A Comparative Study Of Two Translations Sun Tzu's The Art War— From A Cultural Perspective

Sun Tzu's The Art of War is not only about military affairs but also abundant with life philosophy, this is the reason why it is increasingly charming.The military treatise was written in simple ancient Chinese, quite different from modern Vernacular Chinese, which makes it difficult for translators to deliver the stylistic features and the essence of the source text. The Art of War was written about 2,500 years ago, the Chinese has undergone huge evolution, because of the barrier of time and place, modern translators tend to ignore the diachronic changes of some Chinese characters and simply interpret the archaic Chinese with its meaning in modern times; for some characters, there are more than one interpretations, it's difficult for the translators to choose a correct one. Further, we must be careful not to ignore the times of the author and the background the author has been set in so as to get a full understanding of the source context. Also the classic works is full of cultural-loaded words, for some, we can easily find equivalence in the target language, then domestication is suggested; for others, there are no counterparts, foreignaization such as transliteration with explanatory notes is suggested.By comparing the two English versions by Giles and Lin Wusun from cultural perspective, it is found that both of them use domestication and foreignization to translate in case of different situations. In order to promote traditional Chinese culture and to let more foreign people understand the essence of The Art of War, it's better to provide adequate explanatory notes or use substitution to help the target readers understand the source text. In translating, the target readers'response should also be considered because of the barriers caused by language, culture and geography.Due to the peculiarity of classic works, a lot of research work on the authors'thoughts, the language evolutions and other reference books are needed before the translators can genuinely render a faithful and expressive translation.