A Comparative Study On Translators’ Styles In English Versions Of Da Xue

Da Xue was attributed to the Chapter XLII of The Book of Rites at the beginning.Later,Chu Hsi,who was the most influential Neo-Confucian rationalist in the Southern Song Dynasty,reedited Da Xue,and it is widely viewed as the first of The Four Books.Up till now,English versions of Da Xue have been studied based on lexis,syntax,figures of speech,translation strategies and the like.Yet there are relatively few studies on the translator’s style.Therefore,this study seeks to study the translators’styles of English versions of Da Xue by means of quantitative and qualitative methods.In accordance with Mona Baker’s definition of the translator’s style,the study attempts to compare and analyze the translators’styles from the two aspects,namely text and para-text.In terms of the text aspect,the translators’styles are compared and analyzed on the basis of attitudinal words,sentence translation,and culture-loaded words.When it comes to the para-text aspect,the translators’styles are compared and analyzed in these aspects of the title,the preface,the prolegomena,and the annotations.Furthermore,the study explores and explains how the extra-textual factors influence the formation of the translator’s style.The detailed findings of the study can be summarized as follows:Referring to the text aspect,firstly,in point of“attitude”resources,the overall density of“attitude”resources in James Legge’s version is larger than that in Ku Hungming’s version.To be specific,“affect”resources in James Legge’s version are more prominent than those in Ku Hungming’s version;“social esteem”resources in James Legge’s version are far more than“social sanction”resources,while Ku Hungming’s version strikes a better balance between“social esteem”resources and“social sanction”resources;the“reaction”resources in James Legge’s version are more abundant than those in Ku Hungming’s version,but the“valuation”resources in Ku Hungming’s version are more salient than those in James Legge’s version.Apart from this,the distribution situation of“attitude”resources in the two English versions keeps consistent with that in the source text Da Xue,which indicates that the two translators both respect the original text to a large extent.Secondly,in terms of sentence translation,it is obvious that James Legge tends to utilize literal translation to remain the form and the meaning of the original text,while Ku Hungming prefers to use liberal translation to clearly illustrate the cultural elements contained in the original text.And by comparison,James Legge’s expressions are closer to the English linguistic norms than Ku Hungming’s expressions.Thirdly,in the matter of the translation of culture-loaded words,it can be seen that Legge is prone to employing the tenets of Christianity to explain the original text,but Ku Hungming is inclined to shed light on Chinese culture covered in the source text from the perspective of cultural transmission.Based on the text aspect,it is significantly obvious that both James Legge and Ku Hungming are liable to manifesting their characteristic voices when they yield the translated works.With respect to the para-text aspect,first of all,regarding the translation of the title,James Legge tends to use literal translation so as to preserve the literal meaning of the title,while Ku Hungming is inclined to employ liberal translation in order to reveal the connotation of the title.Secondly,in regard to the preface,in James Legge’s version,it principally refers to previous Chinese scholars’explanations for the title as well as his own understanding of the ancient book.Besides,Legge also gives readers the reason why for the most part,his version follows to Chu Hsi’s annotations.However,in Ku Hungming’s version,he emphasizes that his version is particularly different from James Legge’s version and defines clearly the target readers.Thirdly,with regard to prolegomena,there is no prolegomena in Ku Hungming’s version.Yet in James Legge’s version,it primarily includes the formation of the source text Da Xue,its connotations,and other English versions.Finally,concerning annotations,there are a large number of annotations in Legge’s version,relative to Ku Hungming’s version.The annotations in James Legge’s version mainly discuss alternative explanations for the contents of Da Xue from different scholars,the explanations for Chinese cultural conventions,and Legge’s own opinions.However,the annotations in Ku Hungming’s version chiefly illustrate the connotations of those sentences in the source text with western celebrities’words,such as Montesquieu,Matthew Arnold,Goethe,and Socratic.Based on the para-text aspect,it can be discovered that James Legge spares no efforts to pursue the academic translation,while Ku Hungming regards culture transmission as the core of his translation activities.Depending on the comparative study on the extra-textual influence factors,we find that the missionary activities in the 19^th century influence James Legge’s translation motivation;the eastward transmission of western sciences in the 20^th century intervenes with Ku Hungming’s translation motivation;the cultural differences between the east and the west have impact on translation positions of the two translators.In addition,the translator-related factors manipulate the translation behaviors of the two translators.This study enriches the studies on the translator’s style of English versions of Da Xue as well as offers a new perspective to the study on the translator’s style.Specifically speaking,the translator’s style can be compared and analyzed on the basis of“text”and“para-text”more effectively.Apart from this,appraisal theory first applies to a comparative study on the translator’style,so the current study may provide more insights for the study on the translator’style.