A Study Of Translation Norms Of English Versions Of Tao Te Ching

As one of Chinese famous philosophy and Daoism works, Tao Te Ching appealedto many scholars at home and abroad because of its special characteristic of languageand profound meaning. Since the publication of the first English version of Tao TeChing in1868, the translation of Tao Te Ching experienced three periods. And Tao TeChing has become the most popular and widely translated Chinese classics except theBible in the English-speaking countries.This thesis tries to have a descriptive study of three English versions of Tao TeChing in order to find their translation norms at that time. Chapter one is introductionwhich is to express the significance and the purpose. Chapter two is literature reviewwhich is the study background about the English version of Tao Te Ching at home andabroad. Chapter three is theoretical framework which aims to indicate the origin ofToury’s translation norms and its value. Chapter four is about the development of theEnglish versions of Tao Te Ching, which can divide into three periods. Chapter five isthe main part, which will have a detail study about the translation norms of threeEnglish versions. It contains two parts, preliminary norms at macro-level andoperational norms at micro-level. Chapter six is conclusion based on the abovestudies.The study found that the English version of Legge served for the Bible, forChristianity, his version has a strong social and political function, so he paid littleattention on the literary flavor and inner philosophy of Tao Te Ching. The Englishversion of Arthur Waley mainly had an attitude of culture comparison. He held thatTao Te Ching should be put into the whole system of the Chinese thoughts and culture,so the difficult is to transfer the connotation in Tao Te Ching. The English version ofLin Yutang aimed to express the mysterious inner thought, the characteristics ofChinese poems and languages, so he focus on the philosophy, literariness, and thebeauty of language in the book Tao Te Ching.This thesis tries to set a new way for the study of Chinese classics not only have a comparative study of the texts of the English versions, but also aims at thetranslation norms behind the English versions. From the perspective of macro-level,different social ideology, cultural background may influence the translation ofChinese classics. From the perspective of micro-level, translators have their owntranslation strategies. So readers can have a conclusion on these three versionsaccording to the translator’s cognitive level of Taoism and Chinese culture. All thesehelp improve the broadcasting of Chinese traditional culture and promote thecommunication between Chinese and the world.