Multi-Dimensional Restoration In The E-C Translation Of Sinological Works

This is a translation report,which is based on the translation of the Sinological work A Survey of Taoist Literature,Tenth to Seventeenth Centuries(hereinafter referred to as “A Survey”)by American Sinologist Judith Boltz(1947-2013).The report focuses on how to restore and retain the research and understandings of Chinese Taoism of Western Sinologists and also provides research materials for Chinese scholars,in order to faithfully convey overseas Sinologists` research and interpretations of Chinese culture.The source text contains about 170,000 words and five chapters in total.It is the masterpiece of Judith Boltz’s lifelong research.In A Survey,Mrs.Boltz classified the Taoist literatures from the tenth to the seventeenth centuries into five categories: revelation and ritual;hagiography;topographic,epigraphic,and historiographic treatises;literary anthologies and dialogic treatises and exegeses and encyclopedic compilations.Under each category,the Taoist literatures are listed in accordance with themes,authors and schools.The source text involves a large number of the English translations of Taoist scriptures and literatures,as well as Mrs.Boltz ’s understanding and interpretations of some Taoist cultural terms.This work is not only a classic of overseas Taoism research,but its Chinese translation can also provide a lot of research materials for scholars of Chinese Taoism literatures.This report is conducted from the perspective of “multi-dimensional restoration”,which was proposed by Professor Hu Rui,who believes that the processing of Sinology translation is “the result of multiple cultural transformations,multi-dimensional collisions and the developments of the two languages.” However,most of the current translations of Sinological works are simply back translations from English to Chinese,and a large number of Sinologists` understandings and research have been lost during the translation.The translation team adopted a variety of translation methods in translation to realize the“multi-dimensional restoration”,trying to retain as much as possible the Sinologist’s understandings of Taoism literatures and restore Western cultural terminologies and background.Compared with back translation in its ordinary sense,“multi-dimensional restoration” focuses more on the process rather than the result of the Chinese translation of Sinological works.This report consists of five parts.In the first part,the author of this translation report succinctly introduces the background and significance of the report,as well as the layout of the report.In the second part,the author analyzes the source text and the target readers,and offers a general description of the preparations before translation and the whole translation process.In the third part,she makes a detailed introduction to the theoretical framework involved in this translation report,i.e.,the “multi-dimensional restoration”.The fourth part is case analysis.Through specific cases in the translation of A Survey,the author illustrates how she achieved “multi-dimensional restoration”.In the fifth part,the author gives some reflections on this translation practice and some suggestions for future studies on this basis.