A Case Study Of Gu Zhengkun’s English Translation Of The Book Of Tao And Teh By Chesterman’s Models Of Translation Ethics

As an activity of cross-culture and cross-language communication, translation requires the ethical constraints of certain moral standards and behavioral norms. Throughout time, regardless of what translation theory is, to some extent the relative exploration and studies are all centered on the topic "how we should translate" which fully contains moral connotations. Therefore, in the process of translation studies, to establish the correct ethical consciousness is consequentially conducive to avoid misunderstanding or even cultural conflicts, which will contribute to coordinating the relations between different cultures.In the1980s, French translation theorist Antoine Berman initially put forward the conception of "translation ethics". Hereafter, relative exploration and studies of translation ethics in the academic circles experienced the transition from "ethics of difference" to "ethics of sameness" and the transition from "ethics of sameness" to "deontological ethics". Up to the present, the studies on translation ethics are still on the early stages and most of the studies are focused on the ethics of translator only. Among those theories, the five models of translation ethics (namely, ethics of representation, ethics of service, ethics of communication, norm-based ethics and ethics of commitment) by Finnish translation scholar Andrew Chesterman exerts a great influence on the academic circles. These five models not only provide dynamic standards and multi-dimensional ethical views on translation studies, but also enhance the operability of addressing the ethical problems. However, for the corresponding limitations of these models, translators often fail to equally stress on the underlying values contained in the five models. In particular, these models may run into conflicts and contradictions between each other in cultural classics translation. Therefore, it is of great necessity for translators to cultivate an ethical consciousness of multi-unification and comply with a guiding principle to get rid of the restrictions of binary opposition, thus better coordinating the clashes between different values so as to serve the cross-cultural communication practice. As one of the vital classics of Chinese culture, The Book of Tao and Teh is regarded as "the most frequently translated work next to the Bible" by the Western translation circle. Many scholars in the academic circles have conducted studies on its English translation from different theoretical perspectives. However, studies in light of translation ethics are extremely rare. Taking Professor Gu Zhengkun’s English translation version as the text support, this author attempts to apply Chesterman’s five models to explore how the translator should coordinate the contradictions and oppositions between different micro underlying values in a macro way through linguistic and cultural analysis. The author discovers that these five models and their contradictions and coordinations are all well embodied in Gu.’s English translation version of The Book of Tao and Teh. Through this case study, the author concludes that giving primacy to ethics of commitment could offer some references for translators to comply with an instructive principle in translation practice, particularly in Chinese classics translation and studies.