A Study Of Arthur Waley's Translation Of Tao Te Ching From The Perspective Of Cultural Presupposition

The theory of Cultural presupposition is a kind of thinking pattern and behavioral model which establishes itself on the basis of cultural context. It is the collective consciousness and social consensus from the accumulation of certain historical or social culture. In the process of translation, the difference of cultural presupposition becomes one of the main obstacles in cross-cultural communication. Translating a text is also the communication of author, translator and readers.Tao Te Ching is not only a classic work of philosophy but also a literary work of great value. Its philosophical connotations and thought-provoking language have attracted many domestic and foreign scholars to analyze and study it. It has often been said that Tao Te Ching is the most frequently translated work next to the Bible. But there is never a version getting everyone's approval. Among many versions, Arthur Waley's has been the focus of critics. His translation has stood the test of time, and until now, is still the focus of discussion of translators and commentators.People have analyzed the various versions of Tao Te Ching, especially Arthur Waley's, from different aspects. Recently, with the cultural-turn of translation criticism, more and more people began to set about analyzing the merits and demerits of various versions from cultural perspective. But no one carries on such analysis specifically from the perspective of cultural presupposition. This thesis is ready to carry on a tentative analysis of Arthur Waley's translation of Tao Te Ching from the perspective of cultural presupposition.The main body of this thesis contains four chapters. Firstly, this thesis analyzes the relationship between cultural presupposition and the translation of the Chinese classical works. Then, it concretely manifests the influence of the cultural presupposition on translation of Tao Te Ching. Finally, it discusses how to find the cultural presupposition whether in translators'minds or in source text and briefly lists the strategies of translating vocabulary of cultural presupposition.The conclusion of this thesis: in order to avoid falling into a trap of cultural presupposition and mistranslating. Translators not only are alert to the cultural presupposition in translator's mind, but should have a good knowledge of the local cultural presupposition of source text. Translators can learn the cultural presupposition in their own minds and local cultural presupposition in ST through approaching foreign culture and reflecting on one's own culture, because only when touching cross-cultural minefields, people feel cultural differences. Translating the text with alien culture demands translators must not only have bilingual but bi-cultural competence.