A Case Study On The Translation And Dissemination Of Confucianism In Robert Morrison’s A Dictionary Of The Chinese Language

Confucianism is an important part of Chinese traditional culture,which reflects the core spirits and values of Chinese nation.The translation of Confucian classics is an important way to promote the going out of Chinese traditional culture and enhance the soft power of our country.The function of bilingual dictionaries in terms of word collection and translation can not be ignored in cultural communication.As the first C-E dictionary in the world,A Dictionary of the Chinese Language contains a large number of Confucian sentences,which has a pioneering impact on the spread of Confucianism.Studies on the translation of Confucian sentences in bilingual dictionaries have great practical significance in disseminating Chinese traditional culture and exerting the cultural exchange function of bilingual dictionaries.This study focuses on Confucian sentences in Morrison’s A Dictionary of the Chinese Language to explore how the Confucianism is introduced and disseminated by Morrison,that is what contents of Confucianism are disseminated in the dictionary and what translation strategies are used in the translation of Confucian sentences.Combining quantitative with qualitative research methods,we collect Confucian sentences from the Thirteen Classics in A Dictionary of the Chinese Language and analyze Morrison’s translation strategies from the perspective of thick translation.First of all,we show the collection results of Confucian sentences and find that the quantity of sentences in each Confucian work is quite different although sentences from the Thirteen Classics are all involved.A total of 1398 cases are collected,of which a relatively high proportion is sentences from She king,Yih king and Shoo king,accounting for 61%.Sentences from Urh ya,Heaou king,Book of Etiquette andCeremonial,Gongyang Zhuan and Guliang Zhuan are fewer.Sentences from Lun yu are mostly added by the editor himself,which is quite different from Kangxi Dictionary;Secondly,by analyzing the distribution and content of Confucian sentences in each classic,the contents of Confucianism in the dictionary are concluded from two aspects of overall analysis and contrastive analysis.Finally,we explore Morrison’s translation strategies from two aspects: visible thick translation and invisible thick translation,analyze the supplementary cultural and semantic information in the translation and give corresponding data support.Through the study of Confucian sentences and their translations in A Dictionary of the Chinese Language,the following conclusions are drawn.First of all,from the perspective of the collection and analysis of Confucian sentences,we can infer that Morrison tends to select sentences from representative Confucian classics.In terms of the dissemination contents,Morrison has a more accurate grasp and understanding of Confucianism,such Confucian culture as the principle of Goodman,the principle of governance,the principle of education and the principle of etiquette are introduced in the dictionary.From the perspective of translation strategies,Morrison prefers to adopt the strategy of visible thick translation,and focuses on reproducing the context and semantic information of the source language with different annotation types.Generally speaking,Morrison makes a comprehensive,objective and sufficient introduction of Confucianism.In the process of translation,Morrison not only pays attention to the unique culture of the Other,but also considers the acceptability of the target readers,which promotes the spread of Confucianism.