform. “No! I’ m not!”, “No, I’m not his mother, no
more than I’m Zhou Puyuan’s wife!” is an alive, fresh, performable rendering.
From strange to familiar
In an artful drama, one of the difficulties confronting the translator is to bring out the
allusions, associations and connotations because of the culture differences. A person from this
country may take something for granted, but a person from another country may not think the
same way. Adding annotations to a live drama is impossible. Because of the cultural differences,
the audience may not be able to understand the conventions or common knowledge in an alien
culture and they do not have time to digest the dialogue, which requires the translator to bridge
the cultural differences. This is a severe challenge for translators who have not only to translate
the semantic meaning but also the cultural message. Wang does a perfect job in this regard.
When there are unfamiliar Oriental religions and religious notions embedded in language, they
are made familiar to Western readers, whether omitted, changed, or reconstructed for an
equivalent effect.
Example 1:
鲁贵：（端起杯子，对四凤）这是白水，小姐！（泼在地上）
鲁四凤：（冷冷地）本来是白水，没有茶。
鲁贵：（因为她打断他的兴头，向四凤）混帐。我吃完饭总要喝杯好茶，你还不知道
么？
鲁大海：（故意地）哦，爸爸吃完饭还要喝茶的。（向四凤）四凤，你怎么不把那一
两四块八的龙井沏上，尽叫爸爸生气（97）。
Lu: (picking up the cup, inspecting it and turning back to Ssu-feng) What’s this, my lady?
Plain water? (He empties the cup on the floor)
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Feng (coldly): Of course it is. There isn’t any tea.
Lu: What the devil do you mean? You know very well I always have a nice cup of tea after
my dinner!
Hai: Well, well, so Father would like tea after his dinner. (To Ssu-feng) what do you mean
by it, Ssu-feng? Upsetting Father like that! You should have made him a pot of best-quality
Lungching—it’s only four dollars eighty an ounce (111).
In this conversation there are three characteristic Chinese words: “龙井” “两” “块”, which
are almost impossible for foreigners to understand. Instead of translating them literally, Wang
Zuoliang considers the difference of culture and translates them into “best-quality Lungching”
“ounce” “dollars” respectively. The Chinese system of measurement is totally different from the
western ones. In the first case, what matters is not the measurement, but the high price of the tea.
As long as the translator renders this layer of meaning, his task is fulfilled. Besides, while
“Lungching” itself is ambiguous, “best-quality” explains it pretty well. Accordingly “ounce”
“dollars” are used to replace the Chinese currency. However the author believes that “only four
dollars eighty an ounce” might be misleading, and “only” may want to be omitted.
Example 2:
鲁贵：不，是老爷吩咐，说现在就要拿出来。
周蘩漪：哦，好，我就去吧。——你现在叫鲁妈进来，叫她在这房里等一等。
鲁贵：是，太太。
（鲁贵下。蘩漪的脸更显得苍白，她在极力压制自己的烦郁。）
周蘩漪：（把窗户打开，吸一口气，自语）热极了，闷极了，这里真是再也不能住的
…（望着空空的前面，继而垂下头去。鲁贵上。）
鲁贵：刚才小当差来，说老爷催着要。
周蘩漪：（抬头）好，你先去吧。我叫陈妈送去。（蘩漪由饭厅下）（63-64）
Lu: The master says he wants it now. He may be going out any minute.
Fan: Oh, I see. Well, I’d better go and get straight away. —Ask your wife to come in and
wait in here.
Lu: Very good, madam. (He goes out. )
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(Fan-yi’s face is paler than ever now; she is making a great effort to suppress her feelings
of resentment)
Fan: (drawing a deep breath and speaking to herself): God, this heat! It’s absolutely
stifling! －I can’t go on much longer like this! (She gazes listlessly out of the window.)
(Lu Gui re-enters.)
Lu: The master’s just sent somebody along about the raincoat: he insists on having it at
once.
Fan (lifting her head)： All right. You needn’t wait. I’ll have it send along by one of the
maids. (She goes out through the dining-room.) (68-69)
In this conversation, the form of address is totally alien to foreigners. Considering this, the
translator adopts the western address. “老爷” “太太” are put into “master” and “madam”; “小当
差” “陈妈” “鲁妈” are translated flexibility instead of word-for-word: “鲁妈” into “your wife”;
“小当差” “陈妈” are of no big importance in this play, so they are translated into “somebody”
“one of the maids”.
Example 3:
鲁大海: ( 忽然) 刚才我看见一个年轻人，在花园里躺着，脸色发白，闭着眼睛，像是
要死的样子，听说这就是周家的大少爷，我们董事长的儿子。啊，报应，报应(22)。
Hai (with sudden scorn) : Just now as I was coming in I saw a young man in the garden. He
was lying there with his eyes closed and his face so pale that I shouldn’t think he’d last much
longer．And they tell me this is our chairman’s eldest son． Ah, it’s a punishment, it’s what he
deserves (20)!
……
鲁四凤：听说这屋子死过人，屈死鬼。
鲁贵：鬼！一点也不错，---我可偷偷地看见啦。
鲁四凤：什么，您看见，您看见什么？鬼？
鲁贵: (自负地) 那是你爸爸的造化(26)。
Feng: Well, it’s because the room’s haunted, isn’t it?
Lu: Huanted? Oh yes, it certainly is. And I’ve seen the ghosts, too.
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Feng: You have?
Lu (complacently): Yes, and lucky for me that I did (24)．
……
鲁: 我伺候你，我的孩子再伺候你生的少爷们。这是我的报应，我的报应（82）。
Ma: I waited on you, and now my child is waiting on your sons．It’s a punishment. That’s
it is a punishment (90).
……
鲁大海: ( 阴沉地) 那大概是你父亲的报应（142）。
Hai ( grimly ) : This is a judgment on your father (162).
When Ta-hai sees Ping has a pale face and assumes he wouldn’t last much longer, he
immediately believes that this is a punishment on the Chou’s family. The Chinese word “报应”’s
religious feature is omitted and replaced by a common word “punishment”. Accordingly, “造化”
is just translated into “lucky for me”. Other culturally loaded words such as “太太” and “老爷”.
“太太” are rendered into “mistress”, ”madam”, “you”, or omitted altogether. “老爷” accordingly
is also rendered into “master”, “sir” or simply omitted.
Example 4:
你妈要是还是那副寡妇脸子，我就当你哥哥的面上不认她（17）。
If she still tries to put on airs and come the great lady over me this time，I’ll disown her，
and in front of your brother, too (13)!
Literally “寡妇脸子” should be “a widow's face”, a metaphor which would be
uncompehensible to Westerners whereas Wang’s translation “tries to put on airs and come the
great lady over me” is more down to facts and familiar.
Example 5:
鲁贵:（坐在长沙发上）钱不钱，你没有你爸爸成么？你要不到这儿周家大公馆帮主
儿，这两年尽听你妈妈的话，你能每天吃着喝着，这大热天还穿得上小纺绸么 （16）？
Lu (sitting down on the sofa with a smirk): Money or no money, where do you think you’d
be without your old dad? If you’d taken your mother’s advice over the last two years instead of
coming to work in a big house like this, you surely don’t imagine you’d be living as comfortably
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as you are now? And you wouldn’t be wearing nice, cool silk clothes in the middle of summer,
either (11)!
In the upper half of the 20th century in China silk is not only a fabric but also a symbol of
status. Rich people wear silk clothes whereas poor people wear cotton. Lu Kuei is saying that
Ssu-feng is living a comfortable life as a rich person therefore if rendered “silk clothes” directly,
Westeners may not understand totally the underlying message. Hence Wang uses “nice, cool silk
clothers” instead.
Example 6:
鲁贵：（自信一定胜利）四凤，你过来，你听清楚了。你愿意怎么样？随你。跟你妈
，还是跟我？（四凤转过身来，满脸的眼泪）咦，这孩子，你哭什么？
鲁侍萍：哦，凤儿，我的可怜的孩子。
鲁贵：说呀，这不是大姑娘上轿，说呀（101）?
Lu: (confident of winning): Come here, Ssu-feng. Now, you’ve heard what it’s all about.
Well, which do you want to do? Up to you entirely. Will you go with your mother, or stay here
with me?
(Ssu-feng turns round, her face streaming with tears.)
Lu: Well, I’ll be --- what are you crying for?
Ma: Oh，Feng！
Lu: Well，come on.It’s not as if you were swearing your life away！Who’s it to be
117）?
（
Lu Kuei asks Ssu-feng whether she wants to go to Jinan with her mom or stay with him at
home. “大姑娘上轿” is a traditional Chinese expression, which literally means getting on the
bridal sedan chair and finishing maiden years, which of course is an important moment in a
Chinese lady’s life. Instead of translating literally Wang uses “It’s not as if you were swearing
your life away”, which keeps the semantic meaning and sounds more familiar to westerners.
Example 7:
鲁贵: 我骂你？ 你是少爷！ 我骂你？ 你连人家有钱的人都当面骂了，我敢骂你 (95)?
Lu：Me swear at you? As if I’d dare swear at a young gentleman like you！ You, who
even swear at rich people to their face（108）!
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“少爷” is a way of polite addressing in Chinese, and there is no direct equivalent in English.
Probably the closest direct equivalent is “young master”. Lu Kuei addresss his son “少爷” to
imply that Ta-hai is like a person of high social ranking and has a bad temper. Instead of
translating into “master” Wang uses “a young gentlemen” to convey Lu Kuei’s irony and the
contrast to Ta-hai’s real status. In this way, foreign audiences can understand it perfectly and the
line still remains its implicit style.
Example 8：
鲁贵：四凤，别——你爸什么时候借钱不还账？现在你手下方便，随便匀给我七块八
块好吗（18）?
Lu：——don’t be like that，Ssu-feng. When did I ever borrow money and not pay it back?
Now, what about a little loan of seven or eight dollars, now that you are in the money（14）?
“七块八块” is a Chinese currency and the translator just changes to “dollars”, which is
easier for understanding and stage effects.
Example 9:
周萍（走向鲁妈前）: 鲁奶奶，我知道我对不起您。不过我能尽我的力量补我的错，
现在事情已经做到这一步，您—— （148）
Ping（going up to Lu Ma）: Mrs. Lu, I know I’ve done you wrong, but I’ll do my best to
make up for it.Now that things have come to such a pass, you— (169).
Instead of translating word for word into “Granny Lu”, the translator chooses “Mrs. Lu”,
according to the Western conventions.
While translators opt for the target culture which is more reader-friendly and in line with
reception aesthetics, they should also keep in mind that translation is also for culture exchange. If
the source culture is totally lost in translation, then we are missing the whole point. If a translator
just reconstructs the translated text according to target language system it is equivalent to
insinuating the dominant culture and language into other systems and establishes the former as
the “superior”. It is translator’s responsibilities to represent the source text and the culture behind
it.
Born in Zhengjiang province in 1916, Wang Zuoliang studied at a missionary school run by
Christianity in Wuhan, Boone school. At this school, all courses were taught in English instead
of Chinese. That was a life-changing experience that had laid a solid English foundation for his
future love of foreign literature and translation. In 1935, Wang Zuoliang was admitted by
Tsinghua University. He studied Western Literature and Comparative literature under the
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guidance of Wu Mi and Qian Zhongshu; he studied English and American Poetry from famous
British Poet William Epson. In 1947, driven by the thirst for knowledge, Wang Zuoliang pursued
his further study at Oxford University and majored in British Literature.
Wang Zuoliang is an all-rounder, reaching great accomplishments in translation, poetry
theoretical studies. He had presented us many marvelous translations. His translated work from
English to Chinese are mainly: the translation of selected English Poems and
Prose(1980,Beijing, Foreign Language Teaching and Reasrch Press), Robert Burns: Selected
Poems(1985,Beijing, Peoples Literature Press), Selected Scottish Poems(1986,Changsha, Hunan
People’s Press), Selected English Poems(1988, Shanghai, Shanghai Fanyi Press). His translated
version of Thunderstorm was able to capture the implicitly of Chinese language and portray
different characters. Apart from Thunderstorm, he also translated many Chinese poems to let
foreigners to appreciate the beauty of Chinese.
The past century has witnessed the mushrooming of many translation theories, yet there are
few guiding drama translation. Even though many factors constrain translators’ performance,
translators should always be striving for a genuine and complete representation of the original
work. Drama is an art form written to perform on stage in front of a large number of audiences.
Dramas, except closet-drama, are written to perform on stage. It asks for clarity, colloquialism
and performabity. A translator of dramas should keep reminding himself of the nature of the text,
the reception of the audience and should strive for the same effect of the source text. The four
parameters of drama translation argued above is a workable criterion and apparently, Wang
Zuoliang fulfilled all the four parameters successfully.
Works Cited
Corrigan，R．W．“Translating for Actors．” In W．Arrowsmith．and R．Shattucck，ed.
The
Craft and Context of Translation. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1961．
Pulver, Roger．“Teaching Drama Translation．” In W. Ning, ed. Perspectives: Studies in
Translatology, 2002．
Tsao, Yu [Cao Yu]. Thundestorm. Translated by Wang Tso-Liang and A.C.Barnes. Beijing:
Foreign Language Press, 1958.
曹禺. 雷雨.日出.北京人. 成都：四川出版集团巴蜀书社，2014.
王佐良. 翻译、思考与试笔. 北京：外语教育与研究出版社, 1989.
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