A Study On Relations Between Translators' Habitus And Translation Norms Of Chinese Classics

As Chinese culture going global accelerates,Chinese scholars of translation studies have begun to shift focus to the study of subjects related to the translation of Chinese classics from different perspectives with significant progress in the study on translation strategies,translation norms,translators' subjectivity,etc.Yet,most studies on the translation of Chinese classics concentrated on translation products and translation process and few scholars have conducted the meso or macro level studies.The Art of War,a representative of traditional Chinese classics with over 100 translated versions including 40-odd English versions,is popular and influential in the western world for a century and has become a research object of Chinese scholars of the translation of Chinese classics.Given that,the thesis intends to study the relations between translators' habitus and translation norms based on the diachronic analysis of translation methods by five translators to handle military terms,numbers and units,and figures of speech of The Art of War.Particularly,the thesis will research how translators' habitus can interact with translation norms to influence translators' choice of translation methods to translate the three elements according to Pierre Bourdieu's social praxeology with habitus,field and capital as the core.Specifically,the thesis will be carried out through textual analysis,document analysis and theoretical thinking.To achieve the objective,the thesis attempts to answer three questions: what translation methods were adopted by the five translators respectively when military terms,numbers and units and figures of speech were dealt with? What were their habitus and translation norms that they abided by respectively? How did translators' habitus and translation norms interact with each other to influence translators' choice of translation methods?The thesis concludes that when choosing translation methods and techniques,if translators' habitus is consistent with translation norms,translators will mainly follow translation norms;if translators' habitus is opposite to and more influential than translation norms,translators will bend translation norms when choosing translation methods and techniques.Besides,previous translators' habitus to some extent can shape future translation norms that later translators abide by.This study provides revelations for studies on translation of Chinese classics and helps promote relevant translation studies such as the acceptability of translation of Chinese classics among foreign readers,relations between translators' habitus and translators' behavior,and military translation.