A Comparative Study Of The English Tanslation Of Confucian Analacts

Confucianism came into existence in China about 2500 years ago.It is one of the greatest treasures that Chinese nations devoted to the whole world.Being its founder,Confucius,and his doctrines as well,not only occupy an unreplaceable position in the Chinese history of culture and that of thought,but also count for much in those of the world.The world today is in an age of peace and development.Faced with the complicated social contradictions left over from the old social order,thinking people all over the world are consulting ancient sages.In recent years Chinese educational institutions are starting institutes of Confucian studies in foreign countries, the ultimate goal of which is to carry traditional Chinese culture forward to the world, giving people all over the world a chance to get acquainted with the breadth and extensiveness of it,acquiring wisdom from it.The essence of traditional Chinese culture is Confucianism;the essence of Confucianism is to be found in Confucian Analects.In other words,Confucian Analects is the masterpiece of Confucianism.Its influence in the sphere of the world is not to be dwarfed by any other work of China. Therefore,the study of translations of Confucian Analects is of vital significance for the dissemination of traditional Chinese culture in the world.This dissertation falls into five chapters:the first being Introduction;the second A Review of the Evolution of Chinese Translation Theory;the third Academic Backgrounds of James Legge and Gu Hongming;the fourth A Comparative Study of James Legge and Gu Hongming's Translations of Confucian Analects;the fifth Features of the Two Versions.The first chapter begins with the genesis of the dissertation,in which the author involves the historical backgrounds of the birth of Confucianism,and its dissemination in the world after its birth,and its influence in the world as well.The age of Confucius was one during which propriety was being lost and music ruined, one that was experiencing moral deterioration.The most prominent social feature of the age is the descent of political power from the imperial family of Zhou to dukes, and then to ministers.To solve this social problem and restore the former ethical code, it was necessary to,among the disordered propriety and music,find some kind of spiritual content and value of rationality and perpetuity that were detached from the then age.It was in this theoretical sense that Confucianism,with Confucius as its translation theory.The third stage is from the Opium War to the May 4^thMovement. This stage carries the feature of the translation of western learnings,which gave birth to such masters as Yan Fu and others,and the principle of truthfulness,expressiveness and elegance,which still exerts its influence today.The fourth stage lasts from the May 4^thMovement till the present.In this stage,Lu Xun,Zheng Zhenduo,Man Dun, Fu Lei and other translators,standing on the shoulders of predecessors,put forward their own theories.Chapter Three is a brief introduction of the academic life of James Legge and Gu Hongming,leading to reasons for choosing their versions as cases for study.James Legge,when young,made great efforts on the study of Latin and English grammar. He enjoyed excellent achievements in philosophy,religion and Greek.After he stepped on the Chinese soil as a missionary,he worked hard at the Chinese language and Confucianism,and achieved much.His intense interest in and hard work at Confucianism resulted in a penetrating understanding of it.All these paved the way for his translation of Chinese classics,with Confucian Analects included.Tens of years of exertion and unceasing diligence lie behind the fame:his version of Confucian Analects being esteemed the standard version.Gu Hongming toured to study in various western countries when young.He learned several foreign languages, English being the strongest.It was said that,in his time,he found no equal in China when it came to English proficiency.After he came back to China,he worked hard at Confucian classics and made much progress.A reading of James Legges' version of Confucian Analects brought about much dissatisfaction in him,which prompted him to hand in to the public his own version,because he thought it was,for one reason or another,beyond western missionaries to accurately convey Confucian thoughts.Chapter Four is the main part of this dissertation.It includes a systematic comparison between the two versions on most parts of Confucian Analects in terms of truthfulness,expressiveness and elegance.In the course of this,the author refers to several interpretations on Confucian Analects for the purpose of avoiding prejudiced understanding so that a reasonable appraisal might be the result.In the meantime,the author has several English versions at hand and makes cross comparison repeatedly. For comments of others,the author conducts deep analyses to make sure of their validity.Chapter Five is a summary of the features and shortcomings of the two versions, based on the comparative work of Chapter Four,in which the author points out three prominent advantages of James Legge's version:first,extensive citations and coverage,and a penetrating understanding.Before doing the actual translation,James Legge never failed to conduct lots of textual criticism.With Zhu Xi's work as the main reference material,he also referred to other interpreters' works for a sole purpose of an accurate understanding.Second,strict closeness to the original,and semantic translation.Trying to achieve a similarity in form on condition of truthfulness is a dominant feature of James Legge's work,and is also the first and foremost requirement for translation,for truthfulness always goes first in the criteria. Third,a combination of translation and note-making,which manifests the academic nature.In his version,notes occupy more space than the main body.In the notes,large numbers of textual criticism and historical backgrounds are included,which displays the academic rigourism of a true scholar.Meanwhile,James Legge's work has shortcomings in three aspects.First,unsmoothness and rigidity in language;second, misinterpretations and mistranslations;third,lack of discourse cohesion.To be honest, unsmoothness and rigidity in language and lack of cohesion are both by-products of semantic translation.And this is also the natural result of James Legge's over-emphasis on the form of the original.Misinterpretations and mistranslations are partly due to the special nature of interpretation of classics:no exhaustion in such work.Finally,the author talks about the status of James Legge's version by quoting comments of some renown scholars of the field,agreeing that his deserves the name of standard version.Likewise,Gu Hongming's version also has three dominant features.First,a deep understanding of the original,with free translation as the main method,which is out of the consideration of readers.Second,smoothness and naturalness of expressions,with each unit being an integrity.In his translation,Gu Hongming frequently presents additions for the purpose of smoothness and naturalness.Third,a respect for readers,which results in sympathetic response in them.Gu Hongming in his version has quotes western philosophers and their sayings as reminders and analogies so that a familiarity is aroused in readers and the ultimate purpose of propagating Confucianism is achieved.Meanwhile,Gu Hongming's versions also involves three shortcomings.Firstly,free translation to the excess and arbitrariness,which exhibit themselves in some important concepts:expansions or reuction of them.Secondly,deliberate deletion of proper names,which damages the version by smartness.Thirdly,misinterpretations and mistranslations.Based on the previous analysis,the author touches upon the status of Gu Hongming's version, saying that,being the first Chinese to independently translate Confucian classics to the west,his version undoubtedly plays a very important role in the dissemination of traditional Chinese culture,Confucianism in particular,a role that previous versions failed to play in a sense.To the greatest extent,Gu Hongming succeeded in his aim.Finally,the author points out that the translation of classics is a complicated project.It requires a penetrating understanding and grasp of the original and its cultural connotations.Meanwhile,it demands an excellent mastery of the target language.Neither factor is to be neglected.In translation method,a flexible combination of literal and free styles is essential.The external appearance of the original is to be presented,the true nature of it is to a greater extent to be re-presented. Translators should have a prediction about the potential readers:readers of different literacy should have different versions.Only in this way can translators enable them to have a true knowledge about the essence of Chinese culture.