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A Comparative Study of Two English Versions of Analects of Confucius

Author: LiuYing
Tutor: WangDaWei
School: Shanghai Maritime University
Course: Foreign Linguistics and Applied Linguistics
Keywords: translation Chinese meaning translating function translate Translation classical word adjustment
CLC: I046
Type: Master's thesis
Year: 2000
Downloads: 517
Quote: 6
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Abstract

'Through his translating practice of the Bible, Eugene. A.Nida has proposed his translating theory - \of the message to the response of the targetlanguage readers. Therefore, It has introduced a new principle ofjudging a translation: dynamic equivalence (or functional *. equivalence), which is to be defined in terms of the degree towhich the receptor language readers respond to the message insubstantially the same manner as the receptors in the sourcelanguage. On the basis of the theory, this paper analyzes the twoEnglish Versions of the Chinese \of functional equivalence in translating classica1 Chineseworks, but makes use of the findings of the Chinese-English1contrastive studies as well as some practical trans1ation skills.This paper consists of the following three chapters.Chapter One A Review of Translation TheoriesChapter one introduces the various translation theories andthoughts in China and in the West from different points of view: the definition of translation, the standards for judging atranslation, the basic process in translating, requisites fOr'translators, etc. In particular, the approach of functionalequivalence is discussed in detail because this comprehensiveapproach combines the study of words, sentences and contexts1in a cross-cultural communication environment, and emphasizesthe reproduction of the message and the target readers 'responserather than the form of the utterance.' Chapter Two An Introduction toAnulects of ConftLciusIn additiori to introducing the background and the content ofAnalects Of Confucius, this chapter deals mainly with its literaryachievements and linguistic characteristics. The special featuresof the book such as the style of conversations, the wide use of-rhetorical devices, and the classical Chinese culture, etc. entailenormous difficulties in its translation . Chapter Three Translatiou TechniquesA. The Lexical Levell. The meanings of words are the basic units of language thatconvey infOrmation, so the translation of words requires accuracytand c1arity. But in ancient Chinese prose, one word usual1y hasseveral meanings which vary with different contexts. Soidentifying the exact word meanings is an indispensable step intran s lating.2. Correspondence is a common method for transferringwords. But we should learn to discriminate between reaIcorre spondence and pseudo-correspondence. And the basis forthe discrimination is \Chinese tends to be concise but may sound rather, insipid, and emotions are usua1ly expressed only in a mild way.So the translator has to add some words to fully convey theimplied emotions so that the English readers can ful1y2understand the translation just as the original readersunderstand the original text.4. Repetition is very common in Chinese to emphasize someinformation or to form parallelism. To conform to the Englishlanguage habit, the translator often has to replace the repetitive.parts with different words or phrases which express the sameidea.5. There is a tendency of using nouns and prepositions inEnglish, while verbs play a predominant role in Chinese. So it isnecessary to transfer some Chinese verbs into English nounphrases or prepositional phrases so that the translation soundsnatural to the target language readers.B. The Syntactical Level - 1. Zero-subject sentences f The initial position of a Chinesesentence is usually occupied by the topic, which may not have ac1ose relation to the predicate. So there exist a large number ofzero-subject sentences in Chinese. They need to be treated intranslation by such methods as adding sub

A Comparative Study of Two English Versions of Analects of Confucius

Abstract

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