Harmonious But Different

Lunyu, a masterpiece of the Chinese classics, is not only popular in China, but also influential in the world through translation. It is calculated that up to now there are foreign language versions of Lunyu of more than60kinds, among which the English version of Lunyu is the most influential. From1691, when Lunyu was first translated into English, to2010, when Lin Wusun translated and published Getting to know Confucius—A New Translation of The Analects, and Mr. Song Deli translated and published The Analects of Confucius, many translators of different countries produced different English versions of Lunyu with various features. However, up to now, there is rarely a systematic and diachronic study of the English translations of Lunyu. This paper, starting from historical and cultural background and applying descriptive translation studies, tries to make a systematic and diachronic study of the English translations of Lunyu.The study shows that the English translations of Lunyu varies with different historical contexts and underwent a development from domestication to foreignization, which also represents the development tendency of rendering our Chinese classics into the English world. The English translations of Lunyu mainly took place in two different historical and cultural contexts:"the West Centrism" context and "Multiculturalism" context. In "the West Centrism" context, western sinologists tried to domesticate the Chinese culture in the original to make their versions conforming to western cultural norms; the Chinese translators of Lunyu also took the translation strategy of domestication so that their versions can meet the reception habit of the English readers, thus spreading the Chinese culture in the English world. To sum up, domestication is the general feature of the English translations of Lunyu in this period.In "Multiculturalism" context, more and more western scholars went gradually out of "the West Centrism" and began to respect foreign cultures. They began to learn the good ingredients in foreign cultures. At this time, western sinologists could respect "foreign" Chinese culture in their English translations of Lunyu and mainly adopted foreignization translation strategy which can keep the foreignness of the Chinese culture. The Chinese translators, whose main purpose of translating the Chinese classics is spreading the Chinese culture into the world, tried their best to convey real Chinese culture to the English readers. They also mainly took the translation strategy of foreignization to maintain the foreign Chinese culture in the version. In sum,"foreignization" is the striking characteristic of the English translations of Lunyu in the time.This dissertation includes seven parts. Chapter one introduces briefly the origin, significance, content and research method of this dissertation. Chapter two firstly makes a brief introduction of Lunyu and Confucius, then describes in details the history of English translations of Lunyu and reviews the researches of the English translations of Lunyu both at home and abroad, and finally points out the content and research method of this dissertation. The third chapter discusses the theoretical tools of this dissertation, i.e. descriptive translation studies, manipulation theory and skopostheorie. The fourth chapter analyzes the English translations of Lunyu in "the West Centrism" context through the case study of the English version of Lunyu by Joshua Marshman, Thomas Francis Wade, Ku Hungming, Lin Yutang and Lionel Giles, highlighting their domesticating tendency in translation. Chapter five discusses the English translations of Lunyu in "Multiculturalism" context through the case study of the English version of Lunyu Ezra Pound, Huang Jizhong, Roger T. Ames&Henry Rosemont.Jr., Edward Slingerland and Lin Wusun, focusing on their foreignizing tendency in translation. The sixth chapter summarizes the general feature shown in the history of the English translations of Lunyu:development from domestication to foreignization. The seventh chapter concludes the content of this dissertation, points out its limitations, innovations, and its further studies, and envisions the translation of the Chinese classics into English in21st century.