Study On The English Translation Of Chinese Classics From The Perspective Of Manipulation Theory

The traditional translation theory holds that translation studies under the language paradigm should pay more attention to the correspondence between the original texts and the translations at all levels in the language form.This translation concept hardly explains many problems and phenomena in the translation process.In the late 1970 s,Lefevere,Hermans and other translation theorists emphasized the influence of culture on translation activities.This is a brand new perspective of translation,which shifts the translation of traditional translation studies from linguistic counterparts to cultural contexts,thus contributing to the cultural turn in translation studies.The initiative of “One Belt and One Road” in China emphasizes the importance of cultural construction with China's rising international status.The tremendous translators and scholars are the main forces for carrying out cultural output and foreign cultural communication in China.In order to develop the stepping-out of Chinese culture,we must find a better translation theory to guide the translation work.Lefevere's manipulation theory breaks the traditional translation model and places greater emphasis on translation activities under the cultural background to discuss the influence of non-translation factors such as ideology,poetics and patronage on translation activities.Based on the manipulation theory and the analysis of English versions of Tao Te Ching,this thesis focuses on the study of English translation of Chinese classics from the perspective of manipulation theory,explores the influence of ideology,poetics and patronage on the translating process of three different versions of Tao Te Ching by James Legge,Arthur Waley and Gu Zhengkun,and explains the working mechanism of the “three factors” of manipulation theory in the process of English translation of Tao Te Ching.In terms of ideology,the English translation of Tao Te Ching is mainly manipulated by translators' individual ideology and social ideology.In terms of poetics,the differences in the English translation of Tao Te Ching are mainly reflected at the lexical level and syntactic level.The patronage also plays an important role in the dissemination of three translations in different periods.In the process of translating Tao Te Ching,the three translators adopted different translation strategies.James Legge adopted domestication strategy due to the influence of Western religions.Arthur Waley adopted domestication as a main strategy and foreignization as a compensatory strategy.While Gu Zhengkun retained the characteristics of Chinese culture in the translation and adopted foreignization as a main strategy and domestication as a compensatory strategy to adapt to Chinese readers' thinking mode,which provided guidance for the translation of Chinese classics.Through the research,it can be found that the manipulation theory not only explains the working process of Tao Te Ching from the perspective of culture,but also guides the translation of Chinese classics to some extent.At the micro level,the “three factors” of manipulation theory brings enlightenments for the choice of translators,the choice of the original text and the choice of publishing modes.At the macro level,the concept of cultural translation under the manipulation theory provides a guidance for the dissemination of Chinese culture,promotes translation studies and intercultural communication,and also reflects the importance of English translation of Chinese classics on the cultural construction road of “One Belt and One Road”.