A Comparative Study On Two English Versions Of Lunyu From The Perspective Of Eco-translatology

Lunyu（The Analects）is the quintessence of Confucianism and Chinese traditional culture.So far,the book has been translated into more than 60 languages and spread around the world,of which English version is the most numerous translations.Translators in different periods have translated Lunyu into English using different methods and scholars have studied them from different perspectives,making certain contributions to the international communication of Chinese traditional culture.However,over reviewing the studies on English version of Lunyu,few studies focus on emerging English versions in the 21^stcentury from the perspective of eco-translatology.The research objects of this thesis are two English versions of Lunyu in the 21^stcentury,namely the version translated by Annping Chin,a Chinese-American historian,in 2014 and the version translated by Wu Guozhen,a Chinese scholar,in 2015（first published in 2012）.Based on the eco-translatology proposed by Chinese scholar Hu Gengshen,this thesis aims to explore the holistic degree of adaptation and selection of the two English versions of Lunyu by descriptive methods.The study is mainly carried out from the following three aspects:Firstly,this thesis discusses the translators’selective adaptations to the translational eco-environment,including adaptations to need,competence and environment.Secondly,the thesis explores the differences between two translators’adaptative selections in linguistic,cultural and communicative dimensions through a comparative analysis on translation cases in the two versions.Thirdly,the thesis evaluates the translation quality of the two versions by three reference indicators,translator quality,multi-dimensional transformation and reader feedback.The results show that both translators have made good adaptations in translational eco-environment and selections in different dimensions.In terms of linguistic dimension,Wu is more inclined to understand the source language as accurately as possible while Chin pays more attention to the linguistic habits of the target language.In terms of cultural dimension,due to their different cultural cognition and understandings of the source text,Wu mainly adopts free translation to convey the complete meaning and connotation of Lunyu while Chin chooses literal translation and transliteration to convey Confucius’sayings and ideas.In the communicative dimension,the communicative effect of Wu’s version is not the same as Chin’s for their different communicative purposes.After studies on two translators’adaptations and selections,both two versions have achieved positive results in three aspects:translator quality,reader feedback and multi-dimensional transformation.That is to say,two versions both attain higher holistic degree of adaptation and selection,which further respond to concerns about the translation quality.This thesis analyzes the two English versions of Lunyu under the guidance of eco-translatology,which has certain theoretical and practical significance.On the one hand,this study discusses the guidance of eco-translatology to the translation of Chinese classics,which further enriches the theoretical research on eco-translatology.On the other hand,more discussion and attention have been paid to the translation quality for emerging translations in the 21^stcentury,further raising the concerns about translation quality of new versions of Lunyu.