On the Gains and Losses of Domestication in the Translation of Chinese Classics:A Case Study of The Discourses and Sayings of Confucius by Gu Hongming_英语论文

摘要

《论语》是儒家学派的经典著作之一。几千年来，儒学成为上至帝王将相下至平民百姓的的道德标准和行为指南。 

明末以来，《论语》被许多名家学者翻译成多国语言,且大部分为西方汉学家和传教士所作，而中国学者对《论语》的翻译在数量和影响力上都远次于西方学者。在众多英译《论语》中，辜鸿铭的译作The Discourses and Sayings of Confucius是西方人最为认可的《论语》译本。辜氏的《论语》英译本的翻译主要采用了归化的手法，而且可以说是一种“极度归化”的策略，在国内外饱受争议。

国外研究者对辜氏《论语》英译的单独探讨很少，多是综合评价辜鸿铭的著作，并且侧重于对文化意义的研究。 

而在国内，王国维认为辜鸿铭的翻译尝试乃一大失败，扭曲了其原作的精髓;而更多的研究者从各个翻译理论出发,证实辜鸿铭英译《论语》的合理性，对其文化意义的传达则探讨不深。

本文从古汉语、历史、哲学、宗教、政治等综合的角度来探析辜鸿铭在《论语》英译中使用归化手法的得与失，并着重探讨其对文化意义的传达，希望对于典籍翻译工作者有所启示。 

关键词：辜鸿铭 论语 归化 典籍翻译

Abstract

The Analects of Confucius is one of the major works of Confucianism, which, for thousands of years, has been the moral and behavioral guidelines for all Chinese  from the emperors to the ordinary people. 

Since the end of Ming Dynasty, The Analects of Confucius has been translated into foreign languages by many famous scholars, among which, most are western sinologists and missionaries. Generally, Chinese scholars' translations of The Analects of Confucius, much fewer than western translations, are not as influential and popular as that of Western scholars. 

Among the translations of Chinese scholars, Gu’s translation is the most influential and accepted one in western countries, and domestication, or even called extreme domestication, is adopted throughout the book. It draws a lot of controversies at home and abroad.

Western researchers rarely studied The Discourses and Sayings of Confucius separately, most of them made comprehensive evaluation of Hongming's works, and lay more importance on the cultural meaning.

In China, Wang Guowei thought that Gu Hongming's translation is a failure, distorting the essence of its original text; and more researchers confirmed the rationality of Gu Hongming’s translation The Discourses and Sayings of Confucius based on various translation theories, but its conveying of cultural meaning is not delved deeply.

This thesis will look into the gains and losses of domestication applied in Gu Hongming’s translation The Discourses and Sayings of Confucius from multiple aspects such as ancient Chinese, history, philosophy, religion, politics and focus on exploring the cultural meaning, which, hopefully, can be helpful for Chinese classics translators.

Key Words：Gu Hongming; The Discourses and Sayings of Confucius; domestication; Chinese Classics translating

Contents

摘要 I

Abstract II

1.Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 3

2.1 The History and Development of Chinese Classics Translating 3

2.2 The History of Translating The Analects of Confucius 4

2.3 The Researches on The Discourses and Sayings of Confucius in Western World and at Home 5

3. Domestication 8

3.1 The History and Adoption of Domestication 8

2.2 The Backgrounds of Gu Applying Domestication 9

4. Analyzing Some Representative Examples in Detail 12

4.1 Domestication in the Main Body 12

4.1.1 Addition in the Main Body 12

4.1.2 Omission and Adaptation in the Main Body 14

4.2 Domestication in the Annotations 16

4.2.1 Comments 17

4.2.2 Quotations 18

4.2.3 Analogies 19

5. The Gains and Losses of Domestication in Translating Classics 23

5.1 The Gains of Domestication in Translating Classics 23

5.2 The Losses of Domestication in Translating Classics 24

6. Conclusion 25

Bibliography 27

Acknowledgments 28