A Study on the Cultural Translation in The Analects [4]
论文作者:佚名论文属性:短文 essay登出时间:2009-04-15编辑:黄丽樱点击率:8417
论文字数:2877论文编号:org200904152202219132语种:英语 English地区:中国价格:免费论文
关键词:cultural translationcommunicative translationsemantic translationThe AnalectsCultural
rring to the behavior of serving the parents, but also implying to piety and respect in ones heart. Xiao has been endowed with profound culture and moral meaning, deeply rooting in Chinese people’s mind. Thus, it is quite accurate to annotate xiao as “filial piety” to review the specific cultural connotation.
Version2 dealt with the word in a so simple way that loses part of original meaning. Plain words would not catch readers’ eyes to raise their attention. The Western readers could not understand the vital importance of this cultural image to the whole passage.
3.3 Translation of Numbers
In The Analects, one of the main features is the high frequency of using the numeral words. The total quantity of numeral words appeared in The Analects is more than 220, which includes “ 一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八, 九, 十, 百, 千, 万, 数, 再, 两, 屡”, and “三”is the most widely used on among the seventeen words, appearing nearly 70 times. The meaning and function of these numeral words are not the same throughout the whole passage.
Eg7: 三人行, 必有我师焉。
Version 1: When I walk along with two others, they serve me as my teachers.
Version 2: When three men meet together, on of them who is anxious to learn can always learn something of the other two.
The flexibility of classical Chinese could be found here in the numbers. In this case the number ‘三’ does not mean the exact number ‘three’ semantically. It means ‘a couple of ’or ‘some’. Therefore both first two versions failed to render it correctly. The faithful translation of three is a formal equivalence instead of functional equivalence. In ancient Chinese classics, the meaning of three is various; in most occasions it is not used as an accurate number. While in western culture, such kind of usage is rarely seen, so when dealing with these words, the translator should have a good understanding of the original passage and the customs of language using.
Thus, Version 1 and Version 2 both employ the semantic translation about the translation of ‘三’, but they both lose the true meaning of ‘三’. The communicative translation should be applied in this sentence instead of semantic translation.
I suggest the right translated version should be like this:
When three men or more meet together, on of them who are anxious to learn can always learn something of the others.
Eg8: 四海之内,皆兄弟也.
Version1: …then all within the four seas will be his brothers.
Version2: in that way he will find all men within the corners of the Earth are his brothers.
‘四海’ is put faithfully into ‘four seas’ in version1, which is semantically correct, but would cause difficulties in understanding. In the ancient times, Chinese believed the four seas nearly covered the world and thus it stood for the world in Chinese. Semantic translation is used Version 1, which keeps ancient Chinese limited knowledge, but may cause misinterpretation among the western readers while Version2 adopts communicative translation, making it understood for the western readers.
3.4 Translation of Idioms
The Analects is also an abundant fountain to the development of Chinese idioms. With condensed structure and profound signification, it conveys a large sum of cultural information. Moreover, for this reason, the translation of idiom is worth researching for the sake of culture transmitting.
Eg9: 有教无类。
Version1: In teaching there should be no distinction of classes.
Version2: Among really educated men, there is no caste or race-distinction.
‘Traditional Chinese mode
本论文由英语论文网提供整理,提供论文代写,英语论文代写,代写论文,代写英语论文,代写留学生论文,代写英文论文,留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。