A Study Of Ku Hungming's Translation Of Confucian Classics From The Perspective Of Skopos Theory

Ku Hungming is a noted literary figure in the late Qing dynasty. He is the first Chinese to compete with Christian missionaries and Western Sinologists in the field of translating Chinese Confucian classics. His version of Confucian classics such as Zhongyong and Lunyu is very popular in the West because of its philosophical quotations and fluent expression, and thus holds an important place in the history of cultural exchange between China and the West.According to the Skopos theory, translation is a purposeful intercultural action. The purpose of the overall translation action determines translation strategies, that is, translation purposes determine translation strategies. The Skopos theory emphasizes the interaction of the intention of the source text, the translator and the target text readers. In the framework of Skopos theory, adequacy, which means the translation should be considered appropriate for the communicative purpose, takes the place of equivalence and becomes the yardstick of a translation. Thus, the Skopos theory breaks the limitation of the equivalence-based linguistic translation theory and offers a dynamic and multi-dimensional perspective.Taking Ku's English version of Lunyu and Zhongyong as examples, this thesis analyzes the purposes of Ku's translation of Confucian classics and the methods Ku adopted in his translation of Confucian classics from the perspective of Skopos theory. The author of this thesis argues that Skopos theory can be used to account for Ku's translation methods of Confucian classics and that Ku's translation of Confucian classics is a typical example of the translator's choosing of translation method according to the translation purpose to make the translation meaningful in the target-culture and get the reception of the target readers. Considering the translator's translating purpose, the target reader, the historical and cultural background of the translation, a more reasonable and comprehensive evaluation is given to Ku's translation of Confucian classics.This thesis is composed of six chapters. The content of each part is as follows:The introduction illustrates the research background, author's research objective, research significance, research methodology and the organization of this thesis.Chapter One is the literature review. It introduces Ku's translation of Confucian classics and reviews the related researches on Ku's translation of Confucian classics.Chapter Two is the theoretical framework. It introduces the relevant theory of the thesis, Skopos theory.Chapter Three is one part of the body. It makes a brief introduction to Ku's life experience and makes a detailed probe into his philosophic understanding of Confucian thought and the purposes of his translation of Confucian classics.Chapter Four is another part of the body. Basing on the analysis of Ku's translating purposes, it analyzes the methods Ku adopted in his translation of Confucian classics and explores how these translation methods help achieve his translating purposes.The last part is the conclusion. It makes a conclusion that Ku's adoption of distinctive translation methods aims to achieve his translating purposes and his translation of Confucian classics gets the reception of Western readers, which is the success of Ku's translation of Confucian classics. Ku's translation of Confucian classics also provides some enlightenment to the translation of Chinese classics.