Translation and Emotional Expression: An Analysis of Emotion Translation Strategies in the Chinese Translations of Murder on the Orient Express from a Pragmatic Perspective
The paper analyzes the emotional expression in the three Chinese translations of Agatha Christie’sMurder on the Orient Express (1934) from a pragmatic perspective. Emotional expression depicts the emotions ofboth characters and the author. It significantly impacts character portrayal and story development, helping readersbetter understand the novel. However, a research gap still exits on the translation strategies regarding emotionalexpressions of this novel. Drawing on the context and politeness strategy, this study examines the three Chinesetranslations by Song Zhaolin and Rong Rong (1979), Chen Yaoguang (2006), and Zheng Qiao (2020), revealinghow different translators translate the emotional effects through words. It is indicated that Song Zhaolin and RongRong’s translation is more accurate and rich in details, with a more nuanced handling of context, which is relatedto his translation experience and habits. The research plays a vital role in the improvement of literary translationquality by reminding translators to use pragmatics to better understand the original work and translate it in moredetail.