A Study Of The Translation Of Tao Te Ching From The Perspective Of Cultural Translation

It is well known that cultural translation studies have been gaining importance amongst academia both at home and abroad. It is agreed that the process of translation is actually a process of choices and decisions made on the basis of specific cultures, because no translator is free from certain cultural background, and the culture of the society in which he lives has been branded on the translator's brain. As the founding text of Taoist philosophy, Tao Te Ching is a monument in the history of Chinese culture. It has stimulated the interest of many philosophers, scientists, statesmen, and entrepreneurs and inspired them greatly in their fields and lives. Since the 18th century, a lot of scholars, both in China and in other countries in the world, have shown their great interest in this book, and the trend is likely to continue for centuries. Either the study or the translation practice about the book has never witnessed an end. Despite such a fact, there is not a single version that is internationally acknowledged and totally accepted because there is no standard in evaluating the translation of the book and every version has its own merits and demerits. In this thesis, the author chooses three English versions of Tao Te Ching due to the fact that the translators are typical of the translation and of cultures. The author generalizes some cultural features of Tao Te Ching, then analyzes some samples from the three versions to illustrate how the cultural factors influence the translation process of Tao Te Ching and raises some strategies for the translation of Tao Te Ching.