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History of Translation Theories

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Chapter 4 An Overview of the Development of Western Translation Theories

西方翻译理论发展概述

Zeng Junlin，曾俊霖, Hunan Normal University, China

Abstract

Western translation theory can be roughly divided into four periods: classical translation theory period, ancient translation theory period, modern translation theory period and modern translation theory period. The main translation theorists in the period of classical translation theory are Cicero, Horace and Jerome, who represent the source of the development history of western translation theory for 2000 years. Translation theory in the period of ancient translation theory, accompanied by the Renaissance and religious reform, is characterized by literary translation and religious translation. The most important cultural phenomenon affecting translation theory in the pre-modern period is the development of ancient philology and Hermeneutics in the enlightenment. It can be said that contemporary western translation theory has entered a period of comprehensive development of social sciences such as linguistics, postmodern literary theory, semiotics, rhetoric, language philosophy, logic and aesthetics, as well as translation theories such as information theory and computer science. Western translation originated from ancient Rome's desire for Greek civilization, that is, the so-called westward advance of Aegean civilization. The basis of western translation theory is relatively broad, and the scope of translation theory is relatively wide, but it always focuses on linguistics.

Western translation theory can be roughly divided into four periods: classical translation theory period, ancient translation theory period, modern translation theory period and contemporary translation theory period. The main translation theorists in the period of classical translation theory are Cicero, Horace and Jerome, who represent the source of the development history of western translation theory for 2000 years. Translation theory in the period of ancient translation theory, accompanied by the Renaissance and religious reform, is characterized by literary translation and religious translation. The most important cultural phenomenon affecting translation theory in the pre-modern period is the development of ancient philology and Hermeneutics in the enlightenment. It can be said that contemporary western translation theory has entered a period of comprehensive development of social sciences such as linguistics, postmodern literary theory, semiotics, rhetoric, language philosophy, logic and aesthetics, as well as translation theories such as information theory and computer science. Western translation originated from ancient Rome's desire for Greek civilization, that is, the so-called westward advance of Aegean civilization. The basis of western translation theory is relatively broad, and the scope of translation theory is relatively wide, but it always focuses on linguistics.Corrected by--Zhang Yiran (talk) 14:32, 13 December 2021 (UTC)

Key Words

Western translation theory，classical translation theory period, ancient translation theory period, modern translation theory period，modern translation theory period

摘要

西方译论大致可以分为古典译论期、古代译论期、近代译论期、现代译论期四个时期。古典译论期的主要译论家是西塞罗、霍拉斯和杰罗姆，他们代表了西方译论长达2000年发展史的源头。古代译论期的译论伴随文艺复兴和宗教改革，以文艺翻译和宗教翻译为特征。前现代期在文化上影响译论的最重要的现象是启蒙中古代语文学和诠释学派的发展。当代西方译论进入了一个综合利用语言学各学科、后现代文论、符号学、修辞学、语言哲学、逻辑学、美学等社会科学以及信息理论、计算机科学等翻译理论综合开发期。西方翻译发轫于古罗马对希腊文明的渴求，即所谓爱琴海文明的西进。西方译论的立论依据比较广，译论范围也比较宽，但始终围绕语言学展开。

关键词

西方译论，古典译论期，古代译论期，近代译论期，现代译论期

Introduction

From the overall historical development process, Chinese and western translation theories have an indissoluble bond with aesthetics from the beginning.

However, the development of translation theory in the west is different from that in China. Western translation theory and Chinese translation theory are in very different historical and social conditions, in very different national cultural background and social ecological environment. They have very different philosophical and aesthetic origins, and provide them with theoretical ideas as the driving force of evolution and development. Therefore, western translation theory and Chinese translation theory must move forward along their respective development tracks. No matter from the diachronic vertical or synchronic section, the dependence between western translation theory and philosophy aesthetics is far less than that of Chinese traditional translation theory.

We can first analyze it from the historical development. Western translation theory can be roughly divided into four periods: classical translation theory period, ancient translation theory period, modern translation theory period and contemporary translation theory period.

George Steiner divides Western translation theory into the following four periods in his famous book After Babel: The first period is from Cicero and Horace to Taitler, and the later book Essay on the Principles of Translation is published (1791) as a symbol; the second period is from the end of the 19th century to the 1940s, with Valery as a representative; the third period is marked by the advent and development of machine translation technology and theory in the 1940s; the fourth period Generally parallel to the third period, it is marked by hermeneutic and metaphysical inquiries (hermeneutic and metaphysical inquiries). Steiner's periodization has been criticized by Western translation theory circles.

Corrected by--Zhang Yiran (talk) 14:38, 13 December 2021 (UTC)

Period of classical translation theory

This is the initial period of western translation theory. According to the textual research of Rosetta Stone (discovered in 1799) by Western Egyptologists, western translation activities may have started in 2000 BC. Due to the long history and lack of historical evidence, it is impossible to test whether there were translation theories in 1900 before Cicero. There are four main translation theorists in the period of classical translation theory. The first three are Cicero, Horace and Jerome, who is the source of the development history of western translation theory for 2000 years. The western translation theory in the classical period is mainly based on the ancient Greek philosophers, especially the rhetoric and poetics written by Aristotle. These are two classic works that have a deep impact on Western literary aesthetics. Rhetoric expounds oratory by using the methodology of ancient psychology. Its main purpose is to emphasize the power of language infection and the means to achieve the effect of language infection - language style, and points out that only a beautiful article style can have the power of sensing and imparting. Therefore, speakers must abide by the principle that the use of language should strive to be clear and appropriate, and should not be artificial, so as not to damage the momentum of language due to affectation, and the conditions to ensure the momentum of language are accurate and relevant. In addition, Aristotle believes that the momentum of the article is also closely related to the form of writing. Speakers should adopt prose form. They should neither rhyme, nor ignore the rhythm, nor ignore the vividness of the words. No matter what style is adopted, or slow or high, the writing is naturally the first important meaning. Aristotle is the first classical aesthetic master in the west to affirm "the perceptual reality of beauty".

Under the influence of ancient Greek philosophers such as Thales, Plato and Aristotle, Cicero put forward the naturalism and momentum theory of translation, opposed the translation of "word for word" and advocated the translation of "sense for sense". This argument has a profound impact on western translation studies. In philosophy, Cicero was influenced by Plato to maintain "reason", but in translation theory, he opposed to damaging the natural beauty and momentum beauty of the translation with "rigid application of reason".Horace agrees with Cicero's proposition, opposes the standard of "rigid notes of fidelity "as the translation, opposes the translator becoming a slave translator who only follows the mandate of the original text, and advocates the use of" aesthetic criteria "in translation. It can be seen that what is valuable is the methodological dialectical view of Xi and Huo. Jerome was the first translator to translate the Hebrew Bible into Latin, the translator of the Vulgate, and the successor of Cicero's translation style. Jerome advocates the natural theory of translation and maintains Cicero's legacy. He believes that the translator has the right to break through the formal constraints of the original syntax, but must abide by the correspondence of words at the morpheme level and be faithful to the original text. Therefore, Jerome was a popular translation theorist in the 5th century. Augustine, the fourth representative figure in the classical period, plays a connecting role, that is, from Cicero, Horace and Jerome to Thomas Aquinas, the most important scholastic philosopher in the middle ages. As a classical ancient translation theorist, Augustine's first achievement is to inherit and develop Aristotle's semiotic theory. When discussing "symbols", Aristotle aims to develop its rhetorical function. For "free word order languages" such as Latin, the beauty of symbolic form obviously has rhetorical visual value. Augustine expanded Aristotle's symbolic formal framework from the signifier function of the symbol to the signified layer, and pointed out that the "signifier", the human psychological structure, is derived from human's "perception of reality", and the "signifier" is a "sound set" associated with it (the group of vocal sounds); as far as words are concerned, it only represents the sign of the reference, which is arbitrary. It can be seen that Austen's views on symbols pointed out the direction for the modern semiotic theory in the early 20th century. Unfortunately, Austen's research was not valued by the translation theorists until the second half of the middle ages. Augustine's second achievement is that he put forward aesthetic propositions such as "beauty is suitability", "order", "harmony" and "unity". Based on his aesthetics, he advocates the advantages of translation. He pays more attention to the problem of form than Jerome. At the same time, he is persistent in the correspondence of semantics at the level of semantic morpheme or sememe. Augustine is a transitional figure entering the Middle Ages in the history of European aesthetics, as well as in translation theory. （Susan Bassnett-Mcquire,1980,43–44）

The period of classical translation theory is a very important period in the history of western translation studies. At that time, the focus of translation circles was to introduce the culture of ancient Greece, which is called "Hellenization" in history. Classical "Greek culture" is as bright as stars, which makes translators and translation theorists energetic and aspire to it. This is different from Chinese classical translation theory (Buddhist Scripture Translation in China). The introduction of Greek culture by the ancient Romans has nothing to do with religion, but involves epic, lyric poetry, philosophy aesthetics, architecture, rhetoric, literature and art (Poetics), drama, history, war history and so on. Its similarity with Chinese classical translation theory is that they all turn to aesthetic ideas and principles. As far as aesthetic ontology is concerned, Western classical aesthetics involves a wide range of categories, and there are a large number of talents. Thales is the first Western philosopher to replace mythological thinking (ignorant thinking) with rational thinking. He advocates the theory that "the most beautiful is the universe" and advocates nature. Pythagoras is regarded as the discoverer of the golden section and advocates the "beauty of harmony". Herakleitus put forward the subjective aesthetic view of "looking for oneself", holding that "harmony comes from opposition", which is the germination of Classical Dialectics. Hester also raised the issue of the relativity of beauty, advocated rationality, and advocated thinking, understanding and the control of the mind. Demokritus is the first natural science philosopher in the West and the first aesthetician to demonstrate sensory experience and image. These four people are the so-called "pre Socrates" in ancient Greece. Together with Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, they form the origin of western academic thought. Of course, it is natural that the sprouting of translation studies is attached to the theory of sages.

This is the origin period of western translation theory. According to the textual research of Rosetta Stone (discovered in 1799) by Western Egyptologists, western translation activities may have started in 2000 BC. Due to the long history and lack of historical evidence, it is impossible to test whether there were translation theories in 1900 before Cicero. There are four main translation theorists in the period of classical translation theory. The first three are Cicero, Horace and Jerome, who is the source of the development history of western translation theory for 2000 years. The western translation theory in the classical period is mainly based on the ancient Greek philosophers, especially the rhetoric and poetics written by Aristotle. These are two classic works that have a deep impact on Western literary aesthetics. Rhetoric expounds oratory by using the methodology of ancient psychology. Its main purpose is to emphasize the power of language infection and the means to achieve the effect of language infection - language style, and points out that only a beautiful article style can have the power of sensing and imparting. Therefore, speakers must abide by the principle that the use of language should strive to be clear and appropriate, and should not be artificial, so as not to damage the momentum of language due to affectation, and the conditions to ensure the momentum of language are accurate and relevant. In addition, Aristotle believes that the momentum of the article is also closely related to the form of writing. Speakers should adopt prose form. They should neither rhyme, nor ignore the rhythm, nor ignore the vividness of the words. No matter what style is adopted, or slow or high, the writing is naturally the first important meaning. Aristotle is the first classical aesthetic master in the west to affirm "the perceptual reality of beauty".

Under the influence of ancient Greek philosophers such as Thales, Plato and Aristotle, Cicero put forward the naturalism and momentum theory of translation, opposed the translation of "word for word" and advocated the translation of "sense for sense". This argument has a profound impact on western translation studies. In philosophy, Cicero was influenced by Plato to maintain "reason", but in translation theory, he opposed to damaging the natural beauty and momentum beauty of the translation with "rigid application of reason".Horace agrees with Cicero's proposition, opposes the standard of "rigid notes of" fidelity "as the translation, opposes the translator becoming a slave translator who only follows the mandate of the original text, and advocates the use of" aesthetic criteria "in translation. It can be seen that what is valuable is the methodological dialectical view of Xi and Huo. Jerome was the first translator to translate the Hebrew Bible into Latin, the translator of the Vulgate, and the successor of Cicero's translation style. Jerome advocates the natural theory of translation and maintains Cicero's legacy. He believes that the translator has the right to break through the formal constraints of the original syntax, but must abide by the correspondence of words at the morpheme level and be faithful to the original text. Therefore, Jerome was a popular translation theorist in the 5th century. Augustine, the fourth representative figure in the classical period, plays a connecting role, that is, from Cicero, Horace and Jerome to Thomas Aquinas, the most important scholastic philosopher in the middle ages. As a classical ancient translation theorist, Augustine's first achievement is to inherit and develop Aristotle's semiotic theory. When discussing "symbols", Aristotle aims to develop its rhetorical function. For "free word order languages" such as Latin, the beauty of symbolic form obviously has rhetorical visual value. Augustine expanded Aristotle's symbolic formal framework from the signifier function of the symbol to the signified layer, and pointed out that the "signifier", the human psychological structure, is derived from human's "perception of reality", and the "signifier" is a "sound set" associated with it (the group of vocal sounds); as far as words are concerned, it only represents the sign of the reference, which is arbitrary. It can be seen that Austen's views on symbols pointed out the direction for the modern semiotic theory in the early 20th century. Unfortunately, Austen's research was not valued by the translation theorists until the second half of the middle ages. Augustine's second achievement is that he put forward aesthetic propositions such as "beauty is suitability", "order", "harmony" and "unity". Based on his aesthetics, he advocates the advantages of translation. He pays more attention to the problem of form than Jerome. At the same time, he is persistent in the correspondence of semantics at the level of semantic morpheme or sememe. Augustine is a transitional figure entering the Middle Ages in the history of European aesthetics, as well as in translation theory. （Susan Bassnett-Mcquire,1980,43–44）

The period of classical translation theory is a very important period in the history of western translation studies. At that time, the focus of translation circles was to introduce the culture of ancient Greece, which is called "Hellenization" in history. Classical "Greek culture" is as bright as stars, which makes translators and translation theorists energetic and aspire to it. This is different from Chinese classical translation theory (Buddhist Scripture Translation in China). The introduction of Greek culture by the ancient Romans has nothing to do with religion, but involves epic, lyric poetry, philosophy aesthetics, architecture, rhetoric, literature and art (Poetics), drama, history, war history and so on. Its similarity with Chinese classical translation theory is that they all turn to aesthetic ideas and principles. As far as aesthetic ontology is concerned, Western classical aesthetics involves a wide range of categories, and there are a large number of talents. Thales is the first Western philosopher to replace mythological thinking (ignorant thinking) with rational thinking. He advocates the theory that "the most beautiful is the universe" and advocates nature. Pythagoras is regarded as the discoverer of the golden section and advocates the "beauty of harmony". Herakleitus put forward the subjective aesthetic view of "looking for oneself", holding that "harmony comes from opposition", which is the germination of Classical Dialectics. Hester also raised the issue of the relativity of beauty, advocated rationality, and advocated thinking, understanding and the control of the mind. Demokritus is the first natural science philosopher in the West and the first aesthetician to demonstrate sensory experience and image. These four people are the so-called "pre Socrates" in ancient Greece. Together with Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, they form the origin of western academic thought. Of course, it is natural that the sprouting of translation studies is attached to the theory of sages.Correted by--Zhang Yiran (talk) 14:54, 13 December 2021 (UTC)

Period of ancient translation theory

The second period of western translation theory, the ancient period, lasted a long time, from the "post Augustine" period at the end of the 5th century to the eve of the European industrial revolution, that is, the late 18th century, covering the whole Middle Ages and about 300 years later (500-1795). Translation theory in this period was accompanied by two great historical achievements: the Renaissance and the religious reform. Therefore, the translation theory in this period is characterized by cultural literary translation and religious (Scripture) translation.

The prelude to the European Renaissance (which began in the 14th century, peaked in the 15th and 16th centuries and ended in the mid-17th century) is the flourishing of Christian civilization, marked by the so-called "edict of Milan" issued by Constantine I. The imperial edict authorized Christianity to obtain legal status in the Roman Empire. Since then, Christianity has become more and more popular through the influence of the Holy See. The Scriptures have been proofread and translated by Jerome and Augustine. Christian civilization has flourished all over Europe in the early Middle Ages.

At the same time, European social economy also appeared commercialization and handicrafts under the framework of medieval Christian civilization, leading to the emergence of city-state politics and urban landscape, which was the initial light of the Renaissance. By the 13th century, there were many European literary and artistic masters, including Dante (1265 – 1321, the author of Divine Comedy), Boccaccio (1313 – 1375, the author of Decameron), Leonardo da Vinci (1452 – 1519) and raffaelo Sanzio rapheal (1483 – 1520), who awakened European national consciousness and the worship and pursuit of "the well-sounded personality" had a profound impact. What went hand in hand with the prosperity of literature and art and the development of city-state politics was the popularity of social and political theories and new social trends of thought at that time. Europeans scrambled to study the famous works discoveries on Livy (1531) by Nicolo Machiavelli (1569 – 1527). Someone described the grand translation of the time and said: "The entire city of Rome became a translation factory, specializing in the production of translations from Greek to Latin". In fact, the grand translation at the time was far more than just in Rome, and not only between Greek and Latin. Florence is not inferior to Rome. From the 14th to the 16th century, the city of Buddhism was the center of Italian literature and art. The grand translation of Europe at the time was very much in line with Bruno's (Giordano Bruno, c1548–1600) prediction. He said: "All science can only bear fruit with the help of translation." (Steiner,1975, 259)

All this made The "translation industry" has developed unprecedentedly. Translation practice has promoted translation research. At this time, there are different translation theories, and the scope of discussion has gone beyond the vision of classical translation theorists, with a strong color of verification. One of the best, which can be said to be the first Western philosopher to comprehensively attack translation, is Roger Bacon. Bacon was a pioneer in the field of Natural Science in the 13th century. He condemned the translation between Greek, Hebrew and Latin as full of semantic distortion "with the philosophical insight of natural scientists", which reduced the translation to a "hodgepodge of errors and misunderstandings". (L. G. Kelly,1979, 9)

It was driven by Bacon's call to put things right that the Bible appeared John Wycliffe, a religious reformer, translated the first English translation of the Bible of Wycliffe. His influential translation of the Bible of Wycliffe reflects the spirit of verification of Bacon's later progressive translation theory, which was invaluable in the ignorant middle ages. Wycliffe believed that Christ was the master of mankind and opposed the church's "orthodox doctrine" (the orthodox church doctrine) arbitrarily interpreted the meaning of the Bible, denounced the "papal infallibility", refused to accept the Vatican's arbitrary interpretation of the Scriptures and adhered to the semantics of the original language, thus posing strong doubts and challenges to the translation. In fact, this is a religious reform movement advocated by Martin Luther on the European continent has a far-reaching impact on the history of translation in Britain and even Europe. Social criticism and scholars' verification have greatly improved the level of translation. Following Roger Bacon, many people in Europe have successively raised challenges to translation, pointing out that there were three major criticisms of translation at that time: one was to know what it said but not what it meant; the other was to know what it meant but not what it meant. ; The third is that they are both ignorant and ignorant. Although this attack is mainly aimed at the translation of the Bible, it is actually very common. This period is a productive period in the history of European translation.(L. G. Kelly,1979, 10)

The second period of western translation theory - the ancient period, lasted a long time, from the "post Augustine" period at the end of the 5th century to the eve of the European industrial revolution, that is, the late 18th century, covering the whole Middle Ages and about 300 years later (500-1795). Translation theory in this period was accompanied by two great historical achievements: the Renaissance and the religious reform. Therefore, the translation theory in this period is characterized by cultural literary translation and religious (Scripture) translation.

The prelude to the European Renaissance (which began in the 14th century, peaked in the 15th and 16th centuries and ended in the mid-17th century) is the flourishing of Christian civilization, marked by the so-called "edict of Milan" issued by Constantine I. The imperial edict authorized Christianity to obtain legal status in the Roman Empire. Since then, Christianity has become more and more popular through the influence of the Holy See. The Scriptures have been proofread and translated by Jerome and Augustine. Christian civilization has flourished all over Europe in the early Middle Ages.

At the same time, European social economy also appeared commercialization and handicrafts under the framework of medieval Christian civilization, leading to the emergence of city-state politics and urban landscape, which was the initial light of the Renaissance. By the 13th century, there were many European literary and artistic masters, including Dante (1265 – 1321, the author of Divine Comedy), Boccaccio (1313 – 1375, the author of Decameron), Leonardo da Vinci (1452 – 1519) and raffaelo Sanzio rapheal (1483 – 1520), who awakened European national consciousness and the so-called "all talent ideal"（ The worship and pursuit of "the well-sound personality" had a profound impact. What went hand in hand with the prosperity of literature and art and the development of city-state politics was the popularity of social and political theories and new social trends of thought at that time. Europeans scrambled to study the famous works discoveries on Livy (1531) by Nicolo Machiavelli (1569 – 1527). Someone described the grand translation of the time and said: "The entire city of Rome became a translation factory, specializing in the production of translations from Greek to Latin". In fact, the grand translation at the time was far more than just in Rome, and not only between Greek and Latin. Florence is not inferior to Rome. From the 14th to the 16th century, the city of Buddhism was the center of Italian literature and art. The grand translation of Europe at the time was very much in line with Bruno's prediction. He said: "All science can only bear fruit with the help of translation." (Steiner,1975, 259)

All this made The "translation industry" has developed unprecedentedly. Translation practice has promoted translation research. At this time, there are different translation theories, and the scope of discussion has gone beyond the vision of classical translation theorists, with a strong color of verification. One of the best, which can be said to be the first Western philosopher to comprehensively attack translation, is Roger Bacon Bacon was a pioneer in the field of Natural Science in the 13th century. He condemned the translation between Greek, Hebrew and Latin as full of semantic distortion "with the philosophical insight of natural scientists", which reduced the translation to a "hodgepodge of errors and misunderstandings". (L. G. Kelly,1979, 9)

It was driven by Bacon's call to put things right that the Bible appeared John Wycliffe, a religious reformer, translated the first English translation of the Bible of Wycliffe. His influential translation of the Bible of Wycliffe reflects the spirit of verification of Bacon's later progressive translation theory, which was invaluable in the ignorant middle ages. Wycliffe believed that Christ was the master of mankind and opposed the church's "orthodox doctrine" (the orthodox church doctrine) arbitrarily interpreted the meaning of the Bible, denounced the "papal infallibility", refused to accept the Vatican's arbitrary interpretation of the Scriptures and adhered to the semantics of the original language, thus posing strong doubts and challenges to the translation. In fact, this is a religious reform movement advocated by Martin Luther on the European continent (the reform, C1520 – c1525) has a far-reaching impact on the history of translation in Britain and even Europe. Social criticism and scholars' verification have greatly improved the level of translation. Following Roger Bacon, many people in Europe have successively raised challenges to translation, pointing out that there were three major criticisms of translation at that time: one was to know what it said but not what it meant; the other was to know what it meant but not what it meant. ; The third is that they are both ignorant and ignorant. Although this attack is mainly aimed at the translation of the Bible, it is actually very common. This period is a productive period in the history of European translation.(L. G. Kelly,1979, 10)Corrected by--Zhang Yiran (talk) 14:59, 13 December 2021 (UTC)

Period of Pre-Modern translation theory

This is the third period of western translation theory, or "pre modern period", that is, from the religious reform (1517-1648) of Wyclif and Martin Luther in the mid-17th century to the end of the 19th century, the argument began to gradually turn to classical philology and language philosophy. The major historical events during this period were the European Industrial Revolution (1750's – 1830's) and the French Revolution (1788-1799), as well as the germination and evolution of European middle-class economy and its ideology before and after this period. The most important phenomenon affecting translation theory in culture is the development of ancient philology and Hermeneutics in the enlightenment. After the Renaissance, the focus of European language research was still Latin and Greek, which had been in a secondary position. The social and economic development since the enlightenment and the industrial revolution obviously put forward many problems for multilingual communication. The first ones are etymology, semantics and historical comparative linguistics. In fact, historical comparative linguistics is the result of the development and exploration of the first two. Ancient Chinese literature originated in Italy in the 15th century, and its development was also promoted by many factors such as the Renaissance, the spread of Christianity, and the expansion of colonialism that stimulated language contact. The heyday representatives of historical comparative linguistics are the Danish linguist Rask (R. C. Rask, 1787–1832) and the German linguist Bopp (F. Bopp, 1791–1867). Especially after wilcliff and Martin Luther, translators increasingly doubt the interpretation of language by the Holy See, the church and scholastic philosophy in the long middle ages, and doubt the "Deviation", misunderstanding and even intentional distortion of "translation" to the "signified". Rousseau's democratic thought had a strong and profound impact on European conservatism.(V. Thomsen,1960,43）

Understanding this historical background, we can clearly understand why when Taylor put forward the famous "three principles of translation" at the end of the 18th century (1791), he first pointed out that "translation should completely convey the idea of the original text, supplemented by the natural fluency of the expression and style of the translation". Almost at the same time, tattler and George Campbell, who proposed that "the beauty of the translation can be discussed only if we are loyal to the original meaning", marked the end of the era when the western traditional translation theory mainly relied on classical aesthetics and literature and art. On the other hand, although the Chinese School represented by Goethe is fully mature, it can not solve many major problems raised by the spread of Christian civilization and the unprecedented development of translation practice in breadth and depth since the Renaissance and the industrial revolution. Among these problems, the first and most important is the problem of meaning, that is, the so-called "transfer of the truth value of meaning" in translation. Johann W. von Goethe (Johann W. von Goethe) is known as "the last embodiment of the Renaissance ideal", and his basic translation theory advocates "the perfect identity between the SL and the TL" . To this end, the translator must have ingenuity and creativity, and adopt a unique way of expression. This is the best translation, and the next thing is imitation and prose.

Exploring "semantic truth" is the basic proposition of the hermeneutic school. The representative of the hermeneutic school in modern translation theory is Friedrich D. E. Schleiermacher (1768 – 1845). Ancient hermeneutics believed that the task of interpretation was to interpret the "oracle", which originated in ancient Greece and was derived from the name of "Hermes", the messenger who conveyed the gods. Before Schleiermacher, hermeneutics was full of religious mysticism in the middle ages, which believed that people's "understanding" or "not understanding" of text (at that time mainly refers to holy scripts, i.e. the Bible) was "all based on divine will", and both of them were "theological subjective phenomena". Schleiermacher's merit lies in pointing out that the so-called "incomprehension" is actually a "misinterpretation", and "the true meaning of the text lies entirely in what it 'seems' to say. If we want to rediscover the true meaning of the text, we must carefully reconstruct the life reality generated by the historical background or meaning at that time."  Schleiermacher also further put forward the means to obtain the true meaning ("original meaning", i.e. philosophical "Sein"), that is, the so-called "theory of hermeneutic circle" and more than 40 norms of "grammatical interpretation" and "psychological interpretation" . There is no doubt about the significance of this to the development of European translation practice. It was driven by the school of hermeneutics that Friedrich Schlegel (1772 – 1879), Samuel T. Coleridge (1772 – 1834), William Morries (1834 – 1896), Thomas Carlyle (1795 – 1881), Matthew Arnold and Dante D. Rossetti (1828 – 1882) were formed European Romanticism (mainly in Germany) and the corresponding wave of critical realism (mainly in Britain) as a response to the French Revolution. During this period, the mainstream of the translation theory forum was the Chinese school with literary masters as the backbone and the hermeneutic school that later kept pace with it. There is no doubt that this is one of the important development periods in the history of European translation.(H. G. Gadamer,1977, xiii)

This is the third period of western translation theory, or "pre modern period", that is, from the religious reform (1517-1648) of wilcliff and Martin Luther in the mid-17th century to the end of the 19th century, the argument began to gradually turn to classical philology and language philosophy. The major historical events during this period were the European Industrial Revolution (1750's – 1830's) and the French Revolution (1788-1799), as well as the germination and evolution of European middle-class economy and its ideology before and after this period. The most important phenomenon affecting translation theory in culture is the development of ancient philology and Hermeneutics in the enlightenment. After the Renaissance, the focus of European language research was still Latin and Greek, which had been in a secondary position. The social and economic development since the enlightenment and the industrial revolution obviously put forward many problems for multilingual communication. The first ones are etymology, semantics and historical comparative linguistics. In fact, historical comparative linguistics is the result of the development and exploration of the first two. Ancient Chinese literature originated in Italy in the 15th century, and its development was also promoted by many factors such as the Renaissance, the spread of Christianity, and the expansion of colonialism that stimulated language contact. The heyday representatives of historical comparative linguistics are the Danish linguist Rask (R. C. Rask, 1787–1832) and the German linguist Bopp (F. Bopp, 1791–1867). Especially after wilcliff and Martin Luther, translators increasingly doubt the interpretation of language by the Holy See, the church and scholastic philosophy in the long middle ages, and doubt the "Deviation", misunderstanding and even intentional distortion of "translation" to the "signified". Rousseau's democratic thought had a strong and profound impact on European conservatism.(V. Thomsen,1960,43）

Understanding this historical background, we can clearly understand why when Taylor put forward the famous "three principles of translation" at the end of the 18th century (1791), he first pointed out that "translation should completely convey the idea of the original text, supplemented by the natural fluency of the expression and style of the translation". Almost at the same time, tattler and George Campbell, who proposed that "the beauty of the translation can be discussed only if we are loyal to the original meaning", marked the end of the era when the western traditional translation theory mainly relied on classical aesthetics and literature and art. On the other hand, although the Chinese School represented by Goethe is fully mature, it can not solve many major problems raised by the spread of Christian civilization and the unprecedented development of translation practice in breadth and depth since the Renaissance and the industrial revolution. Among these problems, the first and most important is the problem of meaning, that is, the so-called "transfer of the truth value of meaning" in translation. Johann W. von Goethe (Johann W. von Goethe) is known as "the last embodiment of the Renaissance ideal", and his basic translation theory advocates "the perfect identity between the SL and the TL" . To this end, the translator must have ingenuity and creativity, and adopt a unique way of expression. This is the best translation, and the next thing is imitation and prose.

Exploring "semantic truth" is the basic proposition of the hermeneutic school. The representative of the hermeneutic school in modern translation theory is Friedrich D. E. Schleiermacher (1768 – 1845). Ancient hermeneutics believed that the task of interpretation was to interpret the "oracle", which originated in ancient Greece and was derived from the name of "Hermes", the messenger who conveyed the gods. Before Schleiermacher, hermeneutics was full of religious mysticism in the middle ages, which believed that people's "understanding" or "not understanding" of text (at that time mainly refers to holy scripts, i.e. the Bible) was "all based on divine will", and both of them were "theological subjective phenomena". Schleiermacher's merit lies in pointing out that the so-called "incomprehension" is actually a "misinterpretation", and "the true meaning of the text lies entirely in what it 'seems' to say. If we want to rediscover the true meaning of the text, we must carefully reconstruct the life reality generated by the historical background or meaning at that time."  Schleiermacher also further put forward the means to obtain the true meaning ("original meaning", i.e. philosophical "Sein"), that is, the so-called "theory of hermeneutic circle" and more than 40 norms of "grammatical interpretation" and "psychological interpretation" . There is no doubt about the significance of this to the development of European translation practice. It was driven by the school of hermeneutics that Friedrich Schlegel (1772 – 1879), Samuel T. Coleridge (1772 – 1834), William Morries (1834 – 1896), Thomas Carlyle (1795 – 1881), Matthew Arnold and Dante D. Rossetti (1828 – 1882) were formed European Romanticism (mainly in Germany) and the corresponding wave of critical realism (mainly in Britain) as a response to the French Revolution. During this period, the mainstream of the translation theory forum was the Chinese school with literary masters as the backbone and the hermeneutic school that later kept pace with it. There is no doubt that this is one of the important development periods in the history of European translation.(H. G. Gadamer,1977, xiii)--Corrected byZhang Yiran (talk) 15:03, 13 December 2021 (UTC)

Period of Modern translation theory

The fourth period is The Modern Period. This period can actually be divided into two stages. The first stage is from the end of the 19th century to the 1950s. It can also be called the "Pre-Modern Linguistic Period". Parallel to it is The Pre-Modern Linguistic Period. The Swiss linguist Saussure The study of modern linguistics was the starting point (1891), which marked the publication of the first scientific linguistics book "Cours de Linguistique Generale" (Cours de Linguistique Generale, 1916). Ferdinand de Saussure (1857–1913) is the founder of modern linguistics and a pioneer of structural linguistics. His main contribution is to point out the arbitrariness of linguistic signs and the linearity of the signifier; language has internal and external distinctions, diachronic and synchronic distinctions. The value of language signs is constantly evolving, so a descriptive attitude should be taken to language instead of It is prescribed. Saussure's scientific linguistics has a profound influence on western modern linguistics and translation theories.

The second stage started from the 1960s to the present, which can also be said to be the period of contemporary translation theory. During this period, modern science and technology developed rapidly. Natural sciences and social sciences were directly or indirectly driven by The Systems Theory, Control Theory or Cybernetics, and Information Theory. Advance. Modern linguistics has developed from structuralism as the mainstream to a situation where there are many new disciplines and schools. Among them, the French functional linguistics, the London school, the transformational generative grammar, sociolinguistics, and modern stylistics ( Functional stylistics), pragmatics, psycholinguistics and other emerging disciplines and schools of applied linguistics.

In the period of modern translation theory, the development of language science is very closely related to Western translation theory. Roman Jacobson (Roman Jacobson, 1896–1982), a translation theorist at the early stage of modern translation theory, is one of the founders of the Prague School and a well-known phonetician. Obviously, Jacobson's discourse on translated poems is based on phoneme analysis. Jacobson believes that poetry is "untranslatable" strictly speaking, because poetry is subject to the constraints of the arrangement relationship between phonemes and sememes, that is, units of meaning. To get rid of this constraint, translation The family can only resort to "transplantation" and it is "no less than creative transplantation of different language symbols (phonetic arrangements) created". Two prominent translation theorists in the 1950s, Jean Paul Vinay and Jean Darbenet, mainly relied on scientific linguistics to discuss translation rhetoric from the perspectives of functional stylistics and contrastive linguistics. After entering the 1960s, JC Catford clearly quoted the founder of the London School Firth (JR Firth, 1890–1960) and Firth's successor MAK Halliday's basic linguistic theories to solve the bilingual conversion. problem. E. Nida and G. Mounin mainly analyze the translation process from the perspective of structural linguistics. Among them, Nida's research results are the most eye-catching. During the 1970s and 1980s, Nida began to notice the weakness of linguistics that emphasized formal transformation and insufficient semantic research. Around the issue of "meaning" and cultural issues, many more books came out, and proposed "dynamic equivalence" (dynamic equivalence). , 1984), emphasizing the meaning view of social semiotics. In the second half of the 20th century, Western postmodern thoughts spread throughout Europe and the United States. Deconstructionism, in particular, has the deepest influence on cultural thoughts and academic thoughts. Western translation theories have also turned to "postmodernism" (especially comparative literary theory) to absorb theoretical ideas, and the great limitations of "postmodernism" have also emerged. Contemporary Western translation theory can be said to have entered a comprehensive use of various disciplines of linguistics, postmodern literary theory, semiotics, rhetoric, philosophy of language (including semantics), logic, aesthetics and other social sciences, as well as information theory, computer science, etc. The "comprehensive development period of translation theories" is a period of full bloom to solve translation problems. It seems that this is also the general trend of Western translation theory in the 21st century.

The fourth period is The contemporary Period. This period can actually be divided into two stages. The first stage is from the end of the 19th century to the 1950s. It can also be called the "Pre-Modern Linguistic Period". Parallel to it is The Pre-Modern Linguistic Period. The Swiss linguist Saussure The study of modern linguistics was the starting point (1891), which marked the publication of the first scientific linguistics book "Cours de Linguistique Generale" (Cours de Linguistique Generale, 1916). Ferdinand de Saussure (1857–1913) is the founder of modern linguistics and a pioneer of structural linguistics. His main contribution is to point out the arbitrariness of linguistic signs and the linearity of the signifier; language has internal and external distinctions, diachronic and synchronic distinctions. The value of language signs is constantly evolving, so a descriptive attitude should be taken to language instead of It is prescribed. Saussure's scientific linguistics has a profound influence on western modern linguistics and translation theories.

The second stage started from the 1960s to the present, which can also be said to be the period of contemporary translation theory. During this period, modern science and technology developed rapidly. Natural sciences and social sciences were directly or indirectly driven by The Systems Theory, Control Theory or Cybernetics, and Information Theory. Advance. Modern linguistics has developed from structuralism as the mainstream to a situation where there are many new disciplines and schools. Among them, the French functional linguistics, the London school, the transformational generative grammar, sociolinguistics, and modern stylistics ( Functional stylistics), pragmatics, psycholinguistics and other emerging disciplines and schools of applied linguistics.

In the period of modern translation theory, the development of language science is very closely related to Western translation theory. Roman Jacobson (Roman Jacobson, 1896–1982), a translation theorist at the early stage of modern translation theory, is one of the founders of the Prague School and a well-known phonetician. Obviously, Jacobson's discourse on translated poems is based on phoneme analysis. Jacobson believes that poetry is "untranslatable" strictly speaking, because poetry is subject to the constraints of the arrangement relationship between phonemes and sememes, that is, units of meaning. To get rid of this constraint, translation The family can only resort to "transplantation" and it is "no less than creative transplantation of different language symbols (phonetic arrangements) created". Two prominent translation theorists in the 1950s, Jean Paul Vinay and Jean Darbenet, mainly relied on scientific linguistics to discuss translation rhetoric from the perspectives of functional stylistics and contrastive linguistics. After entering the 1960s, JC Catford clearly quoted the founder of the London School Firth (JR Firth, 1890–1960) and Firth's successor MAK Halliday's basic linguistic theories to solve the bilingual conversion. problem. E. Nida and G. Mounin mainly analyze the translation process from the perspective of structural linguistics. Among them, Nida's research results are the most eye-catching. During the 1970s and 1980s, Nida began to notice the weakness of linguistics that emphasized formal transformation and insufficient semantic research. Around the issue of "meaning" and cultural issues, many more books came out, and proposed "dynamic equivalence" (dynamic equivalence). , 1984), emphasizing the meaning view of social semiotics. In the second half of the 20th century, Western postmodern thoughts spread throughout Europe and the United States. Deconstructionism, in particular, has the deepest influence on cultural thoughts and academic thoughts. Western translation theories have also turned to "postmodernism" (especially comparative literary theory) to absorb theoretical ideas, and the great limitations of "postmodernism" have also emerged. Contemporary Western translation theory can be said to have entered a comprehensive use of various disciplines of linguistics, postmodern literary theory, semiotics, rhetoric, philosophy of language (including semantics), logic, aesthetics and other social sciences, as well as information theory, computer science, etc. The "comprehensive development period of translation theories" is a period of full bloom to solve translation problems. It seems that this is also the general trend of Western translation theory in the 21st century.--Zhang Yiran (talk) 15:06, 13 December 2021 (UTC)

Characteristics of the development of western translation theory

To sum up, we can deduce the development track of translation theory in the West for more than 2000 years. Its characteristics are as follows.First, western translation originated from ancient Rome's desire for Greek civilization, that is, the so-called westward advance of Aegean civilization. "Greek civilization" covers a wide range. At that time, the translation mainly focused on Homer's epic Philosophy (focusing on the so-called "three philosophies", namely Socrates, Plato and Aristotle), literature and history (focusing on drama, prose and War History) and the democratic politics of Athens. In the west, the Bible The climax of translation did not appear until the 16th century. Due to the wide variety of translation subjects, translation theories also tend to be diversified, not just on the translation standards and requirements of scriptures. At the beginning of Chinese classical translation theory, it has always focused on the review of religious translation.

Second, western translation theory has a wide basis and a wide range, but it always focuses on linguistics. The main characters of Western classical and ancient translation theories are ancient Romans, based on the philosophy of classical Greece Aesthetics (poetics and classical rhetoric, which are also collectively referred to as ancient philology). Augustine, a classical translation theorist, is a classical aesthetician. Modern translation theory is mainly based on ancient philosophy, semantics, etymology and literature and art (poetics and tragedies) and historical comparative linguistics. In the early stage of modern translation theory, great attention was paid to semantics. At the same time, influenced by Saussure's socio semiotic view of language, structuralism, especially postmodern literary theory, they began to pay attention to language structure and cultural problems. In the later stage of western modern translation theory since the 1960s, translation theory and modern linguistics gradually combined and tended to rely on linguistics From the perspective of linguistics, it is marked by the decline of Bloomfield's structuralism and the prosperity of various disciplines of Applied Linguistics; From the perspective of translation theory, it is the gradual rise of scientific translation theory. Western traditional translation theory (especially in the period of classical translation theory and ancient translation theory) is often the "sideline" of masters in literature, history and philosophy Therefore, they usually develop translation art through literary creation and aesthetics. Since the later stage of modern translation theory, the western translation industry has developed greatly, and the subject matter has gone far beyond the traditional fields such as literature, history and philosophy. The specialization of translation promotes the development of translation theory to specialization, from general linguistics, postmodern literary theory, hermeneutics, traditional rhetoric, semantics The extension of historical comparative linguistics to many branches of Modern Applied Linguistics presents a new situation of all-round development. Another important reason for the early shift of western translation theory from aesthetics to linguistics is that the kinship of western languages makes it easier to realize homologous correspondence in word form and syntactic form This is exactly the purpose of historical comparative linguistics since the end of the 18th century. Translation theory and historical comparative linguistics can be described as "corresponding with one voice and seeking the same spirit". Of course, this is mainly on the side of translation theory.

Western languages generally belong to Indo European languages. Indo European languages are divided into eastern Indo European languages (mainly Baltic Slavic language group) and Western Indo European languages (mainly Germanic, Latin, Celtic and ancient Greek). As far as translation is concerned, since the source language and the target language belong to the same language family or even the same language family and language branch, and the language origins are the same or similar, translation theory has long paid attention to etymology, historical morphology and semantics, and since the 1950s and 1960s, it has paid great attention to modern linguistics The development of various disciplines, especially the transformational generative school, is one of the outstanding characteristics of western translation theory.

Third, traditionally, especially compared with Chinese traditional aesthetics, western aesthetics does not pay attention to language aesthetics, The rhetorical aesthetic propositions in Chinese aesthetic thought (wishful thinking and image, spirit and form, literature and quality, emptiness and reality, elegance and vulgarity, artistic conception theory, style theory, composition theory, rhetoric theory, etc.) are all absent in western aesthetics. This is largely due to the fact that western language is not a very perceptual language and emphasizes "grammatical logic" , which is quite different from Chinese. Western aesthetics has always paid attention to the essence of beauty and discussed the beauty of literature and art only as the expression of the essence of beauty. The early western aesthetic thought originated from the Pythagoras School (c580 – c500bc) and flourished in Plato and Aristotle. Ancient Greek and Roman Aesthetics focused on the "essence of beauty". At first, aesthetics was regarded as an integral part of philosophy. Until sugraty began to pay attention to the humanism of beauty and put forward that the standard of beauty lies in "utility to people" 。 Later western aesthetics was deeply influenced by classical aesthetics, and discussed the essence, emergence and expression of beauty. Western medieval aesthetics has a strong theological color. It holds that "the beauty of perceptual things is limited and the beauty of God is infinite". The former is intuitive and non purposeful, while the latter is "the highest beauty" and "the beauty of divinity". The scholastic philosophy aesthetics in the late Middle Ages, represented by the famous philosopher Thomas Aquinas, put forward "three factors of beauty", namely "integrity", "harmony" and "distinctiveness" Claritas basically doesn't talk about language aesthetics. Modern western aesthetics still focuses on the nature and form of beauty, which is deeply influenced by Aquinas. In the 18th century, the British Scholastics aesthetics believed that "beauty is a psychological activity produced by the form of objective foreign objects in line with people's subjective psychological structure". Kant (I. Kant, 1724 – 1804) under the influence of scholastic philosophy aesthetics, he combined the "psychological structure theory" with the "subjective talent theory" of German rationalists to launch the subjectivist "state of mind theory". After the mid-19th century, western modern aesthetics inherited Kant's influence, mostly from human subjectivity From the perspective of subjectivity, this paper discusses the essence of beauty and focuses on the attribute of beauty. The speculative color is very strong, which is basically "metaphysical", and language is the communication tool of "metaphysical". Since the 19th century, the general trend of western aesthetics has been to separate from the philosophical system and develop in the direction of specialization, diversification and multidisciplinary, from the speculative deduction of "top-down" to "top-down" Although the empirical evidence of "bottom-up" still adheres to the discussion of the definition and essential attributes of beauty, the aesthetic subject has gradually expanded to the broader field of the relationship between aesthetic subject and objective, and the methodology has shifted from simple induction or deduction to scientific experimental verification. Scientific empiricism and traditional humanistic aesthetics are the mainstream of Western Aesthetics in the 20th century.(Kant,1972, 103)

The separation of Western Aesthetics from philosophy coincides with the rise of historical comparative philology. This major historical development and change is to promote the transformation of western translation theory from aesthetics to literature (including modern and postmodern literary theory) and linguistics, which is also a remarkable feature of the development track of western translation theory different from Chinese translation theory. It is no accident that western translation theory is separated from aesthetics and appeals to linguistics.

From what has been discussed above, we can deduce the development track of translation theory in the West for more than 2000 years. Its characteristics are as follows.

First, western translation originated from ancient Rome's desire for Greek civilization, that is, the so-called westward advance of Aegean civilization. "Greek civilization" covers a wide range. At that time, the translation mainly focused on Homer's epic Philosophy (focusing on the so-called "three philosophies", namely Socrates, Plato and Aristotle), literature and history (focusing on drama, prose and War History) and the democratic politics of Athens. In the west, the Bible The climax of translation did not appear until the 16th century. Due to the wide variety of translation subjects, translation theories also tend to be diversified, not just on the translation standards and requirements of scriptures. At the beginning of Chinese classical translation theory, it has always focused on the review of religious translation.

Second, western translation theory has a wide basis and a wide range, but it always focuses on linguistics. The main characters of Western classical and ancient translation theories are ancient Romans, based on the philosophy of classical Greece Aesthetics (poetics and classical rhetoric, which are also collectively referred to as ancient philology). Augustine, a classical translation theorist, is a classical aesthetician. Modern translation theory is mainly based on ancient philosophy, semantics, etymology and literature and art (poetics and tragedies) and historical comparative linguistics. In the early stage of modern translation theory, great attention was paid to semantics. At the same time, influenced by Saussure's socio semiotic view of language, structuralism, especially postmodern literary theory, they began to pay attention to language structure and cultural problems. In the later stage of western modern translation theory since the 1960s, translation theory and modern linguistics gradually combined and tended to rely on linguistics From the perspective of linguistics, it is marked by the decline of Bloomfield's structuralism and the prosperity of various disciplines of Applied Linguistics; From the perspective of translation theory, it is the gradual rise of scientific translation theory. Western traditional translation theory (especially in the period of classical translation theory and ancient translation theory) is often the "sideline" of masters in literature, history and philosophy Therefore, they usually develop translation art through literary creation and aesthetics. Since the later stage of modern translation theory, the western translation industry has developed greatly, and the subject matter has gone far beyond the traditional fields such as literature, history and philosophy. The specialization of translation promotes the development of translation theory to specialization, from general linguistics, postmodern literary theory, hermeneutics, traditional rhetoric, semantics The extension of historical comparative linguistics to many branches of Modern Applied Linguistics presents a new situation of all-round development. Another important reason for the early shift of western translation theory from aesthetics to linguistics is that the kinship of western languages makes it easier to realize homologous correspondence in word form and syntactic form This is exactly the purpose of historical comparative linguistics since the end of the 18th century. Translation theory and historical comparative linguistics can be described as "corresponding with one voice and seeking the same spirit". Of course, this is mainly on the side of translation theory.

Western languages generally belong to Indo European languages. Indo European languages are divided into eastern Indo European languages (mainly Baltic Slavic language group) and Western Indo European languages (mainly Germanic, Latin, Celtic and ancient Greek). As far as translation is concerned, since the source language and the target language belong to the same language family or even the same language family and language branch, and the language origins are the same or similar, translation theory has long paid attention to etymology, historical morphology and semantics, and since the 1950s and 1960s, it has paid great attention to modern linguistics The development of various disciplines, especially the transformational generative school, is one of the outstanding characteristics of western translation theory.

Third, traditionally, especially compared with Chinese traditional aesthetics, western aesthetics does not pay attention to language aesthetics, The rhetorical aesthetic propositions in Chinese aesthetic thought (wishful thinking and image, spirit and form, literature and quality, emptiness and reality, elegance and vulgarity, artistic conception theory, style theory, composition theory, rhetoric theory, etc.) are all absent in western aesthetics. This is largely due to the fact that western language is not a very perceptual language and emphasizes "grammatical logic" , which is quite different from Chinese. Western aesthetics has always paid attention to the essence of beauty and discussed the beauty of literature and art only as the expression of the essence of beauty. The early western aesthetic thought originated from the Pythagoras School and flourished in Plato and Aristotle. Ancient Greek and Roman Aesthetics focused on the "essence of beauty". At first, aesthetics was regarded as an integral part of philosophy. Until sugraty began to pay attention to the humanism of beauty and put forward that the standard of beauty lies in "utility to people". Later western aesthetics was deeply influenced by classical aesthetics, and discussed the essence, emergence and expression of beauty. Western medieval aesthetics has a strong theological color. It holds that "the beauty of perceptual things is limited and the beauty of God is infinite". The former is intuitive and non purposeful, while the latter is "the highest beauty" and "the beauty of divinity". The scholastic philosophy aesthetics in the late Middle Ages, represented by the famous philosopher Thomas Aquinas, put forward "three factors of beauty", namely "integrity", "harmony" and "distinctiveness" Claritas basically doesn't talk about language aesthetics. Modern western aesthetics still focuses on the nature and form of beauty, which is deeply influenced by Aquinas. In the 18th century, the British Scholastics aesthetics believed that "beauty is a psychological activity produced by the form of objective foreign objects in line with people's subjective psychological structure". Kant (I. Kant, 1724 – 1804) under the influence of scholastic philosophy aesthetics, he combined the "psychological structure theory" with the "subjective talent theory" of German rationalists to launch the subjectivist "state of mind theory". After the mid-19th century, western modern aesthetics inherited Kant's influence, mostly from human subjectivity From the perspective of subjectivity, this paper discusses the essence of beauty and focuses on the attribute of beauty. The speculative color is very strong, which is basically "metaphysical", and language is the communication tool of "metaphysical". Since the 19th century, the general trend of western aesthetics has been to separate from the philosophical system and develop in the direction of specialization, diversification and multidisciplinary, from the speculative deduction of "top-down" to "top-down" Although the empirical evidence of "bottom-up" still adheres to the discussion of the definition and essential attributes of beauty, the aesthetic subject has gradually expanded to the broader field of the relationship between aesthetic subject and objective, and the methodology has shifted from simple induction or deduction to scientific experimental verification. Scientific empiricism and traditional humanistic aesthetics are the mainstream of Western Aesthetics in the 20th century.(Kant,1972, 103)

The separation of Western Aesthetics from philosophy coincides with the rise of historical comparative philology. This major historical development and change is to promote the transformation of western translation theory from aesthetics to literature (including modern and postmodern literary theory) and linguistics, which is also a remarkable feature of the development track of western translation theory different from Chinese translation theory. It is no accident that western translation theory is separated from aesthetics and appeals to linguistics.corrected by--Zhang Yiran (talk) 03:41, 14 December 2021 (UTC)

Conclusion

Western translation theory can be roughly divided into four periods: classical translation theory period, ancient translation theory period, modern translation theory period and modern translation theory period. The main translation theorists in the period of classical translation theory are Cicero, Horace and Jerome, who represent the source of the development history of western translation theory for 2000 years. Translation theory in the period of ancient translation theory, accompanied by the Renaissance and religious reform, is characterized by literary translation and religious translation. The most important cultural phenomenon affecting translation theory in the pre-modern period is the development of ancient philology and Hermeneutics in the enlightenment. It can be said that contemporary western translation theory has entered a period of comprehensive development of social sciences such as linguistics, postmodern literary theory, semiotics, rhetoric, language philosophy, logic and aesthetics, as well as translation theories such as information theory and computer science. Western translation originated from ancient Rome's desire for Greek civilization, that is, the so-called westward advance of Aegean civilization. The basis of western translation theory is relatively broad, and the scope of translation theory is relatively wide, but it always focuses on linguistics.

Western translation theory can be roughly divided into four periods: classical translation theory period, ancient translation theory period, modern translation theory period and contemporary translation theory period. The main translation theorists in the period of classical translation theory are Cicero, Horace and Jerome, who represent the source of the development history of western translation theory for 2000 years. Translation theory in the period of ancient translation theory, accompanied by the Renaissance and religious reform, is characterized by literary translation and religious translation. The most important cultural phenomenon affecting translation theory in the pre-modern period is the development of ancient philology and Hermeneutics in the enlightenment. It can be said that contemporary western translation theory has entered a period of comprehensive development of social sciences such as linguistics, postmodern literary theory, semiotics, rhetoric, language philosophy, logic and aesthetics, as well as translation theories such as information theory and computer science. Western translation originated from ancient Rome's desire for Greek civilization, that is, the so-called westward advance of Aegean civilization. The basis of western translation theory is relatively broad, and the scope of translation theory is relatively wide, but it always focuses on linguistics.Corrected by--Zhang Yiran (talk) 03:42, 14 December 2021 (UTC)

References

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Ferdinand De Saussure索绪尔著；于秀英译. 普通语言学导论general linguistics. 北京：商务印书馆Beijing:The Commercial Press, 2020.

H. G. Gadamer，Philosophical Hermeneutics, UC Press, Berkeley, 1977.

L. G. Kelly，The True Interpreter: A History of Translation Theory and Practice in West, Oxford, 1979.

Susan Bassnett-Mcquire，Translation Studies, Methuen, London& New York, 1980.

Tan Zaixi 谭载喜. 西方翻译简史[M] A brief history of Western Translation.北京：商务印书馆 Beijing:The Commercial Press.

William Thomson威廉·汤姆逊，黄振华译. 十九世纪末以前的语言学史The history of linguistics before the end of the 19th century . 北京/西安：世界图书出版公司Beijing / Xi'an: World Book Publishing Company, 2009.

Xie Tianzheng 谢天振．中西翻译简史［M］A brief history of Chinese and Western Translation．北京:外语教学与研究出版社 Beijing: foreign language teaching and Research Press.