Difference between revisions of "History of Translations"
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Cicero not only translated many Greek classics, but also created many terms and Latin words that are still used today. While expounding rhetoric ideas, he gradually formed his own translation thoughts. His exposition of translation thoughts mainly focuses on two works: De Oratore (55 B.C.) and De Optima Genera Oratorio (46 B.C.). His main translation ideas are as follows: | Cicero not only translated many Greek classics, but also created many terms and Latin words that are still used today. While expounding rhetoric ideas, he gradually formed his own translation thoughts. His exposition of translation thoughts mainly focuses on two works: De Oratore (55 B.C.) and De Optima Genera Oratorio (46 B.C.). His main translation ideas are as follows: | ||
(1)、First of all, Cicero made a clear distinction between “interpreter” and “orator” (what we later call literal translation and free translation). He was opposed to the “word-for-word” translation method. He believed that translation was not an imitation of the original text. The translator should not be an interpreter of the original text, but an orator delivering a speech to the audience: | (1)、First of all, Cicero made a clear distinction between “interpreter” and “orator” (what we later call literal translation and free translation). He was opposed to the “word-for-word” translation method. He believed that translation was not an imitation of the original text. The translator should not be an interpreter of the original text, but an orator delivering a speech to the audience: | ||
| − | + | “I translate not as an interpreter, but as an orator, keeping the same ideas and forms and using a language that conforms to our expressive habits. In this process, I think it is not necessary to translate word for word, but to preserve the overall style and power of the language. (Cicero 2007:9)” | |
It was clear that Cicero saw a fundamental difference between the interpreter and the orator. The former does not have the ability to control language and can only use the “word-for-word” translation method. It focuses on the conversion of words and only conveys the literal meaning of the original text, rather than the thoughts of the orator. The latter pays attention to the retention of the overall style of language. It can effectively reproduce the thought and motivation of the orator, and can deliver rich emotions in public speeches. | It was clear that Cicero saw a fundamental difference between the interpreter and the orator. The former does not have the ability to control language and can only use the “word-for-word” translation method. It focuses on the conversion of words and only conveys the literal meaning of the original text, rather than the thoughts of the orator. The latter pays attention to the retention of the overall style of language. It can effectively reproduce the thought and motivation of the orator, and can deliver rich emotions in public speeches. | ||
(2)、Cicero put forward the concept of “competitive imitation” when translating ancient Greek literature. It means that literary translation should not only need literary talent, but also be more literary than the original one. Cicero demanded that translation should be a transmission of meaning, not a literal rewriting. But at the same time, at the lexical level, Cicero was very particular about the accurate translation of ancient Greek philosophical concepts. | (2)、Cicero put forward the concept of “competitive imitation” when translating ancient Greek literature. It means that literary translation should not only need literary talent, but also be more literary than the original one. Cicero demanded that translation should be a transmission of meaning, not a literal rewriting. But at the same time, at the lexical level, Cicero was very particular about the accurate translation of ancient Greek philosophical concepts. | ||
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Cicero's view can be summarized as follows: literal translation should be avoided, and the innermost thing of words -- meaning should be preserved in translation. To some extent, Cicero greatly developed translation theory, and his translation thoughts exerted a great influence on later translators and translation theorists, which occupied an important position in the history of translation. While discussing early translation theories, the British translation theorist Susan Bassnett have suggested: “Cicero and Horace’s translation thoughts have a significant impact on later translators. Their translation thoughts are produced in the discussion about two important responsibilities of poets: one is the common human responsibility to obtain and transmit wisdom; the other is the special art of creating and shaping poetry. (Bassnett, 2004: 48)” | Cicero's view can be summarized as follows: literal translation should be avoided, and the innermost thing of words -- meaning should be preserved in translation. To some extent, Cicero greatly developed translation theory, and his translation thoughts exerted a great influence on later translators and translation theorists, which occupied an important position in the history of translation. While discussing early translation theories, the British translation theorist Susan Bassnett have suggested: “Cicero and Horace’s translation thoughts have a significant impact on later translators. Their translation thoughts are produced in the discussion about two important responsibilities of poets: one is the common human responsibility to obtain and transmit wisdom; the other is the special art of creating and shaping poetry. (Bassnett, 2004: 48)” | ||
| + | === Quintus Horatius Flaccus (65 BC—8 BC)=== | ||
| + | Horace became another representative translation thinker after Cicero. Horace was a famous poet, critic and translator in the early Roman Empire. Influenced by Cicero, he also believed that literal translation must be avoided and flexible translation method should be adopted. His treatise on translation theory was mainly seen in Ars Poetica. This was a letter to a Roman nobleman and his son. Combined with the status of Roman literature and art at that time, the principles of poetry and drama were put forward in this letter. His translation thoughts are as follows: | ||
| + | (1)、Horace believed that translators should adopt flexible translation method and reject literal translation method. He put forward the concept of “fidusinterpres” (it means faithful translation). However, the object of Horace's “fidusinterpres” is not the text, but the “customer”, and of course only the customer or reader of Horace's time. “A faithful translator/interpreter should be trusted by others. He needs to finish the task on time and achieve the satisfaction of both parties. To do this, he, as an interpreter, negotiates between clients by using two different languages. In the case of a translator, he negotiates between the customer and the two languages. Negotiation is the key, it is opposed to traditional reciprocal loyalty. (Horace, 1981)” That is to say, translators and interpreters sometimes have to be “not very” faithful in order to avoid failure in negotiations if they want to do business. Horace proposed flexible translation and emphasized loyalty to the “customer”, the ultimate guide to translation. The “customer” in Horace's translation model is actually what we called “context” later, and the translation principle of "faithful translation for customers" has been developed into "translation according to context" for later generations. | ||
| + | (2)、Horace also proposed the concept of “privileged language”. In Horace's time, Latin was the privileged language. He asked translators to prefer the privileged language, Latin, which meant that foreign languages would be assimilated in translation. This was also a reflection of Horace's translation thought that tended to be “naturalized”, but his concept was also controversial and opposed by Schleiermacher. He emphasized that “faithful translation” should retain the national characteristics of the source culture, and his translation thought tended to be close to "foreignization". The two translation thoughts are opposite, and their respective focuses are also the topic of the early discussion of “domestication” and “foreignization”. | ||
| + | (3)、He thinks the native language can be enriched by translation of loanwords. If the thing you want to express is very profound and must be expressed by new words, you can create new words to some degree. It not only can meet the needs of writing and translating, but also can enrich the language of the motherland. | ||
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| + | Horace's view on translation has exerted a great influence on later generations. His statement in Ars Poetica “a translator who is faithful to the original text will not translate word by word” is often quoted by later generations and used by free translators to criticize dead and direct translators. His idea of “enriching Latin through translation” is of great significance and influences many translators after the Renaissance. | ||
| + | === Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (35?– 95?)=== | ||
=钟义菲 The Chinese Translation History in Mordern Age= | =钟义菲 The Chinese Translation History in Mordern Age= | ||
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刘胜楠: Western translation history in the Middle Ages
Rouabah Soumaya: History of translation in the Middle Ages
李习长 History of Modern and Contemporary Chinese Translation
Abstract
The development of Chinese translation has a long history. Throughout the history of translation, from the origin of translation, that is, the introduction of Buddhist scripture translation, to the present, Chinese translation can be divided into four stages of development. They are ancient translation history, modern translation history, modern translation history, and contemporary translation history. This article will mainly review the history of modern and contemporary translation, focusing on the three dimensions of translation history, theory, and representatives of translators in various periods. In the rapidly developing contemporary era, only when translation researchers have a clear understanding of translation history can they make outstanding contributions to the rapid development of translation.
Key words
translation history, theories, representatives, modern, contemporary
Introduction
Throughout the history of translation in China, there are five recognized translation climaxes, namely the translation of Buddhist scriptures from the Han Dynasty to the Tang and Song Dynasties, the translation of science and technology from the late Ming to the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the translation of Western learning from the Opium War to the May Fourth Movement, and the early days of the founding of New China. Translation of Eastern and Western literature before the "Cultural Revolution", as well as translations that have blossomed in various fields since the reform and opening up. These five translation climaxes show a historical picture from the world of translation to the translation of China, and interpret the great role of translation as a bridge across cultural and language barriers, realizing the interconnection of Eastern and Western ideas and wisdom. As the beginning of modern Chinese translation, the May Fourth Movement gave birth to a group of outstanding translators. Most of them used literature as the subject, so literary translation in this period reached the most glorious moment in history. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the history of Chinese translation has entered a contemporary period. During this period, the proletarian culture was the most outstanding. Translators focused their attention on political literature and literary translation, and put their eyes on foreign translations, allowing the West Understand Chinese culture and expand my horizons.
History of Modern Chinese Translation
During this period, under the promotion of the New Culture Movement and the May Fourth Movement, the New Literature Movement was in full swing, spawning many literary schools and literary societies, as well as translation propositions representing different literary positions. Translation served society, politics, and the people. The role is increasingly evident. This period gave birth to many famous translators, such as Lu Xun, Yan Fu, Lin Shu and other famous translators. Their appearance has enriched the translation content of this period. 2.1 Lu Xun's translation thoughts With the rise of the May Fourth New Culture Movement in 1919, many translators tried to draw nourishment from foreign literature in order to achieve the purpose of transforming literature and society. Lu Xun is one of them. Lu Xun chose the path of literature because of his sense of national crisis. He hopes to use translation as a medium to arouse people's revolutionary enthusiasm, advocate new literature and transform old literature. Lu Xun's translation thoughts were formed through continuous reflection and exploration. Under the control of the fundamental purpose of ideological enlightenment and political salvation, Lu Xun began his translation process. His choice of translated text reflects his sense of social responsibility as a translator and his special pursuit of cultural values. Lu Xun's translation emphasizes literal translation, focusing on "faith", "preferring faith rather than compliance". He admired hard translation and kept the "foreign" and "exotic" of the translation. For Lu Xun at that time, literal translation was not only a question of translation and language construction, but also the construction of ideas and concepts, and new ideas. The introduction of new ideas means the transformation of Chinese values and world outlook. Lu Xun's choice caused an uproar in the intellectual circles at that time. At that time, the famous scholar Liang Shiqiu also sarcastically said that he was a "dead translation" or a "hard translation". Sometimes, Lu Xun's articles have unreadable sentences, and even the order of the sentences is rarely reversed.
Chinese contemporary translation history
After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, China’s translation industry quickly flourished. The practice of Chinese-to-foreign translation organized by the government and the practice of foreign-language translation were carried out in full swing, with Yang Xianyi, Fu Lei, Qian Zhongshu, Ye Junjian, Xu Yuanchong, Yang Bi, etc. A large number of excellent translators active on the cultural front. They have not only rich translation practice, but also solid theoretical knowledge, they have made great contributions to the cultural construction of New China and promoted the all-round development of socialist economy, politics, and culture. 3.1 Xu Yuanchong's translation thoughts The standard for Xu Yuanchong's translation of Chinese poetry is the theory of "three beauties" put forward by him, that is, he believes that translating poems should pay attention to the "three beauties", that is, the beauty of meaning, the beauty of sound and the beauty of form. The basis of the three beauties is the three similitudes: similarity of meaning, similarity of sound, and similarity of form. Implication is to convey the content of the original text. Mistranslations, missed translations, and multiple translations are not allowed, but implication does not necessarily convey the beauty of the original text. To convey the beauty of meaning, you can choose wonderful words that are similar to the original text, you can borrow words that British and American poets like to use, and you can also use the beauty of sound and shape to express the beauty of the original text. Sound beauty means that the poetry must have rhythm, rhyme, smoothness, and soundness. Translators can use the metric used by British and American poets to choose rhymes that are similar to the original text. They can also use double tones, repetition, repetition, and antithesis to express the beauty of sound. . However, the communication of Yinmei is often difficult, or even sound-like. The beauty of form mainly has two aspects: the contrast and neatness, and the length of the sentence, it is best to be similar in shape, at least to be roughly neat. Among the three beauties, the beauty of meaning is the first, the beauty of the sound is the second, and the beauty of the form is the third. On the premise of conveying the beauty of the original text, the translator should convey the beauty of sound as much as possible, and on this basis, convey the beauty of form as much as possible, and strive to achieve the three beauties. If this is not possible, first of all, it is not necessary to require similarity in form or sound, but in any case, it is necessary to convey the beauty and sound beauty of the original text as much as possible.
Cultural Features of Modern and Contemporary Chinese Translation
With the development of society, the exchanges and cooperation between contemporary China and foreign countries are increasing, and the translation culture will become more prosperous. It is even more important to study the unique social and cultural phenomenon of translation culture. As a carrier of cultural transmission, translation activities have far-reaching influence in human history. The characteristics of modern and contemporary Chinese translation culture mainly include the following four points: 1) Cultural penetration. The development and changes of translation culture are closely related to all aspects of social life and permeate our daily lives. The essence of translation is the exchange of different languages and different cultures. 2) Inheritance and reference. The inheritance of translation culture is determined by the characteristics of social culture itself. Translation is not only a conversion between languages, it is also a way to imitate and learn from. Fu Lei’s "similarities" and Qian Zhongshu's "contextualization theory" all inherited and developed traditional Chinese translation thoughts such as "faithfulness, expressiveness, and elegance", Lu Xun's "Ningshun but unbelief", and Lin Yutang's "expressiveness and vividness", etc. It also broadens the field and horizon of translation studies. 3) Nationality. Any culture bears the national color and national imprint, and reflects the national cultural characteristics in the language. Translation culture is the product of the accumulation of a national cultural tradition. The nationality of Chinese translation culture is mainly manifested in various aspects of psychology and thinking. 4) Timeliness. Words with Chinese characteristics involving all aspects of Chinese politics, economy, and society sometimes have distinctive characteristics of the times.
Conclusion
References
黄柱梁 The Translation of Buddihist Sutra in Chinese Translation History
Abstract
Abstract: the translation of Buddhist Sutra is a major event in the history of Chinese translation. The introduction of Buddhism and the translation of Buddhist Sutra have not only had a great impact on ancient Chinese society, but also promoted the cultural exchange between China and India. Firstly, starting from the history of Buddhist Sutra Translation in China, this paper focuses on the contributions of several famous translators to Buddhist Sutra translation; Then it analyzes the “translation field” of Buddhist scripture translation; Finally, it analyzes the impact of Buddhist Sutra translation on Chinese culture and cultural exchanges.
Key words
Key words: Buddhist Sutra translation, “translation field”, cultural exchange
Introduction
I. Introduction Buddhism is one of the three major religions in the world. It was founded by Sakyamuni in ancient India in the 6th century BC. Soon after the establishment of Buddhism, it began to spread abroad. With its spread, some Buddhist ideas and works also spread abroad. Buddhist Sutra is the abbreviation of “Buddhist Classics”. Buddhist Classics: collectively; Tibetan Sutra, commonly known as; Buddhist Sutra, also known as the Da Zang Sutra, is generally composed of Sutra, Law and Theory. “Sutra” refers to the Dharma script personally said by Sakyamuni and integrated by his disciples, “Law” refers to the commandments formulated by the Buddha for his disciples, and “Theory” refers to the experience gained by the disciples of the Buddha after learning the Sutra. For Buddhists, the status of Buddhist scriptures is equivalent to the influence of the Bible on Christians. In China, Buddhism was introduced from the Silk Road at the end of the Western Han Dynasty. With the introduction of Buddhism, Buddhist scripture translation activities also began. According to the data cited in Pei Songzhi's note in the annals of the Three Kingdoms, “in the first year of emperor AI's Yuanshou's life in the past Han Dynasty, the doctor's disciple Jinglu was dictated the Sutra of the floating slaughter by Yicun, the envoy of King Dayue.” in the first year of emperor AI's Yuanshou's life in the Han Dynasty, that is, in 2 BC, that is, China began the translation of Buddhist scriptures more than 2000 years ago. Liang Qichao cited the general record of magic weapon exploration in the Yuan Dynasty to record that from the tenth year of Yongping in the later Han Dynasty (AD 67) to the Song Dynasty, the translation only lasted until the early year of Zhenghe (AD 1111), 194 translators participated in the translation of Buddhist scriptures, 1335 scriptures and 5396 volumes. There are 3673 Tibetan sutras and continued Tibetan sutras carved in Japan, including 15682 volumes, excluding those added to the Dazheng Tibetan Sutra, and 150 volumes of the complete book of Buddhism in Japan. Hu Shi believes that there are more than 3000 Buddhist scriptures and more than 15000 volumes preserved, including the annotations and commentaries made by the Chinese people. When Buddhism first entered China, it was incompatible with Confucianism. In order to cater to China's Confucianism and Taoism culture, the word “Buddhism and Taoism” was used in the translation of Buddhism. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Buddhism spread by relying on the Taoism popular in China at that time. During the Three Kingdoms period in the late Han Dynasty, Buddhism began to attach itself to metaphysics. From the Eastern Jin Dynasty to the southern and Northern Dynasties, the translation of Buddhist scriptures changed from individual translation to collective translation, from private translation to official translation, and there was a translation field organization. In the Wei and Jin Dynasties, Buddhism, metaphysics and Neo Confucianism were complementary and integrated with each other. The Sui Dynasty to the middle of the Tang Dynasty was the heyday of Buddhist scripture translation. During this period, kumarosh, Zhendi, Xuanzang and Bukong were known as the “four translators”. Buddhism in the Tang Dynasty has developed into Chinese Buddhism. After the late Tang Dynasty, Buddhism gradually declined in India, and there were no large-scale Buddhist scripture translation activities in China after the song and Yuan Dynasties.
The first Chinese translation of Buddhist scriptures appeared in the middle of the 2nd century (some researchers believe it was A.D. 70). Few Buddhist missionaries who came to China in the first century A.D. were proficient in Chinese, and few Chinese knew Sanskrit at that time. Therefore, the Chinese translation of early Buddhist Scriptures was completed by many people: foreign monks recited scriptures, usually with the participation of interpreters, first produced a rather rough translation, and then modified and polished by Chinese assistants. This process made Buddhism sinicized from the very beginning of its introduction into China, and was therefore rapidly absorbed and assimilated by Chinese culture. This form of collective translation has lasted for nearly nine centuries, sometimes with a large number of participants, but the vast translation work can usually be sponsored by the ruling class. Due to the change of time span and the number of translators involved, translation methods and means are often not fixed, and with the passage of time, the cultural and linguistic background of translators will also change. Despite all kinds of obstacles, Chinese Buddhist believers are still committed to the translation of Buddhist scriptures, which has preserved many lost scriptures. It is worth mentioning that some Chinese versions are closer to the original Sanskrit texts than the later Sanskrit texts of India and Nepal. Buddhist missionary translation not only played a constructive role in the spread of Buddhism in the Far East, but also contributed to the establishment of literary languages in various countries and had a great impact on Asian culture. The translation of Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit to Chinese can be roughly divided into three stages: the late Eastern Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period (AD 148-265), the Dong Jin Dynasty, Xi Jin Dynasty and the Northern and Southern Dynasties (AD 265-589) and the Sui, Tang and Northern Song Dynasties (AD 589-1100).
Conclusion
References
王镇隆 The Brief History of Bible's Chinese Translation
Abstract
Key Words
The Overall Introduction of Bible Translation
“Bible” translation has a pivotal position in the history of Western translation. From the beginning of the era to today, the translation of the “Bible” has never stopped. The range of languages involved, the number of translations, and the frequency of use of translations,etc., are unmatched by the translation of any other work. A birds-eye view of the history of “Bible” translation has the following important milestones: the first is the “Seventy Sons Greek Text” before the Era, the second is the “Popular Latin Text Bible” from the 4th to 5th centuries, and the later the national languages of the early Middle Ages. The ancient texts (such as Old German, Old French translations), modern texts since the 16th century Reformation Movement (such as the Lutheran version of Germany, the King James version, etc.) and various modern texts. All these translations have made indelible contributions to the spread and development of Christianity in the West, as well as the prosperity and development of the languages and cultures of various nations. The “Bible” is the holy book of Christianity, including the “Old Testament” and “New Testament.” The Old Testament was written in BC. It is a classic of Judaism. It was inherited by Christianity from Judaism. The original text was in Hebrew. The New Testament was written in the second half of the first to second centuries, and the original text is in Greek. Throughout human history, language translation is almost as old as the language itself. Therefore, from the beginning of the era to today, the translation of the “Bible” has never stopped. The range of languages involved, the number of translations, and the frequency of use of the translations, etc., are unmatched by the translation of any other work. The translation of the "Bible" is mainly to spread the doctrine, so that people are influenced and accepted by the views. According to the “New Testament Acts” Chapter Two, Section One: The saints gathered on Pentecost, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and spoke the words of other countries according to the eloquence given by the Holy Spirit. However, the translation at that time was mainly “interprete” or “interpretation.” Among them, St. Paul himself is a multilingual believer. He preached in Jerusalem, Athens and Rome in Hebrew, Greek and Italian respectively. The Bible was first translated from Hebrew into Greek, then into Latin, and then into Romanian, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Walloon (wal-lon), German, French, Romance languages. English was then translated into various languages in the world, and the translations of its various texts were repeatedly revised by experts in the translation of the classics, which lasted more than ten centuries. In the history of the translation of the Bible, it has gone through several milestone stages: the first is the “Seventy Sons Greek Text” before the era, the second is the “Popular Latin Text Bible” from the 4th to 5th centuries, and later it is the national languages of the early Middle Ages. Ancient texts (such as Old German, Old French translations), modern texts since the 16th century Reformation Movement (such as Luther, Casio Dorobin in Spain, King James Version in English, Nikon in Russia) and All kinds of modern texts (such as “American Standard Text” in English, “New English Bible” and “English Today”, etc.). “The Bible Old Testament” is the first important and earliest translation in ancient times in the West, and it was translated into Greek. The Old Testament was originally the official classic of Judaism, originally in Hebrew. The Jews have been scattered around for a long time and drifted overseas. Over time, they have forgotten the language of their ancestors and spoke foreign languages such as Arabic and Greek. Among them, Greek speakers accounted for the majority. In ancient times, the city of Alexandria in Egypt was the cultural and trade center of the eastern Mediterranean. The Jews living here accounted for two-fifths of the city’s total population. In the third century BC, in order to meet the increasingly urgent needs of these Greek-speaking Jews, the church decided to translate the Hebrew text of the Old Testament into a Greek text. In the second century BC, an unknown Jew once wrote an epistle article, which was later named “Letter of Aristeas” (“Letter of Aristeas”), which records that in the third century BC, Jerusalem At the request of Egyptian King Ptolemy II Feiradelphis (308-246 BC), Bishop Elizar sent translators to Alexandria to undertake the translation of the Old Testament. In this way, according to Ptolemy II's will, between 285 and 249 BC, 72 “noble” Jewish scholars gathered in the Library of Alexandria, Egypt, to perform this translation. According to legend, the 72 scholars came from 12 different Israeli tribes, with 6 from each tribe. After they came to the Library of Alexandria, they worked in pairs in 36 locations and translated them into 36 translations that were very similar to each other. Finally, 72 translators gathered together to compare and check the 36 translation manuscripts, and reached a consensus on the wording of the final version, and called it the “Seventy Son Text” or “Seventy Magi Translation”, that is, “Septuagint” (“Septuagint”), has since opened a precedent for collective translation in the history of translation. Soon after the translation of the “Seventy Sons”, the priests held a joint meeting with the Jewish leaders and pointed out: “This translation is well translated, pious, and very accurate. Therefore, it must be kept as it is and cannot be changed.” We also regarded it as the classic translation. In fact, this Greek translation became the “second original”, and sometimes even replaced the Hebrew text and ascended to the throne of the “first original”. Many of the translations of the Bible in languages such as ancient Latin, Slavic, and Arabic are not based on the original Hebrew but on the Greek translation.
Conclusion
References
= 叶维杰 Medieval Arabic Translation Movement
Abstract
The Medieval Arabic Translation Movement(The Harakah al—Tarjamah) is also called the Translation Movement. It was a large-scale organized academic activity carried out by the Arab Empire in the Middle Ages to translate and introduce ancient Greek and Eastern scientific and cultural classics. The Abbasid Caliphate implemented a diversified and inclusive cultural policy, vigorously advocated and sponsored the translation of academic classics from ancient Greece, Rome, Persia, India and other countries into Arabic to absorb advanced cultural heritage. The Arabic translation movement preserved the natural sciences and humanities in ancient Greek and Roman cultures, and played an extremely important role in promoting the cultural revival of European political and cultural conditions in the late Middle Ages. The Hundred-Year Arab Translation Movement lasted for more than two hundred years, spanning the vast regions of Asia, Africa, and Europe, and blending ancient Eastern and Western cultures such as Persia, India, Greece, Rome, and Arabia. There are not many translation activities in the history of world civilization. Analyzing its causes, processes, results, and impacts is of great academic value for studying the phased development of human civilization and the commonality of human wisdom, and it is also of great help to deeply understand the Arab Islamic philosophy and culture.
Key words
Harakah al—Tarjamah, translation movement, Western culture, Islam
Introduction
After the establishment of the Arab Abbasid dynasty, Baghdad became the capital. At the beginning of the dynasty, political stability and economic prosperity heralded the arrival of a cultural climax. The golden age of Arab culture in the Middle Ages began with the translation movement. It can be divided into three main stages: the first stage, from the second monarch Mansour (reigned from 754 to 775) to the fifth monarch Harun Rashid (reigned from 786 to 809). Mainly translate astronomy and medical books; the second stage, from the seventh monarch Maimon (reigned from 813 to 833) to 913, the heyday of translation lasted for a hundred years, mainly translating philosophy, logic, and mathematics , Simultaneous translation of chemistry, animals, plants and other works; the third stage, after 913, is the continuation of the translation movement. In this translation movement advocated, initiated, and cared by the Caliph, a large number of famous translators of different nationalities have produced brilliant achievements and fruitful results. They have translated hundreds of various Greek books, such as Socrates, Plato, Various works of sages such as Aristotle have been translated into Arabic. The translation movement involves almost all scientific fields. The translators also translated books on astronomy, chemistry, agriculture, history, geography, legends, fables, stories, etc. of Persia, India and other peoples. On the basis of translation and introduction, starting from the 9th century, the Arabs began the stages of digestion, absorption, integration, development, and innovation, and achieved great results in various fields. This movement preserved ancient European academic materials and had a direct and significant impact on the European Renaissance movement. F. Engels has spoken highly of this. The Arabic translation movement and Buddhist scripture translation movement in the Middle Ages are two great wonders in the history of human civilization, which have strongly promoted the progress and development of human civilization.
Conclusion
References
李怡 Brief history of French translation
Abstract
The purpose of this article is to make a brief introduction to the translation history of France. The history of French translation began in the Middle Ages: with the development of Christianity and nationalism, the royal family hired translators to translate the Bible. The Renaissance in the 16th century, as well as economic and educational development, increased the demand for reading and writing, thus promoting the development of translation, most of the translated works are classical works. Then two religious films appeared in France: Jansenists and Jesuit, which had a great influence on the translation schools of that time. During the Enlightenment in the 18th century, France was deeply influenced by Britain, so most of the works in this period were British progressive thoughts and literature. The Industrial Revolution in the second half of the 18th century increased French scientific and technological translation. With the progress of the French Revolution, French translators are more inclined to the economic and political and judicial fields. After the Second World War, the translation industry in France recovered and developed vigorously. France even set up ESIT(École Supérieure d'Interprètes et de Traducteurs)to train senior translators. In the 20th century, there appeared many translation theorists in France, which promoted the professionalization of translation.
Key words
Renaissance, French translation, contemporary, French Revolution
Introduction
As a developed country in the west, France has a very long translation history. Translators and translation theories emerge in endlessly, which can not be ignored in the history of translation. At the same time, with the development of globalization, translation theories in various countries learn from and integrate with each other. Among them, French translation theory also plays a very important role. Therefore, it is necessary to comb the history of French translation and study the translators of relevant times and their relevant theories.
1.Medieval French translation based on Bible Translation
In the middle ages, translation in various countries was deeply influenced by religion, especially the translation of the Bible, which greatly promoted the development of translation. In France, the royal family specially hired translators to translate various Latin and Greek works for the imperial court. The most prominent court interpreter was Nicholas Oresme of the Charles V Dynasty. Aristotle's works translated by him in 1377 had a great impact on the French translation and philosophy circles at that time. Jean de Vigne translated the Latin Bible in French in 1340. In addition, Jean de malkaraume, J argyropylos and others translated the works of Virgil, Ovid, Aristotle, Plato and contemporary writers at the same time.
2.Renaissance: the development of French translation
The Renaissance is the development period of French translation theory. The main representatives are Dolet and Jacques Amyot, especially the former. In the 16th century, there was an upsurge of translation in France. During this period, the focus of translation shifted from religious translation such as the Bible to classical literature translation. Religious translation abides by the translation principle of "word to word" . Its purpose is to follow the will of God and avoid blasphemy. This is irrefutable, so there are not many translation theories to speak of. However, as a new genre, the translation of literary works is different from the previous religious translation. Translators face many new problems, so translation theory came into being. Dolet and amyot are the most prominent representatives of translation theory in this period. They are both translators and translation theorists, and the latter wins especially by translation. Both their translation theories come from translation practice, so they are persuasive. Dolet is famous for his "five principles of translation". "Five principles of translation" comes from his paper on how to translate well published in 1540 ,La manière de bien traduire d’une langue à l’autre. 1. the translator must fully understand the content of the translated work; 2.The translator must be familiar with the target language and the target language; 3.The translator must avoid word by word translation; 4.The translator must adopt the popular language form; 5.The translator must select words and adjust word order to make the translation produce the effect of appropriate tone. These five principles involve the criterion of "faithfulness" in translation, the translator's bilingual ability, translation methods, style and style of translation. Amyot is one of the greatest translators in the history of French translation. He is known as the "king of translation". His translation has had a great impact on that time and future generations. He follows two principles in Translation: 1. The translator must understand the original text and make great efforts in the translation of content; 2.The translation must be simple and natural without any decoration. The first involves the standard of faithfulness in translation, and the second involves the style of translation. These two principles are similar to the first and fifth of Dolet's five translation principles.
3.The 17th century: the climax of French translation and various translation schools
After the Renaissance, classicism deeply influenced France. In the translation circle at that time, people were engaged in the translation of classical works on a large scale. Translation has launched a magnificent "dispute between ancient and modern" around the translation methods of classical works. Some translators pay more attention to the past than the present: they pay attention to the imitation of words with sentences, and praise the so-called accurate translation method. Some translators prefer to use the opposite translation method. In the 17th century, the most famous French translator was Perrot d’Ablancourt,, His translation is sophisticated and elegant, both meaningful and beautiful, and easy to understand. There are no words that need to be explained in order to clarify the meaning in the translation, and there are no annoying cliches. Therefore, he has a great reputation for a long time. His characteristic is to take an original work and grasp the main idea. No matter what the original style is, as long as the translation is literary and readable and can make contemporary readers love and welcome, he will do whatever he can to add or delete the content at any cost, and modify it if he can, regardless of the accuracy of the translation. At that time, this literary and beautiful translation method attracted many followers, but it was also criticized by many people as "beautiful but unfaithful".By the end of the 17th century, those who advocated free translation were overwhelmingly in favor, while those who really advocated accurate translation were few and far between. The earliest theorist to advocate accurate translation was Bachet de Méziriac in the mid-17th century. In December 1635, he published an essay entitled "on translation" at the French academy, stating that translators must observe three principles :1.do not stuff the original work with personal goods; 2.The original work shall not be abridged; 3.No alteration may be made detrimental to the original intention. As one of the most influential translators in France in the 17th century, Daniel Huet, worshipped classical literature and clearly advocated accurate translation. He criticized both post-modern translators and unfaithful translators abranguel. He believes that the best translation method is: the translator first closely follows the original author's meaning; Secondly, if possible, stick to his words; Finally, try to reproduce his character as much as possible; The translator must carefully study the character of the original author, not delete, weaken, add and expand, and faithfully make it complete as the original. His translation principles are: the only goal of translation is to be accurate. Only by accurately imitating the original in language can it be possible to accurately convey the original author's meaning; The translator has no right to choose words or change word order arbitrarily, because "Deviation" from the original text will lead to deviation from the original meaning. His translation theory has been praised by many people, but due to the lack of practice, his theory is not attractive to translators. In the 17th century, there were also two representatives from inaccurate translation to accurate translation,François Maucroix and Jacques de Tourreil. François Maucroix is regarded by contemporary and later critics as one of the most outstanding French translators in the 17th century and the first person to translate demesne in the 17th century. In addition to demesne, he also translated the works of Plato and others. Maucroix received the education of the Jesuit Church in his early years, was greatly influenced by the Jesuit Church, loved debating literature, and paid attention to ingenious expression and beautiful language style. His early translations were inaccurate in content, style or written expression. He liked to modernize ancient terms and expressions. In 1685, his style changed, and his translation became more accurate, which seemed to have completely corrected the defects of procrastination and weakness in his early translation. The reason can be seen from his letters with Boileau in the last decade of the 17th century. He regarded Boileau not only as the most important representative of classical literature, but also as an authority on translation theory. Therefore, he always sent the translation to Boileau for revision. Boileau read the manuscript carefully, criticized some paragraphs and put forward better translation methods. In his reply, Maucroix said that Poirot's criticism of some of his inaccurate translations was pertinent, and his opinions on the revision were also very good. He admitted that the inaccurate translation was a mistake and must be completely corrected. He finally realized that translators must adhere to the principle of accurate translation if they want to become real classicists. Jacques de Tourreil also experienced a change from inaccurate translation to accurate translation, which is reflected in his translation of three different versions of Demosthenes. In 1691, he published his first translation, which was influenced by the education of the Jesuit and paid attention to elegant style rather than accurate content. Tourreil processed the original work in the most ingenious way to modernize the ancients. After the translation was published, it was immediately severely criticized by Racine. After being criticized, Tourreil published a revised version in 1710, but the revised version actually only made detailed changes to the original translation, and the guiding principle of translation remains unchanged, that is, we must "make the characteristics of the original work conform to the characteristics of our nation". The new translation has received various comments. On the one hand, the ancient school refers to Tourreil 's attempt to impose new ideas on Demosthenes, believing that he not only did not beautify the original work, but distorted and vilified the original work. On the other hand, the present school believes that Tourreil's unfaithful translation of the original is better than the original, which is worth applauding. Tourreil himself is an ancient school. Naturally, he doesn't appreciate the present school's praise and thinks that this praise is "the most severe criticism to the translator". After that, he revised the translation for the third time, which is very different from the first two versions. It was not only a rare and accurate translation at that time, but also extremely beautiful. The translator translates in strict accordance with the original work, neither adding or subtracting nor making changes. By this time Tourreil had fundamentally changed his point of view. Discussing the history of French translation from the 17th century to the 18th century is bound to involve the influence of Jesuit and Jansenists. The main reason is that the people engaged in education at that time were members of these two schools. They had direct or indirect contact with each translation school through their own translation practice and teaching. The Jesuit believes that classical literature is worth studying and learning only in the aspect that it provides moral education or guides people how to learn eloquence. The excavation of classical works is not because their contents are of great value, but because of their beautiful forms. Teachers believe that the purpose of teaching is not so much to enable students to obtain substantive knowledge as to enable them to obtain formal learning identity. The works translated by Jesuit teachers or students generally have an obvious sign, that is, they do not pay much attention to the spiritual essence of the original work, but only pay attention to the expression of the original thought and the beauty of the translation style. In order to achieve this, translators often sacrifice the content, even misinterpret the original meaning, and religiously turn classical literary works. Therefore, the origin of inaccurate translation in the 17th century is often influenced by Jesuit thought. Jansenists is the second school that directly or indirectly affects translation principles. They believe that once students can read and write, they should read these translations in order to obtain basic knowledge about the original author and facilitate more and better reading of the original works in the future. In the early days, the views of the janssenian translators and the Jesuit translators were basically the same. Later, the translators of Jansenists believed that the practice of style for style in translation was also dangerous. However, towards the middle of the 17th century, their views changed and they believed that the style of ancient Greek and Latin writers, especially the style of ancient Greek writers, was worth learning. They really appreciate classical works more than the Jesuits. They admit that the language style of the ancients is superior to that of the present, but the present enjoys more inspiration from God, so the present surpasses the ancients in terms of thought and morality. In this way, no matter from which perspective, their views are completely consistent with those of ancient school. But the translation of Jansenists is far less elegant and beautiful than that of the Jesuits.
4.The decline of French translation in the 18th century and the translator Charles Batteux
In the 18th century, France was not as powerful as in the 16th and 17th centuries, nor was it culturally complacent. So she began to look at other countries' literature, first of all England. For example, the novels of the contemporary British sentimentalist writer Richard Were translated into French, which had a great influence on the development of French sentimentalist literature. In particular, the Chinese culture, which had been introduced to Europe for a long time, became more active in France in the 18th century. Although the number of translations is large, the quality is often not high. Charles Batteux was one of the most important translators in France in the 18th century. He was one of the most influential literary and translation theorists in France and the whole Europe in the 18th century. He edited and published a variety of translation books, translated aristoteles, Horace and many other classical works of ancient Greece and Rome, wrote Principes de Litterature, Cours de Belles-Lettres and other works. Batteux elaborated his thoughts and views on translation in The Principles of Treatise. His original views and excellent exposition made this book an important milestone in the development of translation theory in the 18th century. The fifth part of Principes de Litterature deals with translation problems.The theory of Charles Batteux obviously has the characteristics of philosophers, linguists, philology and translation. In other words, Charles Batteux discusses the principles of translation mainly from the perspective of general linguistic skills, rather than literary creation. He proposed the following 12 rules for dealing with word order in translation: 1. We must not alter the order of what the original says, either as fact or inference. 2. We should also preserve the order of ideas in the original text. 3. No matter how long the original sentence is, it should be kept intact in the translation, for a sentence is a thought in which the different elements are related to each other, and their correlation constitutes a kind of harmony. 4.All the conjunctions in the original text should be preserved. It is these conjunctions, so to speak, that hold the sentence elements together. 5. All adverbs should be placed either before or after the verb, depending on the harmony and momentum of the sentence. 6.Symmetrical sentences should be translated into symmetrical sentences. 7. Colorful ideas should be expressed in as much space as possible in the translation so as to maintain the same brilliance. 8. Rhetorical devices and forms of speech used to express ideas must be preserved in the translation. 9. We must translate short and pithy sayings that people like, or translate them into words that are natural and can be used as proverbs. 10. Interpretation is incorrect and incomplete because it is no longer a translation but a commentary. However, if there is no other way to convey the meaning of the original text, the translator has no choice but to use interpretation. 11. For the sake of meaning, we must abandon all forms of expression in order to make ourselves intelligible; Abandon emotion in exchange for a lively translation; Give up harmony for the pleasure of translation. 12. The idea of the original text can be expressed in different forms, combined or broken up by the words used to express it, and expressed by verbs, adjectives, nouns and adverbs, as long as its essence remains unchanged.
5.The revival of French translation in the 19th century and its rich translators
Another high tide of French translation came in the 19th century, when a large number of English, German, Italian, Spanish and Latin literary works were translated, such as Shakespeare, Milton, Byron, Shelley in England, Goethe and Schiller in Germany, Dante in Italy, and Spanish folk songs. The most prominent remains the translation of Shakespeare's works. If the 18th century was Shakespeare's Silver age in France, the 19th was the golden age. In the 19th century, people not only worshiped Shakespeare's works, but also worshipped him, and Shakespeare fever spread throughout France. From 1800 to 1910, at least eight different translations of Shakespeare's complete works were produced in France, of which francois-Victor Hugo is the best. Hugo's father was Victor Hugo, a great writer. With Hugo's assistance and cooperation, the complete works of Shakespeare were translated between 1859 and 1867. This translation has faithfully retained the unique rhythm of the play, so it has been praised by critics as the second milestone in the history of French translation of Shakespeare's plays, even more important than Letourne's famous translation in the late 18th century. Famous French translators in the 19th century included Francoise-René de Chateaubriand, Gérard de Nerval, and Charles Baudelaire. Chateaubriand is another epoch-making translator in France after Amio. His translation is faithful and beautiful. His literal translation of Milton's Paradise Lost is one of the outstanding French translations with its melodious and poetic tone. Nerval is best known for his translation of Goethe's Faust in prose style. In 1830 Goethe saw Nerval's translation and praised it as better than his original. Baudelaire, another famous poet of this period, was one of the earliest French translators of American literature and the first translator of Allan Poe. For 13 years from 1852 to 1865, he wrote, translated and commented on the complete works of Allan Poe. Baudelaire found what he was pursuing in Allan Poe's works, and believed that he and the author were in the same spirit, so that the translation could be in touch with the author. The translation was smooth and natural, just like the French creation, and was listed as an excellent classic of French prose.
6.The specialization of French translation in the 20th century and the maturity of translation theory
The 20th century has been the heyday of French translation theory. The characteristics of French translation in this period are: since the end of the Second World War, due to practical needs, commercial, diplomatic, scientific and technological aspects of the translation boom, its momentum even more than literary translation, thus forming a major content of the development of modern western translation; The study of translation theory is unprecedented and has produced translation theorists who have an important influence on the history of translation in the world. Before the First World War, the two countries used the language of power in business transactions, and French, which was considered the language of diplomacy at international conferences and other diplomatic occasions, did not have much problem in translation. However, after the end of the First World War, French lost its dominance, and English rose to take the lead with French, forming a situation in which French and English were used together. The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 was the beginning of this situation. Later, the European Union has 24 official languages, which means that translation has become an indispensable part of daily work, whether it is communication between countries in other regions or between western countries. With the increase of cooperation between countries, the need for translators is increasing. To meet this need, a number of schools specializing in training translators have been set up. One of the most prominent is ESIT(École Supérieure d'Interprètes et de Traducteurs). ESIT was founded in 1957, set up the department of Oral translation and pen translation, initially only opened several European languages, since 1972 added Chinese, now a total of English, Chinese, Russian, Arabic, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish, Swedish, Icelandic and other languages translation courses. Later, on the basis of the original two departments, the School added a department of Translation Studies, specializing in the study of language and translation theory, with the right to confer doctoral degrees. After graduation, most of the students apply for translation departments of international institutions, and some graduates apply for the work license of free translators to relevant institutions of various countries in order to work freely and not apply for the work license of free translators to international institutions. Over the years, ESIT has trained a number of senior translators for the foreign affairs departments of the United Nations, the European Community (EU) and western countries. Another characteristic of modern French translation is that French translators are organized in large numbers, setting up various translation associations and establishing various translation publications. Each association has its own purpose and purpose to carry out its work effectively. There are two major translation associations in France: the Association of French Translators and the Association of French Literary Translators. The Association of French Literary Translators was founded in 1973 as a splinter from the Association of Translators. Its entry requirements are the most stringent of any of its kind. Only highly qualified translators are eligible to join. Applicants must have at least one translation, which is carefully reviewed against the original work by a special selection committee. The aims of the association are :1.to improve the quality of French literature and literary translation publications; 2.To protect the rights and interests of members in respect of copyright, remuneration and working conditions of translated works; 3.Do not participate in any political activities. Since its establishment, the association has held many lectures and lectures, and its members have published many articles on translation in such authoritative publications as le Monde and New Literature. Through this series of business activities, it has become the most distinctive and vocal translation organization in France. In the first half of the 20th century, the French translation theorist J.Marouzeau is worth a book. He is a professor at the University of Paris and editor in chief of Année Philologique. In 1931, he published a pamphlet called La Traduction du Latin. The theory is as follows:1.Translation is, first of all, a skill. Maruzzo does not deny that translation is an art and a science, and that it is more of a skill. To master it, we mainly rely on rich practical experience, solid language knowledge and flexible translation methods. 2.In order to reach as many readers as possible, the translator's primary task, like linguists, educators and exegetists, is to reveal to the reader what the source text is, not what it covers. 3.The purpose of using a dictionary is not to translate, but to understand. It is a puzzling view, but it is not hard to discern the truth in it. He points out that translators must learn to use dictionaries, but must first understand what problems they are using them to solve. Latin, for example, is very different from French, he said. Latin words are not related to each other, and there is no strict word order, which must be added to a French translation to make the translation smooth. Dictionaries don't help in this respect. They define a particular word in inverse proportion to its simplicity, thus leaving the translator in a difficult position to choose between many different translations. Therefore, the main purpose of using a dictionary is not to find ready-made words, but to understand the meaning of the original text, to explain the text of the original text, and then produce a translation on this basis. At the same time, Marouzeau points out that words from different sources must be interpreted differently. 4.Translation is not guesswork. This is especially important. When encountering difficulties, the translator must carefully consider and avoid any "preconceived ideas", because in translation, the first thought of meaning or expression is often not the most correct or best. 5.Translation must be in living language. This was a popular idea in England in the 17th and 18th centuries. Marouzeau said that to translate Latin into French, if you need to introduce an old expression, you have to turn to a living language so that the translation is alive. That is to say, the translator must ask: if the original author were alive today and writing in French, how would he express the same thing? But Marouzeau also points out that this is not a generalization, and that for some passages, especially those of Ovid, "a bit of antiquity is most appropriate in French translation". The following is an introduction to Georges Mounin, a famous French translation theorist in the second half of the 20th century. He devoted his life to the teaching and research of linguistics and translation theory with outstanding achievements. He is regarded as the founder and most important representative of linguistic theory in contemporary French translation studies. Major theoretical works include Le belles infidèles , Les problèmes théorique de la traduction, La machine à traduire: Histoire des problèmes linguistiques, Linguistique et traduction, Semiotic praxis, etc. Among them, Les problèmes théorique de la traduction is the most praised by contemporary Western translation theorists. As mentioned above, this book uses the basic theories and methods of modern linguistics to explain translation, and sets up the first clear-cut flag of linguistic school in the field of Translation studies in France. The core idea of Mounin 's book is that he thinks translation belongs to linguistics, so it should be studied, understood and explained by means of modern linguistics. To establish an effective translation theory, it has to for translation and the translation of basic problems related to make a scientific understanding of these problems include the nature of translation, translation and the meaning of vocabulary, grammatical structure, the relationship between translation and the objective world, the world's image), the relationship between translation and language universals and language features, the relationship between the processing of language features in translation, and so on. Mounin 's discussion of translation theory revolves around these questions. What exactly is a translation? What kind of discipline should translation studies belong to and what kind of methods should be adopted? And so on. Such problems have always been the most concerned by translation researchers but have not been properly explained. Mounin believes that translation is a special and universal language activity, which naturally belongs to the scope of linguistics research, and the research results of language science can be applied to the study of translation problems. Mounin admit that the translation of poetry, the literature such as drama, movies, many factors other than language and paralanguage does play an important role, but the basis of translation activity is mainly to the original and the translation of linguistic analysis, and applied linguistics is more than any other skilled experience can provide accurate and reliable. Of course, from another point of view, especially from the perspective of the development of translation studies as an independent discipline since the 1980s, the practice of classifying translation studies as linguistics has been outdated. However, even if translatology is regarded as an independent discipline, its independence is only relative. Since translation (interlingual and intralingual translation) necessarily involves language, translation studies should not and cannot be completely free from the influence of linguistics at any time. In this sense, Mounin's view of linguistic translation has always been positive. Since the 1970s and 1980s, the interpretive school represented by Seleskovitch or the Paris School has emerged in the field of Translation studies in France and become the most remarkable and French characteristic in the post-modern period, thus forming the second major feature of the development of contemporary French translation theory. It should be said that this school does not negate the basic idea of the school of linguistics to study linguistic phenomena, but only opposes the pure linguistic orientation of the school of linguistics and focuses on the research method of form. Interpretive theory holds that translation is a linguistic act, but it requires the participation of extralinguistic knowledge. Whether it is diachronic linguistics in the 19th century, synchronic descriptive linguistics and contrastive structural linguistics in the 20th century, or the later transformational generative grammar theory, it ignores the pragmatic context as the main component of language communication, so it cannot reasonably explain translation problems. Based on practice, the theory of interpretation studies translation as a linguistic act, and interprets and conveys the meaning of language from linguistic factors, cultural factors, and extralinguistic factors, so as to give a scientific and reasonable explanation to the reality of translation. An important feature of interpretive translation theory is to reveal the essence of translation as communicative behavior from practice. Interpretivism holds that translation is a kind of linguistic act, which, like language use, must be supported by non-linguistic knowledge. However, as an act, the object of translation is not language, but meaning, which is the communicative meaning of the text. The output of meaning requires the combination of nonverbal thoughts and signs, and the reception of meaning requires the conscious behavior of the addressee. The arrangement of words is only a means of meaning formation for the originator of words. The understanding and grasp of meaning need to get rid of the original language form. The acquisition of meaning is instantaneous, not staged. Meaning is not the sum of words, but an organic whole, and the comprehension of meaning is completed at the level of discourse. According to the interpretive theory, language and thought are separated in the translation of translators. Language and thought are not exactly the same thing, but there is a constant two-way communication between them. Thought waves can be transformed into language, and language can be transformed into thought waves. Human knowledge and experience do not reside in the brain in the form of words. Interpretive theory also holds that understanding requires the participation of cognitive knowledge; The process of comprehension is the process of interpretation. Interpretation is the prerequisite of translation, and translation cannot be carried out without interpretation. Translation, on the other hand, is interpretation. Interpretive translation is a translation of meaning equivalence, which is established between texts. If a translation is to be successful, it is necessary to seek the overall meaning equivalence between the source text and the target text, and the meaning equivalence needs to achieve cognitive and emotional equivalence. Translators use their own abilities to organically combine the cognitive content and emotional content of the source text into an indivisible whole, and then successfully express it. Only in this way can the equivalence of meaning be achieved, which is the essence of the interpretive theory. The interpretive theory also focuses on fidelity. The translator cannot interpret at will, and his interpretation and understanding can only be faithful to the actual content of the speaker. Although the interpreter interprets in his own words, he conveys the meaning of the speaker and imitates the speaker's style. The interpreter should understand the overall style of the speech, and tend to be consistent with the speaker, should be as far as possible to get rid of the constraints of words, in order to accurately reflect the original style.
Conclusion
There may be many deficiencies and omissions in the simple combing of French translation history, but as a powerful and long-standing western developed country, France's translation process and theory have great research and reference significance for China and the world. The world is still developing, so is translation. With the development of modern science and technology, people explore translation more deeply, and new theories are constantly put forward. Therefore, we should seize the trend of the times, base ourselves on China, look at the world and seriously study these excellent theories.
References
李新星A Comparative Study on The Translation history of Modern Chinese and Korean Literature under the Background of "Western Learning" (1894~1949)
Abstract
The spreading of Western learning to the east is an extensive and far-reaching influence of modern Western culture on eastern civilization, which started from translation as a means of cultural communication.Scholars in China and Korea have always recognized the influence of the eastward spread of Western learning on the development of translation in their countries.However, most studies on modern and contemporary translation take the country as the boundary and rarely talk about the comparison and exchange between the two countries.In fact, although there are some individual differences between Chinese and Korean translation in modern times due to different national conditions, there are also many similarities and connections worthy of attention and research.From the perspective of translation history, this paper will explore the history of literary translation in China and Korea under the trend of western learning to the east, compare the commonness and individuality of the two countries' literary translation practices, explore the historical information behind the translation practices, and finally achieve the purpose of restoring the history of cultural (literary) exchanges between the two countries.
Key words
History of literary translation;“Western Learning”;China;Korea
摘要
西学东渐是近代西方文化对东方文明的一次广泛而深远的影响,而这影响首先是从作为文化交流的手段———翻译开始的。一直以来,中韩两国学者都认同西学东渐对本国翻译发展的影响,但现有的研究在探讨近现代翻译时大多以本国为界,很少谈及两国比较和交流。而实际上,虽然因为国情不同,中国与朝鲜半岛的近现代翻译存在一定的个体差异,但同时也有很多相似点和联系点值得关注和研究。本文将从翻译史视角出发,窥探西学东渐时代潮流下中韩两国文学翻译史的面貌,比较两国文学翻译实践的共性和个性,发掘翻译实践背后的历史信息,最终达到还原两国文化 (文学) 交流史的目的。
关键词
文学翻译史;“西学东渐”;中国;朝鲜(韩国)
1.Introduction
The spreading of Western learning to the east is an extensive and far-reaching influence of modern Western culture on Eastern civilization.Late 19th century to early 20th century,When the West had modernized and gradually replaced the East as the world's dominant power,The three East Asian countries ( China, Japan and Korea), which had been sleeping for a long time, were gradually awakened and embarked on the "journey" of modernization.Among them, In order to achieve a rich country and a strong army, Japan left Asia and entered Europe,Take the lead in taking a series of measures to actively learn from the West and introduce advanced ideas and culture.The main measure is to develop the translation of western literature.Under the influence of such a large environment, the translation of overseas literature in China and the Korean Peninsula has also set off a boom.It can be said that the influence of the eastward spreading of Western learning on the modernization of East Asia began with translation as a means of cultural exchange. Some scholars have pointed out that in the process of modernization in East Asia represented by Japan,Translation plays an important role.Without translation, East Asia would not have been able to open the door to modernization.This is also true in modern China and the Korean Peninsula.It can be said that after entering the modern society, the cultural exchanges between the two countries were continued through translation --"A history of translation is not only a history of cultural exchange, but also a history of the dissemination of ideas".As we all know, the study of translation history is a "basic project" in the construction of translation discipline.Behrman, a famous translator and translation theorist, once pointed out that "the composition of translation history is the first task of modern translation theory, and self-reflection is the establishment of itself" .The history of literary translation is an important part of the study of translation history and an indispensable factor in the investigation of a country's literature and even the whole cultural background in a particular period. In view of the above analysis, the author believes that in order to have a macro and in-depth understanding of the cultural exchanges between China and Korea in modern times.It is necessary for us to make a comparative study of literary translation between the two countries during this period (1894 ~ 1949).Writers believe that only by putting literary translation activities into a larger social and historical context can we have a clearer understanding of the translation practices of the two countries at that time.Therefore, from the perspective of translation history, this paper will explore the history of literary translation in China and Korea under the trend of western learning to the east, compare the commonness and individuality of the two countries' literary translation practices, explore the historical information behind the translation practices, and finally achieve the purpose of restoring the history of cultural (literary) exchanges between the two countries.
2. The origin and development of modern translation in both countries
After being opened to the outside world, western civilization flooded in. China and North Korea, which had been pursuing the policy of "closing the door to the outside world", began to "open their eyes to the world".From the government to the people, there has been an upsurge in the introduction of advanced Western civilization.Translation plays an important, even decisive role in this process. Media:Example.ogg==2.1The historical evolution of Modern Translation in China== As is known to all, Among the three East Asian countries, China is the first to pay attention to the West and understand and learn the West through translation.In the 1860s, after the Westernization Movement, a climax of modern Chinese translation began slowly.Strictly speaking, this translation period can be further divided into two stages, namely, with the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 as the dividing line, the early stage was the translation period dominated by westernization school, and the later stage was the translation period dominated by reformists.If the translation during the Westernization Movement was the primary stage of modern Western learning translation in China, there were still many problems, then the translation activities led by reformists such as Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao and Yan Fu had a greater development in terms of scale, significance and function.From the perspective of translation history, they set up translation institutes and translated western books widely(Especially those that had a great influence on Meiji Restoration in Japan.)Training translation talents, etc.Its scale, breadth of subjects, quantity and quality are unmatched by translation in the Westernization period.It should be noted that since the 1880s, China's interest in learning from the West has shifted from science to politics, education system and so on.In the late Qing Dynasty and early period, literary works gradually became the main object of translation activities.In the minds of the Vixinists represented by Liang Qichao, novels have become the most appropriate tool for political reform, popular enlightenment and the modernization of the country.Thus, beginning in the late 19th and early 20th centuries,Foreign literature has been widely translated into China, and communication channels include not only modern media such as newspapers and magazines, but also single-line books and large-scale translation literature series, which have also produced a series of arguments and discussions on translation methods and techniques.Modern Chinese translation has also entered a new period, that is, from the Ming and Qing period of scientific and technological translation as the mainstream gradually to culture / literature / literary translation as the core of the translation activities period.Overall, the translation of modern foreign literature in China from the end of the 19th century to the period 1949 can be broken down into the following three stages. The first stage was from the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China to the May 4th Movement in 1919.In December 1898, Liang Qichao translated The Japanese political novel The Adventure of The Beautiful Woman in Qingyi Daily. In 1900, Zhou translated one of the most influential works in Japanese political fiction, Yano Ryuki's "On The Classics of America".Since then, many Japanese political novels have been translated and introduced to China.After a more concentrated translation of political novels, other genres, such as history, science and the popular detective novels, have also been introduced.After 1907, a variety of modern literary magazines sprang up, and a large number of translated novels were published in these magazines in serial form, among which the serialized translated novels in magazines such as "Novel Forest" and "New Novel Cluster" even occupied absolute space, forming the first climax of foreign novel translation.However, it should be emphasized that the translation of literary works in this period was still in the exploratory stage,Although there are a large number of works, there are problems in the selection of works, translation skills and strategies. The second period is 1916 to 1936. This period can be further subdivided into the May Fourth Movement period and the Left Coalition Period.With the development of the New literature movement, Chinese literary translation has entered the most glorious period in the history of translation.Compared with the late Qing Dynasty, literary translation in this period was larger in scale, higher in quantity and quality, and its influence was unprecedented.It is worth emphasizing that almost all the heavyweights in the history of modern Chinese literature have participated in the translation and introduction.In addition to translation works, they also introduced various literary and artistic thoughts, and actively explored and discussed translation methods and theories.Especially with their active advocacy and hard work, The translation industry in China has been closely integrated with the struggle against imperialism and feudalism.It completely changed the chaotic and unprincipled state of translation circles before the May 4th Movement.In addition, it was from this time that China's translation of Soviet/Russian literature gradually reached its peak.It can be said that the mainstream of Chinese literature translation in the 1930s was Marxist literary trend of thought and progressive literature (especially Soviet/Russian literature).Of course, in addition to Russian/Soviet literature, this period has translated the literature of Britain, The United States, Japan, France, Germany and southeast Northern Europe and Asia. The third period is from 1937 to 1949. After the war of Resistance against Japan broke out.The translation community, like the rest of the country, has concentrated all its efforts on the cause of saving the nation from extinction and striving for liberation.Therefore, the pace of development of Translation in China slowed down during this period.In spite of this, Chinese writers and translators have overcome various difficulties and translated and published many excellent foreign literary works.During this period, there was a wide range of translations, ranging from western European classical literature to war literature at that time, and even ancient Greek literature and Jewish literature.In terms of genres, there are novels, poems, plays, prose and even some academic works on literary history.A number of famous translators in the history of Chinese translation literature, such as Zhu Shenghao, Ge Baoquan, Fu Lei, Liang Shiqiu, Lin Yutang and so on, are active in literary translation.Of course, the biggest characteristic of this period was the translation of the Soviet Union and other countries anti-fascist war works, in particular, the establishment of the revolutionary translation group "Times Press", published the revolutionary translation publication "Soviet Literature", a large number of Soviet literary and artistic works.
==2.2 The situation of modern and contemporary Translation on the Korean Peninsula and the Influence of China == From the end of the 19th century, western civilization began to flow into East Asia on a large scale, and Korea was further plunged into the situation of internal troubles and foreign aggression. Faced with the complicated situation at home and abroad, the enlightened intellectuals of Korea further realized that translating Western books was an important task at that time. As early as 1886, The "Seoul Weekly" published by Powen Bureau had a column specially emphasizing the importance of translation, and proposed to establish a special translation agency to translate foreign books. And six years later, another important newspaper of the day 《Huangcheng News 》also commented, stressing that translation is an important means to enrich the country and strengthen the army and realize modern civilization. We call for the establishment of specialized translation institutions under the guidance of the government "to strengthen the guidance and management of translation. On behalf of this, not only all kinds of news media actively propagated, but also some intellectuals at that time called for the realization of civilization and the prosperity of the country and the strength of the army by translating overseas literature and learning advanced western experience. As a result, the Korean Peninsula at that time set off a boom in the translation of overseas works, especially literary works. Of course, as in China, one of the preconditions for translating Western books in the Korean Peninsula was the development of modern media, which provided a platform for the dissemination of written works at that time. After the 1895-1895 revolution, modern schools were established one after another, and special language schools were set up, which played a positive role in understanding overseas and spreading Western culture, and reserved talents for the translation and introduction of foreign literature. Generally speaking, the history of translation of foreign works on the Korean Peninsula from 1895 to 1949 can be divided into the following five stages: Patriotic enlightenment period (1895-1910), translation literature awakening period (1911-1919), translation into the proper period (1920-1935), dark Period (1936-1945), Regeneration period (1945 ~1949). We can refer to Kim Byung-chul's Studies on the History of Modern Korean Translation Literature, the earliest and only work on the history of modern Korean Translation literature. However, it is worth noting that Kim Byung-chul's pioneering work has carefully combed and studied the translation history of modern Korean literature from both macro and micro perspectives. However, there is no introduction to the translation of Chinese and Japanese literature. In fact, in the whole modern and modern period, although the communication between China and South Korea seems not as active and close as that in ancient times, the spiritual, political and cultural ties that have connected the two countries for thousands of years have not disappeared overnight. This point can be seen from the early stage of The History of Korean translated literature with China as the medium of translation activities and the late continuous translation of Modern Chinese literature. The first stage (1895-1910) is the period of patriotic enlightenment,The main function of translation in this period was "enlightenment of civilization, independence, social and political enlightenment", and the translation activities inevitably had obvious purpose and utility. The patriotic enlighteners represented by Xuan CAI, Zhang Zhiyuan, Shen Caihao and Zhou Shijing received Chinese education from childhood and were deeply influenced by Confucian culture. Most of the works translated from The Korean Peninsula during this period were biographies of great men, history of the war, history of independence and geographical history. Almost all the translated works are from Chinese and Japanese versions. According to statistics, there were about 37 separate editions of such works translated in the Korean Peninsula before 1910, among which 16 were based on Chinese translations, not including those published in newspapers and magazines. In particular, it is worth emphasizing the important works in the early history of Korean literature, such as The History of The Fall of Vietnam, the Biography of the Three Masters of the Founding of Italy, and so on.The Biography of the Patriotic Lady was introduced to the Korean Peninsula based on the Chinese version. In addition, the Japanese Ryoki Yano's Korean single version of The Book On The Nation and the United States (1908, Translated by Hyun Gonglian) was based on zhou Kui's Chinese version in 1907. It is also highly likely that The first western literary work to be officially translated into Korea, Robin Sun Crusoe (1908, translated by Kim Chan), was translated into Chinese. In a word, China's influence cannot be ignored in the history of translated literature during the Korean civilization period. The second stage (1910 ~ 1919) is called "the Awakening period of Translated literature". The translation activities of this period did have many characteristics different from those of the previous period. For example, many translations clearly identify the original author and translator; There appeared some literary magazines that paid attention to translation, such as Youth, New Star, Youth, Light of Learning and New Wenjie.“Three Lights", and "Tai Xi Literature and Art News" founded in 1918 with the main purpose of translating foreign literary works; At the beginning, it was consciously emphasized that translation should be based on the original text rather than through a third language. Translation methods also began to emphasize the separation from the earlier simple emphasis on the transmission of content translation, summary translation, abbreviated translation, etc. It puts forward the importance of respecting the original text and being faithful to the original text, and actively practices it. Kim Il and other important figures in the history of Korean translation literature have officially started their translation activities. And so on. All these indicate that the translation activities on the Korean Peninsula have "awakened" and are ready for further progress on the right track. Generally speaking, since 1908, when Juvenile was first published,The Translated literature of the Korean Peninsula further broke away from the original utilitarian and purist nature and began to enter the era of "pure literature and art" translation. Since then, a great deal of Western literature has been translated into The Korean peninsula, and the quality of translation in this period is significantly higher than that of the Patriotic Enlightenment period. In addition to new novelists such as Lee Sang-hyup, Lee Hae-jo and Ahn Guk-seon, the translators also include famous figures in the history of literature such as Choi Nam-seon, Hong Myung-hee and Lee Kwang-soo, as well as some publishers and media workers. It is worth noting that some scholars believe that literary exchanges between China and Korea ended after Japan annexed the Korean Peninsula in 1910. This view is obviously somewhat arbitrary. According to incomplete statistics, at least 20 Chinese translations were introduced to the Korean Peninsula through the medium of Chinese translations, although the translation activities based on Chinese translations were not as active as in the Enlightenment period. These works include not only reprints of Chinese vernacular novels in Ming and Qing Dynasties, but also western novels based on Chinese translations. Among these Chinese translations of western novels, 8 are from the large western literature translation series "Shuobo Congshu", which was planned and published by the Shanghai Commercial Press in 1903. Choi Chan-sik, a famous writer of new novels at the time, recalled that recalled that he began writing a new novel after translating a book in the "Shaobo Series" published in Shanghai, China. These data show that even at a time when Japan's control over the Korean Peninsula was increasing, China's translation and media activities still have a certain influence on Korean intellectuals. In other words, under the new historical conditions, the cultural exchanges between the two countries are still struggling to continue in a new form. The third stage (1920-1935) marked the beginning of joseon's translation literature. According to Kim byung-chul's statistics, at least 600 foreign literary works have been translated to the Korean Peninsula in various forms since the 1920s, Genres include fiction, poetry, drama, essays, fairy tales, and some literary criticism, Countries involved Britain, the United States, Germany, France, Russia, India and so on. Of course, this statistic does not include the translation of Chinese literature. In fact, after the 1920s, one of the biggest changes in the history of Sino-Korean translation was the movement that was then in China and the new literary works began to be translated and introduced to the Korean Peninsula. According to incomplete statistics, about 30 kinds of modern Chinese literary works including novels were translated and translated in the Korean Peninsula during the colonial period (In addition to the only collection of Chinese Short Stories during the colonial period), 16 plays, 41 poems, 3 essays, 1 fairy tale, etc., and more than a dozen literary criticism. If we add the Chinese classical literature translated in this period, we can say that after 1920, the translation of Chinese literature in the Korean Peninsula is relatively comprehensive and continuous, which should not be excluded from the history of Korean translated literature. The fourth stage (1936-1945) was a dark period for the entire Korean Peninsula. In terms of translated literature, Japan has strengthened its control over public opinion and media by strengthening its policy of suppressing national language, The flood of Japanese books, coupled with the growing economic collapse on the Korean peninsula, has put pressure on the publishing industry and reduced the number of magazines, Access to foreign books has also been blocked, resulting in a huge blow to translation activities on the Korean Peninsula. This was the darkest period in the history of Translated literature on the Korean Peninsula. Although there were sporadic translations of Chinese literary works, they only catered to the political needs of the Japanese colonial government and chose some works that were irrelevant to politics and even covered up and beautified its militarist ambitions. In 1940, for example, Three Thousand Miles magazine ran a special collection of "New Chinese literature,"The content of the works is either daily life, love or traditional art, which has nothing to do with politics, and the original translations are entirely dependent on Japanese translations. The content of the works is either daily life, love or traditional art, which has nothing to do with politics, and the original translations are entirely dependent on Japanese translations. In the fifth stage (1945-1949), the Korean Peninsula was finally liberated from Japanese colonial rule. The country was in ruins and all walks of life seemed to be full of hope, but at the same time, it was in a sudden chaos. At this time, translation has gradually entered the recovery period. From the point of view of countries, the United States and the Soviet Union were the most translated works, which obviously reflected the political situation and ideology at that time. However, the translation and study of modern Chinese literature also ushered in a brief bright period. Many researchers from academic schools joined the ranks of translation, and the translation of their works also moved toward specialization and systematization, with the emergence of selected Modern Chinese Short Stories (1946), Short Stories of Lu Xun (1946), Selected Modern Chinese Poems (1947) and other individual editions. He even published the history of Modern Chinese Literature (1949), the first book of Chinese studies in Korea. Compared with the colonial period, translation at this time was no longer subject to many restrictions, and further got rid of the early enlightenment and utilitarian color in nature. It began to attempt to approach modern Chinese literary works from the perspective of aesthetics and pure literature and carried out systematic and professional research. Translators seem to want to make up for the many regrets of the colonial period and are eager to translate and study modern Chinese literature in an all-round way. Unfortunately, this boom came to an abrupt end after the outbreak of the war in 1950, and The cause of Chinese literary translation fell into recession again.
3. Differences and Similarities in the translation history of Modern Chinese and Korean literature
Differences and similarities in the translation history of Modern Chinese and Korean literature As is known to all, since the 1970s, translation studies have achieved a "cultural" shift, and the scope of research has expanded from the purely linguistic category to the non-linguistic category of culture, ideology, power relations, politics and so on.The literariness and thinking of literary works determine that literary translation has the dual orientation of ideology and poetics.Therefore, the study of literary translation should be connected with the socio-historical background and the poetic background so as to analyze and explain the important translation phenomena in depth.Throughout the history of modern literary translation in China and South Korea, we will find that the biggest similarity is that the "cultural political practice" (Venuti) of translation has always been controlled by ideology.Under the environment of western learning spreading eastward, one of the main social ideologies in East Asia was"Modern transformation".As an important means of modernization transformation, translation not only has an impact on the political and economic development of China and Korea, but also plays an important role in the two countries' acceptance of Western civilization, dissemination of new knowledge, formation of new culture, and the development of their own language and literature.In the process of sorting out the translation history of modern Chinese and Korean literature, we can clearly find that there are many similarities and intersections, and of course there are individual differences.Whether similarities or differences arise, some of them are related to the social ideology of the two countries, and some are related to the influence of the translator's personal ideology.It can be said that ideology permeates all aspects of modern translation in both countries, especially the change and development of social ideology plays a significant role in the evolution of translation.Below, this paper will compare and analyze the similarities and differences of literary translation between the two countries from several aspects. (1) The nature and motivation of translation In terms of the nature of translation, the modern translation activities in China and South Korea have obvious utilitarian, effective and political characteristics.Before the formal launch of literary translation, China had gone through a long stage of translating and introducing western scientific and technological books for the purpose of learning from the West, strengthening industrial development and achieving a prosperous country and a strong army.After the failure of the Reform movement of 1898, the development of Chinese foreign literature translation was in fact based on the translation of novels.One of the reasons is that Liang Qichao, the leader of the Reformists, put forward the slogan of "novel revolution" and advocated the translation of political novels, blowing the horn of literary translation. At the same time, a group of literary translators represented by Lin Shu actively engaged in translation practice, which also promoted the development of literary translation at that time.At that time, the purpose of literary translation was also to enlightening the people, reforming the society and giving play to the unique role of literary thought in shaping the "consciousness of the world".After the May 4th Movement, political demands still played a leading role in the selection of translators despite literary factors.On the other hand, the Korean Peninsula, because of the late opening of port and the depth of the country's internal troubles and foreign aggression, had no time to translate western literature as China and Japan did in terms of promoting industrial development and enriching the country and strengthening its armed forces.For them, translation is first of all a means of understanding the outside world, and its direct purpose is to get rid of the control of foreign forces and achieve independence.Therefore, the modern translation of the Korean Peninsula did not go through the stage of large-scale scientific translation, but from the very beginning, a part of social science translation and a large number of literary translation, including political novels, biographies of great men and so on.In particular, the translation of literary works has always occupied an important position in the modern translation of the Korean Peninsula.It is worth mentioning that liang Qichao had a great influence on literary translation during the Period of Korean Civilization.It was under his influence that a large number of political novels were translated and introduced to the Korean Peninsula, and played an important role in the transformation of thoughts and concepts in the Korean Peninsula in the modern period and the emergence and development of modern literature.Of course, after entering the period of colonial rule, the Translation of the Korean Peninsula became more colonial,In many ways, it is more influenced and restricted by Japan. Although there is also the pursuit of literature, the final translation inevitably has a strong political nature.In a word, the translation activities in the first half of the 20th century in both countries are determined by both literary factors and social ideology, but in the final analysis, the latter always plays a dominant role.Due to the special historical environment and similar fate, translation in both countries has strong utilitarian, utility and political characteristics to a large extent, which are the manifestation of the "manipulation" of translation by the ideological form. (2) The source of the translation There is no doubt that in all stages of modern translation history, the sources of translated works in the two countries are closely related to Japan, but there are differences in the specific range of sources and degree of dependence on Japan.In fact, before the late Qing Dynasty, a large number of Western scientific and technological books translated in China were basically based on the original Western language.In the translation period dominated by the Reformists, due to the vigorous development of Japanese translation and the characteristics of easy learning and understanding of Japanese, Liang Qichao and Kang Youwei advocated the translation of foreign works from Japanese. It was not until then that A large number of Japanese translations were carried out in China. After the May 4th Movement, Translation in China flourished, with translators of various languages appearing in large numbers and many intellectuals participating in translation activities.At this time, the original versions of Chinese translations are also varied, including Japanese and English versions, and many are directly translated from the original.On the other hand, due to the influence of history, during the whole period of the Korean Peninsula, the translation of foreign books mainly consisted of Japanese and Chinese versions, and few of them were directly translated from the original.After entering the period of colonial rule, due to Japan's rule and influence on the Korean Peninsula in various fields, there were fewer and fewer translation cases based on The Chinese version, and the Japanese version took the dominant position.However, due to the increasing number of intellectuals focusing on Western language and literature (such as the emergence of the "Overseas Literature School" in 1926), the call for translation based on the original text became stronger and stronger.After all, most of the Korean intellectuals of the "overseas literary school" studied in Japan,Therefore, although they put forward the slogan of "translation from the original text", their translation activities are still directly or indirectly influenced by the Japanese knowledge system.In short, if the modern times of East Asia are "modern times of translation", as a bridge of translation in East Asia, Japanese translation is based on the original text or English.In China, there are both literal translation of the original text and retranslation of English and Japanese versions. On the other hand, Korean translation sources are a little bit unitary, basically retranslating some Chinese and most Japanese versions.However, from another point of view, the translation path of the Korean Peninsula at that time was the most complicated among the three countries, which could be the path of "Japanese → Korean", "Western → Chinese → Korean" or even "Western → Japanese → Chinese → Korean". At that time, many Korean intellectuals were fluent in both Chinese and Japanese, so it was difficult to refer to only one source in the translation process.For example, The book On The Classics and The United States (1908), marked with the "translation" of Xuan Gonglian, was published with reference to both the Japanese and Chinese versions.Kim Kyo-je, a famous writer of new novels in the early modern period, translated or reprinted 11 novels at least four were translated to the Korean Peninsula through the path of "Western → Chinese → Korean";While Li Haichao translated Iron World (1908), the translation path is "Western → Japanese → Chinese → Korean" . In Korea at that time, this kind of double, triple or even multiple retranslation is very common. For this reason, the modern Korean Peninsula is also called "retranslated modern times" by scholars. (3) Topic selection and content of the translated work Corresponding to the nature, motivation and characteristics of translation, there are not only similarities and intersecting points, but also their own characteristics in the topic selection of translated works.For example, the pilgrim's Progress, a religious novel by English novelist John Bunyan (1628-1688), was among the first western literary works translated in both countries. This fact reflects the important role of western missionaries in the translation history of the two countries.Aesop's Fables is also one of the earliest and most frequently translated western literary works in both countries.Aesop's Fables was translated many times in both countries and included in the textbooks of the time as a children's book.After entering the modern and contemporary period, both countries highly respected historical and biographical works and political novels, and had a period of concentrated translation.For example, political novels such as "A Journey with the Wind", "Jingguo Meiyu" and "Iron World" have been translated into Chinese and English respectively.In addition, many historical and biographical works (especially the history of subjugations) were translated into The Korean Peninsula through Chinese media at that time, such as The Founding of Switzerland and Fifteen Little Heroes. As well as liang Qichao's writings or translations of the hundred Days' Coup, The History of the Fall of Vietnam, the biography of the three Heroes of the Founding of Italia, The biography of Madame Roland, and the biography of Hungarian patriot Gasus, etc.History books such as A New History of Tai Xi, a Brief History of Russia, A War in the Middle East and modern History of Egypt were also translated from Chinese versions. In the whole period of civilization, the Korean Peninsula concentrated on the translation of history, biographical works and political novels, although there is no lack of Japanese influence, but obviously The Influence of China can not be ignored.Due to reasons such as politics, current affairs and the market, the two countries in politics, history and biography of before and after the translation in the first decade of the 20th century gradually into the low tide, and other types of novels, such as science fiction, detective novels, western pure literary fiction and gradually be translated a lot, at the same time, poetry translation have greater development.It is worth mentioning that translation in both countries reached a new climax after the late decade of the first decade of the 20th century.In terms of the number and diversity of genres, China is far more diverse than The Korean Peninsula, but there are some interesting intersections in the literary translation topics of the two countries, such as Shakespeare, Hardy, Stevenson and Conan Doyle in The UK, Tolstoy, Gorky and Chekov in Russia, Tagore in India,Norway's Ibsen and other works have had a great influence in both countries.It is worth mentioning that there are obvious differences between the two countries in the topic selection of translated works as follows. The first is the translation of Japanese literature The problem. As we all know, Japanese literature plays a very important role in the history of Chinese translation of foreign literature in the 20th century.On the Korean Peninsula, although the influence of Japanese literature is beyond doubt, and the translation of Japanese literature in the first half of the 20th century can be said to run through the whole modern translation activities of the Korean Peninsula, but the translation of Japanese literature in the Korean Peninsula itself is very few. The reasons are mainly related to the special political and historical background of the Korean Peninsula and the control and infiltration of Japanese language in the Korean Peninsula after entering the colonial period, as well as the role of national emotional factors.Secondly, the translation and introduction of the other side's literature. In the first half of the 20th century, the literature of the two countries was not the main target of translation in each other's country, but this does not mean that there is no overlap between them. On the whole, the Korean Peninsula paid more and deeper attention to Chinese literature than China did to Korean literature during this period.After entering the modern society, under the extremely complicated and difficult cultural environment, the Korean Peninsula continued to translate Chinese vernacular novels and some classical poems in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and at the same time carried out a relatively concentrated translation of Liang Qichao, the pioneer of Chinese novel revolution. However, what is more noteworthy is his continuous translation and introduction of New Chinese literature, which started in the second half of the 1910s.Due to the special historical and geographical relationship, Korea is the first country in the world to notice China's new cultural movement except Japan. At that time, many magazines and newspapers on the Korean Peninsula introduced and reported the New Chinese literature. Some Korean intellectuals had deep feelings about the innovative atmosphere in The Chinese literary circle and hoped to provide necessary reference for the improvement and innovation of their own literature through the translation and introduction of The new Chinese literature.In a word, during the Period of Japanese rule, the Translation and introduction of modern Chinese literature in The Korean Peninsula was quite comprehensive, and many famous writers and works in the history of Chinese literature were involved in the topic selection, which played an important role in the study of Chinese literature in Korea. On the contrary, China's translation of Korean literature at that time was very limited, mainly due to the concern of "weak and weak ethnic literature", and also influenced by the war ideology of anti-japanese and national salvation, nationalism. However, in the huge history of modern Chinese literature translation, the translation of Korean literature is just a drop in the ocean and has not received enough attention. All in all, the depth and breadth of the translation of each other's works is extremely unbalanced. (4) The translator's main body, translation strategies and methods There are also similarities between the two countries on the subject of translators in the history of modern translation literature. In the early stage of translation activities, western missionaries played a great role. Later, famous intellectuals, social activists and literary scholars of the two countries realized the importance of translation, actively participated in translation activities, and became the leading leaders of modern translation in the two countries.For example, yan Fu, Liang Qichao and Lin Shu were active translators in early China, while xuan CAI, Pu Yinzhi, Shen Caihao and other famous scholars, thinkers and social activists led the translation during the Korean Peninsula's enlightenment period. After entering the decade of the 20th century, the translation of the two countries gradually entered the climax.Many Chinese writers, including Lu Xun, Guo Moruo and Zhou Zuoren, actively translated while writing. Choi Nam-sun and Lee Kwang-soo, leaders of Korean literature in the first decade of the 20th century, also actively translated their works.In addition, famous writers of new novels such as Lee Hae-jo, Ahn Guk-seon, and Choi Chan-sik were motivated and motivated by translation activities. With the development of translation, a number of specialized literary translators have emerged in both countries. In addition, some new women at that time also participated in the translation, such as Bing Xin from China and Kim Myung-soon from Korea.In terms of translation strategies or ways, early modern translation system is far from mature, highly standard translation way, utilitarian purpose, color thick, many translators from themselves and the needs of the audience, or excerpts and delete any reduction of the original (AD, Jane), or add their own opinions and comments in the process of translation, the tai shang ganying pian), Or in the form of translation only summarize the general idea (synopsis), for example, liang Qichao and Cui Nanshan's translation to a large extent are abridged, synopsis or translation.Generally speaking, the forms and methods of translation at that time were characterized by diversity and hybridity, which were similar in China and Korea. The reason is related to the mainstream ideology of the translation leaders who hoped to enlighten the people, enrich the country and strengthen the army through translation as soon as possible. (5) Disputes on "Literary translation" After literary translation gradually got on the right track and became the mainstream of translation works in the two countries, translators in the two countries gained further insights on the application, methods and techniques of translation and gradually began to express their own views on translation, whose discussions cover all aspects of translation. Such as translation methods, translation skills, translation and the status of translators, the role of translation. The opinions of different translators are bound to be different. Therefore, in the modern and contemporary period, both China and South Korea had debates on translation (literary translation). The focus and theme of the debate are similar, such as "translatable or untranslatable", "literal translation versus free translation" and so on.It is well known that in the history of modern Chinese translation, especially in the May Fourth Movement period, many writers began their literary career by translating foreign literature, and most of them published discussions on translation. The differences between different translators and groups have led to several famous debates in the history of Chinese translation. For example, lu Xun and Zhou Zuoren proposed Literal translation and related debates are typical examples. In addition, in the history of modern Chinese translation, there are also debates on "translated names", "translatable or not translatable literary works", translation methods such as mistranlation, hard translation and dead translation, and translation paths such as literal translation or retranslation.The 1920s was a period when the history of modern and contemporary translation in Korea was on the right track. Many newspapers and magazines published discussions on translation and related debates. In the history of modern translation on the Korean Peninsula, one of the most famous disputes about translation is the dispute between Jin Yi and Liang Zhudong about "literal translation" and "free translation" in poetry translation. Liang zhudong believes that poetry is untranslatable and should be literal compared with free translation. Jin Yi believes that although poetry is untranslatable, if translators exert their own subjective initiative, it can completely improve the value of translated poetry and even become a new creation. However, it is interesting that although Liang zhudong praised the method of "literal translation", he criticized the "overseas literature school" that focused on foreign literature at that time for being too rigid in the way of literal translation, and believed that "literal translation" should be organically combined with "free translation".In fact, the debate between literal translation and free translation, or "domestication" and "foreignization", is closely related to ideology. The debate between translators in the two countries over these issues is actually carried out at the ideological level. According to venuti, a famous translation theorist of deconstruction school, the choice of translation strategy is determined by ideology. (6) The influence of translation on the languages and literature of the two countries In fact, the greatest influence of modern literary translation on China and South Korea is reflected in the development of characters and literature. First of all, translation must be carried out with language as the carrier. Under normal circumstances, the translated language is naturally the lingua franca of a country and a nation, but for China and South Korea in the late 19th and 20th centuries, a common problem emerged in the process of translation in terms of language carrier: At that time, both countries had two parallel language systems, which coincided with the social and cultural transition, so language translation became a very interesting topic.As we all know, in the late 19th century and the early 20th century, There were two languages in China: Classical Chinese and vernacular Chinese. Vernacular Chinese was still in the ascendant, while classical Chinese still played an important role in written and literary translation. Of course, the classical Chinese at this time refers to the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China common "shallow classical Chinese", it is different from the past obscure ancient prose, but in classical Chinese mixed with common sayings, is a kind of literary language between ancient Classical Chinese and vernacular.For example, Lin Shu, a great modern translator, translated foreign literature in classical Chinese. His translation was not only welcomed by readers at that time, but also had a great influence on many famous Chinese intellectuals. In the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, there were both classical Chinese and vernacular Chinese translations, and the classical Chinese translations were more than the vernacular ones, but basically the two languages co-existed peacefully. In the process of translation, the needs of the audience should be considered. The same translator can translate in both vernacular and classical Chinese. The same foreign novel may have both classical and vernacular translations.It was not until after the New Culture Movement that the vernacular style gradually occupied the main position in written language. After the 1920s, the translated works in China were mainly in vernacular. For the development of modern Chinese vernacular, it can be said that the impact of translation is extremely far-reaching. Chinese vernacular can be divided into "traditional vernacular" and "modern vernacular".The traditional vernacular is based on a Dream of Red Mansions. The vernacular of China represented by such vernacular classics as Water Margin, which is not influenced by western language. The "modern vernacular" is based on the traditional vernacular, influenced by oral and ancient prose and with the color of European, that is, the May 4th Movement advocated vernacular, namely the so-called European vernacular.It is worth noting that this Kind of European vernacular was actually created by western missionaries in China at that time, and the tool of missionaries to create European vernacular is translation. In order to spread religion and western culture smoothly, they translated a large number of Western books, including holy books, and consciously chose words and styles more suitable for ordinary people to read in the process of translation, which was the prototype of vernacular Chinese vigorously advocated by the May Fourth Movement.Similar to the situation in China, the Korean Peninsula in the late 19th and early 20th centuries also had two basic styles, namely, the mixed style of Chinese and Chinese and the pure Style of Chinese. It was only after the 1894-1895 Revolution that the Korean Peninsula's national language began to be widely used. It takes time for any language style to emerge and mature, and the Korean Peninsula's "pure Korean style" is no exception,In 1921, Korean language researchers formed the Korean Language Research Society under the influence of the Zhou Dynasty, which served as an opportunity for the further establishment of the modern Korean language. Before this, mixed Chinese and Korean language played an important role in the written language of the Korean Peninsula for a long time.In fact, the so-called mixed Chinese characters are based on Chinese characters, sometimes using Korean characters. The difference is that some mark Korean characters on Chinese characters, and some do not even mark Korean characters, but only Chinese characters. There is another special case, that is, the pure Chinese style with Korean auxiliary words and endings, such as the "hanging out Chinese style" used by Shen Caihao in the translation of the Biography of the Three Heroes of the Foundation of Itri.It is worth mentioning that it was also western missionaries who initially carried out translation activities in Korean. In order to preach, they carried out translation activities mainly aimed at the "Bible" in the Korean Peninsula, using the Korean language, which was not popular and was not valued by the Korean intellectuals at that time. The purpose of using The Korean language was to make the translated holy book easier for more ordinary people to accept. Kim Byeong-cheol holds that it is the translation of sacred books in the native Korean language that gave birth to the main form of modern literature on the Korean Peninsula, namely the "new novel", and thus promoted the "unity of language and language" and the emergence of modern literature in Korea.In general, the influence of translation on the development of Chinese and Korean characters and literature is far more than that. It can be said that the expansion of sentence structure, the change of style, the enrichment of vocabulary, the improvement of expressive force and the perfection of grammar system of the two languages are all inseparable from translation. In a word, translation has played an indispensable role in the unification of language and language in the history of Chinese and English literature. In addition to its role in language, translation also has a profound influence on the development of modern literature in both countries. As is known to all, the translation and introduction of a large number of foreign novels not only brought strong shock and impact to the literary circles of the two countries at that time, but also provided a lot of reference for the realization of the literary transformation of the two countries.It can be said that in the process of the collision, integration and evolution of eastern and western literature, literary translation plays a decisive external role in the transformation of Chinese and Korean literature from classical form to modern form, and has a great impact on the literary concept, literary type, narrative mode and expression mode. In this regard, researchers in China and South Korea have given positive descriptions.
4. conclusion
There are many similarities between China and South Korea in modern times. Under the environment of western learning spreading to the east, both of them were knocked out of the country by the West, suffered the invasion of western powers and Japan successively, and passively started the journey of modernization. Under the circumstance of deepening national crisis of domestic and foreign invasion, the enlightened intellectuals of the two countries have carried out the exploration of saving the nation from extinction, and translation is an important means for them to achieve this goal. To be specific, the historical context of the spreading of Western learning from the end of the 19th century endowed the two countries with unique historical characteristics. Due to the similarity of historical, cultural and political background and mainstream ideology, the translation of modern and contemporary literature in the two countries also presents many similarities and even intersecting points. As analyzed above, the most obvious common point in the modern translation history of China and Korea is ideology Influence throughout. For China and Korea at that time, one of the mainstream ideologies was "modernization transformation", and translation was the driving force for the modernization transformation process of the two countries. Therefore, utilitarianism and purposefulness run through the development of modern translation in both countries. In addition to the mainstream social ideology, the translator's personal ideology also has a great influence on literary translation in both countries.For example, the early translation phenomenon led by Western missionaries and the later translation activities led by intellectuals of the two countries were all carried out by translators for their personal purposes under the influence of the general environment at that time. It can be said that it is because of the influence of the subliminal form of the western learning spreading to the east that the modern and modern translations of the two countries show many similarities or similarities. Comparing the literary translation of the two countries in terms of specific content, we can find many similarities in details. For example, western missionaries played an important role at the beginning. After entering the 20th century, the translation of both countries was deeply influenced by Japan. The translation groups of the two countries were the best intellectuals and representatives of the new culture at that time. When they translated foreign works, they also carried out various discussions and even debates about translation. Translation activities have broadened the horizons of the people of the two countries and enriched their languages, literature and even culture. It is worth mentioning that cultural exchanges between the two countries have also been continued through translation. Of course, due to the differences in specific situations, there are some differences in literary translation between the two countries while showing common features. The author believes that the biggest difference lies in the scale of translation. To be specific, from the number of translated works and translators, the discussion and construction of translation theories, the importance attached to translation, and the influence and status of translation in the history of national literature, Chinese modern translation is obviously higher. The main reason is that the translation environment and background of the two countries at that time are different, that is, the difference between complete colonies and semi-colonies. Although the Qing Dynasty fell under the background of the competition of western powers, China did not completely become a colony of any power, so it was relatively free and independent in political and cultural development. However, because Korea was annexed and ruled by Japan, it was difficult to develop modernization independently. The whole society was highly dependent on Japan, and it was also greatly restricted and influenced by Japan in terms of ideology. Translation activities were no exception. As mentioned above, the purpose of the author's comparative study of Chinese and Korean contemporary literature translation is to restore the contemporary and contemporary literary exchanges between the two countries, and at the same time to provide necessary background for the mutual translation and introduction of the contemporary and contemporary literature of the two countries. However, the study of Chinese and Korean modern literature translation is a polyphonic and polysemy subject with a very wide range of coverage. Due to the limited space and author's ability, this paper only generalizes and arranges the subject from a macro perspective, and many details are not developed in depth. Translated works by the capacity of, for example, the sources of the related works and so on, for more exist in the two countries pay fork points to explore, in the evaluation of literature translation of words between the two countries and the specific influence of literature, especially under the background of their literary translation between the two countries the properties and significance of literary translation, etc., if you can carry out further discussion and exploration of the content, The research results will be more rich and three-dimensional.
References
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刘沛婷 Western Translation history in Renaissance)
Abstract
The Renaissance is not only an important period in the history of literature and technology, but also a turning point in the history of western translation. During this period, the translation of religious and literary works gradually flourished, and translators constantly put forward new translation concepts and tried translation practices.The soaring of national consciousness and national languages contributed to the characteristic ideas of translation in the Renaissance. Especially France, Britain and Germany had made outstanding contributions to the evolution and progress of the entire translation history during this period.This chapter is to have a brief introduction to the translation history in Renaissance, conduct a detailed explaination from the three countries of France, Britan and Germany respectively and illustrate some representative translators and translation theories with the hope to show the magnificent translation achievements in Renaisance and the evolvement of human translation history.
Key words
Translation history; renaissance; France; Britain; Germany
Introduction
The period from around the fourteenth until the mid-seventeenth century has conventionally been designated as the Renaissance,referring to the rediscovery and revitalization of the literature, art and science of ancient Greece and Rome. The term was devised by Italian humanists who sought to reaffirm their own continuity with the classical humanist heritage after an interlude of Middle Ages(Habib 2011,79).It was a great revolution in intellect and culture. It is also “the greatest progressive revolution that mankind has so far experienced, a time which called for giants and produced giants”(Engels 1972,445).Renaissance takes spreading humanism thought as one of the main forms of expression, involving all aspects of the cultural field, including the ancient Greek, Roman works and contemporary European works. In the process of studying and reviving classical culture, as well as developing and spreading new ideas, translation obviously plays an important role. The magnificent Renaissance itself included and depended on an unprecedented scale of translation activities. Therefore, it marks not only a great development in literature, art and science, but also an important milestone in the history of translation.
Originated in Italy in the 15th century, and in the 16th century Renaissance swept Europe, (especially Western European countries) and gradually formed a climax. At that time, western society was filled with a spirit of seeking and conquering the objective world. When this spirit was reflected in the translation field, translators were full of ambition and spared no effort to constantly discover new literary styles, excavate new cultural heritages and transplant new ideas to their motherland. Many translators translated classic works related to politics, philosophy, social system, literature and art of past glorious countries into their national languages as reference for the development of their own countries. All achievements in translation were compared to "trophies" in literature and knowledge. Next, we are to have a review on translations history of France, Britain and Germany, three major Western European countries in the high tide of Renaissance.
1.History of Translation in France
In France, during this period, the wind of restoring ancient styles began to prevail, ancient languages were valued, and ancient writers were respected. A large number of literary works of Italian humanists, such as Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio, were introduced to France, which opened people's eyes and promoted the development of French humanist movement. Therefore, the focus of translation in France shifted from religious works to Italian classical literature works. The increasingly translation activities constituted a climax of translation history in France.Translators generally believed that translating literary works was much more difficult than translating religious works. Although translation began to reach a new climax, most of the translations were the "by-products" of literary creation, with low quality and little influence. However, in the climax of translation in France in the 16th century, there were two outstanding contributors , one is Jacques Amyot and the other is Etienne Dolet.
Jacques Amyot was considered the king of translation in France. His first translation, Heliodoros’ Aethiopica, was completed in 1547. Later, he translated Diodorus Siculus’s Bibliotheca Historica and, in 1559 he translated Ploutarchos’s Vies des Hommes illustrus, which was Amyot’s most famous work. Amyot advocated translators’ thorough understanding of the original text and plain expressions without embellishment. He emphasized the unity of content and form, free translation and literal translation. In his translation, he borrowed words from Greek and Latin and simultaneously created a large number of words in politics, philosophy, science, literature, music and so on. He fused common people language and academic language, and therefore formed an independent style of translation and greatly enriched the French vocabulary. At that time, the French language is still in a state of confusion, Amyot and other humanists made tremendous contributions to unify the French national language.
Another great man in translation history of France was Etienne Dolet. As a famous translation theorist, Dolet advocated targeted texts’ faithfulness to the original work, which is the fundamental and indispensable principle in translation. Dolet believed that an excellent translator must be proficient in both source language and target language. He was aware of the weakness of word-by-word translation and emphasized that the translation should be consistent with the original text in style through various rhetorical devices. Ballard,a French translation theorist, argued that dolet’ translation principles constituted the rudiment of the French translation theory. What he proposed was the universal principles for translation.(Xu Jun and Yuan Xiaoyi 1998,284)
Jacques Amyot set an example for the following translation works in France in the 16th century; Etienne Dolet’s translation theories were of great significance and were the first systematic principles of translation, which were ahead of those of Germany and Britain and advanced translation studies into a higher level. Thanks to their efforts, France had earned a place in translation history during Renaissance period.
2. History of Translation in Britain
In Britain, the Renaissance came later than in the main countries of continental Europe, but Britain gradually kept up with others countries. During this period, the British capitalist economy developed rapidly, productivity improved greatly, and the country became increasingly prosperous , which has laid a solid material foundation for the development of literature and translation. Especially since Elizabeth came to the throne in the mid-16th century by the early 17th century, translation was flourishing. On the one hand, religious translation is in the ascendant, on the other hand, a great deal of literature from Greece, Rome and other contemporary countries was translated into English, which made English translation activities in this period one of the peaks of translation activities in Europe and even the world. Literary translation ranged from history and philosophy to poetry and drama, with the occurrence of a large number of excellent translators,who introduced ancient ingenuity to Britain, offering serious lessons not only to the Queen and politicians, but also plots and materials for dramatists and readers with the purpose of serving their country. At that time, many translators were not scholars, they were not bound by any strict translation theory, they could translate what they had at their own will. Many translations are not directly from the original texts, but from the translations or even the translation of the translation. Therefore, the scope and quantity of translation are unprecedented in Britain.In the aspect of religious translation, the translator was also influenced by humanism and the Reformation, a new understanding of the Bible arose, as well as a new attitude and a new way of dealing with the translation of the Bible. People advocated accurate translation in religious works, while for literature, the unbridled freedom of traditional translation methods persisted throughout the Elizabethan era.
2.1 Translation of Douglas and Cheke
Gavin Douglas (1475-1522), a famous Scottish poet and translator, published his translation of Virgil’s epic Poem The Aeneid in the early 16th century. He began his preface with a eulogy of Virgil and then launched into a serious critique of the overly liberal medieval translation. He criticized Caxton's French translation as unfaithful, as far from Virgil's original work, and "as different from the devil as st. Austin" (Amos 1920,129). Douglass did not translate word by word, but freely translated. He said that if translator encountered difficult words, sentences, rhymes, one had to deviate from the original text. Douglass had added new content and new meaning to translation principles, and thus had a certain value.
Towards the middle of the 16th century, an important figure in translation was John Cheke (1514-1557). He was a humanist and supporter of the Reformation, as well as a polyglot authority on Greek at the time and served as Principal Regent Chair Professor at Cambridge university. As a result of his popularity, Cambridge became one of the academic centers in Britain, and its students were well versed in translation and language studies.Cheke was a tireless translator,who had translated many Greek works and the Bible. Characteristically, he used only pure English words or words of Saxon origin in any case, and did not adopt any foreign words. He thought the English language was rich enough without borrowing foreign words. Because of his insist on pure English words and expressions in his translation, he sometimes had to use vulgar, old and remote words, so that the style of his translation was sometimes forced and stiff. Cheke's theory had a great influence on contemporary translators. Many other translators often mentioned Cheke's translation views in their own translations. At that time, the main criterion for evaluating a translated work was whether it was authentic and easy to be understood by compatriots. At the same time, the study of foreign grammar and contrastive vocabulary also appeared in language studies. The translator aimed to turn the translation into a textbook for students of language and translation to imitate. Some translators also use word-for-word translation to provide guidance to students. Abraham Fleming, for example, translated Virgil's Poems "according to grammatical rules." He "used plain and understandable words so as to accommodate those who are slow in comprehension, since the translator's aim is to use straightforward language structures to ease the difficulties of those whose grammatical concepts are vague, rather than to devise ways to satisfy the desires of grander humanists" (Amos 1920,109).
2.2 Translation from Thomas North to Georga Chapman
However, in the translation of classical masterpieces, translators tended to shift from one extreme to another. In order to avoid word-for-word translation, translators adopted excessively free translation, which was not only for the expression of words but also for the treatment of the substance of the content. Nicholas Udall(1505-1556) created the first British comedy Ralph Roister Doister. In 1542 he translated Erasmus's Book of Proverbs, and later presided over Erasmus's Latin translation, including the Gospel of Luke, which was published in 1548. In the preface to the translation of the New Testament, he discussed various issues related to translation: the treatment of translators, the expansion of English vocabulary, the treatment of sentence structure of the translation, Erasmus's style and the stylistic characteristics of different authors. In his opinion, translation should not follow rigid rules. He advocated the use of liberal translation without deviation from the original meaning, and the translation should be readable and understandable to the general readers.
The most famous translation work of the whole Elizabethan period was the English version of The live of the Noble Grecians and Romans by translator Thomas North (1535-1601).He studied at Cambridge University in his early years, and later worked in London, where he met many translation lovers and gradually became interested in translation. In 1557 he translated Diall of Princes from a French translation and later he translated an oriental allegory from an Italian translated version in 1601. The live of the Noble Grecians and Romans was translated in 1579. This translation was not from the original Greek version, but from Amyot's French translation. However, it was still considered as an excellent epoch-making translation. North did not express any unique views on translation, but he was famous for his excellent translation in the western translation circle with three main characteristics:(1)because it is not from the original Greek, the style of the translation is different from Plutarch's style; The original text is elegant while his translation is plain. (2) North's style is also different from that of Amio in the French translation, which he used as a model. He not only changes the wording of the French translation, but also its spirit. Like Amio's French translation, North's is another masterpiece based on Plutarch's original subject. (3) Though he knew little of the classical language, North was a master of The English language, and his translations were so simple and fluent, so elegant and idiomatic, that readers might have taken them for the original if they had not read the plot. North's translation was praised by Shakespeare, who drew his inspirations from this translated works and cited its expressions, which can be considered a terrific contribution of translation to literature. The prose style adopted by The live of the Noble Grecians and Romans is novel and elegant, neither rigid nor grotesque, and hence it has become an enduring model in the history of English translation.
Philemon Holland (1552-1637) was the most outstanding English translator of the 16th century, whose works outnumbered those of his contemporaries. He had been a surgeon and headmaster of Coventry General School. He was a learned translator and scholar, fluent in Greek and Latin, proficient in ancient writing and proverbs, as well as rhetoric. His classical works were not translated but directly from the Original Greek and Latin texts, and the subject matter was also varied. He translated Livy's Romane Historie in 1600 and Pliny's Natural Historie in 1601, Plutarch's Moralia in 1603, and translated Zitonius's The Historie of The Twelve Caesars in 1606. Hollander is better known in British translation circles than North or Florio, known as the Elizabethan "translator general" who truly understood "the secret of translation." Holland's translation has two main characteristics :(1) translation must serve the reality; (2) Translation must be stylistic. In the preface to his translation of Natural History, he emphasized, "the practicality of the content of the translation, which should be suitable not only for learned people, but also for the uncivilized peasants in the countryside and for the industrious craftsmen in the cities”(Amos 1920,86). Hollander was particular about the style of his translation. Like other translators of his time, he used a slow prose style, and the translation was always longer than the original. In his translation he tried to be authentic, not foreign. He does not use artificial language, but popular style. Like Cheke before him, he also preferred archaic words to foreign ones out of love for the language of his own country. What’s more, he believed that the style of the original work must be reflected in the translation, and that different works must adopt different styles without adding differences. Hollander had left behind more than just translations, but a series of works with distinctive stylistic characteristics that could withstand even the rigors of modern stylist analysis and provide the modern reader with great pleasure.
Georga Chapman (1559-1634) was another outstanding translator, whose greatest contribution is that his translations serve as a bridge between the 16th and 17th centuries. He spent his early years as a student at Oxford University before writing poetry and plays. But it was mainly his translations that made him famous in the literary world. He translated the first seven books of the Iliad in 1598, completed the epic in 1611, and the Odyssey in 1616. The translator's profound attainments and outstanding achievements made his translation a literary masterpiece of the time. Chapman adopted two different styles to translate the same poetic style of the original work, that is, he translated Iliad in sonnet and Odyssey in heroic couplet. In contrast, the former is more appropriate and decent than the latter. In his translation, Chapman made extensive use of mythological dictionaries, referred to early reviews of Homer's work. However, both in content and style, the translation is not completely consistent with the original work. It has transformed the characters in the poem, and added elements of moral preaching to the value of wisdom and the expression and restraint of feelings. Chapman is unblemished as a translator. As a poet, however, he was blameless. His translation has achieved great success mainly because of his extraordinary creative ability as a poet and superb ability to control language. Chapman also made some contributions to the theoretical issues of translation. In the preface of his translation, he clearly put forward the principles guiding the translation of poetry, thus filling some gaps in translation theory in the 16th century, especially in the later period. In principle, he was against too much strictness as well as too much freedom. He said, "I despise the translators for being trapped in the mire of word-for-word translation, losing the living soul of their native language and blackening the original author with stiff language. At the same time, I abhors the use of complicated language to express the meaning”(Amos 1920,130). Of all that he opposed, the first was word for word translation,which was considered the most unnatural and absurd. According to the views of translation theories such as Horace, who had insight and a prudent attitude that the translator should not follow the original number of words and word order, but follow its material composition and sentences, carefully weigh sentences, and then use the most appropriate expressions and form to express and decorate the translation. Chapman believed that word-by-word translation was a common fault of translators, and even he himself was inevitable. But those mistakes could be overcome. Although the expression of meaning and language style of Greek and English are different, the translator could compare the translation with the original text in meaning and style as long as he carefully identified, understood the spirit of the original text and had a thorough understanding of its grammar and vocabulary. Chapman's theory was carried on by many translators of the 17th and 18th centuries. This was obviously because he opposed both extremes, and it was easier to argue for a compromise.
2.3 Translation of Tyndale and Fulke
In the 16th century, the translation of the English Bible also flourished. Since the introduction of ethnic translation in the Middle Ages, the Bible had been increasingly read. It had the same appeal for all classes of people, which prompted translators to combine the accuracy required by scholars with the intelligibility required by ordinary people, thus promoting the overall development of translation art and theory. In this respect, religious translation in England in the 16th century was more effective than literary translation. Tyndale and Fulke were the main representatives of bible translation.
William Tyndale (1494-1536) was an erudite humanist and protestant reformist. In 1523, his translation of the New Testament from Greek from a Protestant standpoint was opposed and persecuted by the English church authorities and was not allowed to be published. He fled to Germany in 1524 and, after many twists and turns, had his translation first published in 1525. In 1526, he smuggled the translation back to England against the will of the Church, trying to spread Protestant ideas through the new translation of the Bible and convert The English people to Protestants. The church authorities immediately took measures to lay siege. The Bishop of London claimed to have found 2,000 errors in Tyndale's translation. Thomas More, a famous humanist, attacked his translation very unkindly, and the priests bought all the copies they could get and burned them to prevent their proliferation. Uncompromising, Tyndale continued to translate the Bible in his own way: he translated the first book of the Old Testament in 1530, completed The Book of Jonah in 1531, and published the revised New Testament in 1534. The church authorities had no choice but to burn Tyndale in 1536 for heresy. Tyndale's translation, however, had not disappeared but was republished after Tyndale's martyrdom and became increasingly influential, serving as the main reference version and as the model for all English translations for centuries to come. The greatest achievement of Tyndale's translation is that it takes into account the needs of academe, conciseness and literariness, and integrates these three elements into the style of English translation of the Bible. Tyndale paid special attention to the popularity of the translation, trying to use the authentic English vocabulary and ordinary narrative expressions of vivid and specific expressions, which makes his text simple and natural without being pedantic.
If Tyndale made a special contribution to the practical translation of the Bible in the 16th century, then it was William Fulke (1538-1589)who made the greatest achievements in the theoretical study of bible translation. Fulke was a scholar of The Bible with humanistic thoughts. Without translating the Bible completely, he had great views on translation theory. In 1589 he published a book entitled in Defence of the Sincere and True Translation of the Holy Scriptures into the English Tongue. It must be pointed out that Fulke did not systematically discuss the universal principles of translation as Dolet did. Instead, he only talked about the facts and refuted Gregory Martin's views, and expounded the theoretical issues in a rather chaotic manner. To sum up, there were mainly two aspects as follows: (1)Translation can have nothing to do with faith. Fulke, influenced by Erasmus's linguistic approach, disagreed with Martin's assertion of theological authority over scientific scholarship. Translators, he believed, must be fluent in many languages so that they could make accurate judgments about the teachings of the saints without blindly following them. The power of a translator lies in his solid linguistic ability, not in his belief in God. He said, The translator cannot be called an unfaithful heretic as long as the translation conforms to the language and meaning of the original text, even if the motive is not good. (Amos 1920,71) Fulke never accepted Martin's strict translation formulas, nor did he submit to unproven authoritative theories, even from the leaders of his own faction. Fulke’s point of view is obviously a challenge to the theological authority of Augustine with its purpose to liberate the Bible translation from the narrow theological tradition and win the right for ordinary people to translate and interpret the Bible. (2)The Translation of the Bible must respect linguistic habits. If the translator has difficulty in understanding the original text, he/she should turn to the language habits of ancient non-religious writers, while one encounters difficulties in diction, translator should refer to the language habits of contemporary secular writers and the general public. Fulke added: "We are not lords dictating the way people speak. If we were, we would teach them how to use language better. Since we cannot change the way people speak, we have to follow Aristotle's instructions and use the language of ordinary people."(Amos 1920,72) Therefore, religious usage should give way to common usage if it is in conflict with common usage. In translation, words and expressions that are most easily understood must be used so that those who do not know their etymological meaning can understand them. At the same time, if words have been misused over a long period of time, with meanings that do not correspond to the original meaning of the words, or have been misused to increase the ambiguity of the words, the translator should not follow blindly, but should look to the root and choose the words according to their original meaning, that is, according to the meaning used in the time when the Bible was written. In translating the Bible into English, Fulke did not advocate excessive borrowing of foreign words but tapping the expressive potential of English itself and paying attention to the use of expressions in line with English habits. Fulke acknowledged that English had a small vocabulary compared with older languages, but argued that this could not be compensated for by making up words, but by using Old English words again. Clearly, some of Mr Fulke's views are limited and conservative. Many of the foreign words he objects to have been adopted as part of the English vocabulary. But many of his criticisms of Martin are convincing, and his work has been generally praised by the translators of the Bible. Some of his observations on language are so incisive that they are still of great reference value to the study of modern English.
3.History of Translation in Germany
In Germany, the national self-consciousness was further strengthened, and the trend of mechanical imitation of Latin gradually disappeared in the 15th century.
3.1 Dominant Ideas in German Translation
Linguists realized the unique style and expressive ability of German, and hence shifted the focus of translation from the original language to the target language. Free translation took the place of word-to-word translation and occupied the dominant position. The only reason for translators to object literal translation is its convenience for readers to understand word-by-word translation. Gradually, scholars recognized that Hebrew, Greek, and Latin all have distinct features, especially in terms of idiomatic expressions. Similarly, since German is an independent language, it also has its own unique expressions that cannot be translated word by word into other languages, nor can expressions in other languages be translated word by word into German. Based an an understanding of the nature and differences of languages as well as a growing sense of nationality and desire to develop the national language, more and more historians and scholars have begun to use German idiomatic expressions rather than imitate Latin. Against the background of this trend of thought, the free translators gradually changed their inferiority in the debates with the literal translators in the 15th century, and rightly put forward another profound reason against literal translation: German is an independent language with its own rules that must be respected; German has its own language style, which cannot be destroyed by imitation of other languages. This was the dominant idea in German translation throughout the 16th century.
3.2 Translation of Reuchlin, Erasmus and Luther
Johannes Reuchlin(1455-1522) aroused great academic interest in Hebrew. In 1515, he wrote Epistolae Obscurorum Virorum, exposing the narrow-mouthing ignorance of the scholars and monks, which led to a fierce debate between the reformers and conservatives in the church. At the same time, he was also very knowledgeable about translation theory. He mainly translated two works, Batrachom Yomachia (1510) and Septem Psalmos Poenitentiales (1512), using word-for-word translation. This contradicts his own remarks about translation. However, its actual content and general principles could not be compared to those of the literal translation school in the 15th century. The literatrists of the 15th century only emphasized the imitation of certain rhetorical forms of the text, while Reuchlin understood the value of rhythm and the difference between the text and the translation. He believed that the form of the original was so closely integrated with the original that it could not be preserved in the target language. Just like Homer's works alive only in Greek, it would detract from the aesthetic value of literature when translated into any other language. The purpose of literal translation was not to ask the translator to imitate the style of the original text, but to make readers pay attention to the style of the original text and appreciate its literary value.
Another outstanding representatives of a new approach to literary study and new insights into translation theory in the 16th century was Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536), who was born in a priest's family in Rotterdam, Netherlands. His early education was influenced by The Canon of Augustine. After studying in Paris, he lived successively in Britain, Germany, Italy and Switzerland, accepting humanism and opposing scholasticism. He was knowledgeable, good at language studies, and had profound attainments in Greek and Latin literature, especially his incisive treatises on literature and style. Erasmus advocated that the original work must be respected. Before Erasmus, the Translation of the Bible in Various European countries was in a state of confusion. Erasmus bitterly pointed out that the translation and commentary of the Bible must be faithful to the original text, because no translation can fully translate the "language of God" as the Bible itself. Early theologians did not understand Hebrew or Greek and could not understand the original text of the Bible, so the truth of the Bible was covered up, distorted, or ossified into dogma. To uncover this truth, we must go back to the source. It is truth, not authority, that should be respected. What’s more, he claimed that translator must have a rich knowledge of language. He believed that to interpret the New Testament correctly it was necessary to learn ancient Greek; Anyone who wished to pursue theological studies must first be able to read the classics and learn Greek semantics, meanings, and rhetoric. Also, he realized the great importance of style in translation and attached great importance to readers’ requirements. There is no doubt that Erasmus' translation theory is the result of his humanistic thought, his mastery of multiple languages as well as his appreciation of literary styles. His translation principles and methods have exerted great influence on both contemporary and later translators.
Martin Luther (149-146) was the founder of the European Religious Reform movement and the Protestant Church reformer. Luther translated the Bible, known as “the first bible of common people” in the history by using the people's language, which played a great role in unifying the German language and laid a foundation for the formation and development of modern German. He also proposed that translation should adopt common people language and only appropriate free translation can bring the original enlightening thoughts of Bible into light. Grammatical correction and semantic coherence were of great value during translation. Translation was so challenging that it requires collective wisdom and repeatedly revisions. Luther had also put forward seven rules for translation: the word order of the original text can be changed; modal particles can be used reasonably; necessary conjunctions can be added; words in the original text that do not have an equivalent can be omitted; phrases can be used to translate individual words; figurative usage and non-figurative usage can be changed flexibly; the accuracy of variant forms and explanations should be strengthened. Although Luther’s translation practice received a great deal of criticism, his translation of Bible endowed him with the highest reputation and the most profound influence in Germany.
Conclusion
It could be seen from the above sections that one of the biggest characteristics of Western translation during the Renaissance was the parallel and independent development of the translation of western European national languages. The use of Latin, though still having some market, was a tributary in both writing and translation. Before the Renaissance, especially before the middle ages, when we talked about western translation, we mostly meant translation in Latin. Since the Renaissance, with the gradual formation and consolidation of national states and the development of national languages, western translation had turned to national languages,especially French, English and German. Translators in these three countries were devoted themselves to the study of translation principles and the transmission of classic works.Their consistant and pain-staking efforts had pushed the translation theory to anew level and left countlessly valueable translated works.Therefore, the Renaissance could be said to be a turning point in the history of western translation. In short, the Renaissance marks that the translation of national languages has been firmly on the historical stage, and that translation practice and theory have broken away from the dark Middle Ages.It also laid a solid foundation for the contemporary translation.
References
- Amos, Flora Ross. (1920). Early Theories of Translation. New York: Columbia University Press.
- Benjamin, Andrew. (1989). Translation and the Nature of Philosophy: A New Theory of Words. London and New York: Routledge.
- Dolet, Etienne. (1540). How to Translate Well from One Language to Another. Robinson.
- Frederick Engels. (1883) The Dialects of Nature. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Luther, Martin. (1530). Sendbrief vom Dolmetschen. Stoerig.
- M.A.R. Habib. (2011) Literary Criticism from Plato to the Present: An Introduction. New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing.
- Munday, Jeremy. (2001). Introducing Translation Studies: Theories and Applications. London and New York: Routledge.
- Tan Zaixi 谭载喜. (2000). 翻译学[Translation Studies]. Wuhan: Hubei Educational Press 湖北教育出版社.
- Tan Zaixi 谭载喜. (2004).西方翻译简史[A Short History of Translation in the West]. Beijing: The Commercial Press 商务印书馆.
- Xie Tianzhen 谢天振. (2003). 翻译研究新视野[New Perspective for Translation Studies]. Qingdao: Qingdao Publishing 青岛出版社.
- Xu Jun, Yuan Xiaoyi 许钧,袁筱一. (1998). 当代法国翻译理论[Contemporary Translation Thoery in France]. Nanjing: Nanjing University 南京大学.
刘薇 Contemporary American Translation History)
Abstract
The 20th century is of great significance to the translation discipline, because it is in the 20th century, especially since the 1960s, that translation research has taken a decisive step in the direction of system and science. The translation discipline is developing continuously and its position in its related discipline groups is improving day by day. This chapter introduces a series of theories of translators and analyzes their theories to sort out the development of contemporary American translation.
Key words
Translation theory,American translator,Contemporary translation history
Introduction
This chapter is the history of contemporary American translation, so it is necessary to define "American translation theory". Does "American translation theory" refer to the discussion on translation published by Americans, or does it refer to the translation theory developed in the United States? If it refers to Americans, does the package include immigrants from the United States? After investigation, we believe that if we want to talk about American translation theory, we have to include the discussions of scholars who immigrated to the United States before and after World War II. If their theories are removed, there will be little American translation theory. Therefore, what we call "American translation theory" here includes the works on translation by scholars who are non Americans of origin and later settle or work in the United States, as well as the translation theory works published in the United States. Contemporary American translation theory is also the most accurate in the case of the United States. The reason is that the United States has no "ancient translation theory", no "medieval translation theory" and "modern translation theory". The main translators and translation theories developed after World War II. Based on the theories of Ezra Pound, Eugene A. Nida and other translation scholars, this chapter discusses the historical development of contemporary American translation.
1. Literature Review
2.Chapter 1 Pound's translation and Translation Thought
Ezra Pound (1885-1972), an American poet, literary critic and the main representative of Neo critical and Imagist poetry, made an important contribution to the development of modern British and American literature. He was born in Idaho and studied at the University of Pennsylvania at the age of 16. He transferred to Hamilton University in 1903. He returned to the University of Pennsylvania in 1905 to study Roman language and literature. He received a master's degree in 1906 and has extensive language knowledge. In September 1908, he went to England, joined a small circle centered on the poet Yeats, met a group of writers and poets, and became the leader of London modernist poets. He called himself and his friends Imagist poets. In 1914, he compiled the first volume of selected poems of Imagism. Soon, he was keen on the activities of vortex school and broke away from Imagism. He helped Joyce, Eliot, Hemingway and other writers. He lived in Italy from 1924 to 1944. Propaganda for fascism in the Second World War. After the war, he was charged with treason and sent to Washington for trial. Later, he was sent to a mental hospital because he was determined to be insane. He was allowed to return to Italy in 1958. Pound published ecstasy and people in London in 1909. In 1910, he published the spirit of romance, and later published the English translation of the ancient Chinese poem China (also translated as Huaxia). He published three translations of Chinese works, namely Confucius: the unwibbling pivot and the great digest (1947), Confucian Analects (1951) and the classic anthology (1954). As a translator, pound is first of all an outstanding poet, the founder and main representative of imagist poetry. As a representative figure of imagism, he believes that poetry writing should be specific and accurate, avoid abstraction, concise sentences, clear and unambiguous sentence meaning, and popular and accurate language. His poetry translation theory is actually the extension and development of his Imagist poetics. He paid attention to details and highlighted images in the process of poetry translation. In translation, it is not to scrutinize words and sentences, but to make their feelings enter the role of the author of the original poem, condense and refine the way of thinking and feeling in the original work, and then transmit them to English. He does not emphasize the "meaning" of the text or the meaning of individual words. On the contrary, he emphasizes rhythm, word selection and the contextual and intertextual meaning of words. On the expression of meaning, pound emphasizes "the vitality of language". In fact, it is the contextual meaning of words. The new combination of words will produce new meaning, which is the so-called "vitality" of language. Because words cannot exist without context, the translator must have context (plot) and expression (event) in his mind. Pound also requires the translator to always remember the historical atmosphere of the use of words, so that in the process of translation, he can not only reveal the meaning of words, but also show their implied meanings. He also emphasized the importance of cultural information in determining the implied meaning of words and the meaning of word games in the context, that is, the importance of the intertextual meaning of words. Pound is not interested in abstract concepts in translation. He pays attention to form, sporadic images and individual details. He believes that only in a moment can we "grasp the truth". In this way, pound grasped sporadic images and individual details in translation and wrote a new poem in English. Because of this, these poems are loved by English readers. They go beyond the scope of translation works and become independent English literary works. As Hu zegang said in Pound's revelation, Chinese translators can get a lot of Enlightenment from the great success of China in the West: first, translate poetry with poetry. Second, find the spiritual fit between the translator and the original poet; Third, integrate the translator's own feelings into the translated poetry, or when selecting the original works for translation, choose those works that are connected with the translator's own feelings; Fourth, attach importance to the similarity of spirit and light the similarity of form; Finally, fully consider that the translation is suitable for the recipient's psychology and habits to the greatest extent.
3.
Conclusion
reference
周俊辉 Translation of science and technology in late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China
Abstract
With the rapid development of all walks of life in contemporary China, there is a huge demand for professional scientific and technological translation talents in the Chinese translation market, but there is still a gap between professional translators supply and demand in various fields. In the long history of modern Chinese translation, there are three translation climaxes. Western translation in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China was the third climax in the history of Chinese translation, and its scientific and technological translation activities, with its great influence and achievements, added numerous bright spots and scenery to the history of Chinese translation. Its achievements deserve to be ccelebrated. It still has reference value and learning significance for modern scientific and technological translation. It is of great significance to discuss the characteristics of scientific and technological translation in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China to attach importance to scientific and technological translation and its related academic and practical construction. This paper will mainly analyze the third translation climax, that is, science and technology translation activities in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of china, to examine its reference significance for translators in the field of contemporary science and technology.
Keywords
The translations of science and technology; Chinese translation;
Introduction
Like other countries, the translations of science and technology in China begins with interaction with foreign nations. There is no doubt that there are a large number of technical translation activities in the exchanges between China and foreign countries in the political, economic and cultural fields, which is difficult to verify. The translations of Chinese scientific literature began as a parasitic translation of religious literature. As Christian missionaries entered China, Western science and technology began to enter China. Although the missionaries brought the latest scientific and technological knowledge to the Chinese doctors from the end of the Ming Dynasty to the early Qing Dynasty, the strict restrictions were stressed on the dissemination of religious culture in China. Therefore, there were not many Chinese intellectuals who could realized the achievements of Western geography, and the common person was unaffected by the new ideas from across the Atlantic and sticked to the original traditional ideas.It was not until the late Qing Dynasty and early period of the Republic of China that western scientific knowledge was widely disseminated in China, and had a widespread influence on Chinese intellectuals. Chinese intellectuals nourished advanced ideas in the late Qing Dynasty played a leading role in the translations of scientific and technological literature.
The motivation of translation from the end of the Qing Dynasty to the early period of the Republic of China
At the end of the 17th century, many disciplines of western natural science separated from natural philosophy and set up independent branch. By the 19th century, various humanities gradually established its own system. Chinese society was declining and corrupt in the 19th century. only a few people with keen eyes, such as Lin Zexu, Wei Yuan and others, began to notice the advantages of Western learning in their contact with westerners. But they still basically didn’t regard Western learning as an academic culture as important as Chinese learning. Wei Yuan's famous saying "learning merits from the foreign to conquer the foreign" can illustrate this point. The failure of the Opium War and the signing of a series of unequal treaties aroused the strong desire of some advanced-minded officials to know the world and thus acquire advanced science and technology in the West. They hope to learn from the West to achieve the goal of "Reform". The failure of the Opium War also prompted the Qing government to launch “Self-Strengthening Movement” in the 1860s, which also led to the re-introduction of Western science and technology to China. As the intercourse with the West deepened, many Chinese officials and intellectuals began to face up to Western studies and regarded it as academic ideas equivalent to Chinese learning, and began to explore the method that western knowledge could be integrated into Chinese learning to help China become rich and powerful. Zhang's "Chinese learning do noumenon, Western learning do use" has become the most typical viewpoint of late fresh intellectuals. But this group of intellectuals is mainly concerned with the Western advanced weapons and related equipment manufacturing and transportation and other technical fields. They think that Western studies are superior to Chinese learning in terms of objects and institutions, but they are still inferior to China in basic ideological and moral aspects, so they do not feel it necessary to learn the academic ideas from the West. After the Sino-Japanese War, because China was faced with the fate of the country's destruction, many people of insight began to actively and comprehensively learn from the West. It emerged a group of world-minded thinkers, like Liang Qichao, Kang Youwei, Tan Sitong and so on. They learned a great deal of natural knowledge and social sciences from the West, and they also urged political reform. During this period, a great deal of Western knowledge was introduced into China, which had a very wide impact. Many people also study Western studies by translating Western books written by the Japanese.
From the Opium War of 1840 to the eve of the May 4th Movement in 1918, China became a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society step by step, and the Chinese of this period faced a situation of "survival problems". When people ended the dream of "China is the most powerful country in the world" and realized the strength of European countries, they began to seek the reasons why European countries became strong. Chinese's attitude towards Western science presents a process from exclusion to acceptance and finally welcome, as well as a process of Chinese proactive pursuit of the "making the country rich and at the same time maintain its military power" . Hence a large-scale Western translation began to produce. If we explain that the scientific and technological translation from the end of the Ming dynasty to the beginning of the Qing Dynasty is only an invasion of Western culture, and that China is passive as the main recipient, then the Western translation from the end of the Qing Dynasty to the early period of the Republic of China is entirely a spontaneous and active act. The motivation of the latter translation is more urgent and the purpose is more clear than the previous one. This urgency determines that Western translation in the duration, in the number of translation works, in the number of people involved in translation activities are much superior to the previous scientific and technological translation.
The object of translation from the late Qing Dynasty to the early Republic of China
The scientific and technological translations of the late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty were all cooperative translations of foreign missionaries and Chinese doctors, because Chinese intellectuals at that time knew almost no Western language, and the Chinese language proficiency of missionaries was generally not high. So at that time, the translation of science and technology was basically dictated by the foreign, and written by Chinese intellectuals. But in this process, missionary instruments play a leading role, Chinese are always in a passive and secondary position. Whether it is "written" or "polished" by Chinese, it’s "must be examined by western scholar". The translation of Euclid's Elements is an example: the original book contains 15 volumes, Matteo Ricci and Xu Guangqi worked together for 6 volumes. Xu Guangqi want to finish the remaining volumes, but Ricci believes that the first six volumes’ translation has achieved the purpose of scientific mission, then refused to continue to translate. It can be seen that whether it is translation material selection or translation methods, Chinese have no right to choose by themselves.
In the western translation of the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China, only several translation teams were in the form of cooperation between Westerners and Chinese, like the School of Combined learning organized by Lin Zexu and later founded by the Foreign Affairs School, and the Translation Hall of Jiangnan Manufacturing General Administration. After the Sino-Japanese War, more and more Chinese learned about Western studies, and international students became the backbone of the translation industry. The representative figures of the Reformists, who advocate "improving China with Western studies", are active figures in the translation circles of this period, and they believe that the fundamental of the reform lies in "enlightening the people's intelligence", and the main way is to introduce and disseminate Western studies widely. For this purpose, bilingual translators choose their own translation of books that they consider to be beneficial to the public, and choose the appropriate translation method according to the characteristics of the target audience. For example, the Reformists explicitly declared that translated books "take political knowledge first and art translate second". Therefore, the focus of translation in this period shifted from natural science and applied science to humanities and social sciences. The translated books cover every sphere including politics, sociology, philosophy, economics, law, education and history. Another feature of translation in this period is the introductory translation of Western literature. The famous translators Yan Fu, Liang Qichao and Lin Shu all regarded literary translation as a means of educating the people and improving politics and economy of China. The popular novels introduced are more easily accepted by the general public than the more specialized works of the humanities, thus they can spread Western culture more widely in China.
In the second half of the 19th century, in order to enrich the country, a wave of learning and translating Western scientific and technological knowledge was set off in the late Qing Dynast. Under the efforts of Hua Hengfang, Xu Tao, Li Shanlan, Zhao Yuanyi and a Englander, John Fryer, a number of western modern science and technology books have been translated and published. Hua Hengfang plays an important role, the books of which he has participated in the translation and proofreading are A Treatise on Coast Defence, Algebra, Principles of Geology, Deremetal-lica and other 17 kinds. He also introduced systematically knowledge of mathematics (including algebra, triangle, exponential calculus and probability), geology, geo-literature and other fields. John Fryer was born in Hyde, England, and worked in China for more than 20 years, translating 138 kinds of science and technology, including applied science, land and sea military science and technology, as well as historical and other social sciences, which played a positive role in the development of science and technology and social reform in China at the end of the 19th century.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the scientific and technological translation activities can be summarized as follows: 1. The translation of science textbooks in the new generation of Chinese to disseminate scientific knowledge, not only help to implement large-scale scientific education, but also have a great impact on China's social culture. 2. The translation of evolution has dealt a great blow to the stereotype "heaven change not, liktwise the Way changeth not". New ideas of evolution have been widely disseminated. 3. The translation of works in logic and scientific experimentation contributed to the mature development and application of methodological scientific concepts in the ideological circles at that time. Its representative figures are Yan Fu, Liang Qichao, Du Yaquan, as well as Jiangnan General Administration of Manufacturing Translation Museum, School of Combined Learning, Christian Literature Society for China and other translation agencies. With this scientific and technological translation activity, a large number of words entered into China greatly enriched the Chinese language which was regarded as a cultural carrier, and changed the Chinese's knowledge structure and social concepts. Chinese traditional Confucian culture is also influenced by it, absorbing many advanced western cultures and ideas, which has contributed to the germination of scientific culture in Chinese society.
Pioneers and important organizations of scientific translation
Lin Zexu (1785--1850), an official of Fujian Province, was appointed as imperial envoy to go to Guangdong to ban smoking with great success in 1838. In order to grasp enemys' information, he set up a special translation institution to organizing timely the translation of Western books and newspapers, and actively collecting the information of Western society. Lin Zexu publicly destroyed opium confiscated from British, American and other merchants in June 1839, while actively preparing for the sea defense, repeatedly fighting back against the armed provocations of the British army. During his time as Governor, great attention was paid to collecting information on a wide range of Chinese and foreign warships and absorbing foreign technology in order to strengthen the navy. He was tightly guarded in the southern sea During the Opium War, which force the British to go north. Lin Zexu advocated "surpass foreigners by learning from them" on the issue of foreign aggression, demanding resistance to aggression, and does not exclude learning from the west's strengths.During the smoking ban, Lin Zexu wanted to know about the global situation, so he had people translate The Encyclopedia of Geography and pro-polish it personally. This book, briefly introducing to Chinese in late Qing dynasty the geographies, histories and political status of the four continents in the world, is the first complete and systematic geography book in modern China. But The Encyclopedia of Geography can not be published for various reasons at that time. According to the relevant scholars, the book introduced the world's five continents including more than 30 countries geography and history, rich in content, which is the most complete and the most innovative book. Many of the contents of this works were cited by Wei Yuan's Records and Maps of the World.
Wei Yuan (1794-1856) is a good friend of Lin Zexu, who, like Lin Zexu, advocates pragmatism. He finished 50 volumes of the first draft of Records and Maps of the World in 1843, which introduced a large number of foreign natural, geographical, economic, scientific, cultural and other materials, including The Encyclopedia of Geography compiled by Lin Zexu. Information on foreign ship-making, mine warfare, telescopes, firearms and mines was added and the length of the book was expanded to 60 volumes in 1847. It was compiled and revised to add information on democracies in capitalist countries such as the United States and Turkey, and published in 100 volumes in 1852. When launching the Modernization Movement, Kang Youwei used Records and Maps of the World as the basic material for teaching Western studies. Then this book gradually attracted people's attention.
Xu Jishe (1795-1893) was also a patriotic official who paid attention to the collection of foreign translations during the Opium War. Referring to the collection of foreign historical books (including translated books), he recorded the dictation of foreign books by foreigners, and completed the first draft of Geography of the World, the first Chinese a comprehensive introduction to world geography in 1844. Many patriotic people who sought truth from the West, such as Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao at the end of the Qing Dynasty, learned about the world through this book.
Although Lin Zexu, Wei Yuan and Xu Jishe didn’t understand foreign languages, they attached importance to and organized the translation of foreign materials earlier, and contributed to the understanding of the outside world by their contemporary at that time. They were also pioneers in the translation of scientific literature at the end of the Qing Dynasty, and had a great impact on China's modern history.
Conclusion
References
周玖Translation of Science and Technology in Ancient China
Abstract
Scientific and technological translation activities in China have a history of more than a thousand years. In the early period of translation of Buddhist scriptures, the astronomy, calendar and medicine of ancient India attached to Buddhist scriptures and the astronomy and mathematics of Arabia attached to Islam in the Sui and Tang dynasties constituted the first scientific and technological translation activities in China. With the arrival of Christian missionaries in China, Western science and technology was introduced into China. This paper will introduce the scientific and technological translations before the 16th century, the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, and the scientific and technological translation activities of the missionaries Matteo Ricci, Xu Guangqi. The impact of latter-day Western science on China's technological development and the significance of ancient Chinese scientific and technological books to human development will be discussed through the technological and cultural exchanges between China and other countries.
Key words
Scientific and technological translation; scientific and technological exchange; influence
Introduction
Translation activities in China have a very early origin, as far back as the pre-Qin period, when the customs and languages of various tribes were different and the need for interaction led to the emergence of translation. Mr. Ji Xianlin once graphically pointed out that translation plays an important role in the process of cultural exchange: "If we take a river as an analogy, the long river of Chinese culture is full of water at times, but never dries up. The reason is that new water is injected.... The panacea for the longevity of Chinese culture is translation." Looking back at the history of translation today, there were about four times when it greatly contributed to the renewal of Chinese culture: the translation of Buddhist scriptures from the late Eastern Han Dynasty to the early Northern Song Dynasty, the translation of Western studies in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, the translation of Western studies from the Opium War to the May Fourth Movement, and the translation since the reform and opening up. The first two translation climaxes were closely related to the introduction of Buddhism and Catholicism respectively, in which the spread of religion played an important role as a catalyst, and can be said to be the unique translation period in the history of Chinese translation. The Silk Road, as a channel of communication between the East and the West, played a significant role in contributing to the first two translation climaxes. Since the Silk Road was established by Zhang Qian in the Western Han Dynasty, this busy land route has become an important link between the East and the West, carrying not only precious goods from foreign lands, but also spreading culture and art. It was also through this road that Buddhism was introduced to China during the two Han dynasties. With the further opening of the Maritime Silk Road, China became more closely connected to the world, and 1000 years later Western missionaries landed from the southeast coast of China and formally introduced Catholicism to China. From this point of view, the Silk Road, as a major transportation route, was closely related to the introduction of two exotic religions. It is thanks to the tide of cultural interchange brought by the Silk Road that translation in China underwent the process of transmutation from initial awakening to budding and then maturity. This paper will introduce the scientific and technological translation before the 16th century and the late Ming and early Qing dynasties to recreate the history of ancient scientific and technological translation in China. Secondly, this paper selects Matteo Ricci and Xu Guangqi of the Ming Dynasty as representative figures of ancient scientific and technological translation and analyzes the importance of their translation activities to the development of science and technology in China and Western countries.
Scientific and Technical Translations Before the Sixteenth Century
The translation of scientific literature in ancient China began in the end of Han Dynasty, when foreign monks translated some ancient Indian literature on medicine, astronomy and arithmetic along with the Buddhist scriptures. However, unlike the collective translation method adopted in the translation of Buddhist sutras, the translation of these scientific literature was often done by the translating monks alone, and the contents translated were fragmentary and were subsidiary or by-products of the translation of Buddhist sutras rather than systematic introduction. According to some historical books and scattered records of Buddhist books, there were astronomical and calendrical books translated from ancient India in about the 2nd century AD. An Shigao, the originator of the translation of our Buddhist scriptures, is the earliest verifiable translator of astronomical and arithmetical texts. According to Dao An's "Catalogue of the Comprehensive Scriptures", An Shigao's translation of the ārdūlakar·nāvadāna is the earliest translation of astronomy, which introduces the knowledge of astronomy in ancient India. His translation of Brahman's Algorithm is one of the earliest translations of mathematical works in China.
During the Wei-Jin North-South Period, Dharmarajiva translated the Brahmana Astronomy Sutra. In 541 A.D., Upas translated Mahāratna kūṭasūtra, which recorded the ancient Indian fractions. In 508 A.D., the monk Renamati translated Nāgārjuna bodhisattva, which is an ancient Indian pharmacological text. During the Sui and Tang dynasties, China's foreign exchanges were more frequent than ever before, and scientific and technological translations were more prosperous than in previous dynasties. The invention of engraving and printing in the 9th century A.D. also facilitated the production and dissemination of various texts. In 718 A.D, Gautama Siddhartha, an astronomer who came to China from India, translated the ancient Indian Jiuzhi Calendar, which introduced the ancient Indian algorithm characters, calendar degrees, the calculation of cumulative sun and small remainder, the position and movement of the sun and the moon, and the projection of solar and lunar eclipses, etc. It faithfully reflected the characteristics of Indian mathematical astronomy. It was included in the Kaiyuan Zhizhi (Vol. 104) and has been preserved to this day. The ancient Chinese numerals that appeared in China during the Song Dynasty were obviously influenced by the ancient Indian algorithmic symbols introduced in the Jiuzhi Calendar. This period also saw the translation of the Sutra by the Sanskrit monk Bukong, who came to China. Some translations of medical books were translated continuously during the Sui and Tang dynasties. Although these medical books have been scattered, Indian medicine undoubtedly influenced the medical texts of the Tang Dynasty, such as Wai-tai-mi-yao, Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Pieces of Gold for Emergencies, and Sun Simiao's Qianjin Yifang, which all contain many Indian medical components. In particular, ancient Indian ophthalmology was at the world's leading level at that time. There are many records of ancient Indian doctors treating eye diseases in Tang Dynasty literature, and even the poems of literati and bachelors have traces of ancient Indian ophthalmology treatment, such as the poem of the famous poet Liu Yuxi, "Presented to the Brahmin Monk, an Eye Doctor", which describes the scene of suffering from cataract."
The interaction between the Arab world and China became more and more frequent after the Tang Dynasty. In addition to the exchange of materials in trade and commerce, the influence of cultural exchanges was more profound, and Arab knowledge of astronomy, calendars and medicine was gradually introduced to China. The introduction of Arab religious books to China began in 632 AD. According to the historical records of the Tang Dynasty, in 651 A.D., Arabia sent an ambassador to China for the first time. Arabic medical prescriptions and medicines were already recorded in the medical dictionaries of the Tang Dynasty. Arab non-religious books first came to China during the reign of Emperor Song Renzong (1023-1063). At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, the "Yingtian Calendar", which was compiled by the scholar Ma Yize and submitted by the Chinese official Wang Dune, who presided over the compilation, was based on the Arabic astronomical calculation data and attracted Arabic astronomical knowledge, using the Arabic calculation methods of solar and lunar eclipses and the five stars' travel degrees, and dividing each night into five shifts, which is said to be the beginning of the Chinese method of changing points. Our rule during the Yuan dynasty spanned Eurasia, and Genghis Khan's three western expeditions strengthened the scientific exchange between China and Arabia, after which the number of people who knew Arabic on Chinese territory increased dramatically, and the original language of Chinese scientific translations gradually changed from Sanskrit to Persian, which was used in the eastern part of Arabia at that time. It was in the 13th century that Arab non-religious books were introduced to China on a large scale. A number of Arab astronomers worked in the official institution of the Yuan dynasty, the Sitiantai (established in 1260). One of them, the astronomer Jamal al-Din, prepared the almanac based on the Arabic calendar, which was adopted by the Yuan government for 14 years and was later used as the basis for the chronological calendar prepared by the Chinese scholar Guo Shoujing. Zamaradin also made various astronomical instruments and brought the latest achievements of astronomy in the Arab world at that time, which was the first time that the knowledge of Arab "for the sphere" was introduced to China. The use of Arabic numerals in mathematics by the Chinese also began in the Yuan Dynasty. In terms of medicine, the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty organized the Arab doctors who were recaptured in the conquest to set up the "Hui Hui Medicine Institute", and at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, they also translated 36 volumes of "Hui Hui Medicine", which was engraved in the early Ming Dynasty. From the surviving remnants, this is a complete, comprehensive medical encyclopedia. In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, summoned the Arab scholars who used to work in the Yuan Dynasty's Tienmin, and issued an edict to translate Arab books, including the Ming translation of the Tienmin and the Hui Hui Calendar.
Headline text
钟雨露Western translation history in the Old Ages
Abstract
Many translation historians believe that translation is an extremely ancient activity, no matter in the West or the East. However, the history of translation has long been neglected in the field of research. Translation researchers tend to focus on the study of translation techniques and theories while neglecting the study of the history of translation. The western translation history has a long history of more than two thousand years from ancient times, which has experienced the Old Ages, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the Modern times. As we all know, when we know something, we often need to go back to its origin. Western translation history can be traced back to the third century BC, which opened the prelude of the history of western translation. This paper will study the western translation history in the Old Ages to help readers have a deep understanding of the history of translation and translation itself.
Key words
Western translation history; the Old Ages; Andronicus; the Bible translation
Introduction
Throughout human history, language translation has been almost as old as language itself. The relationship between the two primitive tribes, from antagonism to amity, all depends on the exchange of ideas, mutual understanding and translation. The Genesis describes that Greece and Persia signed the Treaty of Cary Aas in 449 BC, and the ancient Roman Empire recruited German soldiers for its army. All these activities relied on interpreters. Similarly in China, for example, Confucius traveled various kingdoms where spoke different languages, so he also needed to rely on interpreters to communicate with others. However, there is no record of who these interpreters were, or historians have yet to discover them. The same is true in the West. Therefore, to discuss the history of translation, we can only start from the period of historical records.
In Europe, the history of translation can date back to the third century BC. In a broad sense, the earliest translation in the West is Septuagint, translated by 72 Jewish scholars in Alexandria of Egypt around the third century BC. Strictly speaking, the first translation in the West is Andronicus’ Latin translation of Homer’s epics Odyssey around the middle of the third century BC. No matter the former or the latter one, they are both invented in the third century BC, that is the time of Livius Andronicus(the first Roman translator). Before discussing this point, we must briefly review the historical background at that time.
In the 6th century BC, Rome entered the slave society from the primitive commune and established the Roman Republic. With the development of productivity, the Roman Republic grew. The rulers began to expand outwards for their own benefit. By the third century BC, Rome, with its increasing military force, first conquered the entire Italian peninsula. And after four Macedonian Wars, Rome controlled the whole of Greece. Thus, Rome replaced Greece's dominant position in the Mediterranean area in politics, economy as well as military, and became a powerful empire.
Rome and Greece are geographically adjacent to each other. Some Greeks had long been immigrated to the territory of Rome. Later, Rome conquered the Greece, so it was able to contact with the Greek culture directly. Since Greece had a splendid culture heritage, the Romans began to translate the Greek books on a large scale from the third century BC. And also in this time, the written records of translation appeared. Livius Andronicus, Gnaeus Naevius, and Quintus Ennius, considered the three founders of Roman literature, all translated or adapted Homer's epics and the Greek plays of Aischulos, Sophokles, and Euripides in Latin. The Romans inherited the Greek culture through translation and imitation. They did not inherit it simply, but carried it forward, and formed their own unique culture. “Roman culture was formed by absorbing the cultural achievements of different regions on the basis of the economic and political relations of that time. (Xu Haishan, 2006: 363)” This is the first large-scale translation activity in Europe and the whole Western history. Some translation activities in Europe probably existed long before that. However, from the existing written records, the history of western translation has just opened its first chapter.
The Latin Translation of the Ancient Greek Classics
From the above historical background, it can be seen that the translation activities in early Rome were the translation of ancient Greek classics. These translation activities continued until the fall of the Roman Empire in the fifth century AD. The whole process can be divided into two major stages, namely the Roman Republic stage and the Roman Empire stage. The translation objects during the Roman Republic mainly focused on dramas and epics, which formed the cultural translation tradition in the history of western translation. In the Roman Empire, the translation objects were mostly philosophy and religion, which later formed the tradition of the Bible translation in the history of western translation. It is worth mentioning that “the translation ideas of the Roman Empire later became the source of the entire history of western translation thoughts, and the Romans were also considered to be the ‘inventors’ of western translation theories. (Bassett, 2004: 57)”
Livius Andronicus(284?BC—204BC)
In the translation activities of the early Romans, Greek drama was undoubtedly their most concern. The native Roman drama was an improvisational comedy, which was not as complete and rich as Greek drama in terms of language, performance and costume. Therefore, Greek drama, as a new form of entertainment, attracted Roman soldiers who came to Greece because of war and writers who made a living by writing from the 4th to the 3rd century BC. They soon introduced this novel form of entertainment to Rome, while writers translated Greek plays into Latin. In fact, it was not a translation, but an extremely liberal adaptation. The main purpose of it was not to produce accurate translation for academic study, but for performance and entertainment, so a large number of deletions and additions were inevitable in translation.
Among these early translators, the first to be mentioned is Livius Andronicus. He was the earliest translator of Rome and was known as “the father of Roman poetry”. Andronicus was born in the Greek colony of Taranto(a port city of southeast Italy today) around 284 BC. He was enslaved by the Romans, who captured the city around 272 BC. He was later set free and became his master's tutor, teaching Latin and Greek. One of the great difficulties he encountered in teaching was that there were no books available to teach Latin. To facilitate his teaching, he began to translate some books. Around 250 BC, he translated some fragments of Homer's Odyssey into Latin in Saturnian verse, a free-flowing translation that had long served as a textbook. Although the translation is of little literary value, it is “the first Latin poem and the first literary work to be translated into Latin” in the history of Roman literature (Tan Zaixi, 2004: 16). In addition, Andronicus introduced a new literary genre -- epic for Roman literature through his adaptation and translation works.
One of the major features of the translation of Odyssey is that when translating the names of Greek gods, Andronicus did not use transliteration, but directly replaced the corresponding Greek gods with Roman gods. For example, the Greek god Zeus was translated into Jupiter, the Roman god; The Greek Cronos was translated into Saturns, the Roman god of agriculture; the Greek Muses was translated into Camenae, etc. Andronicus’ translation, though not accepted by modern translators, promoted the integration of Roman gods with Greek gods and played a positive role in enriching Roman culture.
In addition, Andronicus also translated and adapted Greek plays. He translated and adapted nine tragedies by the major Greek writers Aischulos, Sophokles and Euripides, such as Agamemnon, Oedipus the King and Medea. And he translated and adapted three comedies, all of which were written by Menandros.
From the literary perspective, Andronicus’ translations, such as those of Odyssey, are crude. However, his contribution was not in the translation itself, but that he was the first to introduce ancient Greek epics and plays to Roman society and to adapt Greek verse and rhyme to the Latin language. Through the efforts of him and many other contemporary and subsequent translators, the style of the ancient Greek dramas had a profound influence on the later European dramas.
Gnaeus Naevius(270 BC—200? BC)
In the era of Andronicus, translation activities had gradually developed. The great movement of people caused by the Roman conquests led to an increase in the number of polyglots. And people had a growing interest in Greek culture. Many poets and playwrights also engaged in extensive translation of Greek works. The chief translators after Andronicus were Gnaeus Naevius and Quintus Ennius. The two men were basically contemporaries of Andronicus and enjoyed equal popularity with him in ancient Latin poetry and dramatic achievements. Some people refer to them as “the three founding fathers of ancient Roman literature creation and translation.”
Gnaeus Naevius was born in the Campania of present-day Italy. He lived at a time when Rome was actively expanding outward. When he was young, he served in the Roman army and fought in the first Punic War. As a writer with democratic leanings, he was imprisoned for his scathing attacks on the Roman authorities. After his release from prison, he continued to criticize the current government and was eventually expelled from Rome.
Naevius first began writing and performing plays in 235 BC. He loved drama and translated 30 comedies and 6 tragedies in his lifetime. His works were not mere imitations of Greek classics, but a mixture of translation, creation and adaptation. “His contribution to Roman literature is to nationalize Roman comedy. (Luo Niansheng, 2007: 279)” In his translation, adaptation and composition of comedies, he mostly adopted the form of Greek comedy, but inserted many pure Roman characteristics. In addition, he wrote historical plays on the basis of real Roman events. He was the originator of Roman historical plays. “His most important literary achievement is epic writing. His 7-volume epic Punic War describes the first Punic War in Greek poetic style, making a bold attempt to establish the tradition of Roman national epic. (Jiang Qiuhua, 2006: 108–109)” His epic, Punic War, which was based on his own experiences of the wars between the Romans and the Carthaginians of North Africa, interspersed with historical events and myths. It was the first Roman epic, and it had a big influence on Virgil in writing Aeneid. From the fragments of his works that have survived, we can see that the writing and translation style of Naevius is concise, and is clearly better than that of Andronicus.
Quintus Ennius(239? BC–169 BC)
Comparing with Naevius' translation of comedy and historical play writing, Ennius' contribution to ancient Roman literature lies in his creation of ancient Roman tragedy (Jiang Qiuhua, 2006: 280). He was born in 239 BC in Calabria of Italy. Although it was not a Greek settlement, it was heavily influenced by Greece because of its geographical location. So Ennius grew up in Greek culture from an early age. The biographer Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (2nd century AD) called him “half Greek”. He mastered three languages: the first one was Oscan, the dialect of his hometown; the second one was Greek, which he had learned at school; and the last one was Latin, which he had learned while serving in the Roman army during the Second Punic War. In the literary activities during Ennius' life, the most important work which also brought him the greatest reputation was the epic Histories. But his contribution in translation was also very important. Ennius mostly translated Greek tragedies, and he tried to translate the works of all three major Greek tragic writers. Through translation, he transplanted a Greek rhyme to Rome, and made a reform of the composition of Latin poetry. In addition, Ennius himself wrote at least six tragedies, the most famous of which was Iphigenia, which was comparable to the works of Euripides. “His psychological description is profound and meticulous”, so he is known as “the father of Roman literature”.
In conclusion, Andronicus, Naevius and Ennius, together with other contemporary writers and translators, passed on the Greek literary heritage to the later generations through translation and adaptation. Their literary and translation activities also played an important role in enriching the Roman culture and developing its literature.
The Origin of Western Translation Thought
Although the practice of translation was quite popular in the early period, no one paid much attention to the research on translation theories and methods before Cicero. The main purpose of translation was to introduce Greek culture so that Roman readers or audiences could be entertained by these translated or adapted works and plays. As for translation theory, even if there were some broken ideas, they were only used to counter critics and defend translation works.
Marcus Tullius Cicero(106 BC—43 BC)
Cicero was an orator, politician and philosopher of the late Roman Republic and one of the most influential figures in ancient Rome. He was born in Epino, a small city near Rome. When he was young, he studied law, literature and philosophy in Rome and Athens. And later he served as a consul of the Roman Republic. In the political crisis of the late Roman Republic, he advocated republicanism and supported Octavius. In this way, he offended Mark Antony and was killed by him. He was not only a famous orator, statesman, philosopher and rhetorician in Roman history, but also a prolific translator. Cicero translated a great deal of Greek literature, politics and philosophy. For instance, Homer's Odyssey, Plato's Timaeus and Protagoras. Cicero's literary achievements made a great contribution to the development of Latin language. He was a famous literary figure in Rome at that time, with a magnificent oratory and fluent prose that set the literary style of Latin language.
Cicero not only translated many Greek classics, but also created many terms and Latin words that are still used today. While expounding rhetoric ideas, he gradually formed his own translation thoughts. His exposition of translation thoughts mainly focuses on two works: De Oratore (55 B.C.) and De Optima Genera Oratorio (46 B.C.). His main translation ideas are as follows: (1)、First of all, Cicero made a clear distinction between “interpreter” and “orator” (what we later call literal translation and free translation). He was opposed to the “word-for-word” translation method. He believed that translation was not an imitation of the original text. The translator should not be an interpreter of the original text, but an orator delivering a speech to the audience: “I translate not as an interpreter, but as an orator, keeping the same ideas and forms and using a language that conforms to our expressive habits. In this process, I think it is not necessary to translate word for word, but to preserve the overall style and power of the language. (Cicero 2007:9)”
It was clear that Cicero saw a fundamental difference between the interpreter and the orator. The former does not have the ability to control language and can only use the “word-for-word” translation method. It focuses on the conversion of words and only conveys the literal meaning of the original text, rather than the thoughts of the orator. The latter pays attention to the retention of the overall style of language. It can effectively reproduce the thought and motivation of the orator, and can deliver rich emotions in public speeches.
(2)、Cicero put forward the concept of “competitive imitation” when translating ancient Greek literature. It means that literary translation should not only need literary talent, but also be more literary than the original one. Cicero demanded that translation should be a transmission of meaning, not a literal rewriting. But at the same time, at the lexical level, Cicero was very particular about the accurate translation of ancient Greek philosophical concepts. (3)、He also held that words and meanings are functionally inseparable, which is a universal language phenomenon. Since rhetoric devices are based on the natural connection between words and meanings, rhetoric devices of various languages have something in common with each other. This shows that translation can achieve stylistic equivalence.
Cicero's view can be summarized as follows: literal translation should be avoided, and the innermost thing of words -- meaning should be preserved in translation. To some extent, Cicero greatly developed translation theory, and his translation thoughts exerted a great influence on later translators and translation theorists, which occupied an important position in the history of translation. While discussing early translation theories, the British translation theorist Susan Bassnett have suggested: “Cicero and Horace’s translation thoughts have a significant impact on later translators. Their translation thoughts are produced in the discussion about two important responsibilities of poets: one is the common human responsibility to obtain and transmit wisdom; the other is the special art of creating and shaping poetry. (Bassnett, 2004: 48)”
Quintus Horatius Flaccus (65 BC—8 BC)
Horace became another representative translation thinker after Cicero. Horace was a famous poet, critic and translator in the early Roman Empire. Influenced by Cicero, he also believed that literal translation must be avoided and flexible translation method should be adopted. His treatise on translation theory was mainly seen in Ars Poetica. This was a letter to a Roman nobleman and his son. Combined with the status of Roman literature and art at that time, the principles of poetry and drama were put forward in this letter. His translation thoughts are as follows: (1)、Horace believed that translators should adopt flexible translation method and reject literal translation method. He put forward the concept of “fidusinterpres” (it means faithful translation). However, the object of Horace's “fidusinterpres” is not the text, but the “customer”, and of course only the customer or reader of Horace's time. “A faithful translator/interpreter should be trusted by others. He needs to finish the task on time and achieve the satisfaction of both parties. To do this, he, as an interpreter, negotiates between clients by using two different languages. In the case of a translator, he negotiates between the customer and the two languages. Negotiation is the key, it is opposed to traditional reciprocal loyalty. (Horace, 1981)” That is to say, translators and interpreters sometimes have to be “not very” faithful in order to avoid failure in negotiations if they want to do business. Horace proposed flexible translation and emphasized loyalty to the “customer”, the ultimate guide to translation. The “customer” in Horace's translation model is actually what we called “context” later, and the translation principle of "faithful translation for customers" has been developed into "translation according to context" for later generations. (2)、Horace also proposed the concept of “privileged language”. In Horace's time, Latin was the privileged language. He asked translators to prefer the privileged language, Latin, which meant that foreign languages would be assimilated in translation. This was also a reflection of Horace's translation thought that tended to be “naturalized”, but his concept was also controversial and opposed by Schleiermacher. He emphasized that “faithful translation” should retain the national characteristics of the source culture, and his translation thought tended to be close to "foreignization". The two translation thoughts are opposite, and their respective focuses are also the topic of the early discussion of “domestication” and “foreignization”. (3)、He thinks the native language can be enriched by translation of loanwords. If the thing you want to express is very profound and must be expressed by new words, you can create new words to some degree. It not only can meet the needs of writing and translating, but also can enrich the language of the motherland.
Horace's view on translation has exerted a great influence on later generations. His statement in Ars Poetica “a translator who is faithful to the original text will not translate word by word” is often quoted by later generations and used by free translators to criticize dead and direct translators. His idea of “enriching Latin through translation” is of great significance and influences many translators after the Renaissance.
Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (35?– 95?)
钟义菲 The Chinese Translation History in Mordern Age
Abstract
Since the middle of the 19th century, translation has gradually become a tool for people resolved to save the country from extinction. The spread of the large number of translation works has broadened the ways for the public, especially the intellectuals, to learn the west. In the meantime, it has also changed the social climate. The invasion of western civilization, translators' spontaneous development of translation activities and the passivity of national politics made Chinese society enter an important period of western learning translation, especially around the period of Opium War. The cause of translation in modem China coincided with the Chinese people's struggle against aggression. After the Opium War, China had to open the door. China had to end its isolation and began to face the outside world directly. However, the prolonged blockade made China lag behind the western world. Modem politics, economy, diplomacy and cultural activities are closely related to translation, which plays an indispensable role in history. The theme and source of the original translation often reflect the development trend of modem Chinese ideology and the direction of government policy. As for the nature and quantity of translation books in different periods, we can also see the motivation of translation books, the general trend of intellectual interests, and the impact of the dissemination in society. The time clue of this article is from the Opium War to the May Fourth Movement, briefly introducing the translation and the translator, emphasizing its emergence background and several important period of development, research and analysis of western culture reflected in translation works in modem Chinese history, the change of Chinese people’s thoughts in translation and the influence of modem translation on Chinese society. This paper is divided into three chapters. The first chapter introduces the emergence, importance and main characteristics of modem translation works, then reviews the emergence of modem translation works, emphasizes their importance, and briefly introduces representative translation works. The second chapter introduces the background of translation works and translation climax stages of western books, studies the main characteristics and development trend of translation in each period. The third chapter studies the influence and performance of modem translation on people's ideology and social life through the description in translation works. This paper focuses on the development of modem translation, the important role of translation in Chinese history, and the specific impact of translation on modem society.
Key words
Modern Translation,Translation,Social Life,Ideology
Introduction
Around the middle of the 19th century, The Western invasion brought new knowledge. The Westernization Movement sent a large number of international students to study abroad and translated a large number of books for military purposes.The Qing government decayed, and was tired of the invasion of foreign enemies, the war repeatedly failed. After the Sino-Japanese War in 1894, faced with internal and external troubles, far-sighted people knew that they could not rely on the Qing government, so they devoted themselves to writing novels. Many people accepted and spread Western culture through translating books. The importance of translation was recognized by the development of journalism, media, and provident men influenced by the Western culture at that time. In this social context, people have criticized the corruption of government through literature and translation. Modern China began in the Opium War in 1840. It was a special period in Chinese history. During this period, the Chinese were attacked by foreign guns, as well as by foreign culture and foreign education. Especially after the Sino-Japanese War, the Chinese people were greatly shocked psychologically, and people began to realize that the West was more advanced than China in political, economic, cultural and other aspects, which was providing a great opportunity for the introduction of translation literature. Translators at that time also hoped to translate the western advanced scientific knowledge to the Chinese people so that they could broaden their horizons and innovate their ideas. During the Reform Movement of 1898, Liang Qichao advocated publicizing political ideas by translating foreign political novels to transform the society. He believed that the incredible power of novels was "enough to dominate people's psychology and could change the society of one generation." Based on the translation of the novel, Liang Qichao gave the novel new significance and mission. He put forward the idea of improving the novel, with the famous ones such as The Beauty Adventures and The Fifteen Little Heroes, which promoted the process of novel revolution and the prosperity and development of the translating novels. Yan Fu translated works such as Heaven and Yuan Fu. His translation had a great influence at that time and was the most important enlightenment translation in China in the 20th century. In the translation of Heaven, Yan Fu proposed three difficulties: Faithfulness, Expressiveness and Elegance. It was advocated by many literary writers at that time and used as the theoretical basis for their translation. The concept of "natural selection: the fittest to survive" conveyed in Yan Fu's Heaven woke people up from the dream of the heavenly world. There are more famous translation works such as Lin Shu’s The Lady of the Camellias, Black slaves call for heaven record and so on. It had an important influence on the change of people's concept. People are not limited to the traditional concept of marriage and love, and the concept of freedom and equality gradually spread. Under the prevalence of translation works, traditional values, such as emphasizing agriculture and suppressing business, men being superior to women, gradually lost their status and were gradually replaced by new ideas. The paper mainly includes three chapters: First, modern translation works and the overview of translators. Second, the background and climax of modern translation works. Third, the impact of modern translation on social life. In the modern Chinese literary circle, there was a wave of translation in western books, and the translation activities of foreign works were unprecedentedly prosperous.The emergence of a large number of translation works has also caused a large influx of foreign cultural ideas. Under the translation of domestic scholars, the translators not only conveyed the literary nature of foreign works, but also expressed their translation purpose through translation language and techniques, and had a huge impact on Chinese social life at that time. Academia research is more aimed at the overview of modern translation works and its prosperity, but little research on its impact on national social life. This paper analyzes the wide variety of materials and works to detail the influence of modern translation on social life.
1. Modern Translation Work and Its Main Characteristics
1.1 The Emergence of Translation Works and Their Importance
The premise of the emergence of translation works is the introduction of western civilization. The spread of western culture in modern China can be traced back to the eve of the Opium War. The main translators are missionaries, who mainly introduce religious doctrine, and also bring western history and geography to China. They established schools, translated western books (such as the Bible), compiled magazines, wrote books and so on. It can be said that missionaries are the first wave of intermediaries communicating between Chinese and Western culture. Early missionaries in China, although for the purpose of conquest, tended to teach by words and deeds than coercion. However, considering China's closure at that time, the Chinese were not allowed to learn foreign languages. The missionaries have also made great efforts in communicating the Chinese and Western cultures. This also led to the introduction of western civilization at this stage and laid the foundation for the development of the modern translation and cultivated talents. The Opium War was an important period of western translation. The rise and fall of China is always closely related to the rise and fall of translation culture. As a special component of Chinese literature, the development of translation literature has always affected the process of Chinese literature and historical changes, especially the occurrence of modern Chinese translation literature, which has effectively promoted the transformation and development of Chinese literature and modern society. Modern translation, from its emergence to the development, is inseparable with China's social changes. Translation has promoted the change of people's ideas, enriched people's knowledge in many fields, and not only promoted the development of Chinese literature, but also played a certain positive role in the development of politics and Chinese society.
1.2 Representative Works of Modern Translations and Their Main Categories
The introduction of modern western literature made Lin Shu a famous literary translator. Many people will misunderstand The Lady of the Camellias as the first translation novel in modern China. But The Declaration has already begun to publish translation novels earlier. The first translation novel should be Xinxi Talk. According to Zou Zhenhuan, the most expensive translation of the Bible was the first version to enter the palace, the "royal version" of the late Qing Dynasty. The first modern Japanese novel translated into Chinese was " The Beauty Adventure”, translated by Liang Qichao, which opened the translation of the political novel in the late Qing Dynasty. At the same time, the Chinese translation books related to Japan was Ryukyu Geography. Tan Ruqian thought it as “the first Chinese translation of Japanese documents”. After translation into Chinese, the most influential translation is Yan Fu’s Heaven, Lin Shu’s The Lady of the Camellias, and Black slaves call for heaven record translated by Wei Yi and Lin Shu. The three works had a great influence on Chinese society in different aspects. Thai new history can represent part of the translation works since modern times. It is widely spread into China though it doesn’t achieve any effect in the West. The book is considered by western scholars as the most boring residual history and a third-rate world history. In China, it sold more than one million copies, which is the most popular reading book in the Restoration period. It can be said that the social influence in different historical stages and social backgrounds can be different. The Law of the Duke of Nations theoretically defeated the ignorant idea of the Qing government. In addition, there are translations about life which popularized scientific knowledge in China and played a good role in the abolition of feudal superstition. Foreign Cookery in Chinese was the earliest Chinese translation of a relatively systematic introduction of western cooking methods in the process of introducing western food culture in China. In the aspects of medicine, there were books such as Tessi’s Personal Theory, Optical Disclosure and Cardiotherapy. The first sociological monograph of full-text translation in modern China was translated by Zhang Taiyan, which had an important influence on the progress of social cognition.
1.3 Main Characteristics of Modern Translation Works
One is catering to the taste and ethics of the Chinese readers in order to obtain a wider popularity. Influenced by the social background of the late Qing Dynasty, most people who learned from the West were limited to intellectuals and politicians. In order to make the translation get more attention, the translator chose more accepted literary works for translation. This to some extent leads to the lack of extensive translation categories. In Introduction to Translation, the second chapter "Translation of Catholic Scholars between the Ming and Qing Dynasties" discussed the Catholic doctrine translation and scientific translation between the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and pointed out that " at that time, translation sought more elegance, integrity and the willingness of Chinese officials and scholars to read. However, there are also some translators who try to keep the original meaning rather than deliberately satisfying the readers’ interests." On the other hand, it also confirms that the characteristics of translation was catering to readers at that time. The second is to use foreign novel translation as a tool for reform politics. After the failure of the Opium War, people with insight were eager to find good ways to save the country. The most direct and effective way is to learn western culture. In the process of learning western culture, the most convenient thing is to translate western works. However, hindered by language factors, the translation of monographs is far more difficult than the novels. Therefore, except for the few people who are proficient in foreign languages, most translators basically choose to take novels as the entry point to give personal political opinions and ideas to achieve the purpose of political improvement. Third, readers often take the translation of novels as a pastime, resulting in the flood of boring detective novels and romantic novels. Popular novels translations are enough while famous novels translations are rare. To cater to the market and earn publication costs, many translators translate foreign works for the purpose of making a profit. And after a few celebrities do not classify foreign translations, many translators will have a herd mentality. At the same time, due to the influence of domestic readers' literary taste, popular novels and simple literary works are more acceptable to them, so resulting in the flood of some novel categories. Fourth, the translation is not faithful. Influenced by traditional ideas, some phenomena in western works were not accepted by the Chinese at that time, and to avoid unnecessary trouble, the translator chose to omit part of the plot in the original, and could not completely express the original idea. In order to express his political position and views, the translator will fabricate the plot and comments not included in the original. For example, when Su Manshu translated Hugo's Bad World, he invented a character called Lauder, using him to satirize the corrupt stupidity of the Qing government. Secondly, the translator will change the narrative perspective and structure of the original, which is largely influenced by the traditional Chinese narrative style. For example, Liang Qichao used the serial structure when translating The Beauty Adventure. It is summarized as follows: excessive catering to readers and lack of independence; the monotonous type of translation with limitations; lack of translation proficiency and transmission of the idea; separation from the original work.
2. The Rise Background and Climax of Modern Translation Works
2.1 The Background of the Rise of Modern Translation
After the Opium War, the Qing government successively signed the Nanjing Treaty and the Humen Treaty, which made insightful people attempt to save modern China from abyss of suffering. In the face of an unprecedented crisis, a group of people began to search for the way to save the country, and every individual has put all his strength into the efforts to save the nation in danger. Modern China is faced with a more powerful opponent in all aspects. People with insight realize that they must break through the current situation of self-isolation and learn from the outside world. Learning from the West and imitating the West became an important strategy of saving the nation at that time. Chinese society has constantly updated the old mechanism, trying to get rid of the original closed and rigid political dilemma, starting to find a new development direction, from the learning of western skills to the study of western political and economic system, ideology and culture. To learn from the West and seek self-improvement, translation is first serve as a bridge of communication. Domestic people with insight can bring western works to China by translating them. After the failure of the Second Opium War, China was forced to sign the Treaty of Beijing. The national crisis became more and more serious, the national crisis further strengthened the Chinese people's thought of self-improvement, and the understanding of the outside world became more and more urgent. At the same time, due to the current situation, foreign language communication and diplomatic intercourse have become very urgent. In this environment, translation became indispensable in this era.
2.2 The Purpose of the Rise of Modern Translation
The 19th century was a period of complex economic situation and chaotic political situation. At this time, the demand for formal translators increased. However, in this period, translation was very sophisticated and had a great influence on the control authority of the government and exchanges between Chinese and foreign countries. In the Treaty of Beijing, Britain and France sent documents that are written in English and French to China. But considering that there was almost no translation talent in China at that time, the two sides agreed to attach Chinese version. But if there was any dispute, both English and French characters should be the authority. Then the Qing government had to start training translation talents, and the first batch of foreign language schools were established accordingly. The original motivation of The School of Combined Learning was quite related to the signing of the Sino-British Treaty, and the British authorities attached a Chinese translation within three years, aiming to allow the Chinese government to cultivate a number of qualified translators during this period, so the establishment of The School of Combined Learning was established in 1861. It was the first official foreign language school in the late Qing Dynasty with the purpose of cultivating foreign language translation talents. Foreigners were the teachers, training specialized foreign language translators. In order to become rich and train soldiers, China must learn from advanced western science and technology. To learn from advanced western technology, it is bound to remove the language barriers in the process of learning. Zeng Guofan once mentioned that translation must occupy the fundamental strategic position of westernization cause. It is easy to see that the purpose of translation is to learn the advanced western technology more efficiently and to achieve the purpose of saving the nation. The process of modernizing Chinese literature is, in a sense, the process of Chinese literature learning from the West and seeking innovation and change under the impact of western culture.
2.3 The Climax of Translation in the Western Book
2.3.1 From the Opium War to the Sino-Japanese War
From the Opium War to the Sino-Japanese War, especially after the 1860s, with the rise of the westernization movement aimed at self-improvement and wealth, there was an upsurge in the translation of Western science and technology books. In the late Qing Dynasty, under the influence of opium smuggling, China and the UK exchanges are getting closer and closer. Until the Opium War broke out, the door of China was completely opened, and the Qing government had to face the outside world. Lin Zexu fought in the front line of the anti-smoking movement and the anti-British struggle from 1839 to 1840. He organized personnel to translate many books. In the monthly Macao, there are five volumes: on China, on tea, on smoking prohibition, on the use of military forces and on the feelings of foreigners in various countries. These materials are mainly translated from Guangzhou weekly, Guangzhou chronicle and etc. Lin Zexu never neglected to give up the work of organizing translation. Among Lin Zexu's translations, The Chronicles of Four Continents has the most far-reaching impact on Modern Chinese history. It is the first book in modern China to systematically introducing world geography and history. The translation of these books opened the eyes of the Chinese people and began to import Western learning in modern times, which is of great significance to the history of modern thought and culture. One of the most direct effects is that it has led to the emergence of a number of masters who compile and study foreign profiles. It indirectly led to the development of the style of study for practical use, and also had an important impact on the literary reform in history. Wei Yuan revised and supplemented The Records of the Four Continents. This book not only retained the characteristics of the west, but also sublimated in combination with the domestic reality, added many notes and political comments, and put forward many political propositions represented by "learning from the foreigners and mastering their skills to control the foreigners", which gathered huge ripples in the ideological circles at that time, and even spread to Japan, It also had an impact on Japan's Meiji Restoration. However, at this time, the work of Lin Zexu and Wei Yuan only played the role of foresight and did not form a huge social situation. The development of translation still needs new forces to promote. At this time, the Westernization school played such a role. The Westernization Movement took place after the second Opium War and before the Sino-Japanese war. During this period, the Qing government experienced the impact of two Opium Wars. Facing the strong ships and guns of Western powers, it was in a difficult situation at home and abroad, and felt a profound crisis never seen in history. The Westernization school, divided from the feudal landlord class, had a certain understanding of the world situation. They advocate learning from western capitalist countries. The main figures of the Westernization school were Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang and others. They held high positions in the Qing government. Compared with other ordinary officials, they were more deeply aware of the need to learn and introduce advanced military weapons and manufacturing technology from Western powers in order to maintain the ruling order of the feudal society and realize the stability of the regime of the Qing Dynasty. However, at that time, the Westernization school could only recognize the progress of Western skills and the strength of military strength. Their change Geng Chang's method was only limited to "learning from foreigners". Among them, the translation of foreign books became an important means to achieve the goal of learning from foreigners. In 1862, due to the needs of diplomacy and Westernization Movement, Tongwen museum was established in Beijing to train translators. The Tongwen Library in Beijing regards translation and washing as an important activity. The Jiangnan manufacturing Bureau, founded in 1865, had a greater impact during this period. The two primary problems faced by Jiangnan manufacturing Bureau after its completion are technology and talents, and the key to solving these two problems is the translation of technical books. Therefore, it decided to "set up another school to learn translation", "it is planned to select intelligent disciples to study with the school when it is completed", "You don't have to fake a foreigner, you can also extend it and make it into a book." The books translated by the translators were mainly about natural science and applied technology, which played a positive role in introducing modern science and technology and promoting the development of productive forces, and became important teaching materials for people of insight at that time to understand the external world and update their knowledge structure. These books can be said to have cultivated the next batch of cultural newcomers, such as Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao, Zhang Taiyan and Cai Yuanpei and so on. During this period, the importance of translation has been paid some attention, and the government has begun to operate translation in an organized and planned way. At the same time, the translation activities of the church have also been strengthened. Missionaries played the role of cultural invaders in the process of foreign military aggression. At first, missionaries wanted to carry out cultural aggression in the sense of Christianity, but they were influenced by Chinese tradition The influence of culture was resisted by the Chinese people. So they turned to spread new western knowledge and Western civilization, set up institutions, run newspapers and translate books, and tried to open the gap of the Chinese people's thought, so as to achieve the purpose of cultural aggression control. But objectively speaking, they also played a role in spreading Western learning to a certain extent. The translation by foreign missionaries had a great impact on Chinese society. The Chinese people's own pure literary translation also began at this stage. However, the literary translation at this stage still lacks systematic theoretical guidance and positive social atmosphere.
2.3.2 After the Sino-Japanese War
After the Sino-Japanese War was defeated, the Westernization Movement was declared bankrupt, and China's current situation was at stake. People with lofty ideals learned from the failure of the Westernization Movement that reform is far from solving the problem. To make China embark on the road of independence, prosperity and strength, we must fundamentally learn from the West and change the feudal autocratic system. In order to comprehensively learn western learning, translation is the first thing at this time. Therefore, this is the moment The translation career of this period is very prosperous, which is very different from the translation characteristics of the previous era. First, the expansion of the field of translation. At this time, the focus of importing western learning turned to various fields of social science, and paid particular attention to the import of political and academic ideas. The eight famous works translated by Yan Fu were outstanding representatives of this period, which had a significant impact on the society of the Qing Dynasty. During this period, translation methods were widely used, that is, abridged translation and free translation of foreign works, which were understood by the translator At this time, a large number of social sciences have been introduced, which has greatly improved the ideological level of Chinese people and brought the political and cultural activities to a new stage. Secondly, the translation field has also been expanded. The previous translation work was limited to government-run institutions. After the Sino-Japanese War, the reformers stepped onto the historical stage, and the translation work has been included in the overall plan of the reform. The reformers created schools, ran newspapers and opened publishing houses, with the import of Western learning and the translation and introduction of Western books as the main activities. After the failure of the reform movement, the establishment of newspapers and publishing houses did not stop. At this time, China's translation industry began to gradually break away from the limited government-run and turn to the private sector, resulting in an unprecedented prosperity in the translation industry. In addition, the translation team has gradually expanded. The establishment of foreign language teaching has gradually increased the number of foreign students and personnel abroad. The emergence of more and more translation talents meets the development of the publishing industry and social needs at this time. More and more people who know foreign languages are engaged in translation. This period is also an era of a large number of translators. Not only Lin Shu and Yan Fu, but also Liang Qichao, Su Manshu, Zhou Guisheng, Wu Guangjian are all well-known. During this period, the level of translation was also greatly improved. In the early days, most of the translations were spoken by foreigners who knew a little Chinese, and then recorded and polished by Chinese. The level of translation was uneven. During this period, most translators were proficient in foreign languages, their Chinese level was also high, and the quality of translation improved greatly Great improvement. This stage is also a period of vigorous rise and unprecedented prosperity of novel translation. In the early modern times, novel translation was not paid much attention. The first foreign novel translated into China was translated by foreign missionaries and published by the church. It was The Pilgrim’s Progress by British writer John Buyan, and the translation was published in Xiamen in 1853. During this period, translation activities also had some defects. Due to the popularity of translation, although abridged translation and free translation made the translator more free to express his political ideas, it also caused the disadvantages of breaking away from the original works. The purpose of translation was not to introduce western literature, but to express the translator's own ideas as a political means. At the same time, translation theory was strongly advocated in this period and political utilitarianism have also been greatly strengthened.
2.3.3 Marked by the Rise of the New Culture Movement
After the revolution of 1911, people's political enthusiasm was obviously low. In terms of translation, few people paid attention to social, political and economic works, and the number of translated novels was significantly lower than that of creative novels. However, people's literary concept was gradually strengthened. During this period, many translators introduced foreign literature from a literary perspective, bringing a new atmosphere to the translation circle and the history of Chinese literature In the period of the new culture movement, the translator's political and literary ideas were significantly improved, which laid a good foundation for the third wave of Western Chinese book translation starting from the new culture movement. During this period, first of all, the number of short stories was greatly increased. During this period, new translators preferred to translate short stories. For example, Hu Shi translated The Last Lesson and Zhou Zuoren also published several short translation novels in the magazine New youth. The short translation novels published during this period also included The Leisure Review of Customs translated by Lin Shu and Chen Jialin. At this stage, the translator chooses the original work carefully after fully understanding and studying the original author, and describes his own opinions and ideas in the preface and postscript. Unlike in the past, he arbitrarily cuts the original work to express his political ideas, most of them are serious and loyal to the original. During this period, script translation gradually prevailed, and poetry translation appeared a new atmosphere. German poetry began to receive attention, and vernacular poetry began to appear. A new generation of translation practitioners consciously linked the translation of foreign literature with the transformation of Chinese literature and the purpose of the new culture movement. Chinese literary translation and Chinese society have entered a new era.
3. The Influence of Modern Translation on Social Ideas
3.1 Appearance of the Concept of Marriage
The translation that made an important change in the concept of scholars in the late Qing Dynasty was The Legacy of the Camellia in Paris translated by Lin Shu. This book describes the ups and downs of the protagonist Mark fate and complex psychological feelings. After the Sino-Japanese War, Lin Shu joined the ranks of reformers. He took a more open attitude towards love, which made Lin's translated novels reflect some changes of the times to a certain extent, implying that modern marriage and love pay attention to color. In Lin Shu's concept, if women want to benefit from freedom of marriage, they must first receive good education, such as Qiu Zhilan as a chivalrous woman, the heroine Qiu Zhilan sneaked into the capital to avenge her father's murder. She met scholar LV Qiushi and fell in love at first sight. She took the initiative to give a keepsake while LV Qiushi was reading at night. Finally, with the help of the blind nun of Shuiyue nunnery, they got married. Qiu Zhilan pursued love independently and persevered, suggesting that women's sense of marriage and love had begun to change under the circumstances at that time, Or the wind of free marriage and love has gradually risen. In Lin Shu's translated novels, Lin Shu points out the rigidity of the orders of parents and the words of matchmakers. He also advocates that women should maintain the beauty of temperament. In Lin Shu, women generally can consciously control their emotions, maintain a certain degree of reserve and gentleness in their behavior, and never do things carelessly. To a certain extent, this reflects the love aesthetics and love trend of the society at that time. In the past, the novels of talented women and beauties in ancient China were a special kind of art to express the love concept of the citizen class. In Chinese novels of talented women and beauties, most of the talented people in the books were portrayed as the images of handsome, talented, elegant and noble, and not in line with the times. Second, the highest ideal commonly pursued by scholars at that time was "wedding night, golden list." The happy ending of joys and sorrows can satisfy people's aesthetic taste in the past. In The Legacy of the Camellia Woman in Paris, It depicts the heroine, who is loyal to her feelings and has a sense of morality, left because of Yameng's career future and family happiness. This self-sacrifice combined with tragic color made the people who have seen the story of talented people and beautiful women for a long time with an unprecedented freshness, which provided a new type of love aesthetics for the people at that time. There are also relevant translation works such as Better Return published during the Meiji period, which is called "the milestone of the theme novel describing women's consciousness in the Meiji period", which describes the content of women's resistance to the oppression of old morality and ethics, and the dramatic work Doll's House, the heroine Nala breaks away from her originally happy family and realizes that she is a neglected individual value. Her home is just a doll's home. It can be inferred that Nora is not the only one. The concepts of marriage and love freedom and women's individual values conveyed in her works since modern times have gradually penetrated into the society, and people have begun to gradually recognize the importance of women’ s rights. During the May 4th movement, The Troubles of Young Witt was strongly favored by young Chinese readers at that time for its crazy love passion, very dreamy action, rebellious and independent thought of the society and the protagonist's individualistic thinking method. This book was once regarded as the "Bible" by young men and women at that time As a general cultural phenomenon, the love between Witt and Lvdi made the young people talk about the freedom of marriage and love at that time and take the sacred love between men and women as the ideal. Witt easily reminded people of the talents in the love story at that time. Witt's lovelorn was expressed through strong sadness, which was the best comfort and inspiration for the young people who were eager to escape from the feudal cage at that time. It was a landmark translation that influenced modern Chinese society at that time.
3.2 The Emergence of the Concept of Freedom and Equality and the Changes and Manifestations of Social Values
Feminism is also one of the concepts of freedom and equality. Among the reformers after the failure of the Sino Japanese War of 1894-1895, Lin Shu was one of the first to advocate feminism. This was also mentioned in the previous section when describing the concept of marriage and love. The rise of women's concept of freedom of marriage and love has gradually spread, which implies that women pay attention to their own rights. From the novels translated by Lin Shu, Lin Shu's admiration for women's courage to pursue their love or rights shows that Lin supports and advocates women's rights. Xinxi Gossip deals with the values of money and the concept of social class. The novel expounds the role of money in Europe, which is unheard of by Chinese scholars. For example, the third volume of the novel describes that the British set up marriage halls, that is, intermediaries such as today's marriage agencies, "many people who come to the museum are losers, hoping to cheat into marrying rich families", it describes that many people go to parties, but are driven by money worship in an attempt to cheat them into marrying rich people. At the same time, it also describes that money can make an old woman get a young husband, and the young husband aims at the old woman's rich family wealth. In the eyes of the Chinese people at that time, this was not in line with the code of ethics and could not be accepted.
Conclusion
In the transition period of modern China, the social function of translation played an important role, and the subversion was the most prominent in the social function of translation. At that time, China had experienced a long period of inaction towards western culture and regardless of the political and economic state of locking the country, resulting in China's ignorance of the West. However, at this time, the western world has not stopped the translation and introduction of Chinese culture through various channels Understanding. Asymmetric information exchange and translation make China in a passive position when communicating with the West. With the continuous entry of western new ideas and translation into China, values are constantly challenged, and even some extreme culturists try to subvert traditional Chinese culture and social values. The current situation requires China to make progress, and the current situation also forces China to make progress. In this period of mixed internal and external relations and political chaos, translation, as a communication tool, has always led Chinese people of insight in the exploration of saving the nation from subjugation and strengthening the country. The changes of modern history and the prominence of modern cultural view are greatly influenced by the input of Western learning. In modern Chinese society under the shock of Western learning civilization, translation makes western learning smoothly enter the Chinese people's political world, cultural undertakings and social life, but the overall westernization is absolutely impossible. In modern times, although Chinese traditional Confucianism has been criticized, even as a cultural pioneer The activists threw the target of political opinions, but middle school can not be reduced. Middle school is also the spiritual belief of Chinese unity since modern times. Lin Shu has always stressed that the traditional ethics revealed by Confucian culture has some eternal value and universal significance. The real Western civilization does not let us abandon middle school and completely replace it with Western learning, but let middle school be a traditional culture The social atmosphere under the coverage is more civilized.
Reference
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魏楚璇: Western Translation History in Modern and Contemperary Ages
Abstract
Under different historical background, the modern and contemporary translations in western countries show their different characteristics and traits which cen be concluded from several perspectives.
Keywords
Western translation; translation history; modern; contemperary
Introduction
In this paper, western translation history in modern and contemporary ages will be introduced. Here the modern age refers to the nearly half century before the Second World War. The contemporary age refers to the half century after the Second World War. That is to say, the modern and contemporary translation in this paper refers to the translation in the 20th century. Under different historical background, the modern and contemporary translations show their different characteristics and traits which will be concluded and discussed in detail in the following.
The General Situation of Translation in the Modern Age
Into the 20th century, the capitalism in the developed countries developed into imperialism. On the one hand, the imperialist countries intensified their foreign expansion to oppress and exploit the weak countries and colonial people, while on the other hand, they were engaged in a fierce battle among themselves for international markets and spheres of influence. Thus, in less than half a century, two world wars broke out. Under this historical background, translation in western countries will inevitably be seriously disturbed and destroyed. However, in some specific fields and countries (such as the Soviet Union), the translation of this period also has its own traits, which can be summarized from the following four aspects.
Simplicity, smoothness and accuracy became the translation criterion.
In the translation of classics, translators no longer emphasized the elegant style of the original work, but took the simplicity, smoothness and accuracy as the criterion to measure the translation. Translators not only in France, but also in Britain, Germany, Italy, Russia and other countries began to break the tradition of poetry translation, generally advocating translating the original poem into prose, not into verse; Even when translating the works of the great poets of the past, they did not employ strict rhythm. The popular practice in translation was to translate the original poem into prose using plain language so that the translation can be understood by the reader without annotation. For example, E. Y. Rieu’s translation of Odyssey in 1946 and R. A. Knox’s translation of Bible in 1948 were typical popular translations.
The emphasis of translation was clearly on modern and contemporary literature, especially Russian and Nordic works.
From the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, the literature of Russia and the Nordic countries developed greatly with the emergence of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky, Leo Tolstoy, Chekhov, Andersen, Ibsen, Strindberg and other world-renowned great writers and dramatists. Their works had attracted the attention of the people in Western Europe and North America so they were competing to learn Russian, Danish and Swedish and had these works translated into English, German and French. In the process of translation, many excellent translators emerged in various countries, among which Garnett is the first to be mentioned.
Translation of Russian literature
Constance Garnet is the most famous female translator in Britain in this century. She translated almost all classic Russian novels and is widely regarded as the most important Translator of translating Russian literature into English.
She published her first translation of Turgenev's novel Ru-Din in 1894. In the following decades, she devoted almost all her energy and time to the translation of Russian literature. She was the first person to translate Turgenev, Dostoyevsky and Chekhov into English, successively translating all the major works of Turgenev, Goncharov, Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Gogol and Chekhov including 12 volumes of Dostoyevsky's Selected Works translated from 1912 to 1920, 15 volumes of Turgenev's Selected Works translated from 1894 to 1899, 15 volumes of Chekhov's Novels and Plays translated from 1916 to 1922, and 6 volumes of Gogol’s Selected Works translated from 1922 to 1928. In particular, her translations of Turgenev, Chekhov, Dostoyevsky and other works were widely welcomed by the English reading community, and thus gave rise to the Russian literature craze in English literature before the First World War. She translated 70 Russian works in her lifetime, making her the most prolific translator of Russian works.
Two other translators who did not translate as much from Russian to English as Garnett, but who had no less influence, were the couple——Louise and Aylmer Maude. They are famous in western modern literary circles for their research and translation of Tolstoy's works. From 1928 to 1937, they spent nearly ten years translating and publishing 21 volumes of The Complete Works of Tolstoy. Later, from 1940s to 1950s, they supplemented or retranslated some of Tolstoy's works, such as What I Believe and Resurrection. In 1952, their work of War and Peace was accepted as a standard English translation and was selected for the prestigious Western Classics Series, thus establishing them as the authoritative English translators of Tolstoy.
In addition, R. S. Townsend, R. Edmonds, Samuel Koteliansky, Ethel C. Mayne, Boris Brasol, Richard Renfield and so on were famous for translating the works of Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Turgenev, Chekhov, Goncharov into English.
Translation of Nordic literature and drama
In the first half of the 20th century, in addition to Russian literature, western European translators showed great interest in Nordic literature and drama, including the works of Andersen, Ibsen and Strindberg.
When Hans Christian Andersen was alive, one of his works was published simultaneously in 15 languages, including English, German, French, Italian, Spanish and almost all the major languages of Western Europe. Later, all of his works were translated into different languages, and there were many re-translations in English, French, German and other countries. The first English translator was Mary Howitt, who began translating Andersen’s fairy tales in 1846. Later translators include Charles Boner, Caroline Peachey, Lady Duff Gordon, Paul Leyssac, R. R. Keigwin and R. Spink. Some of the best translations are Leyssac’s translation in 1937, Keigwin’s translation from 1950 to 1960 and Spink’s translation.
The main English translators of Ibsen’s plays are William Archer and James MacFarlane. Archer translated 12 volumes of The Collected Works of H. I. from 1906 to 1912, including almost all of Ibsen’s plays and some of his previously unpublished papers. Macfarlane compiled translated eight volumes of The Oxford Ibsen from 1960 to 1977. In addition, F. E. Garrett translated Lyrics and Poems from Ibsen in 1912. Mary Morison translated The Correspondence of H.I. in 1905. Evert Sprinchorn translated H. I. Letters and Speeches in 1964.
In Germany, the standard German translation is The Collected Plays of Ibsen in ten volumes edited and published by G. Brandes, J. Elias, and P. Schlenther from 1898 to 1902. The standard French translation is The Complete Works of Ibsen in 16 volumes translated and published by P. G. la Chesnais from 1914 to 1945.
Mahzad Heydarian: Where Persian Language Meets Translation
This paper is a journey to the history of Persian language and the presence of translation into/from Persian in different historical eras. Translation has been influenced by many social and intercultural factors throughout history; in this paper, its functions from ancient Persia to the contemporary era will be surveyed.
Key Words: Translation history, Persian language, Arabic influence, Medieval era
Persian Language, known as the language of great literary works by Hafez, Khayyam, Rumi and many other classical and modern poets and writers, has always been an interesting subject to study. Looking for its roots and origins and how it is changing and developing has been the interest of many linguists around the world. Like other important languages, Persian has developed and gradually changed in different eras in history. It seems that writings on translation history suffer from severe shortcomings. What is overlooked by the researchers of Persian translation history is to clarify the distinction between oral and written translation. These two have proved to be completely different subjects while they have been mixed when the writers judge its ups and downs in a specific period of time. Moreover, in the relatively limited knowledge of Persian translation history, the thematic classification of translations (e.g. literary, scientific, etc.) have not been considered.
Another common but important deficiency of such historiography is the lack of scientific consideration of the source and target texts, based on advances in the study of translation during the past three decades. The socio-cultural aspects of translation have rarely been surveyed, nor has the linguistic process of evolution of Persian historically been studied. Despite the importance of such inquiries, in most studies done by the Persian writers we could rarely find traces of identifying the direction of source and target texts, let alone contemplating the process and product as two imperative factors in any study of translation. Abdolhossein Azarang, whose history of translation comes with these problems admits that none of available historical books, including his, could be mentioned as a survey without offering at least a set of simple comparisons between the source and target texts in each era (Azarang, “Tarikhe” 9).
To our knowledge Persian has gone through three main changes over the years: starting from Old Persian, in transformed into Middle Persian, also known as Pahlavi, and was finally modernized into contemporary Persian—which is in use today in Iran, Afghanistan and parts of Central Asia. Persian is a branch of the Indo-European languages. As Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak (493) mentions “Over a millennium this language has been the primary means of daily discourse as well as the language of science, art and literature on the Iranian plateau.” He indicates that “Old Persian was brought into Iranian plateau in the second millennium BC by Eurasian steppes. In time, it became the language of the Achamenians (559-339 BC), a dynasty of kings who established the largest, most powerful empire in the ancient world” (493).
Among the encyclopedic references, Britannica has put forward a good remark for the root and divisions of Middle Persian with more detailed information. It mentions that: Middle Persian is known in three forms, not entirely homogeneous—inscriptional Middle Persian, Pahlavi (often more precisely called Book Pahlavi), and Manichaean Middle Persian. The Middle Persian form belongs to the period 300 BCE to 950 CE and was, like Old Persian, the language of southwestern Iran. In the northeast and northwest the language spoken was Parthian, which is known from inscriptions and from Manichaean texts. There are no significant linguistic differences in the Parthian of these two sources. Most Parthian belongs to the first three centuries CE.
Nonetheless, the Middle Persian script was abandoned in favor of the Arabic script and led to many new linguistic alterations in Persian. According to Karimi-Hakkak “The new script was far simpler and more advanced. In addition, where the Arabic script lacked essentially Persian consonants these were added to it. In short, the adoption of the Arabic script for Persian did not give rise to ruptures as significant as certain modernist reformers have assumed it did” (494). Therefore, the start of the most significant change in the Persian language dates back to the seventh century when Islam started to take over the Iranian plateau. This led Persian to find many new scopes. By adopting the Arabic alphabet, Persian became even stronger and further blossomed into many classical literary works in the following centuries.
The need for translation soon of course rose in a language like Persian spoken by large populations and used by different dynasties. Persian language had remained consistent and independent by asking the translation firstly and more importantly from Arabic. The language itself has neither been replaced by any other languages nor substantially changed during the centuries. That is why a Persian speaker today can effortlessly understand and enjoy the language of Hafez or Rudaki, the famous poets who lived in the 14th and 9th centuries, respectively.
Akira Jantarat: History of Chinese-Thai literature Translation in 19th century
Jawad Ahmad; History of Translation
Abstract
Humans live in a diverse environment, and communication is at the centre of human community, with language serving as the means of communication. In a society characterized by globalization and global connectivity, there is a strong desire for individuals of many cultures and languages to understand one another. Translation fulfills this need in the scarcity of a shared global language for everybody. When it comes to communicating ideas and knowledge between languages, translation is essential. This study seeks to provide a broad historical overview of translation studies and common techniques in the west from ancient times to the present, in the form of a temporal survey that includes significant theoretical advancements, with an emphasis on approaches established during the modern period.
Keywords
Translation, History, Theories
Introduction
To convert or turn from one set of patterns to someone else is to transfer or turn by one set of symbols to another; is translation. But what is the history of translation? Despite the fact that researchers and scholars have long contested the history of translation, it is unanimously acknowledged that translation predates the Bible. Translation has been evolving since the dawn of human contact, and it is now more than ever permitting cross-cultural connections, trade, economic globalization, and knowledge sharing through time. The globe has become more of a melting pot because to translation. As a result, translation becomes a more important function, covering many philosophies, mediums, and cultures. James S. Holmes, an American-Dutch poet and poet translator, invented the term "Translation Studies" in his foundational work "The Name and Nature of Translation Studies" (1972). Holmes translated several works by Dutch and Belgian poets into English while producing his own poetry. The method of transforming the language that is recorded being spoken in another language is known as translation. In a broad sense, translation can be described as a word, phrase, or sentence in another language that has the same meaning as the original. Translation is one of the many branches of learning, and it has evolved into a significant field that comprises a distinct body of knowledge that is widely used in a variety of human activities. If we think about the translation that is not so simple, to translate a single word from one language to another but it describes the difference theory, applications and different translation. Translation studies are the linguistics discipline that deals with the theory, description and application of translation. Translation is one of the many branches of learning, and it has evolved into a significant field that comprises a distinct body of knowledge that is widely used in a variety of human activities.
A mental process in which the meaning of a particular linguistic conversation is transferred from one language to another is known as translation. It is the process of converting linguistic entities from one language to their equivalents in One another. Translation is both a method and a finished thing. Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text.The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between translating (a written text) and interpreting (oral or signed communication between users of different languages); under this distinction, translation can begin only after the appearance of writing within a language community. These lines have been taken from the (Wikipedia). Simply we can say in translation that a text or word translate from one place to another. As I mentioned in the above paragraph and the area of translation studies draws together research from linguistics, literary studies, history, anthropology, psychology, and economics. Of course, translation is a rewrite of an original text whatever their goal, all rewritings reflecta certain ideology and poetics, and as a result, modify literature to work in a specific way.English is the most widely spoken language on the planet. As a result, one may doubt the value of translation and wonder here we have a raised question regarding the English language; the question is why everyone doesn't just speak English? However, the truth is that not everyone can speak English, and even fewer can speak it well enough to converse successfully, and perhaps more crucially, language is much more than just the exchange of words. It's also a reflection of one's culture, society, and faith. As a result, promoting a global language will almost certainly result in the loss of culture and legacy transmitted through national languages.The transmission of information, knowledge, and ideas necessitates the use of translation. It's a must for effective and sympathetic cross-cultural communication. As a result, translation is essential for societal peace and harmony. Translation is also the one and only way for people to learn about new works that will widen their horizons. for example:
Throughout the middle Ages, Arabic interpreters were able to care for the concepts of ancient Greek thinkers alive. The bible has been translated into at least 531 languages. English speakers may learn from some of the world's top educators through TED Sessions (Technology,Entertainment, design) open translation programmes,which allow people all across the world to comprehend their talks. Sports teams and organisations use translation to overcome linguistic barriers and cross international borders.However same is the case I have some examples which are translated from one language to another language. It is investigated that which strategy translator has used while translating the poem. Some lines are taken from the poem in both languages source and target. Li Po’s Chinese poem translation into English We have to examine at the poem through the filter of translation because it's a translations of a Chinese poetry. One of the key concerns of English Translation Studies is to ensure that English speakers' translations are real and truthful to the native Chinese.
玉阶怨
玉阶生白露,
夜久侵罗袜。
却下水晶帘,
玲珑望秋月。
The Jewel Stairs' Grievance
The jeweled steps are already quite white with dew,
It is so late that the dew soaks my gauze stocking,
And I let down the crystal curtain
And watch the moon through the clear autumn.
Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s poem “Subh‐e Azadi” translation into English Faiz Ahmed Faiz is largely recognised as the finest Urdu poet of the 20th century and an era's defining voice. He is well known for his groundbreaking poetry, which condemned injustice and demanded justice. He conveyed the agony and sadness of Partition, as well as the price the Indian subcontinent sacrificed for independence from British domination, in his poetry Subh-e-Azadi.
Yeh daagh daagh ujaalaa, yeh shab gazidaa seher
Woh intezaar tha jiska, yeh woh seher to nahin
Yeh woh seher to nahin, jis ki aarzoo lekar
Chale the yaar ki mil jaayegi kahin na kahin
Falak ke dasht mein taaron ki aakhri manzil
Kahin to hogaa shab-e-sust mauj ka saahil
Kahin to jaa ke rukegaa safinaa-e-gham-e-dil
The Dawn of Freedom, August 1947 Translated into English by Baran Farooqui
This light, smeared and spotted, this night‐bitten dawn
This isn't surely the dawn we waited for so eagerly
This isn't surely the dawn with whose desire cradled in our hearts
We had set out, friends all, hoping
We should somewhere find the final destination
Of the stars in the forests of heaven
The slow‐rolling night must have a shore somewhere.
History of Translation
Ancient Times;
The 3rd century BCE translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek is considered the earliest major translation in the western world. Most Jews had lost their native language, Hebrew, and required the Bible to be translated into Greek in order to read it. The "Septuagint," as the name suggests, refers to the seventy academics who were tasked with translating the Hebrew Bible at Alexandria, Egypt. According to folklore, each translator laboured in solitary confinement in his own cell, and all seventy translations proved to be identical. Since Terence, a Roman playwright who translated and modified Greek plays into Latin in the 2nd century BCE, the translator's function as a bridge for "passing through" ideals between cultures has been debated. In "On the Orator" ("De Oratore," 55 BCE), Cicero notably warned against translating "word for word" ("verbum pro verbo"): "I did not believe I needed to count them [the words] out to the reader like coins, but to pay them by weight, as it were." Cicero, a statesman, orator, lawyer, and philosopher, was also a Greek to Latin translator, comparing the translation to an artist. The discussion over sense-for-sense vs. word-for-word translation has been going on since antiquity. In his "Letter to Pammachius," Jerome (often known as St. Jerome) is supposed to have coined the phrase "sense for sense" (396). Jerome claimed that the translator needs to translate the Bible into Latin "not word for word but sense for sense" ("non verbum e verbo sed sensum de sensu"). Kumrajva, a Buddhist monk and scholar, was a prolific translator of Buddhist literature written in Sanskrit into Chinese, finishing a massive work in the late fourth century. The translation of the "Diamond Sutra," an iconic Mahayana sutra in East Asia that became an object of devotion and study in Zen Buddhism, is his most renowned accomplishment. According to the British Library's website, a later copy (dated 868) of the Chinese version of "Diamond Sutra" is "the earliest complete survival of a printed book" (that owns the piece). Kumrajva's plain translations were more concerned with communicating the content than with exact literal representation. They had a big impact on Chinese Buddhism, and they're still more popular than more accurate translations. The rise of Buddhism inspired extensive translation efforts across Asia that stretched over a thousand years. Major works were occasionally translated in a relatively short period of time. The Tanguts, for example, translated texts that took the Chinese generations to transcribe, with contemporaneous records claiming that the Emperor and his mother, as well as sages of many nations, directly contributed to the translation.
In the Middle Ages;
Throughout the Middle Ages, Latin was the "lingua franca" of the western world. There were few common language translations of Latin texts. Alfred the Great, King of Wessex in England, was ahead of his time in ordering translations from Latin to English of two key works: Bede's "Ecclesiastical History of the English People" and Boethius' "The Consolation of Philosophy" in the late ninth century. These translations aided in the development of the English prose. The Toledo School of Translators became a gathering place for European academics who travelled to Toledo, Spain, to translate key philosophical, theological, scientific, and medicinal works from Arabic and Greek into Latin in the 12th and 13th centuries. In mediaeval Europe, Toledo was one of the few sites where a Christian might be exposed to Arabic language and culture. To create a successful translation, a translator must have a solid understanding of both the source and target languages, as well as be well informed in the discipline of the work he is translating, according to Roger Bacon, a 13th-century English scholar. Geoffrey Chaucer provided the first "excellent" English translations in the 14th century. Chaucer developed an English poetry tradition based on translations or adaptations of Latin and French literary works, two languages that were more well-established at the time than English. "Wycliffe's Bible" (1382-84), named after John Wycliffe, the theologian who translated the Bible from Latin to English, was the "finest" religious translation.
In the 15th century;
Gemistus Pletho, a Byzantine philosopher, pioneered the rebirth of Greek learning in Western Europe when he travelled to Florence, Italy. During the Council of Florence in 1438-39, Pletho restored Plato's thinking. Pletho met Cosimo de Medici, the king of Florence and patron of scholarship and the arts, at the Council, and the Platonic Academy was founded. The Platonic Academy took over the translation into Latin of all Plato's writings, philosopher Plotinus' "Enneads," and other Neoplatonist works under the guidance of Italian scholar and translator Marsilio Ficino. Ficino's effort, together with Erasmus' Latin version of the New Testament, ushered forth a new era of translation. For the first time, readers wanted accuracy in expressing Plato's and Jesus' (and Aristotle's and others') actual words as a foundation for their philosophical and theological beliefs. Thomas Malory's "Le Morte d'Arthur" (1485), a free translation of Arthurian stories including mythical King Arthur and his friends Guinevere, Lancelot, Merlin, and the Knights of the Round Table, was a "excellent" work of English prose. Malory adapted and translated existing French and English stories while also adding new material, such as the "Gareth" narrative as one of the Knights of the Round Table stories.
In the 16th century;
Imitation was still prevalent in non-scholarly writing. Tudor poets and Elizabethan translators developed the poetic form by adapting topics from Horace, Ovid, Petrarch, and others. The poets and translators aspired to provide "pieces such as the original writers would have written, had they been writing in England at the time" to a new audience created by the emergence of the middle class and the introduction of printing (Wikipedia). The "Tyndale New Testament" (1525), called after William Tyndale, the English scholar who was its major translator, was considered as the first significant Tudor translation. The Bible was translated straight from Hebrew and Greek languages for the first time. Tyndale began translating the Old Testament after completing the New Testament, and he completed half of it. Before being put to death for unlawful possession of the Bible in English, he became a significant role in the Protestant Reformation. One of his assistants finished the Old Testament translation after he died. On the printing press, the "Tyndale Bible" became the first mass-produced English translation of the Bible. In later life, Martin Luther, a German theologian and important player in the Protestant Reformation, translated the Bible into German. The "Luther Bible" (1522-34) has long-lasting religious implications. The division of western Christianity into Roman Catholicism and Protestantism was aided in part by differences in the translation of key words and passages. The "Luther Bible's" publishing also aided the formation of the current German language. Luther was the first European scholar to conclude that one can only translate successfully into one's own language, a daring assertion that would become the norm two centuries later. The "Jakub Wujek Bible" ("Biblia Jakuba Wujka") in Polish (1535) and the "King James Bible" in English (1604-11) were two new important Bible translations that had long-lasting influence on the languages and cultures of Poland and England. In addition to English, the Bible was translated into Dutch, French, Spanish, Czech, and Slovene. Jacob van Lisevelt published the Dutch version in 1526. Jacques Lefevre d'Étaples published the French version in 1528. (also known as Jacobus Faber Stapulensis). Casiodoro de Reina published the Spanish edition in 1569. The Czech edition was printed between 1579 and 1593. Jurij Dalmatn produced the Slovene edition in 1584. All of these translations contributed to the development of contemporary European languages by encouraging the use of vernacular languages in Christian Europe.
In the 17th century;
Miguel de Cervantes, a Spanish author well known for his masterpiece "Don Quixote" (1605-15), stated his own thoughts on translation. Translations of the period, according to Cervantes, were like staring at the opposite side of a Flemish tapestry, with the exception of those from Greek to Latin. The primary figures of a Flemish tapestry could be seen, but they were hidden by loose threads and lacked the clarity of the front. John Dryden, an English poet and translator, attempted to make Virgil talk "in language that he would probably have written if he were living as an Englishman" in the second half of the 17th century. "Translation is a form of drawing after life," Dryden said, equating the translator to an artist several centuries after Cicero. While translating the Greek epic poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey" into English, Alexander Pope, a fellow poet and translator, was accused of reducing Homer's "wild paradise" to "order," but his best-selling versions were unaffected. In translation, "faithfulness" and "transparency" were better articulated as twin virtues. The degree to which a translation faithfully conveys the meaning of the source text, without distortion, by taking into consideration the text itself (topic, type, and usage), literary characteristics, and social or historical context was referred to as "faithfulness." The degree to which the finished result of a translation stands alone as a work that might have been produced in the reader's native language and corresponds to its grammar, syntax, and idiom was referred to as "transparency." "Idiomatic" is a term used to describe a "transparent" translation (source: Wikipedia).
In the 18th century;
A translator should translate towards (rather than from) his own language, according to Johann Gottfried Herder, a German literary critic and language scholar, echoing a statement made two centuries earlier by Martin Luther, the first European academic to voice such ideas. Herder created the basis of comparative philology in his "Treatise on the Origin of Language" (1772). However, there was still a lack of care for correctness. "Ease of reading was the motto of translators throughout the 18th century. They omitted whatever they didn't understand in a text or believed would boring readers. They joyfully thought that their own way of expressing themselves was the greatest, and that books should be translated to match it. Except for the translation of the Bible, they cared little more for scholarship than their forefathers, and did not hesitate to make translations from languages they barely knew" (Wikipedia). Dictionaries and thesauri were not considered suitable guides for translators at the time. Scottish historian Alexander Fraser Tytler emphasised the need of assiduous reading above the use of dictionaries in his "Essay on the Principles of Translation" (1791). Onufry Andrzej Kopczyski, a Polish poet and grammarian, echoed similar sentiments a few years earlier (in 1783), but added the importance of listening to spoken language. In his posthumous essay "On Translating Books" ("O tumaczeniu ksig," 1803), Polish encyclopedist Ignacy Krasicki outlined the translator's unique function in society. Krasicki was an author, poet, fabulist, and translator, among other things. "Translation is an art both estimable and difficult, and thus is not the labour and portion of common minds," he wrote in his essay. "It should be practised by those who are capable of being actors, when they see greater use in translating the works of others than in their own works, and hold higher than their own glory the service that they render their country."
In the 19th century;
There were new requirements for style and correctness. For accuracy, the policy became "the text, the complete text, and nothing but the text (except for bawdy portions), with copious explanatory footnotes" (in J.M. Cohen, "Translation" article in "Encyclopedia Americana", vol. 27, 1986). The goal was to continuously remind readers that they were reading a foreign classic in terms of style. Edward FitzGerald, an English writer and poet, made an exception when he translated and adapted Persian poetry. Omar Khayyám, an 11th-century poet, mathematician, and astronomer, was included in his work "The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyám" (1859). Despite more modern and exact translations, FitzGerald's free translation from Arabic to English remains the most recognised translation of Khayyám's poetry. German theologian and philosopher Friedrich Schleiermacher, a significant character in German Romanticism, was the first to establish the "non-transparent" translation idea. Schleiermacher distinguished between translation methods that moved the writer toward the reader, i.e. transparency, and those that moved the reader toward the author, i.e. an extreme fidelity to the foreignness of the source text, in his seminal lecture "On the Different Methods of Translating" (1813). Schleiermacher was a proponent of the latter method. Antoine Berman and Lawrence Venuti, for example, were influenced by his contrast between "domestication" (bringing the author to the reader) and "foreignisation" (bringing the reader to the author). Yan Fu, a Chinese scholar and translator, devised his three-pronged translation philosophy in 1898: fidelity, or being loyal to the original in spirit; expressiveness, or being approachable to the intended reader; and elegance, or being written in a "educated" language. Yan Fu's translation theory was founded on his experience translating publications from English to Chinese in the social sciences. He thought the second aspect was the most essential of the three. There was no difference between translating the text and not translating it at all if the meaning of the translated text was not available to the reader. According to Yan Fu, the word order might be modified, Chinese examples could be used instead of English ones, and people's names could be translated into Chinese. His thesis had a huge influence over the world, although it was occasionally misapplied to the translation of literary works. Women translators began signing their translations with their own identities after being nameless or signing with a male pseudonym for decades. Some of them didn't just write for the sake of writing. Gender equality, women's education, women's suffrage, abolitionism, and women's social rights were among the causes they championed.
In the 20th century;
From 1923 through 1939, Aniela Zagórska, a Polish translator, translated practically all of her uncle Joseph Conrad's writings, a Polish-British author who wrote in English. Translation, like other arts, required choice, and choice indicated interpretation, according to Conrad. "Don't bother being too meticulous," Conrad would later counsel his niece. I'll tell you that, in my opinion, interpreting is preferable to translating. Then it's only a matter of finding the corresponding terms. And there, my love, I implore you to let your temperament lead you rather than a rigorous conscience." (cited in Zdzisław Najder, “Joseph Conrad: A Life”, 2007). In the 1960s, Argentine writer, essayist, and poet Jorge Luis Borges was also a prominent translator of literary works from English, French, and German to Spanish. He translated works by William Faulkner, André Gide, Hermann Hesse, Franz Kafka, Rudyard Kipling, Edgar Allan Poe, Walt Whitman, Virginia Woolf, and others while gently changing them. Borges wrote and taught extensively on the subject of translation, "believing that a translation can improve upon, even be disloyal to, the source, and that multiple and possibly conflicting translations of the same work can be as acceptable" (Wikipedia). Other translators, particularly those of religious, historical, scholarly, and scientific books, purposefully made literal versions. They stuck to the source material as closely as possible, sometimes pushing the bounds of the final language to generate a non-idiomatic translation. In the second part of the twentieth century, a new discipline called "Translation Studies" emerged. James S. Holmes, an American-Dutch poet and poet translator, invented the term "Translation Studies" in his foundational work "The Name and Nature of Translation Studies" (1972). He was creating his own poems at the time. Many works by Dutch and Belgian poets were translated into English by Holmes. In 1964, he was employed as a professor at the University of Amsterdam's new Institute of Interpreters and Translators (later called the Institute of Translation Studies). Before becoming a separate subject in the mid-twentieth century, interpreting was considered a specialised sort of translation – spoken translation rather than written translation. Interpreting Studies separated from Translation Studies throughout time, focusing on the practical and pedagogical aspects of interpreting. It also includes social studies on interpreters and their working circumstances, which are still critically missing in the case of translators.
In the 21st century;
Contemporary translators, like their forefathers, contribute to the richness of languages. When a target language lacks terminology found in a source language, those terms are borrowed, enhancing the target language. Translation Studies has evolved into an academic inter-discipline that encompasses a wide range of disciplines (comparative literature, history, linguistics, philology, philosophy, semiotics, terminology, computational linguistics). In order to be properly taught, students must pick a specialisation (legal, economic, technical, scientific, or literary translation). The internet has helped to create a global market for translation and localization services as well as translation software. It has also brought with it a slew of problems, including unstable work and reduced pay for professional translators, as well as the emergence of unpaid volunteer translation, including crowdsourcing translation. To be an effective translator, bilingual persons require more than just two languages. Being a translator is a vocation that necessitates a deep understanding of the subject matter. Many translators have become invisible in the twenty-first century, after being highly regarded alongside literary, academic, and scientific authors for two millennia, and their names are often forgotten on the articles, books, websites, and other content they spent days, weeks, or months translating. Despite the prevalence of CAT (computer-assisted translation) and MT (machine translation) tools designed to speed up the translation process, some translators still want to be compared to artists, not only because of their precarious lifestyle, but also because of the craft, knowledge, dedication, and passion they put into their work.
Theories of Translation studies
Too frequently, discussions regarding translation theories focus on disparities between literary and nonliterary texts, prose and poetry, or technical papers on physics and everyday business letters. However, in order to comprehend the nature of translation, the focus should be on the processes and procedures involved in any and all sorts of interlingual communication, rather than on distinct types of discourse. One reason for the wide range of translation theories and subtheories is that the process of translation can be viewed from a variety of angles: stylistics, author's intent, diversity of languages, differences of corresponding cultures, interpersonal communication issues, changes in literary fashion, different types of content (e.g. mathematical theory and lyric poetry), and the situations in which translations are to be used, such as read in public.
The North-American Translation Workshop;
Translation was just a language acquisition process until both theory and practise were separated, which began with comparative literature, 'translation workshops,' and contrastive analysis. During the 1960s, the notion of a translation workshop was widely used at American institutions. This notion was founded on the concepts of I.A. Richards, whose method, reading workshops, and practical critique, began in the 1920s and was primarily promoted in Iowa and Princeton. It was less interesting to the broader audience since it was mechanical rather than artistic. The job of "translation" has "moved on from the practical workshop to being reinterpreted," according to Belgian academic Theo Hermans (2007). (2007: 81-84). Simultaneously, the comparative literature method evolved, which entailed analysing and comparing literature across national and cultural boundaries. This research would culminate in what is now known as cultural studies, which I will address in more detail later in this lecture and whose most prominent researchers include André Lefevere, José Lambert, Theo Hermans, Itamar Even-Zohar, Gideon Toury, and Susan Bassnett.
Georges Mounin's mot-a-mot Theory;
Other translation studies from the 1950s and 1960s include Georges Mounin's (1955) investigation of linguistic difficulties in translation. According to Mounin, there was no other study on this subject in Europe in the 1960s besides pure practise: universities such as Geneva, Paris, Naples, Heidelberg, Mainz, Leuven, and others had their own translation courses; however, their teaching methods consisted of language practise through translation rather than dealing with theory (Mounin, 1963: 26). All objections to translation, according to Mounin, may be boiled down to one: it is not the original. If we use this as a guide, we will discover that producing the ideal result is unattainable, therefore we may infer that so-called translation is impossible. Nonetheless, translation plays an important and perhaps necessary function in human culture and interaction, allowing access to a wide range of works of literature that would otherwise be unavailable. Mounin reveals a few notions about how he thinks a text should be translated; one of these concepts is mot a mot (word-for-word), which he got from 46 B.C. This meta-translation is the most accurate to the original, it respects the text, and it consists of one-by-one translations.
The‘Science' of Translation:The Concept of Equivalence;
The generativists Noam Chomsky and Eugene Nida are the most prominent examples. The first academics to adopt the term «equivalence» were Jean-Paul Vinay and Jean Darbelnet3 (1958), Roman Jakobson (1959), Eugene Nida (1959), and J.C. Catford (1965). According to Hurtado (2001: 204), the concept of equivalence has sparked debate and has been studied by a number of authors, including Rudolf Walter Jumpelt, Eugene Nida, and Charles Taber, J.C. Catford, Otto Kade, Albrecht Neubert, Josef Filipec, Marianne Lederer, Danica Seleskovitch, Wolfram Wilss, J.C. Margot, and others. Mary Snell-Hornby, Basil and Ian Mason, Edwin Gentzler, Aryeh Newman, Juliane House, Katherina Reiß and Hans Vermeer, Aryeh Newman, Juliane House, Katherina Reiß and Hans Vermeer, Aryeh Newman, Juliane House, Katherina Reiß and Hans Vermeer, Aryeh Newman, Juliane Because the ideas of these researchers on the notion of equivalency are numerous and varied, I will focus on Jakobson's concept of equivalence in this section. Roman Jakobson (1959), a Russian structuralist, proposed three important criteria for interpreting the idea of translation: Intralingual translation, also known as "rewording," is the process of interpreting verbal signs using other signs from the same language; interlingual translation, often known as "translation proper," is the process of interpreting linguistic signs using signs from another language. This is the true category since it involves converting a text into another language; intersemiotic translation or «transmutation»:»: a non-verbal sign system that interprets verbal signs (when a text is transformed into a non-verbal text such as music, cinema, or art) (Jakobson, 1959-1966: 233). The subject of equivalency in various languages is approached by Jakobson (1959), who emphasises the fact that there is no complete equivalent between words in languages: «Likewise, on the level of interlingual translation, there is typically no entire equivalence between code-units» (1959: 233). This scholar used the idea of cheese in English as an example, which he claims differs from the concept of cheese in his mother tongue syr. His argument is based on the assumption that syr in Russian does not involve cottage cheese action, which would be tvarok in this language. «Equivalence in difference is the cardinal problem of language and the central preoccupation of linguistics,» according to this professor (Jakobson, 1959: 233). Newmark (1988a: 39) disagrees with Jakobson in this regard, believing that "all translations are implicitly founded on a theory of language."
Early Translation Studies: James Holmes;
Translation studies began in an attempt to learn more about translation techniques rather than a theory of translation, with James Holmes and André Lefevere as the most notable forerunners. The study of translation as an academic subject began around sixty years ago, when James Holmes thought it was important to study it as a discipline in and of itself, based on Russian structuralism; the name given to Holmes's discipline was translation studies, or traductologa and traductologie4 in Spanish and French, respectively. However, of all the terms written in English, 'translation studies' appears to be the most appropriate, and its acceptance as the official title for the subject as a whole would clear up a lot of ambiguity and misunderstanding (Holmes, 1975-1994:70). The primary goal of translation has shifted from being a language acquisition process to an area of academic study. In his paper 'The Term and Nature of Translation Studies' (Holmes, 1975-1994), Holmes granted it the status of a science and proposed the name Translation Studies (henceforth TS) to denote any research focused on the study of translation, highlighting the empirical nature of the subject. Then he separated TS into three categories: descriptive, theoretical, and applied (Holmes, 1975-1994: 71, 73, 77). According to Holmes, descriptive and theoretical studies have two main goals: «to describe the phenomena of translating and translation(s) as they manifest themselves in the work of experience» (Descriptive Translation Studies, henceforth DTS) and «to establish general principles by which these phenomena can be explained and predicted» (Translation Theory, henceforth TTh) (Holmes, 1975-1994:71). The descriptive subtype would concentrate on the analysis of existing goods (textual study) and the outcome of a specific translation (process study) that serves a specific purpose in the target culture (context study). The second subcategory, translation theory, would seek to define the broad characteristics and models that may be used to explain and predict translations. The primary distinction between the two is that DTS aims to describe translation phenomena, whereas theoretical translation studies seek to create general principles that may be used to forecast and explain such occurrences in an abstract fashion. Finally, the applied translation subcategory will concentrate on educational, scientific, and historical objectives. The discipline's consolidation is more apparent now, thirty years later, because translation studies has its own methodology. "Other communication routes, cutting beyond conventional disciplines to reach all researchers working in the topic, from whatever background," Holmes says (1975-1994: 68). The following diagram depicts Holmes' perspective on TS: descriptive and theoretical translation studies, which he defined as 'pure,' and practical translation studies, which he referred to as «of use rather than of light,» in Bacon's words (1975-1994: 77). In terms of practical translation studies, Holmes divides them into three subcategories: Translation aids –which includes lexicographical and terminological aids as well as grammar–; translation policy –the scholar's goal is to «render informed advice to others in defining the place and role of translators, translating, and translations in society at large»–; and translation criticism –Holmes claims that there was a low level of cr (1975-1994:77-78). As a result, according to Holmes, these three subcategories or sub-branches cannot be separated from one another since they complement one another. As a result, TS went from being a little-known field of study involving the mechanical practise of moving people from one place to another to becoming a well-known and active science.
The Polysystem Theory;
Even-Zohar explored the concepts provided in earlier years and applied them to research on comparative literature in the 1970s with the support of a colleague from the Tel-Aviv school, Gideon Toury, culminating in the polysystem theory. The idea of system, which was viewed as a structure with distinct levels whose connected parts interacted with one another, was the theory's primary contribution. According to Even-Zohar (1978), "the concept of the literary polysystem need not occupy us for long." This notion was initially proposed in 1970 as a means of overcoming challenges arising from the old aesthetic approach's fallacies, which forbade any preoccupation with works deemed to be of no artistic worth (1978: 22). Even-Zohar claims in his work «Polysystem Theory» (1979) that the word «polysystem» is more than just a phrase, and that he wants to illustrate that the idea of system is dynamic and diverse, as opposed to synchronic. Polysystem theory, he says, is essentially a continuation of dynamic functionalism. Its idea of an open, dynamic, and diverse system may be more suited to encouraging the creation of favourable conditions for relational thinking's discovery capacity (Even-Zohar, 2005a: 35). The literary polysystem is linked to other systems that are part of each society's socioeconomic and ideological frameworks. Thus, not only does the textual output significant in literary analysis, but also its historical acceptability and interaction with other literatures. Culture is seen as the organising axis of social existence, a system of systems, according to them. The relationship between the discipline of TS and the polysystem theory, according to Gentzler (1993: 107), is due to a connection "between what was being indicated in the Netherlands and what was being postulated in Israel." The Israeli scholars, according to Gentzler, encapsulate conceptions of "translation equivalence and literary purpose into a broad framework" (ibidem). Transfer, interference, and canonised vs. non-canonized are the most essential principles in this school. The degree of instability between the systems is determined by transfer. These can take on a central or peripheral role; interference refers to the transfer of cultural materials between systems; and, lastly, canonised vs. non-canonized determines the status of original texts, permissible customs, and so on.
The Concept of Norm;
Gideon Toury first proposed this concept at the end of the 1970s, with the goal of establishing a set of rules he called norms, which he defines as the translation of general values or ideas shared by a community about what is right and wrong, adequate and inadequate into performance instructions appropriate for and applicable to specific situations, specifying what is prescribed and forbidden, as well as what is tolerated and permitted in a particular behaviour. Toury (1955, p. 55) Toury uses this idea as the foundation for his translation analysis, which sees translation as the result of cultural transference. He emphasises the importance of descriptive data as the foundation of the theory, offers the idea of norm, and categorises it. Initial norms allude to the translator's fundamental decision: whether or not to submit to the target culture's norms. As a result, two conceptions emerge: The first is adequacy, which entails adhering to the source text's cultural standards, and the second is acceptability, which entails adhering to the target text's norms. The translation policy that was carried out prior to the translation procedure is referred to as preliminary norms. The decisions that will be made during the translation process will be governed by operational guidelines. This reflects a set of standards known as a) matricial norms, which govern the insertion of footnotes, the removal or addition of paragraphs, and so on; and b) textual linguistic norms, which govern the selection of language tools such as vocabulary, style, and so on (1995: 56-59).
Conclusion
To conclude it can be said that the human society revolves around language, which serves as a medium of communication. From ancient times to the present, translation contains key theoretical advances, with a focus on techniques developed throughout the contemporary era. Translation is the process of changing or converting from one set of patterns to another. The history of translation has been evolving since the birth of human interaction, and it now enables for cross-cultural contacts, trade, economic globalization, and information exchange across time more than ever before.
References
Benjamin Wellsand: Bible Translation in Christian History
Abstract
The history of Christianity is rich in translations. Why is this the case? What is the motivation behind all this translation effort? The present work will explain the rationale behind the perceived need for translation. It will describe the multicultural context that aided the church in communicating in a heart language. An awkward struggle in the Middle Ages will leave the future of the church in question. What created this polar shift in the West from the church's original course bearings? How and why did the church recover? What remains of centuries of Christian diligence to get the Word into the words of the other? Through historical events, life experiences of translators, and the tales that live on in the translations themselves will answer these questions and encourage the reader to enter the exciting and vast history of Bible translation.
Key Words
Aramaic language—refers to the Semitic dialect of a Middle Eastern people written in a Phoenician alphabet and first appearing in the 11th century B.C.E and growing to the peak of prominence in the 8th century B.C.E.
Free Translation—a translator’s decision to avoid as many target audience misunderstandings as possible due to linguistic and cultural differences with the source text’s culture
Functional or Dynamic Translation—a translator’s decision to focus more attention on communicating the meaning of the source text with concern for the target text
Grassroots theology—the lived experience of the church that then develops into a theological framework
Greek language—refers to that Greek developed in the 4th century B.C.E. and utilized by the Greco-Roman Empire
Heart language—the native language of a person from which the deepest emotional meanings are expressed
Hebrew language—refers to the ancient Jewish dialect spoken between the 10th century B.C.E. and the 4th century C.E.
Literal Translation—a translator’s decision to focus attention primarily on what the source text says
Septuagint—the Greek translations of the Hebrew Old Testament
Vernacular language—an expression or mode of expression that is a part of everyday communication and not yet in written form
Introduction
Translation of the biblical text has been a practice of the Christian church since its very origin. The founding of the church during the Jewish festival of Pentecost, as recorded in the Bible itself, involved Jesus’ disciples communicating the gospel message in the language of Parthians, Medes, Mesopotamians, and Egyptians, among others (cf. Acts 2.7-11). The final vision of the multitude of the saved in heaven are described as a “people of God from every tribe and language and people and nation (Rev. 5.9).” The New Testament, although authored by primarily Hebrew-speaking Jews, was first written in the lingua franca, koine Greek, of the day. Whereas Buddhists and Muslims identify their sacred texts and faiths inseparably from the original languages of Sanskrit, Pali and Arabic, the Christian faith has sought to translate the biblical texts immediately and directly into the vernacular language of the people to accelerate its global spread.
On a historical basis, the Christian faith has been criticized regarding colonialism and the destruction of cultures. One such case occurred in the sixteenth-century with the Japanese. Giant ships (in comparison to the Japanese) came to dock on the island from Portugal. Many transactions were made between the Portuguese traders and the local Japanese damaiyo. When trade agreements went south, as it did in the case of Portugal and Japan, the Portuguese missionaries were associated with the politics and kicked out of the country. They were ousted under the accusations of encouraging Japanese to eat horses and cows, misleading people through science and medicine, and trading Japanese slaves (Doughill 2012, l. 1064). Although the missionaries had done no such things, they were targeted along with the Portuguese government for these criminal acts.
There are cases where the colonial form of the church has not come to intentionally destroy but has assumed cultural superiority and inadvertently added to the host culture their own country of origin’s cultural forms. Late 19th century missionaries to Africa felt that the Western-style structure of a dwelling was an indicator of modern progress. In 1879, the magistrate of Gatberg declared:
It is not only that the requirement of modesty necessitates the providing of some sort of clothing, however simple; but Christian morality desires also a dwelling corresponding to human dignity, decency, and purity. Building plays an important part in the mission. First the missionary builds a simple small house for himself, to which he soon adds a school and a church. Generally, he must himself superintend this work; often enough, indeed, he must execute it with his own hand, and it stands him in good stead to have been a tradesman at home. But he induces the natives also to help him, and much patience as it requires on his part, he undertakes to instruct them. Gradually his word and his example produce their effect, and the converts from heathenism begin to build new and more decent dwellings for themselves (Warneck 1888, 80).
There is no denying that the church has struggled to decontextualize the faith from their home culture and properly contextualize it into the host culture. This has led to the host culture’s Christianity looking eerily similar to the missionary’s, at best, or a faith that forever remains foreign to the host culture, at worst. Yet, as Lamin Sanneh notes, Christian missionaries have often played a key role in the preservation of cultures:
The translation enterprise had two major steps. One was the creation of a vernacular alphabet for societies that lacked a literary tradition. The other step was to shake the existing literary tradition free of its esoteric, elitist predilection by recasting it as a popular medium. Both steps stimulated an indigenous response and encouraged the discovery of local resources for the appropriation of Christianity (Sanneh 1987, 333).
The translation of the biblical text into another language is not simply a greater convenience to the reader in the target culture but accomplishes far more as language extends much deeper than a mere form of communication.
Benjamin L. Whorf’s theory of linguistic relativity holds that language influences thought and not thought that influences language. For him, “linguistics is essentially the quest of meaning (Carroll 1956, 73).” George C. Lichtenberg, another pioneer of linguistics, is famously quoted as saying, “Our false philosophy is incorporated in our whole language; we cannot talk, so to say, without talking incorrectly. We do not consider that speaking, irrespective of its content, presents a philosophy (Loewenberg 1943-44, 102).” Richard D. Lewis illustrated this point with an interaction between himself, an Englishman, and a former Zulu chief who received a doctorate in philology at Oxford as they discussed the color green. As the Zulu pointed to a leaf in the sun, a leaf in the shade, a wet leaf in the sun and one in the shade, bush leaves, leaves in the wind, rivers, pools, tree trunks, and crocodiles, all to which Lewis responded with a single answer: green. Yet his Zulu friend had reached thirty-nine different terms for green with no trouble at all (Lewis 2006, 9). Paul G. Hiebert writes, “We examine the language to discover the categories the people use in their thinking (Hiebert 2008, 90).”
Christians, like Hiebert, recognize that true conversion of a person’s mind can only happen if it takes place on three levels of the individual: belief, behavior, and worldview. “Too often conversion takes place at the surface levels of behavior and beliefs; but if worldviews are not transformed, the gospel is interpreted in terms of pagan worldviews, and the result is Christo-paganism (Hiebert 2008, 69).” And, since worldview is linked to language, it goes without saying that the biblical text and Christian terminology must be placed in the language of the people in order for one to be truly Christian within their culture.
Grassroots theology is a term coined by Simon Chan. While it is true that theology is something that is viewed as coming down from God in the Christian faith, theology cannot be totally divorced from what happens on the physical earth among humanity. The idea behind grassroots theology is that theology takes place within the community of the faithful and will necessarily carry cultural characteristics of the host culture. The African context finds a great deal of suffering through poverty and illness and filial concerns extend to deceased ancestors. This has led African Christians to recognize Jesus as the Healer who can bring help for those suffering from disease. They will point to Messianic prophecies like, “the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy (Isa. 35.5-6).” They also find him to be the fulfillment for their need of an ancestral role as a mediator between the earthly and spiritual realms. They draw attention to Paul’s letter to Timothy, “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Tim. 2.5).” The same can be said of Latin Americans attraction to the Holy Spirit and those giftings associated with him and South Asia’s attention to fear-power aspects of the gospel message coming from a culture steeped in animism and folk religions.
Randy Dignan has learned from his own bilingual experience “that language isn’t understood only by the mind. Language can also be heard with the heart (Dignan 2020, 13).” The term heart language holds to the conviction that, while one can read and communicate in a second language, when in the most intimate and troubling circumstances an individual will automatically revert to his or her native tongue. This is since our native form of speech is not only natural but the language in which we communicate most deeply and freely. When the Japanese Christian, Shusaku Endo, reflected on the 250 years of suffering that the church in Japan had to endure and how the church was forced to recant their faith publicly and remove all religious symbols, he reverted to his native language to express his spiritual thoughts. The Japanese character chin (meaning silence) stood as a symbol as one “looks starkly into the darkness, but [creates] characters and language that somehow inexplicably move beyond” that darkness (Fujimura 2016, 74). What in Shusaku Endo’s mind best describes the Japanese Christian’s experience of suffering? Chin. When speaking of things closest to us, humans, all of us, speak from the language closest to our heart—our native one.
The early church set the pattern as it was birthed within a multilingual context and immediately entered translation efforts. Colonialism remains a constant threat as one culture takes the Christian faith into another foreign cultural context. Conversion is defined by the church as an experience that involves an individual who possesses a former way of life modeled after a specific pattern of behavior and a particular spiritual influence and then that way of life is abruptly interrupted and overturned by an encounter with Jesus (cf. Eph. 2.1-7). That experience involves a love for God with all of one’s heart, soul, mind, and strength (cf. Mk. 12.30). What reaches to the depths of heart and soul is one’s language that reaches to worldview levels. Christianity is a faith that is intended to engulf the entire person from head to toe and from belief to action. The development of a grassroots theology involves the heart language of the people and has historically manifested the capacity to preserve cultures. This is a work on the history of translation in the church.
[1] Papias’ writings are only available to us through the records kept by Eusebius. In these records, there are two extant quotes regarding authorship of the gospels. In regard to the gospel of Matthew, he writes, “Matthew composed the gospel in the Hebrew dialect and each translated them as best he could.” The early church understood this to mean that Matthew had originally written his gospel in Hebrew and it was soon after translated into Greek. However, scholars, such as D. A. Carson and Douglas J. Moo, have brought the validity of this interpretation of Papias’ statement into question (See 2005:161-162).
1. The Early Church And Translation
The early church was a multicultural and multilingual group of people. The church had its start within Jerusalem during a Jewish festival known as Pentecost. It was during this festival that Jews would converge within the city from the Jewish diaspora that had been created through centuries of occupation and exile. The Jews living among foreign lands had taken on the culture and languages of their captors and captive neighbors. When they came back to worship at the centralized Jerusalem Temple in 30 C.E., there was a complex and diverse representation of culture and a need for the Hebrew speakers to communicate in the languages of the diaspora.
As noted above, Greek had long been the lingua franca by this time and translation of the church’s sacred text had already taken place. What is known as the Septuagint (LXX) was the Greek version(s) of the Hebrew Old Testament. Rather than referencing a specific translation, since there is no single identifiable text, the LXX is, in the words of Emanuel Tov, “the nature of the individual translation units” and “the nature of the Greek Scripture as a whole (p3).” The fictitious origins of the title Septuagint come from the tale of 70 translators who were said to have gathered in Alexandria during the reign of Ptolemy II and the translation was miraculously accomplished within seventy-two days. Despite the fictitious tale of its beginning and the difficulty in identifying exactly what the Septuagint text contains, there is no doubt that the translations existed, and that Jesus’s apostles utilized them regularly in their writing of the New Testament text.
The New Testament does not qualify as a written translation of a Hebrew text, but it is a written Greek text that is translated from Jewish thought. The Jewish concepts of Temple, Levitical priesthood, Messiah, animal sacrifice, along with many other Old Testament imagery and thought are written down in Greek. It is interesting that there are assumptions made by biblical scholars that, since the biblical writers were writing in Greek, they must have been borrowing from Greek thought to communicate to a Greek audience. A common example can be found in the beginning of the gospel of John and its use of word (or logos). The text reads, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (Jn. 1.1).” Many find the apostle John borrowing from Platonic philosophy and following in the footsteps of Hellenistic, Jewish philosopher, Philo who connected Greek Sophia (or Wisdom) with the logos, which was the knowledge, reason, and consciousness of the God of the Old Testament that assisted humans in life.
Despite the face value validity of this being a moment of contextualization by the apostle John of Hebrew concepts into Greek thought, there may be a more reasonable explanation. Ronald A. Nash points out that it makes more sense to take logos not back to Greek philosophy primarily but to Hebrew thought in Genesis 1, since the writers had Jewish minds. In every activity of creation, as it is recorded in the Hebrew Old Testament, God is described as one who speaks all things into existence. “And God said, ‘Let there be light (Gen. 1.3).’” It is the word of God that brought all of creation into existence. John takes the Hebrew thought regarding the spoken beginning of the cosmos and uses the Greek term logos as a title for Jesus to connect him with the origins of creation for the New Testament Greek audience.
Regardless of how thoughts were communicated in translation, the fact remains that the early church was diligent from the start to ensure the biblical text made it into the hands of every people group encountered in their own language. The earliest translation of the Greek New Testament was either Syriac or Coptic. The Coptic version was translated by Egyptians of the north-western province in the third century. Today, there are five or six different identifiable Syriac versions that arise out of more than 350 extant manuscripts and the Peshitta is the earliest known translation following the LXX. By 200 C.E. there was an estimated seven translations, thirteen by the sixth century, and fifty-seven by the nineteenth century. In 2020, the Bible has been translated in whole into 704 languages, New Testament-only translations in 1,551 languages, and partial translations in another 1,160.
[2] See D. Butler Pratt. 1907. “The Gospel of John from the Standpoint of Greek Tragedy.” The Biblical World. 30 (6): 448-459. The University of Chicago Press. and Ronald Williamson. 1970. Philo and the Epistle to the Hebrews. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
2. Motivation and Opposition to Translation in the Middle Ages
Emperor Diocletian had divided the Roman Empire into two sectors: the predominantly Latin-speaking western and the majority Greek-speaking eastern territories. Later in history with the weakening of the Roman Empire and a diversity of Germanic tribes occupying the west, the Eastern empire of Byzantium (led by a conviction as the rightful heirs of the Roman Empire) desired to reunite the former glory of Rome and, under the rule of Emperor Justinian I, successfully expanded its imperial authority from east to most of the former Roman western territory. There developed between Rome in the west and Constantinople in the east a politically driven religious rivalry after an alliance of the Frankish king, Pepin the Younger and the bishop of Rome. The political divide between the Franks and the Byzantines persisted to the point of the creation of two different leaders of the church, the Roman pope in the west and the Constantinian patriarch in the east. The Great Schism began in 1054 C.E. when the Byzantine patriarch Michael I Celarius sent a letter to the Roman bishop of Trani to debate the use of unleavened rather than leavened bread in the context of corporate worship with the claim of unleavened bread as a Jewish and not a Christian practice. The conflict was referred to the western capital city of Rome where pope Leo refused to make any concessions regarding the issue.
In 1079 C.E. a letter was written by Vratislaus I, duke of Bohemia, requesting the pope of Rome allow his monks to do officiate in Slavonic recitations. Pope Gregory VII responded:
Know that we can by no means favorably answer this your petition. For it is clear to those who reflect often upon it, that not without reason has it pleased Almighty God that holy scripture should be a secret in certain places, lest, if it were plainly apparent to all men, perchance it would be little esteemed and be subject to disrespect; or it might be falsely understood by those of mediocre learning, and lead to error … we forbid what you have so imprudently demanded of the authority of St. Peter, and we command you to resist this vain rashness with all your might, to the honor of Almighty God. (Deansely 1920, 24)
One wonders if the recent signs of a schism and concern over who held church authority, either the patriarch or the pope, did not significantly influence such a verdict. In this case, it was likely not so much a concern over the misuse of the biblical text as it was a deterrent of Greek and Slavic influence from the eastern church having a hold on western adherents to the Christian faith.
Vernacular translations did exist for royalty in nearly all European countries, such as those produced for John II of France or Charles V of Rome. Vernacular translations that were free adaptations, paraphrases, or rhymed verse were allowed among the laity for single books or portions of the Bible because such “a work was considered safer than the literal translation of the sacred text.” (Deansely 1920, 19) The fact that the Waldensians were early proponents of vernacular translation and viewed as a heretical group in the Roman church did not help the cause. This ascetic sect held that vows of apostolic poverty led to spiritual perfection. A native German and founder of the Waldensians, Peter Waldo, was a man with the will and financial means to have the New Testament translated into Franco-Provençal by a cleric from Lyon. The sect was not as keen on the Old Testament and so there was no completed translation work. The Lollards, or followers of Wycliffe, were viewed with theological suspicion by the church in Rome as well. John Wycliffe, an English philosopher and University of Oxford professor, believed that God was sovereign over all and that all men were on an equal footing under his reign and were not in submission to any other mediatory ecclesiastical power. Margaret Deansely claims that this “also led logically to the demand for a translated Bible” from the Latin vulgate to English. (Deansley 1920, 227) If everyone was under God and the divine mandate, then it is only fitting that each person be given that text in an understandable linguistic form. Wycliffe used the existence of translations among the nobility as a basis for a request for translations available to commoners.
In 1412, the English archbishop Thomas Arundel wrote to pope John XXII charging that Wycliffe had “fill[ed] up the measure of his malice, he devised the expedient of a new translation of the scriptures into the mother tongue.” (Deansely 1920, 238) His Constitutions that were authored against Wycliffe post-humously and against the existing Lollard community, according to Shannon McSheffrey, “were probably responsible for a freeze on English translations of scripture” with only one surviving license for an English Bible in the fifteenth century, the Lollard translation remained the “most widely circulated of vernacular manuscripts.” (McSheffrey 2005, 63) Margaret Aston found that, despite the church in Rome’s crackdown on vernacular translation, the Lollards cause continued to influence the Reformers through their written publications. Martin Luther utilized the Commentarius in Apocalypsin ante Centum Annos æditus, Robert Redman produced a work heavily dependent on The Lanterne of light, and William Thynne’s The Plowman’s Tale has its source in an original fourteenth-century Lollard poem. The fires for vernacular translation had been rekindled in the church of the west. Jacob van Liesveldt published a Dutch translation in 1526; Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples completed the French Antwerp Bible in 1530; Luther’s German translation emerged in 1534; Maximus of Gallipoli printed a Greek translation of the New Testament in 1638; a completed Hungarian Bible immerged in 1590; Giovanni Diodati translated the Bible into Italian in 1607; João Ferreira d'Almeida printed a Portuguese New Testament in 1681; in 1550 a full translation arrived in Denmark; and Luther’s version of the New Testament was reprinted in part in the Swyzerdeutsch dialect by 1525. In 1953, Wycliffe Bible Translators was founded and currently has a global alliance of over 100 organizations that serve in Bible translation movements and language communities around the world and has been a part of vernacular translation in more than 700 languages.
3. Defining Forms of Biblical Translation
In translation of the biblical text, the best possible translation scenario is one that comes from the original Hebrew-Aramaic Old Testament (including the later LXX translations) and Greek New Testament languages. There are Bible versions that are translated based on previous translations, but this is not ideal as it removes the translators from the linguistic source context. Ancient Greek has single words with multiple meanings, like bar in English that can refer to an establishment that serves alcohol and a metal object or hua in Chinese that can be read either as a verb or a noun. This can lead to inconsistencies in translation. For example, the Chinese Union Version (CUV), which is the most used Chinese version, translates the Greek word aletheia as chengshi (or honesty). John uses aletheia nineteen times in the Gospel of John and only once in John 16.7 does the word carry the meaning of honesty. It is clear in this passage that the meaning is honesty as it is a description of how Jesus speaks with his disciples. A single word in one language can also carry more information than in another. The Greek word hamartánein (or sin) in 1 John 1.9 is a present active verb for sin. The JMSJ Chinese version adds jixu (or continue) which is a word not found in Greek, but best expresses the original meaning with the addition of a word not found in the source text.
When translation issues arise like the latter example given above, there are translator decisions that must be made on how to best translate a source text’s meaning into the target text. There are translators who make the decision to stay as close to the source language as possible. This is known as a literal translation of the source text. Leland Ryken states that a literal translation approach is concerned more with “what the original text says [than] what it means.” (Ryken 2009, l. 323) This may lead to a translator sacrificing ease of the recipient audience’s understanding for the sake of an aim to stay faithful to the text. However, there are cases where literal translation has worked best. Toshikazu Foley notes how the Chinese Union Version takes a literal approach in Philippians 1.8 when it translates the Greek word splagknois (or the most inward parts of a man where emotions are felt) as xinchang (or heart-intestines). This phrase carries the meaning of someone with a “good heart” or “merciful and kind.” While Today’s Chinese Version (TCV) takes a more dynamic approach and follows Today’s English Version’s (TEV) translation as heart. In this instance, what the Greek text says and what it means can transfer to the Chinese text.
Continuing with the Philippians 1.8 scenario, the Greek word splagknois (or the most inward parts of a man where emotions are felt) cannot be directly translated into English in the same way that it can with the Chinese term xinchang (or heart-intestines). For an English translator to take a literal translation approach and simply make a direct translation as “I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ,” it would lead to a great misunderstanding by the English audience. The TEV translator has made the decision to surrender a literal translation out of concern for the target audience. This is known as a dynamic or functional equivalence translation. Ryken gives the following description: “Functional equivalence seeks something in the receptor language that produces the same effect (and therefore allegedly serves the same function) as the original statement, no matter how far removed the new statement might be from the original.” (Ryken 2009, l. 263).
There are varying degrees of helpfulness when a translator is forced to move into the realm of dynamic equivalence. A comparison of two translation results from 2 Timothy 2.3 can be used to illustrate. The Chinese Union Version reads, “You want to suffer with me, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” While the Today’s Chinese Version reads, “As a loyal soldier of Christ Jesus, you have to share in the suffering.” In the surrounding context, Paul has just explained his own suffering in chapter one and speaks intimately of Timothy as his son in chapter two and expects Timothy to propagate his message further. The CUV follows the context more closely as Timothy follows in the ministry of his spiritual “father” before him and, as he shares Paul’s message, will also share in his sufferings.
Those translators that are very target text oriented in avoidance of difficult language and cultural differences, can leave the realm of translation and enter that of interpretation. To pursue Ryken’s description further, the free translation approach is primarily concerned with what the text means in its communication. The Concise Bible (JSMJ) takes great liberty in its translation of 1 Corinthians 1.23. Where the Chinese New Version translates, “We preach the crucified Christ; a stumbling block to the Jews and stupidity to the foreigner”, the JSMJ reads:
“But all we proclaim is the Christ who was nailed to the cross to atone for people's sin. Jews hate this kind of message [, because their hope is in a political, military leader leading them to break free from Roman rule, and not the crucified Jesus]. People of other races think this kind of message is very foolish [, because they don't believe Jesus becoming sin and dying on a cross for people is Savior and Lord.]”
A non-native speaker could examine the Chinese New Version and JSMJ and recognize just by the stark contrast in Chinese character counts between the two versions that the JSMJ has gone to great lengths to communicate the meaning of the source text to its Chinese target audience.
Conclusion
The Christian church was birthed in a multilingual environment that was the result of seemingly endless years of exile which the superior kingdoms of Babylon, Assyria, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome forced upon the Jewish population. The Christians believe, in the pen of the apostle Paul, “we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Rom. 8.28) The kingdoms aggressively destroyed and pillaged and uprooted families, friends, and neighbors from their promised land and decimated the Temple. The Jews were left without a king, a name, and, from all outward appearances, a God. Yet this landless state of a people, that commonly struggled with ethnocentrism, propelled them into a crash course with foreign language studies. Genesis 31.47; Jeremiah 10.11; Ezra 4.8-6.18; 7.12-26; and Daniel 2.4-7.28 are all portions of the Old Testament that were not written in Hebrew, but in Aramaic. Aramaic was the official language used circa 700-200 B.C.E. and remnants of its widespread usage were found in parts of Babylon, Egypt, Palestine, Arabia, Assyria, and other ancient regions. The LXX translations quoted in the New Testament also attest to the Greco-Roman occupation and the Jews ability to adapt to their surrounding cultures. When the Holy Spirit descends with tongues of fire, the followers of Jesus tongues are alight with the diversity mirroring the surrounding effects of a melting pot of cultural diversity. The first Christians (primarily Jewish) were already equipped to communicate the gospel message of Jesus on a worldview level in the heart language of their former oppressors.
The cultures that interacted, and at points even dominated the Palestinian culture, were the first ones to experience the early church’s fervent cross-cultural evangelistic efforts through the means of translation. Peter J. Williams gives this historical comment: “The oldest records in Syriac are pagan or secular, but from the mid-second century onward, the influence of Christianity could be felt in Syriac-speaking culture, and from the fourth century, this influence dominated literary output.” (Williams 2013, 143) The most notable of these early Christian texts is Tatian’s Diatessaron (the earliest known harmony of the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) around 170 C.E. Philip Jenkins lists Syria among the Near Eastern places of origin where, “during the first few centuries [Christianity] had its greatest centers, its most prestigious churches and monasteries.” (Jenkins 2008, l47) It was the theological struggles of this church that led to the early articulation of key doctrines, like the hypostatic union of Christ that sets forth the relationship between his divine and human natures.
The utilization of koine Greek pressed the church outward with a global missional front. One that, as previously noted, preserves the languages of outlying and isolated cultures and plants the Christian faith firmly in the local cultural context to ensure its perseverance. Before the writings of the New Testament are even completed, the church is already seen in transition from a primarily Jewish body to a predominantly Greek one. The apostle Paul queried the apostle Peter, both of Jewish descent, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?” (Gal. 2.14) And the church in its infancy is described in the midst of a racial dilemma: “Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.” (Acts 6.1) These were not signs of stagnation but were natural growing pains of a church that was oriented outward. Although the church seems to struggle or lose its focus from time to time, overall, it has been at the forefront of linguistic translation and has made the Bible the most popular and well-read text in all the world for centuries.
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