Translation Analysis Of Military Terms In Historical Records Of The Five Dynasties

As the history treasures of Chinese civilization,Chinese classics are an integral part of Chinese culture and boast both social and historical significance.As cultural “soft” power is playing an increasingly important role in the modern era,translating Chinese classics into English is an important way to promote Chinese traditional culture worldwide.There are various kinds of cultural terms in these classics,representing the essence of Chinese cultural tradition.Being a significant part of these classics,ancient Chinese military terms carry profound cultural connotations.Therefore,it is difficult to find out the corresponding words of these terms in the target language.How to transfer cultural connotations of these terms to the target readership is one of the challenges for the translators of Chinese classics.Compiled by Ouyang Xiu,Xin Wu Dai Shi(A New History of the Five Dynasties)records the fifty-three years of the Five Dynasties period,and its English version Historical Records of the Five Dynasties was completed by Richard L.Davis through more than ten years' work.It is the first English version about the middle period of Chinese feudal society.The Five Dynasties era was a period of pandemic tumult and numerous wars,as well as a period of military and political struggles.Thus,the translation studies of military terms in Historical Records of the Five Dynasties may help to conduct an in-depth research of this book,which may shed some light on the approach of introducing ancient Chinese military culture to the outside world.The diversity and complexity of culture bring about the need for flexible translation strategies in dealing with cultural terms in the classics.The data used in this study are collected from the original text of Xin Wu Dai Shi and its English version Historical Records of the Five Dynasties.The thesis analyzes the translation of culture specific military terms in Xin Wu Dai Shi through qualitative analysis to investigate how the translator deals with the translation problems of cross-cultural and cross-lingual non-equivalence and lexical gap.The research discovers that the translator adopts various techniques to translate the military terms in Xin Wu Dai Shi.Among these techniques,descriptive equivalent translation is the most frequently used strategy,which can accurately and vividly convey the meaning of the source terms in the original text,thus facilitating a better understanding of Chinese culture.Besides,the translator has also used functional equivalent translation,cultural equivalent translation,intratextual and extratextual gloss,which are effective in improving the comprehensibility,readability and the accuracy of military term translations.