A Study On Yan Fu's Translation Of Gospel Of Mark From The Perspective Of Approach To Translation As Adaptation And Selection

The Bible is the Christian scripture which plays a very important role in world literature history. Its influence upon Chinese culture and literature should not be ignored. The Bible is also the most translated work in history and has been translated into more languages than any other text. It has been rendered into various versions by different translators who have been guided by different translation principles.The paper focuses on the translation theory of the "approach to translation as adaptation and selection", and chooses Yan Fu's translation of Gospel of Mark as the object of research. It is a pioneering study as it uses the theory of "an approach to translation as adaptation and selection" to explain Yan Fu's translation of the Bible.The paper introduces the Bible, Yan Fu's translation of Gospel of Mark, and the theory which is used in the analysis—Professor Hu Gengshen's "An approach to translation as adaptation and selection". This theory considers translation as a translator's adaptation and selection activities in a translational eco-environment. Such an environment includes the source text and the target language, the linguistic, cultural, communicative and social aspects of translating, as well as the author and the readers. The paper then analyses Yan Fu's translation of Gospel of Mark from two general aspects (from macro-level and micro-level). In the part of micro-level analysis, the paper explains in detail examples of Yan Fu's translations from the dimensions of linguistics, culture and communication, which has been summarized in professor Hu's theory as three-dimensional transformation.The paper points out that the "translation approach as adaptation and selection" is applicable to Chinese Bible translation. At the same time, it is also shows that the theory applies to classical Chinese Bible translation. The study attempts to bring a new insight into the translators who are engaged in the Chinese translation of the Bible. It also tries to infuse new vitality into the Chinese Bible translation theory.