On The Transmission Of Cultural Image In The Discourese And Sayings Of Confucius

As natural entity, translator has natural borned creativity and subjective initiative. Horizon fusion theory of Hermeneutics indicates that translation involves two times of horizon fusion:fusion of translator's and source text's horizon; fusion of target reader's and translated work's fusion. In order to fulfill two times of horizon fusions and get translation effect, translator needs to put effort into accessing translated work's fusion close to that of target reader's. Moreover, according to skopos theory, for the sake of completing translation intention, translator would also give play to subjective initiative. All of these theories can serve as theoretical basis for one of dual-attributes of translator's subjectivity——proactivity. On the other hand, as social element, translator is manipulated by various social-historical and ideological-poetic factors. Scholars of manipulation school including Lefevere remarked that ideology, poetic and patronage are three factors which control translator's translation process. Foucault also indicated in power and discourse theory that various forms of power manipulate translator. These indicate the passivity attribution of translator's subjectivity.As a new concept in translation theory, research about cultural image is far from mature. Cultural image is historical deposit of nation culture, usually with rich cultural information and profound association. Cultural image is composed by representation, denotation and connotation. People of the same cultural background can understand tacitly once mentioned these. However, in translation, due to differences between cultures, when literature been translated from one culture to another, one of these three levels of cultural image may get lost or misplaced; discrepancy of cultural image is unavoidable. According to the degree of discrepancy, cultural image discrepancy can be classified into these aspects:Lack of representation counterpart; Lack of connotation; Partly overlapping in connotation; Divergent and conflicting connotation; as well as those just have the same pragmatic meaning. If cultural image cannot be transmitted completely, significance of translation is lost to much extent.Hence, discussion about how to transmit cultural image better is of great significance in improving aesthetic value of literature translation. Four important effect which needed to be guaranteed as much as possible in process of cultural image transmission are:To guarantee the correctness of cultural image's connotation (marked as +/-connotation); to benefit cultural enrichment and communication (marked as+/-cultural enrichment); to keep the coherence of text (marked as +/- coherence); as well as to eliminate target readers'strangeness on the cultural image (marked as +/- strangeness). This research probes into the topic from the perspective of translator's subjectivity, discuss the most effective method for transmitting cultural image under factors which influence choice of strategies during cultural image transmitting process. The effect of transmission strategies used widely in cultural transmission including interpretation (+ connotation;—cultural enrichment;+ coherence;—strangeness), omission (—connotation;—cultural enrichment;+ coherence;—strangeness); annotation (+ connotation;—culture enrichment;+ coherence;—strangeness); transliteration (—connotation;+ cultural enrichment;—coherence;—strangeness); literal translation and word-to-word translation (-/+ connotation;—cultural enrichment;+ coherence;—strangeness); substitution (+/—connotation;—cultural enrichment;+ coherence;—strangeness) are classified and evaluated according to the four requirements mentioned above. How and when to use these strategies depend on concrete condition of translation.This research analyzes social-historical and ideological-poetic background of Ku Hung-Ming when he translated Lun Yu. Ku's translation motivation and intention generated under those social-historical and ideological-poetic background factors are concluded as:To alter foreigners'prejudice against China and Chinese culture; To spread Chinese culture in order to save the endangered Chinese civilization, as well as to fight against the invasion of western culture; To cultivate westerners by using Chinese moral values in Chinese civilization, with the purpose of saving China from aggression of western countries. As what has been listed above, the preferable method for transmitting cultural image under that condition should be like these:For those cultural images which lack of proper substitution and need more explanations for connotation, brief interpretation in text, transliteration and detailed interpretation in annotation (IAT) are preferable. While for those cultural images whose connotation can find its similar substitution in target language, brief interpretation and substitution in text, transliteration and detailed interpretation in annotation (ISAT) are better.And then strategies Ku adopted for transmitting cultural image (take person's name as example) in his translation of Lun Yu are summarized, classified and calculated. Among those 188 names of person,122 of them are transmitted by using interpretation; 38 of them are omitted; only 1 of them is translated under IAT; 1 of them is delivered by ISAT which is mentioned above. Consult Ku Hung-ming's translation intention and motivation, together with preferable method mentioned above, effect of Ku's strategies can be concluded. Due to his largely usage of brief interpretation and omission in transmission, target readers'strangeness are reduced effectively. Besides, coherence of text is guaranteed because of those strategies. However, as the most important effect of cultural image transmission, the exactness of cultural image connotation in delivery process and cultural enrichment are lost to a large extent.This research aims at reinforce status of translator's subjectivity, emphasize on evaluate translation under specific translation background. Translation is not only code switching on language level, but also communication between two cultures, as well as delivery of cultural images. Discuss how to transmit cultural image in uttermost effect under specific situation have great significance for improving aesthetic appreciation on translated literature. This thesis also provides a new perspective on appreciating artistic value of Ku Hung-Ming's The Discourses and Sayings of ConfuciusThis research also commits to certain limitation. There are various forms of cultural image in Lun Yu, as well as in Ku's translation, take person's name as research point, just evaluate transmission of person's name as representation of cultural image delivery may not as comprehensive and exact as expected.