1、Brief Introduction of the Chinese Translation HistoryChinese translation theory was born out of contact with vassal states during the Zhou Dynasty. It developed through translations of Buddhist scripture into Chinese. It is a response to the universals of the experience of translation and to the spe
2、cifics of the experience of translating from specific source languages into Chinese. It also developed in the context of Chinese literary and intellectual tradition.The modern Standard Mandarin word fanyi 翻譯 “translate; translation“ compounds fan “turn over; cross over; translate“ and yi “translate;
3、 interpret“. Some related synonyms are tongyi 通譯 “interpret; translate“, chuanyi 傳譯 “interpret; translate“, and zhuanyi 轉譯 “translate; retranslate“.The Chinese classics contain various words meaning “interpreter; translator“, for instance, sheren 舌人 (lit. “tongue person“) and fanshe 反舌 (lit. “return
4、 tongue“). The Classic of Rites records four regional words: ji 寄 “send; entrust; rely on“ for Dongyi 東夷 “Eastern Yi-barbarians“, xiang 象 “be like; resemble; image“ for Nanman 南蠻 “Southern Man-barbarians“, didi 狄鞮 “Di-barbarian boots“ for Xirong 西戎 “Western Rong-barbarians“, and yi 譯 “translate; int
5、erpret“ for Beidi 北狄 “Northern Di-barbarians“.In those five regions, the languages of the people were not mutually intelligible, and their likings and desires were different. To make what was in their minds apprehended, and to communicate their likings and desires, (there were officers), in the east
6、, called transmitters; in the south, representationists; in the west, T-ts; and in the north, interpreters. (王制 “The Royal Regulations“, tr. James Legge 1885 vol. 27, pp. 229-230)A Western Han work attributes a dialogue about translation to Confucius. Confucius advises a ruler who wishes to learn fo
7、reign languages not to bother. Confucius tells the ruler to focus on governance and let the translators handle translation.The earliest bit of translation theory may be the phrase “names should follow their bearers, while things should follow China.“ In other words, names should be transliterated, w
8、hile things should be translated by meaning.In the late Qing Dynasty and the Republican Period, reformers such as Liang Qichao, Hu Shi and Zhou Zuoren began looking at translation practice and theory of the great translators in Chinese history.Zhi Qian (3rd c. AD)Zhi Qian (支謙)s preface (序) is the fi
9、rst work whose purpose is to express an opinion about translation practice. The preface was included in a work of the Liang Dynasty. It recounts an historical anecdote of 224AD, at the beginning of the Three Kingdoms period. A party of Buddhist monks came to Wuchang. One of them, Zhu Jiangyan by nam
10、e, was asked to translate some passage from scripture. He did so, in rough Chinese. When Zhi Qian questioned the lack of elegance, another monk, named Wei Qi (維衹), responded that the meaning of the Buddha should be translated simply, without loss, in an easy-to-understand manner: literary adornment
11、is unnecessary. All present concurred and quoted two traditional maxims: Laozis “beautiful words are untrue, true words are not beautiful“ and Confuciuss “speech cannot be fully recorded by writing, and speech cannot fully capture meaning“.Zhi Qians own translations of Buddhist texts are elegant and
12、 literary, so the “direct translation“ advocated in the anecdote is likely Wei Qis position, not Zhi Qians.Dao An (314-385AD)Dao An focused on loss in translation. His theory is the Five Forms of Loss (五失本):1. Changing the word order. Sanskrit word order is free with a tendency to SOV. Chinese is SV
13、O.2. Adding literary embellishment where the original is in plain style.3. Eliminating repetitiveness in argumentation and panegyric (頌文).4. Cutting the concluding summary section (義說).5. Cutting the recapitulative material in introductory section.Dao An criticized other translators for loss in tran
14、slation, asking: how they would feel if a translator cut the boring bits out of classics like the Shi Jing or the Classic of History?He also expanded upon the difficulty of translation, with his theory of the Three Difficulties (三不易):1. Communicating the Dharma to a different audience from the one t
15、he Buddha addressed.2. Translating the words of a saint.3. Translating texts which have been painstakingly composed by generations of disciples.Kumarajiva (344-413AD)Kumarajivas translation practice was to translate for meaning. The story goes that one day Kumarajiva criticized his disciple Sengrui
16、for translating “heaven sees man, and man sees heaven” (天見人,人見天). Kumarajiva felt that “man and heaven connect, the two able to see each other” (人天交接,兩得相見) would be more idiomatic, though heaven sees man, man sees heaven is perfectly idiomatic.In another tale, Kumarajiva discusses the problem of tra
17、nslating incantations at the end of sutras. In the original there is attention to aesthetics, but the sense of beauty and the literary form (dependent on the particularities of Sanskrit) are lost in translation. It is like chewing up rice and feeding it to people (嚼飯與人).Huiyuan (334-416AD)Huiyuans t
18、heory of translation is middling, in a positive sense. It is a synthesis that avoids extremes of elegant (文雅) and plain (質樸). With elegant translation, “the language goes beyond the meaning“ (文過其意) of the original. With plain translation, “the thought surpasses the wording“ (理勝其辭). For Huiyuan, “the
19、 words should not harm the meaning“ (文不害意). A good translator should “strive to preserve the original” (務存其本).Sengrui (371-438AD)Sengrui investigated problems in translating the names of things. This is of course an important traditional concern whose locus classicus is the Confucian exhortation to
20、“rectify names” (正名). This is not merely of academic concern to Sengrui, for poor translation imperils Buddhism. Sengrui was critical of his teacher Kumarajivas casual approach to translating names, attributing it to Kumarajivas lack of familiarity with the Chinese tradition of linking names to esse
21、nces (名實).Sengyou (445-518AD)Much of the early material of earlier translators was gathered by Sengyou and would have been lost but for him. Sengyous approach to translation resembles Huiyuans, in that both saw good translation as the middle way between elegance and plainness. However, unlike Huiyua
22、n Sengyou expressed admiration for Kumarajivas elegant translations.Xuanzang (600-664AD)Xuanzangs theory is the Five Untranslatables (五種不翻), or five instances where one should transliterate:1. Secrets: Dharani 陀羅尼, Sanskrit ritual speech or incantations, which includes mantras.2. Polysemy: bhaga (as
23、 in the Bhagavad Gita) 薄伽 , which means comfortable, flourishing, dignity, name, lucky, esteemed.3. None in China: jambu tree 閻浮樹, which does not grow in China.4. Deference to the past: the translation for anuttara-samyak-sambodhi is already established as Anouputi 阿耨菩提.5. To inspire respect and rig
24、hteousness: Prajna 般若 instead of “wisdom” (智慧).Daoxuan (596-667AD)Yan Fu (1898)Yan Fu is famous for his theory of fidelity, clarity and elegance (信達雅), which some believe originated with Tytler. Yan Fu wrote that fidelity is difficult to begin with. Only once the translator has achieved fidelity and
25、 clarity should he attend to elegance. The obvious criticism of this theory is that it implies that inelegant originals should be translated elegantly. Clearly, if the style of the original is not elegant or refined, the style of the translation should not be elegant either.Liang Qichao (1920)Liang
26、Qichao put these three qualities of a translation in the same order, fidelity first, then clarity, and only then elegance.Lin Yutang (1933)Lin Yutang stressed the responsibility of the translator to the original, to the reader, and to art. To fulfill this responsibility, the translator needs to meet
27、 standards of fidelity (忠實), smoothness (通順) and beauty.Lu Xun (1935)Lu Xuns most famous dictim relating to translation is “Id rather be faithful than smooth“ (寧信而不順).Ai Siqi (1937)Ai Siqi described the relationships between fidelity, clarity and elegance in terms of Western ontology, where clarity
28、and elegance are to fidelity as qualities are to being.Zhou Zuoren (1944)Zhou Zuoren assigned weightings, 50% of translation is fidelity, 30% is clarity, and 20% elegance.Zhu Guangqian (1944)Zhu Guangqian wrote that fidelity in translation is the root which you can strive to approach but never reach
29、. This formulation perhaps invokes the traditional idea of returning to the root in Daoist philosophy.Fu Lei (1951)Fu Lei held that translation is like painting: what is essential is not formal resemblance but rather spiritual resemblance (神似).Qian Zhongshu (1964)Qian Zhongshu wrote that the highest standard of translation is transformation (化, the power of transformation in nature): bodies are sloughed off, but the spirit (精神), appearance and manner (姿致) are the same as before (故我, the old me or the ol
