20230630 final exam 01

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202270081687 胡欣怡 Hu Xinyi 英语口译(English interpreting)

Current Situation of the Communication and Reflections on the English Translation of The Art of War

Hu Xinyi, 202270081687

Abstract

The Art of War represents a splendid masterpiece in Chinese legacy of classical military culture. It has been translated into more than 20 languages, including English, Russian, German and Japanese and has been one of the Chinese classics which have the most extensive influence across the world. Therefore, the study of Sun Tzu: The Art of War has been a hot spot issue in recent years. This paper aims to make a review of the translation of Sun Tzu: The Art of War. It will first briefly introduce the foreign translators and their translated version of Sun Tzu:The Art of War, and make a diachronic review of the translated versions by these foreign translators, and then go on introducing domestic translators and evaluating their translated versions of Sun Tzu: The Art of War. Finally, it will review the status quo in the translation of Sun Tzu: The Art of War at home. This paper, by reviewing the overall situation of the translation of Sun Tzu:The Art of War, is in a bid to offer some insights to relevant researchers for their future research direction.

Key Words

The Art of War; English translation; research; overview

Introduction

"The Art of War" by Sun Tzu is not only the earliest Chinese military treatise on the principles of warfare, but also the world's oldest military manuscript. Its contents are vast and profound, with precise logic and sophisticated thoughts. It is not only a comprehensive summary of ancient Chinese military strategy and tactics, but also a brilliant gem in the treasury of Chinese traditional culture. Its influence extends far beyond the military field, making it an essential reference book for elites in business, marketing, and other fields.

"The Art of War" consists of thirteen chapters, including "Initial Estimations," "Waging War," "Strategic Offensive," "Tactical Dispositions," "Use of Energy," "Weak Points and Strong," "Maneuvering," "Variations and Adaptability," "The Army on the March," "Terrain," "The Nine Situations," "Attack by Fire," and "Employment of Spies." The first six chapters primarily focus on strategic aspects, while the later seven chapters emphasize tactical aspects. Each chapter is unified in Sun Tzu's overall strategy and operational thought, and is independent of each other. The core ideas involved in this article are still of great guiding significance to the reality. The many contradictory concepts in "The Art of War," such as "surprise and regularity," "offense and defense," "numerical advantage and disadvantage," "victory and defeat," "advantage and disadvantage," "yin and yang," "fiction and reality," "movement and stillness," "host and guest," not only enriched the philosophical categories of ancient times, but also embodied a high level of metaphysical logic in the thinking mode of "abandoning what is insignificant and emphasizing what is essential." Sun Tzu made use of these contradictory concepts and dialectical thinking to plan strategies and layout tactics skillfully. Some famous lines from the book, such as "know yourself, know your enemy, and you will never be defeated in a hundred battles," "the best warfare is to attack the enemy's plans," and "attacking the enemy's mind is more important than attacking his cities," all shine with the wisdom of ancient people.

In the 21st century, peace and development have become the themes of the modern era, and The Art of War has gradually withdrawn from the stage of war, but the philosophical ideas and strategies involved in the art of war still have far-reaching practical significance: they are widely used in today's political and economic fields, such as competition between commodities or market participants.As the saying goes, "Business is a battlefield."Entrepreneurs who make good use of these tactics will be able to stand out in the battlefield of business, like a fish in water.

Because of its unique military, political, economic and cultural values, many scholars have studied and discussed The Art of War. But most of the research is on the content of the text itself and the ideological and cultural values embodied. Comparatively speaking, there are not many researches on the English translation of The Art of War, and few of them involve the comparison of translations.This paper will sort out and briefly comment on the English translation of The Art of War.This paper firstly reviews the foreign translators and their versions, and then introduces the diachronic development of the overseas English version of The Art of War. At the same time, it evaluates and analyzes the domestic translators and their English versions of The Art of War, and finally makes an objective comment and analysis on the research status of the domestic English translation of The Art of War. All these are helpful to provide some reference or enlightenment for scholars engaged in the study of English translation of Chinese classics.

Research Status of the English Translation of The Art of War

In 1965, Liu Dianjue wrote "Some Notes on the Sun Tzu", the earliest documented English translation study of "The Art of War," which was published in Issue 68 of the Journal of Asia-Africa Studies(Luo Tian, Zhang Meifang, 2015). In the 1990s, research on English translations of "The Art of War" gradually developed in China, and a research boom began to emerge worldwide. In the 21st century, related research has deepened both domestically and abroad, focusing mainly on translation analysis, translation strategies, cultural aspects, dissemination, and reception.

Translation Combing

The research results in this area are abundant and show a steady development trend, which has much to do with the continuous publication of numerous translations. It is of great literature value to conduct research on the English translation of Sun Zi's Art of War. Sun Zi's Great Dictionary of the Art of War (Gu Di, 1994) contains six English translations of the Art of War, including Calthrop, Giles, Griffith and Clavell, including basic information such as the translation name, translator, publisher and publication year.Abstract of Sun Tzu's Philology (Yu Rubo, 1994) includes 8 kinds of English translation information, including Calthrop's English translation, Giles's English translation, Griffith's English translation and Clavell's English translation, and gives a brief introduction to the version, content and author. Sun Zi's Dictionary of the Art of War (Wu Rusong, 1995) briefly sorts out five English translations, including Calthrop, Giles, Griffith, Clavell and Yuan Shibing, and briefly introduces the translator, publication/republication, translation evaluation and so on. Introduction to Ancient Chinese Classics (Lu Weiyi, 1997) combs five English translations, including the Giles English version, the Griffith English version, and the Ames English version, including information about the translators, translations, places of publication, and years of publication; Chapter 12 of Sun Tzu's History of the Study of the Art of War (Yu Rubo, 2001) gives a detailed review of the English translations of the 20th century, focusing on the characteristics of the Giles, Griffith and Sawyer translations. Wang Ming (2005) believes that the development of the English version of The Art of War in the 20th century can be divided into the initial stage, the maturity stage and the flourishing stage, presenting two distinct perspectives: military type and documentary/cultural type, respectively represented by the English versions of Giles and Griffith. Tu Guoyuan and Wu Sha (2011) conducted a research on the historical description of the English translation of The Art of War from a diachronic perspective, divided it into four stages, discussed the major English translations and important translators, and held that the English translation "presents a scene of gradual change and increasing prosperity". Su Guiliang (2011) and Li Wenchao (2017) investigated the English translation version of The Art of War, and believed that the study on the English translation of Art of War in the past 100 years has roughly experienced three stages: laying the foundation, enriching and perfecting, and integrating and expanding, including many English translations of The Art of War in different periods. It is of great significance to summarize history for cultural self-confidence and Chinese culture to go out.

Translation Strategy

The study of the English translation strategy of The Art of War has always been the focus of academic attention, and it is inseparable from the study of the text characteristics of the translation. Fang Jing, Song Zhongwei and Wu Canzhong (2008) made a comparative analysis of the vocabulary choice strategies of the English translation of Griffith and the English translation of Gagliardi with the help of systematic functional grammar, and found that the complexity and systematic choice of sentences in the modal system were quite different between the two English translations. The English version of Grif fith is consistent with the original text type and semantics.

Chen Hong and Li Jiajun (2009) conducted an empirical comparative study on the unique lexical differences between Lin Wusun's English translation and Yuan Shibing's English translation, and found that there were differences in word selection between the two English versions in terms of cultural factors processing, synonym selection, rhetorical forms, translator's adaptation strategies, original style, and understanding of the original text. Lin's translation was concise in language, and rhetoric and culture were complementary. Pay attention to ancient military cultural background.

Qiu Hemin (2011) investigated the textual features and translation strategies of Calthrop, Giles, Griffith and Lin Pensun's English translation, and found that Calthrop adopted the English translation strategy of reverse case meaning, while Giles adopted the translation tendency of Oriental flavor. Griffith applied the translation principles of naturalness, conciseness, nationality, backtranslatability and regularization, and Lin's version adopted the translation strategy of cultural hybridization. The features of the translation were successively presented as military translation, academic text and military text.

Yang Yuying (2012) focused on the titles, numbers, English translations of major concepts and the interpretation of Taoism, and believed that the non-political bias, objective and pluralistic research on Sun Tzu would become the trend of research at home and abroad. Song Zhong wei(2012)and Huang Haixiang(2015) analyzed the reasons for the re-translation of Gagliardi's English version with the help of French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu's concept of cultural capital, and believed that Gagliardi's translation is a social practice and a successful use of the strategy of cultural capital. It makes the translation a typical practical text.

Qiu Jingna and Zhang Jingyuan (2015) investigated the strategy selection of Gagliardi's English translation from the perspective of functional context theory, and held that this translation determined the translation tone according to the cultural context and reconstructed the context of the situation with the language of industrialists.

Communication and Acceptance

It has been a national cultural development strategy for Chinese culture to go global. The translation, dissemination and acceptance of excellent traditional Chinese culture in the English-speaking world has always been the focus of academic circles, and the research results on the issue of dissemination and acceptance have been prominent.

Qiu Himin (2012) described the spread of major English translations of The Art of War in the English-speaking world, emphasizing that the spread in the United States had two distinct characteristics: a large number of books were published, and applied research was biased toward business administration and military fields. Xie Ke (2013), from the perspective of memetics, investigated the transmission mechanism, innate force conditions and transmission mode of Lin Wunsun's English translation, and believed that the overseas transmission of traditional Chinese books had two modes: genotype and phenotype. Long Shaoyun and Su Fan (2015) investigated the spread and influence of The Art of War in the United States, and pointed out that we should not only pay attention to the practical application of research, but also emancipated the mind for innovation. The Study on the Communication and Reception of The Art of War in the English-speaking World, written by Yang Yuying (2017), is an important typical achievement in this regard. Focusing on the comparison of Calthrop's English translation, Sawyer's English translation, Cleary's English translation, Giles' English translation criticism, Clavell's English translation adaptation, "reception research" includes three levels: applied research, reception research from a comparative perspective, and two attitudes of acceptance.

Li Ning(2015, 2018) made a survey on the acceptance status of Lin Wusun's English translation of The Art of War in overseas countries, and found that the main reason for the poor acceptance was that the translation had a small circulation, small holdings and little attention, but it still had a large number of potential readers. With the deepening of the research, she reiterated the reasons for the status quo of overseas acceptance of Chinese-English translations, pointed out the misunderstanding that the acceptance effect of Chinese-English translations was worse than that of Sinologists' English translations, and proposed possible ways to improve the acceptance effect of Chinese-English translations overseas: potential reader research, availability of translations and translation marketing.

Achievements, Deficiencies and Prospects of the English Translation of The Art of War

Achievements in English Translation Research

Translation from Classical to Popularization

The research on the transition from classic translation to popularization is no longer only focused on the classic version, but gradually shifted to popular and popular versions. The classic version and popular version coexist, and the research on the translation is diversified. In the embryonic and developmental stage, the study focused on Calthrop English translation, Giles English translation, Grif fith English translation, Lin Penson English translation, Sawyer English translation and other classics. During the boom period, research achievements on popularizing translations such as Wing, Bruya and Gagliardi kept emerging, which was not only related to the continuous publication of new translations, but also closely related to the continuous expansion of research horizons.

The Theme Expands from the Inside to the Outside

The depth and breadth of research topics have been continuously improved, and the research has gradually shifted from internal research to external research. Internal research and external research are carried out simultaneously, and external research is prominent. The research no longer focuses on translation errata, evaluation, translation characteristics, translator's subjectivity, translator's translation strategy, but also covers power relations, historical background, cultural factors, social capital and other aspects.

Research Perspectives are Diverse and Complementary

The research is carried out under the paradigms of translation studies, linguistics, culturology and sociology. The research perspectives include comparative perspective, intertextual communication, descriptive translation, misreading theory, memetics, corpus, functional context theory, cultural capital, multi-systems theory, cultural hybridity, information theory, questionnaire and interview, etc., presenting multiple complementary trends. The research results are abundant from the perspectives of comparative vision, cross-cultural communication, misreading theory and cultural hybridization.

Deficiencies in the English Translation of The Art of War

Compared with the history of English translation, the English translation of The Art of War lags behind and has the following deficiencies.

Research Translation Imbalance

The research translation focuses on the typical classic and popular translation, but compared with many English translations, the research translation involved is extremely unbalanced. The English versions less studied by scholars include Huang Huazhu's English version, Zheng Xin's English version, Denma's English version, Minford's English version and Harris's English version. Few translations studied by scholars include Tang Zichang's English translation, Ge Zhenxian's English translation, Bruya's English translation, Philip Martin Mccaulay's English translation, Andrew W. Zieger's English translation, and Tom Butler-Bow den English translation, Clements English translation, Jessica Hagy English translation, Christoper MacDonald English translation.

Few Quantitative Studies

As far as research methods are concerned, qualitative research is the main research, and quantitative research is obviously lacking. In the research results of The Art of War, some research corpus is generalized, often using language description, focusing on subjective experience and subjective interpretation, with relatively flexible research content, unreasonable structure, no data statistics, and lack of focus and attention on the quantitative characteristics and quantitative relations of the English translation of The Art of War, resulting in a decrease in the rigor of the research process. The persuasiveness of the research results is weakened, and the revelatory nature of the research conclusions is diminished.

Weak Systematic Research

The study on the English translation of The Art of War is relatively weak and systematic. Social translation studies continue to progress, and the study of the English translation of Sun Tzu from the sociological perspective has begun to emerge. Scholars mainly rely on Bourdieu's sociological theory to carry out research from the aspects of habitus, field and cultural capital. "Translation practice is an activity in social space, and social factors will have an important impact on the selection of translation, the application of strategies and the acceptance of translation. Translation also changes the objective structure of society and people's thinking in society." (Li Yi, Xie Ke, 2014) Up to now, according to the literature reviewed by the author, there is a lack of research on translation ecology and translator behavior criticism. The study of the English translation of The Art of War can be regarded as a whole ecosystem, and the study of translator behavior criticism can be investigated both within and outside the translation.

Prospects for English Translation Studies

In view of the problems existing in the study of the English translation of The Art of War, this paper puts forward the following prospects for the future research.

Emphasize Fundamental Research

In the English translation of "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu, emphasis on fundamental research cannot be ignored. There are three points to consider. Firstly, the version must be carefully examined. "The Art of War" is an important branch of Sun Tzu studies that has been widely circulated since the Warring States period. Common versions include Cao Cao's "Sun Tzu Annotation" (Emperor Wu of Wei's annotation of Sun Tzu), Song Dynasty's "Seven Military Classics," Song Dynasty's "Eleven Commentaries on Sun Tzu," Yinqueshan Han Tomb Bamboo Slip Edition, Wu Jiulong's "Sun Tzu School Notes," and Yang Bing'an's "Sun Tzu School Notes." Different versions will result in different translations. Even if the versions are the same, different translators may adopt different translation strategies, resulting in varying English translations. The comparison of the original text and translation of "The Art of War" must be comprehensive, inclusive, and multi-dimensional, including all English translations. The comparative analysis of translated works should not only include dual-translation and multiple-translation comparisons of the same source material but also evaluate the scientific and practical aspects of comparing translations from different sources.

Secondly, intralingual translation. The translation of classical works includes both intralingual and interlingual processes, and the English translation of "The Art of War" is no exception. The greatest difficulty in translating Chinese classics lies in understanding the original text, which is the process of intralingual translation. "(Wang Hong, Liu Xingfeng, 2015) The Art of War" was written by Sun Wu in the late Spring and Autumn period and was carved on bamboo slips over 2,500 years ago. The language usage, cultural expression, customs, and social life of the Spring and Autumn period are vastly different from today, and precise understanding of the original text of "The Art of War" is the foundation and key to English translation and research."When translating within a language, one must consider factors such as temporal differences and changes in social and cultural customs(Huang Guowen, 2012). "

Thirdly, research methods. Combining qualitative and quantitative research, especially increasing the emphasis on quantitative research, requires consideration of objective facts such as the tangible structure of language texts and subjective realities such as translator subjectivity."

Conduct Systematic Research

In the contemporary context, "it is necessary to strengthen the study of the ontology, subject, object, research paradigm, limiting factors, and methodology of the English translation of classics, and make the research content three-dimensional, diverse research paradigms, and diversified research methods, striving to construct a complete disciplinary system of English translation of classics." The English translation research of "The Art of War" is also a long-term systematic project, which requires comprehensive and three-dimensional research that combines ontology, subject, object, and methodology. The research should strengthen the overall and systematic study, balance macro, meso, and micro-research, coordinate pre-translation research, in-translation research, and post-translation research, and pay attention to version sources, translated versions, translator attitudes, and ideological influences. The research can expand into areas such as translation ecology, translator behavior criticism, translation history, sociology, translator collaboration, and translation teaching.

Focus on the Cooperation and Sustainability of Research

The English translation study of The Art of War should be oriented towards the future. To achieve this, an academic community can be established, and translation talents can be systematically nurtured. As disciplines today become increasingly specialized and interrelated, they mutually promote and influence each other, highlighting the interdisciplinary nature of academic research. The English translation study of The Art of War involves a range of disciplines such as bibliology, classical studies, language and literature, textual criticism, history, philosophy, military science, linguistics, translation studies, sociology, Sun Tzu studies, cultural studies, computer science, etc. It is impossible for experts in one discipline to be proficient in all of these fields. Academic research has moved from tradition to modernity, making it necessary and inevitable to build academic communities. "The education of a translation degree is not only about skill training but also about quality education(Wang Hong, Zhang Ling, 2016)." To cultivate specialized translators for military literature, such as the English translation of "The Art of War" and other military technology classics, it is necessary to fully draw upon the rich experience of cultivating talent in English translation of classics, establish research directions for the translation of military classics, formulate talent training programs, improve the curriculum level and system, and explore training methods and means.

Conclusion

"The Art of War" by Sun Tzu is a famous military classic in China, and also a book on warfare that business people are enthusiastic about studying. Even in the 21st century today, "The Art of War" still holds practical significance and value, embodying the wisdom and strategy of ancient Chinese military thinkers and having a great influence worldwide. This paper reviews the recent 50 years of research on the English translation of The Art of War, including translation, translation strategies, communication and acceptance. The research on the English translation of The Art of War has made gratified achievements, but there are still some weak links that cannot be ignored. Researchers, academic authorities, society and the government need to work together to plan academic development, create academic platforms, provide academic opportunities, and organically combine basic research, systematic research, research sustainability and cooperation. Training military scientific and technological classics translation talents in a planned way. Researchers need to have a rigorous attitude, scientific spirit, stick to the original heart, and move forward steadily. The Art of War is more and more widely used in the world, and the English translation "can more and more show the artistic charm of Chinese culture", and the study of English translation will also make greater achievements.

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202270081683 陈彦希 Chen Yanxi 英语口译(English interpreting)

The C-E Translation Methods and Strategies of Chinese Classics: A Case Study on Chuang Tzu

Chen Yanxi, 202270081683

Abstract

China is a country with a long history and elegant civilization. In the long history of 5,000 years, many precious traditional cultures have been bred. Chinese classics are the important media to record traditional Chinese culture. Therefore, the translation of Chinese classics is an important way to spread the traditional culture of the Chinese nation, which can strengthen the dissemination of excellent traditional Chinese culture, enhance the international community's understanding of China and create a good international environment. At present, the research on the translation of Chinese classics is relatively lagging behind, and there are few targeted theoretical studies in the field of translation. We are faced with translation difficulties such as culture-loaded words, which lead to problems in the dissemination of traditional classics. As an important representative work of Chinese classical literature and philosophy, Chuang Tzu contains many terms and idioms with traditional Chinese characteristics, which can fully express the essence of traditional Taoist ideology and culture, which are also the main difficulties in its English translation. This paper discusses the translation methods and strategies of Chinese classics through the three parts of the translation difficulty, terminology translation and idiom translation of Chuang Tzu, so as to provide reference for the translation of Chinese classics and the dissemination of Chinese traditional culture.

Keywords

Chuang Tzu; Translation of Chinese Classics; Translation of Terms; Translation of Idioms; Dissemination of culture

Introduction

As one of the seven sons of the pre-Qin Dynasty, Chuang Tzu (Zhuang Zi), whose original name was Zhuang Zhou, was a famous philosopher and writer in the Warring States Period. He effectively founded the school of philosophy — Chuang Tzu theory, one of the important representatives of the traditional Taoist school. He and Lao Zi, the founder of Taoist thought, were called "Lao Zi and Zhuang Zi". Chuang Tzu is a cultural canon produced in the "axis period" of Chinese history and culture. It is regarded as the Nan Hua's Scriptures by Taoism. There are 33 existing chapters in the world, divided into 3 parts: inner chapter, outer chapter and miscellaneous chapter. It was written by Chuang Tzu, his disciples and descendants. It contains rich philosophical thought, culture and literary language, which has influenced many subsequent researchers of ideological literature. Chuang Tzu and his book Chuang Tzu provide not only a lasting spiritual food, but also an inexhaustible artistic treasure. With its philosophical and literary value and its unique charm, Chuang Tzu has attracted influential sinologists and translators from all over the world and has been widely translated into various languages. So far, the number of English versions of Chuang Tzu has reached more than 20. In Britain and the United States, the more influential versions are: Frederic Henry Balfour's version in 1881, Herbert Allen Giles' version in 1889, James Legge's version in 1891, Morton's version in 1965, Burton Watson's version in 1968, Angus Charles Graham's version in 1981, Victor H.Mair's version in 1994. In the domestic English translation, Feng Youlan's version in 1993 and Wang Rongpei's version in 1997 can be regarded as classics.

Chuang Tzu contains a large number of philosophical thoughts, as well as a large number of philosophical terms and idioms. Whether these contents can be translated accurately or not is related to the smooth inheritance and dissemination of Zhuangzi's thoughts. In the translation of Chuang Tzu, the translator must fully grasp the true meaning of the words in classical culture from the perspective of different culture and historical background stories, so as to ensure that he or she can fully and accurately express the philosophical and cultural thoughts of Chuang Tzu.

Difficulties in Translation of Chinese Classics

Language is the carrier of culture, and the meaning of text and words is the reflection of corresponding culture. Since Susan Bassnett's theory of cultural translation, the theory of "cultural turn" has become the focus of translation studies. Scholars of the "cultural school" believe that translation should focus more on cultural context and cultural perspective, and realize the transfer from text to culture. As the crystallization of traditional Chinese culture, Chinese cultural classics are like a deep treasure, condensing many factors other than language and words, such as, history, politics, culture, poetics, philosophy, ideology and so on. In applying the concept of "cultural translation", the translator should consider the text in an overall cultural context in order to achieve the reconstruction of cultural function as far as possible. However, there are some difficulties in the transliteration of cultural traits, which is due to the differences in cultural background, religious belief and ideology between Chinese and Western cultures.

Different Cultural Background

In terms of cultural background, Chinese culture emphasizes the idea of "cultivating morality with morality." Confucianism is based on the edification in rites and music, and constructs ethical order. The governance of ancient China did not depend entirely on the rule of law, but more on the rule of virtue, so that people could consciously cultivate their recognition of political rules. Western culture, however, pays more attention to the view of human nature, and believes that human virtue can only be produced in the acquired norms of the legal environment. Regime must be based on the law, the rule of law is superior to the rule of man. The differences between China and the West in the concepts of "rule of virtue" and "rule of law" determine the different trends of the two cultures. Chinese culture is more akin to the implicit tolerance of "Humanity,Justice,Etiquette,Wisdom and Faith", while western culture is relatively more "indifferent" and "ambitious", with unique rational reflection and criticism.

Different Religious Beliefs

In terms of religious beliefs, China respects Taoism, while the West attaches great importance to Christianity. Yep, there are three religions in Chinese religious culture: Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism, but Taoism was not introduced from other countries, but a native religion, which had a profound influence on Chinese traditional culture. China's Taoist School and Taoism (they two are different) claims that Taoism follows nature — heaven has its way, earth has its geography, people have their relationships, and things have their properties, under the guidance of the thought of "govern by doing nothing", sociaty tends to be stable and peaceful, people's hearts also tend to be harmonious and serene. Under the influence of ancient Roman and Greek mythology, the West was originally high-spirited and advocated a strong and aggressive spirit of bravery. The Christian crucifixion praised Jesus 'character of suffering with great perseverance and finally heroic sacrifice. This greatly tragic heroism is in stark contrast to the Eastern concept of "man is an integral part of nature".

Different Ideologies

In terms of the Chinese language, all the Chinese schools of thought contain the idea of "Mean". Buddhism has a "Golden Mean" way of thinking; Confucianism emphasizes in "the Doctrine of Mean"; Taoism also mentions the thoughs like "Mean", "Probity" and "Peace". This insistence on "Mean" has led Chinese people to advocate collectivism and criticize individualism since ancient times, and there have been warnings such as "the first bird will be shot with a gun" (junior is set up as the target) and "the wood is beautiful in the forest, and the wind will destroy it" (destruction pursues the great). Western thought, on the other hand, advocates human nature and free will, the supremacy of individual rights, and does not insist that the minority is subordinate to the majority. The satisfaction of personal interests gradually evolved into philosophical humanism, political democracy, economic liberalism and cultural self-consciousness awakening, etc.

Therefore, the cultural differences between China and the West make the realization of cultural translation very difficult. Since Matteo Ricci translated the Four Books in the 16th century, the translation of Chinese classics has a history of hundreds of years. Up to now, thousands of Chinese classics have been translated into other languages. Chinese cultural classics are influenced by the culture and ideology of a specific historical period, and have strong literary color. In the process of cross-cultural translation and dissemination, cultural misreading will inevitably occur. In order to ensure the equivalence between the source language readers and the target language readers in the aspect of information reception, the whole process of translation of classics should be driven and restricted by culture. The above difficulties are undoubtedly the key problems to be solved in the translation of Chinese classics.

The Translation of Terms in Chuang Tzu

Terms in Chuang Tzu are complicated, which are often in the form of two or three compound words, including basic Taoist terms such as "道", "阴阳", and "天", as well as philosophical terms with Chuang Tzu's characteristics, such as "心斋", "坐忘", and "物彻". The understanding of these terms is related to the understanding of Chuang Tzu's thought. This requires when the translator translates the terms of the classics, he or she should "share the same dreams and aspirations with the author". On the basis of accurate understanding, the translator should adopt certain translation methods and strategies to properly and clearly introduce the "text", "spirit", "meaning" and "implication" in Chuang Tzu to the target language readers.

Literal Translation

The translation of any traditional core concepts or terms is an account of its civilization, loaded with a complicated history and rooted in the texts shared by that civilization. The characteristic of the terms in Chuang Tzu is that they are usually composed of two or three compound words, so that it's hard for the translator to avoid mistakes when he or she interprets the profound cultural contents and meaning of Chuang Tzu from a western standpoint. By using literal translation based on the literal meaning, the translator can not only keep the original content, but also keep the original form, which can be used as a strategy in the translation of Chuang Tzu's terms. For example:

心斋: the fasting of the mind (translated by Burton Watson);

坐忘: sitting and forgetting all things (translated by James Legge).

"心斋" is from the sentence "唯道集虚。虚者，心斋也。" in the Renjianshi of Chuang Tzu. "虚其心" refers to make the subject's mind accessible and ethereal, without attachment. "心斋", as a method of spiritual cultivation, refers to the process of eliminating distractions, and eliminating desires to make one's mind empty and pure. Its essence is to eliminate the material desires, selfless and secure, keep empty and quiet soul and spirit, and maintain the freedom and ease of mind. In addition to "心斋", Chuang Tzu also talked about "坐忘". What is "坐忘"? In the chapter Dazongshi, it said, to forsake one's own body, to forget one's wisdom, to become one with the greatest truths, this is "坐忘". The "忘" of "坐忘" is not a general forgetfulness, but a great forgetfulness, forgetting oneself and the materials, forgetting both the external nature and society of things outside of one's body, and forgetting one's own body and wisdom. "忘" appears 87 times in Chuang Tzu, which is a spirit highly praised by Chuang Tzu and occupies a prominent position in Chuang Tzu's philosophy. "心斋" and "坐忘" are both unique terms in Chuang Tzu, and both Burton Watson and James Legge adopted literal translation in their translations. The term "心斋" is literally translated as "the fasting of the mind" by Burton Watson. And the term "坐忘" is literally translated as "sitting and forgetting all things" by James Legge. Both are directly translated from the literal meaning. It is a good translation that not only retains the content of the original text, but also maintains the original form.

Addition

The words and expressions of traditional Chinese culture classics are closely combined, with concise semantics and deep parataxis. This is especially true of the terms in Chuang Tzu. It is difficult to find words that directly corresponds to them in English. Therefore, when the translator translates, if needed, he or she should add some necessary words and adjust the translation, thus to make obscure Chinese philosophy words implied meaning clearer and make the translation vivid and better accepted by western readers. For example:

“六气不调，四时不节”。 "The six vital breaths of yin, yang, wind, rain, light and darkness are in discord, and the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter are out of natural order." (translated by Wang Rongpei)

"六气不调，四时不节" is from the Zaiyou of Chuang Tzu. The "六气" refers to yin, yang, wind, rain, darkness and light. When it's time to yin, it's not yin; when it's time to yang, it's not yang; when it's time to get dark, it's not dark; when it's time to be light, it's not light; when it's time for wind to come, there's no wind; when it's time to rain, there's no rain. As for the translation of the "六气", we can say that translators express their own views and have their own advantages. James Legge translated it as "the six elementary energies of the changing (seasons)". Burton Watson translated it as "the changes of the six breaths". Victor H.Mair translated it as "the six vital breath". Wang Rongpei translated it as "The six vital breaths of yin, yang, wind, rain, light and darkness". After comparing the translation of "六气" by several translators above, we can find that Wang Rongpei's translation takes the readers' feelings into full consideration, and expresses the "六气" clearly through the addition. It not only shows the literal meaning, but also presents the deep meaning contained in it, which makes up for the unclear meaning of the translation such as "the six vital breaths". So does the translation of "四时不节". "四时不节" means that during the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter, the wheather is not hot or cold in the right time. In Wang Rongpei's translation of the term "四时", he did not literally translate it as "the four seasons", but added the specific content of "四时" appropriately, translating it as "the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter," so as to make the translation directly reach the original meaning. This translation strategy not only conveys the cultural information of the original text smoothly, but also deepens the western readers' understanding of Chinese culture.

Abstraction and Specification

The language of Chuang Tzu is full of sensibility, and the internalized emotion presents the sensible embodiment of life form. The language representation of the romantic image leaves a lot of space for the readers to reflect the reality and imagination of the real world. The translator often forgets its spirit for its meaning, or forgets its spirit for its concrete. This requires the translator to adopt the translation strategy of abstraction and specification when translating Chuang Tzu, he or she should not only focus on the real thing, but also work hard in the empty place. He or she should preserve the original flavor of the source of poetic thinking in the original text while ensuring that the interpretation space is transmitted to the target language readers, such as the English translation of "气" in Chuag Tzu. The concept of "气" is one of the most profound fundamental differences between Chinese and Western philosophy of the universe. In China, the universe is energy (一池有能量的液体), which is composed of Chi (气). Everything is from it, and finally goes to it, again and again, never stop. In Chuang Tzu, "气" refers to the original state of the material world, which is filled between heaven and earth, and is the basis for the change and development of all things.

The translation of "气" should not stop at its superficial meaning. We should put the "气" in Chuang Tzu into practice so as to make it easier for the target language readers to understand. Angus Charles Graham translated "气" into "the vital yin and yang breath", he combined "Chi" with "yin and yang". In Chuang Tzu's view, "yin" and "yang" are the two most important parts of the "六气", meaning that "气" operates under the natural law of the objective process of the universe. The harmony between "yin" and "yang" is very important. There is no such abstract concept as "气" in Western philosophy, and "yin and yang" has become a cognitive concept that can be accepted by the concept of "阴阳" in the Western world. Angus Charles Graham's translation of "气" and "阴阳" helps Western readers understand the meaning of "气". Victor H.Mair translated "气" into "vital breath". The word "breath" doesn't just mean "the breath of human-beings". In English, it also means "spirit or vitality; life". Victor H.Mair expressed the concept of "气" as "crucial vitality and vigor", reflecting the central significance of "气" — living organisms. Burton Watson expressed "气" as "spirit", refers to a state of mental activity that is completely free of preconceptions and that does not make value judgments about worldly things. Burton Watson turned the philosophical meaning of "气" into a practical noun — "spirit". Although this is controversial in the translation community, it is still a translation that is reasonably acceptable to Western readers. The three translators all adopt the strategy of abstraction and specification in the translation of "气", which expresses the original meaning well.

The Translation of Idioms in Chuang Tzu

There are a lot of words in Chuang Tzu, among which, idiom structures can be divided into two types: prototype structure and non-prototype structure. The essence of the former is to quote the idioms in Chuang Tzu directly, without changing them and choosing to retain the original language structure. For example, the original sentence of "其应若响" recorded in Chuang Tzu is "其水若动，其静若镜，其应若响". "视死若生" is an idiom from "白刃交于前，视死若生者，烈士之勇也" in the Qiushui of Chuang Tzu. The latter essentially refers to the later generations has carried on revision and adjustment for idioms in Chuang Tzu, breaking the original language structure.

Literal Translation

In the Tianxia of Chuang Tzu, it records: "是故内圣外王之道，暗而不明，郁而不发，天下之人各为其所欲焉，以自为方". The later generations formed the idiom as "内圣外王" by cutting the number of words in the original sentence, which refers to those who had the virtue of a saint and exercised the rule of kings outside, which was the highest ideal of self-cultivation and government in ancient times. Translators can effectively convey the actual meaning of the original words and idioms by literal translation when he or she translates these idioms into English. By using literal translation, "内圣外王" can be translated as "mysterious sages and wise men". Because of the English language conventions, translators do not need to translate "内圣" and "外王" into "to be a saint internally and a king externally", this process of translation does not effectively link up with the previous possessive construction "proposition of". For example, when translating the idiom "栉风沐雨" from the Tianxia of Chuang Tzu into English, translators can use literal translation to translate it into "devastating storms of wind and rain". This not only can express the original meaning of idioms, but also can effectively extend the meaning of being not afraid of wind and rain to work hard, which plays a role of discourse cohesion.

Free Translation

Compared with literal translation, free translation is less frequently used in the English translation of idioms in Chuang Tzu. Translators usually use this method in the language passages where the figurative images are larger than the English counterparts, or the idioms focus on expressing their implied meanings. For example, the idiom "槁项黄馘" in the Lieyukou of Chuang Tzu, "反于宋，见庄子，曰: “夫处穷闾厄巷，困窘织履，槁项黄馘者，商之所短也". This passage describes the dialogue between Cao Shang and Chuang Tzu. Under the emperor of Song's incitement, Cao Shang was sent on a diplomatic mission to Qin, the emperor of Song rewarded Cao Shang several carriages, and after the visit, the emperor of Qin also rewarded Cao Shang 100 carriages. After returning to Song, Cao Shang began to show off to Chuang Tzu that "living in a narrow and remote alley, weaving straw shoes in embarrassment, starving to the point of swollen legs and thin neck, sallow and emaciated, are something I cannot do." (“住在狭窄偏僻的巷子里，困窘地织草鞋度日，饿得腿肿脖细 ，面黄肌瘦，是我做不到的”) In fact, the idiom "槁项黄馘" is used to describe a person with an unhealthy appearance, a skinny neck, and a pale complexion. Translators can use free translation to scientifically and effectively discard the two specific images of "项" and "馘" and choose to use "lean" and "haggard" to describe the appearance of people with pale yellow complexion and skinny neck, and finally translate them into "You are so lean and haggard". This translation method can express the implicit meaning of idioms, so that foreign readers can understand their meanings more easily and simply, which is conducive to the spread and acceptance of traditional Chinese culture.

Annotation and Definition

When translating idioms containing names or places in the original text into English, translators can make annotations in the process of literal translation and free translation by comprehensively adopting the methods of annotation and definition. This not only can effectively retain the original structure of the translation idioms, but also can fully and accurately express the true meaning of the idioms. For example, there's a sentence "且子独不闻寿陵馀子之学行于邯郸与? 未得国能，又失其故行矣……" in the Qiushui of Chuang Tzu, when translators translate the idiom "邯郸学步" into English, he or she can reasonably apply the combination of free translation and annotation, effectively adding short annotations after the ancient places "Shouling" and "Handan" : "the state of Yan" and "the state of Zhao". Throught the method of annotation of place names can accurately express the form and meaning of the original idioms, and can also help English readers better understand the content of the translation.

Another example is the sentence "山木自寇也，膏火自煎也" in the Renshijian of Chuang Tzu, when translators translate it into English, he or she should firstly fully grasp the core idea of Chuang Tzu's philosophy — everyone knows what is useful, but not what is useless, which is drawn by the sentence "山木自寇也，膏火自煎也". The idiom "山木自寇" is derived from this, and its essence is that the bibliography on the mountain has been hacked and distributed by people because of its talents, which is used to describe the disaster caused by talents. When translators translate this idiom into English, he or she can use the passive voice to translate it into "the mountain trees are fell by themselves," but this is not enough to fully express the meaning of "自寇". He or she also needs to add an explanatory sentence (annotation) — "the axe-handle is made of wood," which can scientifically and accurately express the actual meaning and literal meaning of the idiom "山木自寇".

Conclusion

Chinese cultural classics are the quintessence of China's splendid 5,000-year civilization. Under the guidance of the strategy of "going global" of Chinese culture, translation of Chinese classics is a medium for the export and dissemination of Chinese culture, which is conducive to promoting foreign exchanges and cultural diversity, highlighting our cultural confidence, and its important position cannot be ignored. Translation of Chinese classics, in essence, is a cross-cultural communication activity that spreads the culture in Chinese classics to the Western-language-speaking world. A successful translation must enable the readers to appreciate the different cultures.

However, there is still a lack of specific translation theories to guide the translation of Chinese classics, and the research in the field of the translation of Chinese classics needs to be further explored and perfected. Translators need to provide new ideas for the handling of philosophical concepts and cultural factors in the translation of Chinese classics, help western readers understand and appreciate the true Chinese classical philosophy, provide reference for western scholars to study ancient China, and at the same time, contribute to the grand dream of "Chinese culture going out."

With the further development of the translation of classics, we should make reasonable and effective translation of Chuang Tzu according to different situations, and make the best use of the situation to find a balance between accuracy and unity. Modern translators should take full account of original meanings and background of the terms and idioms when translating Chuang Tzu, they should use different translation methods according to the actual situation, to ensure that the true meaning of the words can be expressed scientifically and accurately, while retaining the situation characteristics of the original terms and idioms to a certain extent. The English translation of terms and idioms in Chuang Tzu should help English readers understand Chuang Tzu's culture correctly, so as to promote the spread and development of Chuang Tzu's philosophy and culture in western countries.

There are many English versions of terms and idioms in Chuang Tzu, and different versions have different emphases. This paper briefly summarizes the translation methods and strategies of terms and idioms in Chinese classics: Firstly, from the perspective of the English translation of Chuang Tzu, the Chinese classics translation should pay attention to the readability, so as to smooth the contemporary English, show the spiritual meaning of the original classics, and reproduce the artistic style of the original works; Second, paying attention to in-depth thinking from the cultural level. On the basis of the English readers can accept and understand as far as possible to carry out literal translation; If literal translation may cause misunderstanding, it is necessary to choose flexible and changeable translation methods according to the meaning of the terms and idioms of classics, interpret the artistic characteristics of Chinese classics smoothly on the basis of comprehensive understanding of these works, strive to make the translation easy to understand, and retain the cultural details of cultural classics.

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