A Comparative Analysis Of The Translators’Subjectivities On English Versions The Analects Of Confucius

Being a Chinese classic, The Analects deeply influence Chinese people’s life on many aspects such as thoughts, ethnics, values and so on. Driven by all sorts of purposes, the translation of The Analects gradually evolves into a tendency as it is modified and created by translators from home and abroad. Because of the profoundity of the original text, the differences between eastern and western culture and the disparity of the languages themselves, the translators have their own understandings and translation strategies at the time of translation, which greatly show their subjectivities.Among so many translation theories, the philosophical hermeneutics is a very unique one. Being a philosophical and cultural theory which is widely spread in the later1960s, it explores the understanding and explanation of meanings. Although it mainly talks about the art works, it can also be applied in many translation phenomenons as there are many common places between art works and translations. With the obviousness of the translators’subjectivities, the hermeneutics also offers a new angle to the translation research. The hermeneutics holds that the translators are actually active creators, rather than passive receptors. At the time of translation, it is unavoidable that the translators will bring their own values, thoughts, cultures into the translation workx. Therefore, the translation work is a reflection of the translators ideology to some degree. However, the expression of the translators’ subjectives must rely on certain texts. Because of that, two representative translation editions of The Analects are chosen by this paper.This thesis includes six chapters. The first chapter is about the background of the research, the research methods, the significance of this paper and a brief introduction to The Analects and its two translation versions. The second chapter selects three main concepts of Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics which are the historicity of understanding, prejudice as well as fusion of horizon, In the third chapter, basing on some example sentences of The Analects, this thesis detailed contrasts how the translators choose different English words to translate a same Chinese concept, and explains the reasons why the translators bring into play their subjectivities influenced by the phenomenons of purposive translation, creative treason and cultural filter. The fourth chapter mainly analyzes the roots why two translators have different subjectivities. In the fifth chapter, the author explains her own standards of evaluating translation works. The last chapter is the conclusion part.Through analyzing Legge’s and Ku Hungming’s English versions, this thesis achieves following conclusion: influenced by certain social and historical environment, the translators always intentionally or unintentionally add, delete or change some information in the source work to translate a work which suits to his certain expectation. Therefore, the translation is creative affected by certain purpose, certain target readers and so on.