| Hermeneutics, a subject on understanding and interpretation of meaning, has evolved from theological hermeneutics into modern philosophical hermeneutics after long-term development. Translating, in light of philosophical hermeneutics, is a process of understanding and interpreting, of which understanding is the premise.Gadamer, the representative of philosophical hermeneutics, believes that a translator is first a reader, and then an interpreter, and has his/her own"fore-understanding"or"prejudice"before understanding. For this reason, his/her understanding and interpretation are inevitably affected by his/her own language and cultural background. The translator's understanding of the language and culture in the source text is of vital importance, especially for the translation of traditional Chinese classics which involves double fusion of horizons and double translation of the original text. The translator's present horizon is fused with the horizon of the source text in history to make the horizon for translation understanding and then the newly-born horizon is fused with the present horizon of the target readers to form the horizon for translation reproduction. As to the so-called double translation of the original text, translation from classic Chinese into modern Chinese is the first one which lays the foundation for the second translation from modern Chinese into English.Due to cultural uniqueness, there are culturally-loaded words with diversified meanings in every language, of which it is very difficult to find exact equivalents in the target language. This is especially the case with Dao (é“), a core concept in traditional Chinese ideology with plentiful cultural connotations. So, a thorough understanding of Dao (é“) adds to the understanding of Chinese culture, and in particular Chinese philosophy. In recent years, more and more traditional Chinese classics have been translated into English, in which the translation of the basic concepts differ one from another. Take Dao (é“) for example. It has been put into a variety of dictions. For this reason, the writer of this thesis tries to analyze and discuss the connotations and English translations of Dao (é“) from the perspective of philosophical hermeneutics and endeavours to demonstrate the importance of the understanding of culture in the source text, trying to cast some enlightenment on translating the culturally-loaded concepts in Chinese classics.There are five chapters in this thesis. Chapter one serves as an introduction. Through analyzing the relationships among language, culture and translation, the importance of cultural translation in the course of globalization for the purpose of enhancing its cultural influence is discussed. Since culturally-loaded concepts embody the characteristics of a country's culture most, to study how to translate them is of great significance.Chapter two is the theory foundation of this thesis. It presents the basic concepts of the philosophical hermeneutics, such as"historicity of understanding","prejudice","fusion of horizons", and"effective history principles". Brief discussion is made on the influence of philosophical hermeneutics on translation because, according to Gadamer, translation is a process of understanding and interpreting.Chapter three probes into the origin and the development of Dao (é“) from the etymology and its use in several Chinese classics in order to explore its rich cultural connotations.Chapter four first discusses the application of philosophical hermeneutics in the translation of traditional Chinese classics, and then thoroughly analyzes the main connotations and English translations of Dao (é“).The last chapter is a conclusion. In view of the discussions and analysis made in the previous four chapters, the thesis further analyzes and summarizes the factors involved in the translation of traditional Chinese classics in light of philosophical hermeneutics, hoping to shed some light on translating the culturally-loaded concepts in traditional Chinese classics.
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