A Comparative Study Of English Translations Of The Three-Character Classic From The Triple Beauties Perspective

As a traditional primer for elementary education in ancient China, The Three-Character Classic is well known by Chinese people for over 700 years. Almost every Chinese child can recite at least one or two sentences in the book. A wide range of knowledge is covered by the book, including education, ethics, astronomy, history and geography, implicating the Confucian thought and illustrating stories of famous historical figurers. It can be seen as an encyclopedia for children and also an enlightenment book for them to learn some basic knowledge of life. It is also a guide of Chinese culture for foreigners. Thus a good translation of The Three-Character Classic should not only provide basic information of China, but also encourage foreigners to probe into the profound Chinese culture.Although it is a textbook for education, The Three-Character Classic is beautiful in meaning, sound and form. Written in three-character lines, it is easy to memorize with rhymes and rhetorical devices, which is similar to ancient Chinese poetry. Therefore, the Triple Beauties Translation Principle proposed by the renowned Chinese translator Xu Yuanchong is adopted in this thesis. The Triple Beauties include beauty in meaning, sound and form, which are applied in translating ancient Chinese poetry. According to these criteria, the best translation of The Three-Character Classic should accurately explain Chinese culture and reflect its feature in sound and form.The thesis adopts four translations, two of which are finished in the Qin Dynasty by foreigners; the other two are worked out by modern Chinese translators. The author of this thesis compares the four translations according to the Triple Beauties Translation Principle and finds out their own features. Through comparison it can be found that among the four English translations, Wang Baotong's translation conforms to the Triple Beauties Translation Principle best. Translations by Giles and Meng Fanjun are weak in displaying the beauty in sound and form, compared with Wang Baotong's translation. Morrison's translation does not fully reproduce the Triple Beauties of The Three-Character Classic.