A Study Of Thick Translation As A Method Of English Translation Of Chinese Classics

Samuel P. Huntington predicted in his The Clash of Civilizations that there would be huge cultural conflicts between the East and the West, thus cross-cultural communication would play a more and more important role in exchanges among countries. Traditional Chinese classics,written with obscure ancient Chinese, are valuable treasure for inheriting human culture. The philosophical and cultural values cannot be presented without effective transmission.As the head of the Four Books, The Great Learning,especially its cultural connotation and philosophical thought behind don’t receive extensive attentions just like The Analects and Mencius in academic and educational circles. Therefore, the book hasn’t been transmitted effectively yet. For The Great Learning, however, it’s still the start for learning moral and ethnic ideology. Among numerous English versions of The Great Learning, James Legge’s version is famous for its numerous footnotes, preface, and indexes. This kind of method is called “Thick Translation”, which well transmitted the cultural connotation and philosophical thought.Taking The Great Learning as an example, the author concentrated on the types of “thick translation” used in Legge’s The Great Learning from the perspective of paratext. And then proposed the principles of thick translation from the following three aspects: the accuracy at the micro level; systematization at the structural level; cultural tolerance from the aspects of cultural transmission and exchanged. The author hopes to summarize a specific and workable method for thick translation, and defined the principles for thick translation implement, in order to guide retranslation of Chinese classics. At the same time, facilitate cultural communication between Chinese culture and exotic culture, enhancing the discourse power of Chinese nation in the world.