A Comparative Study On The Three English Translations Of The Analects In The Light Of Translator Behavior

The Analects is a collection of Confucius' and his disciples' behaviors and sayings.It has exerted great influence on Chinese culture as well as western culture thanks to its numerous English translations.By now,there have been more than fifty English versions of The Analects,among which the versions of James Legge,Arthur Waley and Din Cheuk Lau are best accepted and most wide-spreading.As to these translations,critics hold their own ideas and could not reach an agreement on their evaluations.The translator is a most important participant in the whole translation activity and what roles he or she sets for him-/herself will have a direct impact on the translation.However,many translation evaluation theories do not take translator's willpower into consideration but put too much emphasis on the equivalence at the level of language,such as the equivalence of words and sentences.In translator behavior criticism,“translator behavior” is a combination of a translator's instinct behavior and social behavior.It can be used as an indicator to evaluate the quality of a translation.Therefore,translator behavior criticism is such a comprehensive critical theory that puts the emphasis on both the intra-linguistic study and the extra-linguistic study.The thesis will make a comparative analysis on the three translations of The Analects respectively by James Legge,Arthur Waley and Din Cheuk Lau from the perspective of “translator behavior” and discuss “degree of rationality” in the three translations.Based on the theory,the three translators are required to produce versions of truth-seeking style as “linguistic beings”;but as “social beings”,they may make some adjustments for their purposes of utility-attaining.The analysis will be conducted in three steps to illustrate how “translator behavior” has worked on a translator's choice in translating.In the first step,an analysis is made to talk about how translators' linguistic nature has driven them to seek the equivalence in words and meanings,style of language and rhetoric devices.The second step will put the emphasis on the adjustments the three translators have made to their translations,under the influence of social background,translation purposes and some other identities in them.Because there is not a set “degree of rationality” for “translator behavior” in “truth-seeking-utility-attaining evaluative model of the continuum”,the last step will integrate their linguistic nature with their social nature and discuss “degree of rationality” respectively.Through the analysis,it is found that the James Legge,Arthur Waley and Din Cheuk Lau have all achieved a degree of rationality in their behaviors both as a “linguistic being” and “social being” in the translation of The Analects,although they have produced different versions in terms of the degree of truth-seeking and utility-attaining.The thesis tends to add more details to the theoretical framework of translator behavior criticism through the discussion on translator's roles and degree of rationality.It is hoped that translations of Chinese philosophical classics could be evaluated from a more objective and comprehensive perspective in the future,so that more translators will play a part in the transmission of traditional Chinese culture.