A Study Of Legge’s Translation Of The Great Learning From The Perspective Of Translation As Adaptation And Selection

James Legge (1815-1897) is the famous modern Scottish literary translator and the missionary of London Church. He once was the first Sinologist Professor of Oxford University, making a significant contribution in translating Chinese ancient classics and the reform of education in Hong Kong. Holding the attitude of respect and tolerance, Legge was the first one to do research on Confucius and translated the Chinese classics into English. Following the serious attitude towards the "Bible", Legge made a great contribution to the cultural exchange and the development of the Western Sinology. His works were collected in two series, the Chinese Classics (《中国经典》)and The Scared Books of the East (《东方圣书》), including the Confucian classics--the Four Books and the Five Chings (《四书五经》), The Tao Teh King (《道德经》),the Writings of Kwang-Tze (《庄子》) and other classic Taoist translations.In2004, Hu Gengshen, Professor in Tsinghua University proposed the Approach to Translation as Adaptation and Selection, whose philosophical basis is the adaptation and selection in Darwin’s biological evolution theory. Professor Hu believes that translation is the translator’s selective activity adapting to the translational eco-environment. The basic concepts in this theory include:Translation is adaptation and selection; translator is the center; the optimal translation is the result of translator’s multi-dimensional adaptation to the translational eco-environment and adaptive selection. This translation theory consists of four sub-theories:The process of translation is an alternating cycle that the translator’s adaption and selection happen in process; translation principle is multi-dimensional adaptation and adaptative selection; translation method is the three-dimensional transformation:linguistic dimension, cultural dimension and communicative dimension; translation criteria are the degree of multi-dimensional transformation, reader’s feedback and translator quality.The Great Learning, one of Confucius classics-The Four Books, is the beginning of one’s morality. Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi from Song dynasty separated it from the Books of Rites (《礼记》) and adapted to make it an independent chapter. Zhu Xi in Southern Song Dynasty compiled it into the Four Books with "The Doctrine of the Mean"(《中庸》),"The Analects"(《论语》) and "Mencius"(《孟子》). Zhu Xi put it as the first one of the Four Books. It had a great impact in the feudal society.This thesis mainly applies Professor Hu’s translation theory of translator adaptation and selection to probe into Legge’s translation of The Great Learning with five chapters. Combined with the social background, the main body explores how Legge’s translating The Great Learning could survive in the special translational eco-environment and then studies Legge’s selective adaptation and adaptative selection to analyze Legge’s faithful translation methods and strategies, concentrated on the linguistic, cultural and communicative dimensions. The conclusion draws that translation is not just a language activity, but also an ecological activity. Through the explanation, Legge’s contributions to the cultural exchange between East and West are revealed, which promote the publicity of Confucius classics. Hu Gengshen’s approach to translation as adaptation and selection provides a new perspective for the study on James Legge’s English translation of the Confucian classics and the corresponding translation criticism.