Context of culture is one of the most important linguistic categories in the study of language use and function. As translation is an activity of communication across the cultures, it shouldn’t be neglected that context of culture will inevitably affect translation to a great extent. In the process of translation, we would often find that only the competence of the two languages involved is far too limited to produce a satisfactory translated text. As a matter of fact, translation is not a mere matter of translating languages, but more of translating cultures that involved. What's really difficult and important is the translators’ command of the specific differences on the cultures between source language text and the target language text. To get a full understanding of the importance of cultural context, one should pay enough emphasis on these specific reflections including that entrenched conventions, value preference, unique objects and some expressions cultural factors. This paper analyzes some representative examples in A Dream of Red Mansions. From the translation of different religious belief, animals images and ways of addressing people, the importance of the cultural context is outstanding. In a word, to be a successful translator, it seems that the ability to be a biculturist is more important than that to be a bilinguist, for words only possess meaning when culture functions.
Keywords：Context of culture; Difference; Translation; A Dream of Red Mansions; Importance
Content
1. Introduction 1
2. Literature Review 2
2.1 The concept of context of culture 2
2. 2 Cultural context study in translation 3
3. The Importance of Context of Culture in A Dream of Red Mansions 5
4. The Cultural Context Differences in Translating A Dream of Red Mansions 7
4.1 The cultural context concerning different religious belief and its translation 7
4.2 Animals images in different cultural context and its translation 9
4.3 Ways of Addressing people in different cultural context 9
5. Conclusion 13
Acknowledgements 14
References 15
