Translation Analysis Of Official Titles In Zi Zhi Tong Jian From The Perspective Of Reception Theory

With the opening of China towards the rest of the world,scholars from other countries are showing their enthusiasm towards the traditional cultures of China.Official titles in ancient China are loaded with great traditional culture.Therefore,the study of English translation of official positions is of great significance.In recent years,translation of Chinese classics has become one of the focuses of translation studies.However,the study of translation of official titles is still not thorough and comprehensive.Based on the English version of the Zi Zhi Tong Jian,this thesis discusses the English translation of official titles.Zi Zhi Tong Jian is an outstanding work and has great historical significance and historical value.There are two translation versions of the Zi Zhi Tong Jian,which are translated by Achilles Fang of Harvard University and Sinologist Rafe de Crespigny of Australian National University.Adopted the methodology of qualitative analysis and comparative analysis,this thesis will summarize the translation methods used by the two translators when translating official titles.Taking the Reception Theory(also called Reception Aesthetics)as the theoretical framework,the two English versions will be analyzed with the concepts of “fusion of horizons”,“horizon of expectations”,“aesthetic distance” and “blank and indeterminacy”.It is found that some translations of the two translators are in line with the reader's horizon of expectations and can achieve the fusion of horizons.However,some translations are inadequate,and the author gives appropriate translations according to Reception Theory.Four different translation methods are concluded,namely: cultural equivalent,functional equivalent,descriptive equivalent and generalized translation.Among them,the most frequently adopted translation method is descriptive equivalent,then are cultural equivalent and functional equivalent,the least applied method is generalized translation.This study also finds that the first three translation methods almost completely express the specific meaning of the official titles in the original text but different translation methods lead to different receptivity of readers.