A Study Of English Translation Of Culture-loaded Words In Tao Te Ching From The Perspective Of ICM Theory

Tao Te Ching is a monumental work in the history of Chinese culture. As a classic ofDaoism, it is the first systematical philosophy work in Chinese history. Tao Te Ching hasexerted great influence on the traditional culture and life of Chinese. It has influence not onlyon culture and everyday life, but also on Chinese ancient philosophy, politics and art. As oneof the representatives of oriental culture, Tao Te Ching also has a profound influence in theworld. It has been given wide publicity and has become a spiritual wealth shared by allpeoples in the world. Culture-loaded words are a kind of words which can reflect the typicalnational backgrounds and folk customs. The culture-loaded words are plentifully used in TaoTe Ching, with profound implications. Thus we can say that the successful translation of theculture-loaded words is a pivotal point to a successful translation version.Idealized Cognitive Models was proposed by George Lakoff, who is the pioneer in theCognitive Linguistics, in1987. Wang Yin made a detailed analysis in his book CognitiveLinguistics, in2006. ICM is short for Idealized Cognitive Models. ICM refers to the abstract,unified, idealized understanding of people of specific cultural backgrounds on specific fieldexperience and knowledge. ICM is a complete prototype structure based on humans’experience. The characteristics of ICM also provide new foundations for translation. ApplyingICM to conduct translation practice and evaluation of translation is also very persuasive.In this thesis, the author chooses four celebrated English translations of Tao Te Ching asthe objects for comparison and study. They are respectively the British missionary JamesLegge’s version in1891, the English scholar Arthur Waley’s version in1937, and the masterwho spreads Chinese culture: Lin Yutang’s version in1948and Beijing University professorGu Zhengkun’s version in2007. Among these four translators, two are Chinese nativetranslators; the other two are from English speaking countries. They lives in different times,having different cultural backgrounds. This thesis tries to analyze from the perspective of theirdifferent living times and cultural backgrounds, aiming to do a comparative study from theICM point of view. Begin with the classification of the culture-loaded words in Tao Te Ching,and then study them under the four models of ICM theory. The author makes a objectivedescription of different English versions of cultural-loaded words, with the purpose of lettingthe readers take a new look at the change of English translations of culture-loaded words. Thisthesis can promote the construction between ICM theory and translation theories, providing anew view and evaluation standard for the critics of English translations of Chinese classics.