| The Chinese language can not escape from the paradigm of metaphor and Xiangthinking originated from Chinese characters, while the features of writings are aboundto affect the whole language style, and then the spiritual pattern more focusing on poeticthinking in the way of thinking is gradually formed. In general, the spiritual pattern oftraditional Chinese culture mainly contains the mode of poetic thinking with strongpoetic characteristics. Therefore, the presentation mode of textual language containsstrong poetic features (including the classic of The Hundred Schools of pre-Qin DynastyThought).The presentation mode of discourse in the Book of Songs, including the generalpoetry, fully embodies the feature of poetic culture and temperament in traditionalChinese culture. The Classical texts like the Book of Songs are the form of poeticChinese culture, based on the academic theory of Chinese poetics, as well as on thephilosophical foundation of poetic wisdom. In the history of Chinese culture,“Poetry”is a cultural phenomenon with characteristics of the general and even the extremelyunique. Compared with any other ethnic culture, far-ranging poetic characteristicshighlight the prominent, distinctive Chinese poetic-like culture, which is rooted in thetraditional Chinese humane spirit and the national spirit, and is loaded with the richconnotation of spiritual pattern of Chinese culture as well.As simple corpus and brief syntax of classical texts with philosophicalconnotations, the ancient Chinese classics are highly in concise presentations and full ofmetaphors of life form. It has reflected the philosophical speculation of the universe,social, life value and the history precipitation of Chinese humanistic spirit for over twothousand years. Besides, in terms of it, ancient sages understand and illustrate thesubjective cognition of the objective world according to the outward appearance ofthings. The Book of Songs is by no means an exception. However, in translation of them,the core linguistic representation form born with the classical philosophy in Chineseclassics, often intentionally or unintentionally is guided under the western-centrictranslational domination of colonial culture and thoughts (so called translation with idiomatic English), Therefore, traditional Chinese intellectual system has beenneglected and marginalized, leading to the Eastern wisdom morphology of “Xiangthinking” philosophy being ignored for a long period in the classics translation circles.This thesis studies the English translation of the Book of Songs based on theunderstanding paradigm of language philosophy and question frames. It is establishedupon the understanding paradigm of the interaction between Dao and Xiang. Selectedthe Book of Songs as a case, it aims to put forward a translation criticism paradigm witha philosophical turn on the universal significance; in addition, supported by the theoryof language philosophy, it is to conduct some reflection upon the traditional translationactivities lacking philosophical dimension, so that the English translation of Chineseclassics should be shifted to the linguistic behavior paradigm of philosophicaldimension and theoretical thinking, and the current studies and practices of translationwill be followed and implemented by the dimension of language philosophy andrationality in linguistic behaviors and results,.Firstly, the thesis discusses the relationship between language and national spirit,and concludes: language reflects the humanistic spirit of a nation and the intuition, andthe rationality of experiencing the world as well as interpretation of the objective world.Secondly, from the view of language philosophy, the text is viewed as the portrayal ofthe author himself and the mainstream Poetics perspective during his period as well asthe living situation. Thus, it is well believed that understanding and practice intranslation are needed to regard the text as the noumenon and gripper. With Xiangthinking, and reflected with the covert relationship between the tangible Xiang andintangible Xiang, the translation process stresses on the policy that the translator shouldpursue the meta-meaning or the original meaning of the source text, i.e., a process ofexperiencing Dao (which refers to the meta-meaning of source text in translation)though Xiang (which refers to the source text in translation, specifically its objectiveimages), emphasizes on the poetic interaction and integration of the subject and theobject. Thirdly, the English translation of the Book of Songs means not only the faithfullanguage presentation, but also the faithful spiritual dimension, which regards the textas noumenon and the imagery as gripper. In the practice of translation, the translatorshould not only faithfully mimic the original style in language, but also appropriatelymake necessary adjustments and moderately do “creative translation” with dynamic initiative, so that the unity of opposites “mimic” and “re-creation” can be achieved inphilosophical speculation. In order to implement the goal, the thesis applies the researchmethod of the interaction between the qualitative and the empirical to analyze thetranslation of Xiang descriptions in the Book of Songs. From the philosophicalconception and artistic imagery, the integration degree of targeted translation andoriginal text should be considered so to find out how well the translation has been doneby the rational of “Unity between Man and Heaven”in translation.In conclusion, as the fundamental of Chinese culture and classical philosophy,Xiang thinking is a combination of spiritual speculation and rationality, and meanwhileit functions as poetic speculation transforming the abstract and complexity into thesimplification in thinking. The Chinese classics embodies the living state of the Chinesegroups, and its spiritual and cultural patterns, which are different from those of theWestern philosophy morphology. Thus, the translation should not just care for linguisticmeaning and structure, but concern about Chinese language characterization carryingthe life and speculative forms. Based on traditional Chinese philosophy of theinteraction between Dao and Xiang, the translator is to pursue the ultimate meaning ofthe source text, which is a breakthrough to the backdrop of Europe-oriented academicparadigm, hoping to set up a point view of language philosophy, make up for thedeficiencies in the present translation studies of China, and make contribution tocarrying forward the oriental wisdom in translation studies. |
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