A Report On E-C Translation Of The Tao Of The West (Excerpt) From The Perspective Of Eco-translatology

This report is based upon the E-C translation practice of the preface and the eighth chapter of The Tao of the West-Western Transformations of Taoist Thought(hereinafter referred to as The Tao of the West),which introduces the spread of Daoism in the West and the understanding and reflection of Western scholars on Chinese Daoism.At the linguistic level,the source text enjoys the typical features of academic literature such as long sentences and passive sentences.Additionally,due to its distinctive research content,the source text is also characterized by evaluative words.At the cultural level,it is marked by philosophical terminologies,Daoist terminologies,and explicit or implicit quotations of Daoist classics or allusions.At the communicative level,the employment of metonymies and synonyms makes the source text more intelligible.Eco-translatology redefines translation as the cyclical alternation of translators' adaption to the translational eco-environment of the source text and the adaptive selection of the target text.Based on the theory of Eco-translatology,this report adopts the translation strategy of the “three-dimensional transformation”,and illustrates some typical cases on the linguistic,cultural and communicative dimensions,so as to summarize feasible translation methods.To be specific,on the linguistic dimension,with the aim of presenting a smooth and coherent translation,evaluative words are translated into Chinese four-character phrases;division is selected to translate long and difficult sentences;passive voice is converted to active voice.On the cultural dimension,to bridge the cultural gap,explicitation is utilized to clarify implicit allusions;literal translation with annotation is employed to handle metaphors;by tracing the etymology of philosophical terminologies,established translation of terminologies are adaptively selected.On the communicative dimension,to eliminate the communication barriers and facilitate the readers,the translator opts to abstract metonymies and omits synonyms.Guided by Eco-translatology,this report proposes some concrete translation methods under the guidance of the “three-dimensional transformation” strategy and rationalizes them with sufficient cases based on the “adaption and selection” principle,thus justifying the feasibility of Eco-translatology for the translating of the source text.According to this report,Eco-translatology provides practicable theoretical guidance forthis practice.It is hoped that this conclusion as well as the aforementioned translation methods can serve as references for the translation of other similar texts in terms of ecological considerations.In this way,the translation of overseas Daoist texts can achieve a higher holistic degree of adaption and selection.