A Study Of Duilian Translation From The Perspective Of Faithfulness

Duilian (Chinese couplet), which is colloquially called Duizi and formallycalled yinglian, is a unique art form of the Chinese culture, with the beauty oforder and symmetry. It originated in the four-six sentences in parallel prose inHanwei and Six Dynasties, and ultimately became popular in Ming and QingDynasties after thousands of years’ development. Duilian is a cultural gem, whichhas never lost its glamour, but gained so much popularity in Chinese history. Thewidespread use of Duilian also has aroused interest from the academia, butscholars have divided opinions on it.Studies on Duilian translation in China is still found in small numbers, butdifferent perspectives have been adopted. Nevertheless, the studies as a whole areimbalanced. Those on the translation of aesthetic features and studies based onvarious theories prevail, but few studies focus on the translation of content.Besides, there are not yet studies connecting the points above and giving acomprehensive and detailed analysis of Duilian translation.As far as Duilian translation is concerned, most people give high priority tocontent faithfulness when content and style cannot be kept simultaneously intranslation process. In this case, style will always be ignored. Actually,“duilian”contains “dui” and “lian”, which can not be divided.“Dui” refers to antithesis ofthe style, and if it’s abandoned in the course of translation, readers will not feel itsdistinctiveness.The paper focuses on three aspects: faithfulness of content, faithfulness ofstyle and faithfulness of rhetoric. The author has chosen some examples fromPreliminaries to Chinese Antithetical Couplets And Their Translation into Englishby Huang Zhongxi, and some basic characteristics of Duilian and the currentproblems about Duilian translation are discussed. The author thinks that proper comprehension of the source text is the basis of translation. Therefore, in theprocess of translation, the translator must first understand the source text in orderto translate it exactly.Then, the author analyzes the aesthetic characteristics of Duilian. Fromdifferent points of view, Duilian contains different beauty. This paper deals withthe visual, aural and mental beauty of Duilian, and the author believes that byusing some language techniques in English, these aesthetic features can beretained, so as to show the unique charm of Duilian.Finally the translation of rhetoric is discussed. In this part, content, form andrhetoric are respectively compared to a house foundation, framework andinfrastructure. Foundation and framework should be consistent with the originaldesign, and infrastructure can be adjusted freely.Currently, there is no specific norm for Duilian translation, and this papercan provide some reference for future studies of Duilian translation, which willalso contribute to the standardization of Duilian translation.