Cultural Considerations Of Translation Aesthetics

Translation, from a broad perspective, is a philosophical activity. Philosophy is the mother of all sciences. The nature of philosophical activity is spiritual home-return, thus those spiritual activities with nostalgic impulses, may be called philosophical activities. In a sense, both science and art creation activities can be viewed as philosophical. Translation, especially literary translation, as a creative activity in nature, can be seen as a philosophical activity. Translation is the pursuit of beauty and truth, and it involves philosophical concerns.Aesthetics, the study of beauty, is an eternal theme of Chinese literature. Ever since the emergence of translation, aesthetics and translation have been closely bonded together. Chinese aesthetics has exerted an even greater influence on the formation of Chinese translation theories compared with its counterparts in other countries. The history ofChinese translation history is comparable to one of translation aesthetics, the combination of aesthetics and translation, which borrows the basic principles of aesthetics to analyze, explain and solve the aesthetic problems emerging in interlingual conversion. Its main contents are aesthetic subjects, i. e. the translator and the reader, and aesthetic objects, i.e. the original work and the translated work, the aesthetic subject's experience of aesthetic objects, the methods of representing beauty in translating process, the criteria of translation aesthetics and etc.Chinese traditional translation theory reflects that philosophy and aesthetics are closely related to translation. With a comprehensive survey of the Chinese translation Aesthetics and Pragmatic Philosophy, by exploring the aesthetic subject and object, the aesthetics of cognitive schemata and principles of aesthetic representation, and cultural aesthetics, this dissertation proposes a pragmatic, dynamic and rational approach to the study of translation theory.The process of literary pragmatic translation is a complete and special aesthetic process. During this process, if the translator wants to transfer the aesthetic value of the original text into the target text, he must take the reader's aesthetic position and carefully consider the three aspects, namely, the cultural traditions, the linguistic expressions and the inspirational innovation, in order to let the readers truly appreciate the aesthetic value and pragmatic value of the original text.Translation theories at home or abroad both have a deep-rooted relation with aesthetics. After the cultural turn in translation study, many translators turn to translation aesthetics. Under the aesthetic edification, many excellent Chinese translators spare no pains to introduce outstanding foreign works into Chinese and popularize eminent Chinese works in the world around. In their practice, they have concluded a succession of translation aesthetic theories with Chinese characteristics. In ancient times, influenced by Confucius and other philosophers, many translators, such as Zhi Qian, Xuan Zang, sought to preserve the flavors of original works. In recent times, translation aesthetics has been put forward and it is on its way of development and advancement. Many translators, such as Yan Fu, Linshu, Fu Lei,Qian Zhongshu and Fu Zhongxuan, Xu Yuanchong, and Liu Miqing, are adherent in going on pursuing beauty yet are more innovative and insightful in presenting their views. This dissertation extracts and absorbs the quintessence of Chinese translation aesthetics, which includes four aspects: persistence in faithfulness, pursuit of expressiveness, emphasis on resemblance of spirit and creation of ideorealm, and uses them as the theoretic principles.The author of this dissertation strives to analyze the aesthetics temperaments in translation and appreciate the beauty of translation within the outline of Chinese translation aesthetics based on the case study of Zhengzhengduo and Bingxin's translated works of poems. Consequently, the author provides a tentative conclusion of the strategies for reconstructing the charm of work and language in translation.The first chapter mainly discusses the aesthetics of Chinese and Western translation concerning originality and development process; the writer briefly introduces aesthetics and translation aesthetics, including definitions, contents and research on translation aesthetics. Moreover, the development of Chinese translation aesthetics has been elaborately explored. At the end of introduction, with a thorough analysis of the previous theories, the writer concludes that there are four eminent characteristics in Chinese translation aesthetics, namely, persistence in faithfulness, pursuit of expressiveness, emphasis on resemblance of spirit and creation of ideorealm, all of which serve as the theoretic guidance in the analysis of the text.From the perspective of pragmatic translation aesthetics, the second chapter briefs the conversion process of translation, process of cultural creation, cultural translation, cultural information and cultural compensation for the entropy. The process of literary pragmatic translation is a complete and special aesthetic process. If the translator wants to transfer the aesthetic value of the original text into the target text, he must take the reader's aesthetic position and carefully consider the three aspects, namely, the cultural traditions, the linguistic expressions and the inspirational innovation, in order to let the readers truly appreciate the aesthetic value and pragmatic value of the original text. The dissertation analyzes Zhengzhengduo and Bingxin's translation of poems, David Hawkes and Yangxianyi's translation of The Story of the Stone based on the principle of translation aesthetics.Aesthetics is the study of beauty, an eternal theme of Chinese literature. In his original, as well as translated works, Xu has put forward his unique aesthetic views, such as the theory of"three beauties", and tries to guide his translation with these principles.This dissertation takes a perspective of culture and philosophy on aesthetic translation studies, probing a series of theoretical issues regarding translation theory and the aesthetics of translation criticism. The translator is the most dynamic factor in translation. As an independent thinking entity, the translator unavoidably displays his subjectivities in the translation process. The motivation, purpose, strategies, methods and competence greatly influence the formation of the target text. The translator, as an individual, decides how a specific translation assignment is to be carried out; and translators, as a whole, plays an important role in intercultural communication and facilitating the development of human culture. However, so far most researches on the translator have only focused on human culture, his linguistic competence, translation skill and functions in cultural communication, and scarce attention has been paid to how the translator, as a crucial human factor, influences the translation process with motivation, attitude, cultural orientation, value, prejudice, historicity and translation purpose, etc. In view of all these, the research has made an attempt to probe into the issue of how the translator involves him/herself in translation process and thus influences translation results. The main objective of this research is to provide an overall description of the working mechanism of the translator in the translation process with a view to facilitating the understanding of the nature of translation.The translator with his subjectivities is the core of my discussion. I explore the translator's involvement in translator from the perspectives of his selection of translator in both Chinese and Western translation theories.In the third chapter, the author tries to build a theoretical framework for translator's style of criticism, which includes: the purpose and the translator style, ideology and the translator style, translation style of the recipient and the translator, the translator's aesthetic orientation and translator's style, literary translation and acceptance, cultural identity and aesthetic style, aesthetic criticism of standards, consensus of aesthetic criticism. Chapter four takes a perspective of philosophy on translation aesthetic criticism, aesthetic criticism of standards, consensus of aesthetic criticism, translation criticism thoughts to a more extensive study. Chapter three and chapter four probing a series of theoretical issues regarding the translator's aesthetic bent, as one of the constraints, is also discussed in this chapter. It is found that the translator's style has much to do with his aesthetic bent. Literary works can be called an art rich with the aesthetic value expressed both through the form and the content. The translator's preferences in dealing with the form and the content lead to a special way of expressing. I expound on the way the translator's subjectivities work in the interpersonal relationships in translation. In my view, translation is also an interpersonal activity which involves many participants, including writer, translator, reader, translation commissioner, patron, translation distributor, publisher, reviewer, editor and source cultural expert, and so on forth. The patron, the author, the translator and the reader form the core interpersonal network in the translation process, and the translator is the center of this network because he needs to coordinate the interpersonal relationships in order to achieve the desired translation effects, which, as a result, mirrors the translator's subjectivities. In this chapter, I focus on the relationships between the translator and the patron, the translator and the author, the translator and the reader, and the translator, which also shed some light on how the translator's subjectivities work in the translation process.The conclusion is a summary of my findings in the above discussion, including the features and the contributions of the current research, as well as the problems awaiting further research. The conclusion reiterates the impact of Chinese translation aesthetics on Chinese translation. The expectation is that, with the perfect combination of aesthetics, works of better quality will be produced. The author intends to explore the relationships between translation and aesthetics. Through the analysis of the definitions of translation and aesthetics, the author believes that translation and aesthetics can be linked with each other by language, and translation aesthetics involves studies of the original text, the translated text, and the translation process. This dissertation also illustrates that the application of aesthetic analysis in translation contributes to the equivalence of the original text and the translated text, and aesthetic analysis in literal translation has certain advantages. There exist the aesthetic formations of symmetry, sublimity, and etc, in the translation process.The contemporary Chinese translation aesthetics establishes itself on the traditional Chinese translation theories, and endeavors to transform them into modernized translation theories. Absorbing the methodology from western translation studies, and borrowing the fundamental theories and structure from Aesthetics, it studies translation mechanisms and functions from its distinctive perspective. After several years of development, it has become a school of translation study in China, with interdisciplinary feature and typical Chinese characteristics, different from the western translation theories. It makes China's translation study take on distinctive national features. Although it is not very mature and needs further improvement, it reflects the development and innovation of Chinese translation studies and helps us to give forth the Chinese voice in the arena of world translation theories.