A Contrastive Analysis Of English Translation Of Key Conceptual Words Of Lunyu From The Perspective Of Communication Ethics

As a treasure of Chinese traditional culture, ancient Classics provide the spiritual motivation for continually social advance. Lunyu, one of the representatives of Classics, takes a significant position on history of Chinese culture and literature. It records the sayings and thoughts of Confucius(Kong Qiu), an honorable philosopher and educator in the Spring and Autumn period of ancient China. Ethical values including 仁(“Ren”), 礼(“Li”), 忠(“Zhong”), 孝(“Xiao”) and 悌(“Ti”) have immense influence on Chinese society. Therefore, translating Lunyu into English is of great advantage for rebuilding of ethical system at home and abroad.In 1980 s, based on the “Cultural Turn” in translation studies, traditional dominating ethical values are questioned. Scholars start off to reevaluate on translation ethics, from Berman’s ethical purpose of translation in the early stage to Venuti’s ethics of difference, from Pym’s interculturality to Chesterman’s five ethic values of translation in later stage, research scope of translation ethics thus determined. Communication ethics is constructed from three dimensions: First, in linguistic dimension, rational communication advocates that the translator and the source text should be put on an equal stage. The translator should translate the source text(ST) into target text(TT) in fidelity, specifically, the language style, terms, sentences and figures of speech contained in the ST should be faithfully transformed into TT, thus to achieve an interaction between the translator and ST & TT. Secondly, in culture dimension, the translator is acted as a transformer between different cultures thus s/he is responsible for contributing to lasting intercultural cooperation between two different cultures. What kind of translating method will be adopted to achieve the cooperation between two cultures is evaluated. Thirdly, in social dimension, the translator is acted as an initiator thus s/he should communicate well with all side involved in the translation process. The collaborative agents involved: translator, publish agency in home and aboard, editor, readers and comment-contributors. Communication between the translator and the reader is considered to be the foremost here. Based on the respect on the source text and the source culture, translator should take the reception of target readers into consideration.Taking Chesterman’s ethics of communication as theoretical foundation, this dissertation underlines a comparative analysis on key conceptual words Ren, Li, Zhong and Xiao in English versions of Lunyu by Roger T. Ames & Henry Rosemont, Jr. and Lin Wusun. By adopting the methodology of case studies and comparative analysis, translation methods and skills adopted by translators are analyzed, major findings are as follows: First, in Linguistic dimension, different from Lin Wusun who combines the literal translation and free translation together, Ames and Rosemont adopt foreignizing translation and used process language including gerunds and nouns in order to compliant the ancient Chinese thoughts, thus reflecting the dynamic features of Confucianism on language level. In cultural dimension, by means of analyzing target text and its annotation of key conceptual words, literal translation is mainly adopted and then the free translation, omission with annotation is acted as supplement by translators to promote the communication between two cultures. Domestic translator Lin Wusun transmits the cultural connotations of cultural-loaded words better in the original text since he is more proficient in Chinese culture. In social dimension, communication between translator and the readers is evaluated. Translators adopt different translation methods in translating Chinese concepts which are difficult for readers to understand. Lin adopts domesticating translation and simplifies the translation because it will be easier for readers to understand and accept while Ames and Rosemont adopt foreignizing translation and keep the original culture to reveal the original thinking of Confucianism.The innovation points of the present dissertation lie in the following three aspects. First, studying English translation of Key conceptual words of Chinese Classics Lunyu from the perspective of Communication Ethics is a new and effective way to analyze translation methods adopted by translators, thus to provide a reference for later studies on English translation of Lunyu. Second, statistics data of frequency and part of speech of four conceptual words in two English versions is collected, which acted as a quantitative foundation for the later qualitative analysis. Last, ethical values contained in key conceptual words can be served as a foundation for reconstruction of ethical system in China and even the world.On translation method of key conceptual words of Lunyu, it is better to combine the translation methods of two translators together: translate key conceptual words into its general meaning noted by Chinese character and Pinyin, for instance “Ritual Propriety(礼 Li)”,at the same time, its specific meanings can be analyzed in footnotes in order to convey its rich cultural meaning.