On Liu Zhongde's View Of Literal And Free Translation

Liu Zhongde has been known as a famous translator and scholar in our country.Among his insightful remarks on translation, the three-word principle of "faithfulness,expressiveness and closeness"and his views on poetry have been widely discussed bya great many scholars. Nevertheless, this paper is going to expound his view of literaland free translation, trying to prove that it is just as illuminating and instructive.Plenty of scholars have given high remarks on Liu's literal and free translationfrom different perspectives; however, their remarks or related studies are far fromenough and systematic. This paper, therefore, undertakes to elaborate on Liu's viewconcerned, demonstrate its feasibility in both theory and practice on the basis ofprevious studies, and reinforce the aim of fidelity in translation through highlightingthe importance of literal translation.Firstly, this paper is to elaborate on its practical and theoretical foundations. Theformer discusses how his early translation practice has influenced his attitude towardsliteral and free translation, and how this attitude has instructed him in his later years.Besides, this part also includes some observations on vivid examples given by Liu inhis academic research. The latter discusses Liu's selective inheritance of relevanttranslation studies both in China and in the west. Then the author will introduce somecontemporary scholars' views that echo to Liu's on translation methods so as toreinforce Liu's literal stance. In general, most scholars attach much importance toliteral translation since it helps to preserve the style of original literary works whoseforms are closely related to meaning. What should be noted is that with the emergenceof cultural turn in translation studies, more and more scholars have begun to showparticular attention to cultural communication. As a result, quite a few scholars havereplaced the terms of literal and free translation with foreignizing and domesticatingmethods, advocating that the former should be adopted as the primary for it can helpto promote cultural communication and satisfy the target readers' desire to learn the new. As is widely acknowledged, literal translation and foreignization correspond toeach other; therefore, this paper will also cite some foreignizing opinions as a supportof Liu's literal stance. Lastly, the author will demonstrate Liu's view in questionthrough the analysis of vivid examples, thus combining theoretical demonstrationwith practical illustration.In a word, Liu's view of literal and free translation not only comes from practicebut also applies to it; it is not only based on the inheritance of traditional translationtheories but also in conformity with a great many related views of the time. It issignificant in that it helps to call people's attention to literal translation, understand itfrom some new perspectives, and achieve the principle of fidelity in its real sense.