| As the outstanding thinker and philosopher in the Warring States Period,Han Fei is a representative figure of the school of Legalism.The articles advocating his ideas of governing principles have been compiled into a classical work called Han Fei Tzu.Since not many researches have been done to probe into the translation of this Chinese classic,the scholars do have much space to carry out the related studiesThe two English translations by Burton Watson and W.K.Liao are chosen as the objects of study.In order to explore their distinct translation strategies and features of Han Fei Tzu comprehensively,the study aims to be done from the following angles:letter concepts,words and sentences.Moreover,the study will explore the personal reasons of the different wording and specify the innovations and improvements of the two English versions.The content of the study is divided into three chapters.The first chapter is the introduction of the classic Han Fei Tzu,the two English versions by Burton Watson and W.K.Liao as well as the brief accounts of the translators' lives.The exposition aims to provide full and accurate background information for the subsequent comparison of translation strategies.The second chapter compares the distinct translation expressions of letter concepts,words and sentences of Han Fei Tzu.After analyzing the personal translation features of Burton Watson and W.K.Liao,the study will explore the reasons leading to the differences based on the diverse Chinese source texts and their annotations used by the two translators.The third chapter studies the different usages of rhetorical devices in the two translations.Furthermore,this chapter also differentiates and analyzes the two translators' personal inclinations of literal translation and free translation.By studying Burton Watson and W.K.Liao's translation wording,the study intends to seek out the proper English expressions to meet with the needs of "catering to the understanding of Western readers" and "reproducing Chinese original meaning" respectively.The conclusions of the thorough translation study reach as the following:First,since the Chinese source texts and their annotations consulted by Burton Watson and W.K.Liao are different,the two translators' comprehension of the original Chinese meanings diverges correspondingly,which leads to the diverse angles of explaining and translating this Chinese classic.Second,Burton Watson prefers to use figures of speech to provide lively description,while W.K.Liao is inclined to tell in a simple and straightforward way to cope with foreign readers' difficulty in understanding the original text.Third,Burton Watson often uses the strategies of free translation to expound the profound ideas of Legalism in comprehensible language.In comparison,W.K.Liao is accustomed to the literal translation to reproduce the style of original writing.Under this influence,Liao's style of translation can be in accordance with the one of Chinese text. |
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