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Rouabah Soumaya: History of translation in the Middle Ages

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Abstract

The history of translation is seen variously as examining the role of translation in historical episodes through decades or investigating the phenomenon or understanding of translation itself historically. These different historiographical perspectives involve potentially different research aims, approaches, concepts, methods and scholarly interlocutors. The paper focuses on this question of disciplinary commensurability in historical studies, and draws parallels between the history of translation and translation in the middle ages. Themes addressed include the bible translation as , established historiographical norms and alternative, interdisciplinary approaches. It is argued that both the history of translation started with the translation of the Bible in the early BC comes, towards a reflexive, transnational history that seeks productive modes of engagement with other historical disciplines. By bringing to the attention of translation scholars some of the key debates in the history of translation and by identifying commonalities, this paper hopes to present an overall view of translation in the middle ages with slight knowledge of Bible translation in the early centuries of the middle ages, which starts from th5 to the 15 century.

Keywords

History of Translation , Bible Translation, Translation in the Middle Ages medieval translation, medieval translator, translation and culture

Introduction

This paper aims at a general review of the history of translation studies and the prevalent approaches from antiquity to the present in the west, in the form of a historical survey in which key theoretical developments are taken into account, focusing on approaches that have been developed during the twentieth century. Without a doubt, It is James Holme's seminal paper "the name and nature of translation studies" that draws up a disciplinary map for translation studies and serves as a springboard for researchers with its binary division of Translation Studies into two branches: "pure" and "applied." Its growth as a discipline goes back to the 1980s. As time elapses, translation studies, by achieving a certain institutional authority and coalescing with many a resurging disciplines and trends as cultural studies, linguistics, literary theory and criticism, brings a renewed aspect to translation theory.

In addition, this paper argues that English medieval translation can be considered as part of a cultural project in that the medieval translator is concerned more with the role and the function of translation in the target culture. Medieval translation theory derives from the classical theories of translation, however, prefaces to translations indicate that medieval translator appropriates the classical translation theory and uses it to serve the cultural and ideological objectives of translation in the middle Ages.

Key words: medieval translation, medieval translator, translation and culture, translation theory. The pioneering work of Jeannette Beer and Roger Ellis has decidedly promoted medieval translation as a significant area, and has established medieval translation as the work of culturally responsible, academically oriented people of learning.

1 Susan

• Assist. Prof. Dr., Hacettepe University, Department of English Language and Literature

1 The problematic situation of Medieval translation in the academia is discussed by Ruth Evans in "Translating Past Cultures?" in The Medieval Translator /Vied. Roger Ellis and Ruth Evans, the University of Exeter Press, Medieval Translation and Cultural Transformation

Early History of Translation

The word ‘translation’ comes from a Latin term which means, “To bring or carry across”. Another relevant term comes from the Ancient Greek word of ‘metaphrasis’ which means, “To speak across” and from this, the term ‘metaphrase’ was born, which means a “word-for-word translation”. These terms have been at the heart of theories relating to translation throughout history and have given insight into when and where translation have been used throughout the ages.

It is known that translation was carried out as early as the Mesopotamian era when the Sumerian poem, Gilgamesh, was translated into Asian languages. This dates back to around the second millennium BC. Other ancient translated works include those carried out by Buddhist monks who translated Indian documents into Chinese. In later periods, Ancient Greek texts were also translated by Roman poets and were adapted to create developed literary works for entertainment. It is known that translation services were utilised in Rome by Cicero and Horace and that these uses were continued through to the 17th century, where newer practices were developed.

The history of translation has been a topic that has long been debated by scholars and historians, though it is widely accepted that translation pre-dates the bible. The bible tells of different languages as well as giving insight to the interaction of speakers from different areas. The need for translation has been apparent since the earliest days of human interaction, whether it be for emotional, trade or survival purposes.

The demand for translation services has continued to develop and is now more vital than ever, with businesses acknowledging the inability to expand internationally or succeed in penetrating foreign markets without translating marketing material and business documents.

It is significant to review the history of translation in different languages. There are divisions of period made by scholars like George Steiner. According to Steiner, the history of translation is divided into four periods. Starting from the Roman translators Cicero and Horace to Alexander Fraser Tytler is the first period; the second period extends up to Valery and from Valery to 1960s becomes the third period and the fourth period 1960s onwards. The history of translation is stressed out from 3000 B.C. Rosetta Stone is considered the most ancient work of Translation belonged to the second century B.C. Livius Andronicus translated Homer’s Odyssey named Odusia into Latin in 240 B.C. All that survives is parts of 46 scattered lines from 17 books of the Greek 24-book epic. In some lines, he translates literally, though in others more freely. His translation of the Odyssey had a great historical importance. Before then, the Mesopotamians and Egyptians had translated judicial and religious texts, but no one had yet translated a literary work written in a foreign language until the Roman Empire. Livius’ translation made this fundamental Greek text accessible to Romans, and advanced literary culture in Latin. This project was one of the best examples of translation as artistic process. The work was to be enjoyed on its own, and Livius strove to preserve the artistic quality of original. Since there was no tradition of epic in Italy before him, Livius must have faced enormous problems. For example, he used archaizing forms to make his language more solemn and intense. Barnstone Willis. The Poetics of Translation: History, Theory and Practice. London: Yale University Press, 1993. Print. Bassnett, Susan and Lefevere, Andre (Eds.). Translation, History and Culture. London: Pinter, 1990. Print.

When we talk about the history of translation, we should think of the theories and names that e merged at its different periods. In fact, each era is characterized by specific changes in translation history, but these changes differ from one place to another. For example, the developments of translation in the western world are not the same as those in the Arab world, as each nation knew particular incidents that led to the birth of particular theories. So, what marked the western translation? .By Marouane Zakhir English translator University of Soultan Moulay Slimane, Morocco

Translation in the Western World

For centuries, people believed in the relation between translation and the story of the tower of Babel in the Book of Genesis. According to the Bible, the descendants of Noah decided, after the great flood, to settle down in a plain in the land of Shinar. There, they committed a great sin. Instead of setting up a society that fits God's will, they decided to challenge His authority and build a tower that could reach Heaven. However, this plan was not completed, as God, recognizing their wish, regained control over them through a linguistic stratagem. He caused them to speak different languages so as not to understand each other. Then, he scattered them all over the earth. After that incident, the number of languages increased through diversion, and people started to look for ways to communicate, hence the birth of translation (Abdessalam Benabdelali, 2006) (1).

Actually, with the birth of translation studies and the increase of research in the domain, people started to get away from this story of Babel, and they began to look for specific dates and figures that mark the periods of translation history.

Researchers mention that writings on translation go back to the Romans. Eric Jacobson claims that translating is a Roman invention (see McGuire: 1980) (2). Cicero and Horace (first century BC) were the first theorists who distinguished between word-for-word translation and sense-for-sense translation. Their comments on translation practice influenced the following generations of translation up to the twentieth century.

Another period that knew a changing step in translation development was marked by St Jerome (fourth century CE). "His approach to translating the Greek Septuagint Bible into Latin would affect later translations of the scriptures." (Munday, 2001) (3)

The first important translation in the West was that of the Septuagint, a collection of  Jewish Scriptures translated into early Koine Greek in Alexandria between the 3rd and "1st centuries B C E The dispersed  Jews had forgotten their ancestral language and Throughout the .middle Ages, /Latin was the lingua franca  of the western learned world. -Wikipedia .org/wiki/

The 9th1century Alfred the Great, king of Wessex in England, was far ahead of his time in commissioning 'vernacular Anglo -Saxon translations of Bede’s Ecclesiastical History   and Boethius « Consolation of Philosophy ) meanwhile, the Christian church frowned on even partial adaptations of St . Jerome ‘s Vulgate  of CA 384 CE, the Latin Bible . -Wikipedia .org/wiki/

The broad historic trends in Western translation practice may be illustrated on the example of translation into the English language .

The first fine translations into English were made in the "the century by Geoffrey Chaucer, who adapted from the Italian of Giovanni Boccaccio in his own Knight's Tal e  and Troilus and Criseyde ; began a translation of the French -language  Roman de la Rose 7 and completed a translation of Boethius from the Latin . Chaucer bounded an English poetic tradition on adaptations  and translations from those earlier established literary languages . -Wikipedia .org/wiki/

The first great English translation was the Wycliffe  (CA 1382), which showed the weaknesses of an under developed English prose . only at the end of the "15th century did the great age to English prose translation begin with  Thomas Malory ‘s "le Morte D arthur”-  Ban adaptation of Arthurian romances so free that it can, in fact, hardly be called a true translation . The first great  Tudor translations are, accordingly, the Tyndale new Testament   ( 1525), which influenced the  Authorized Version  (1611), and Lord Berners version of jean Froissart’s Chronicles ( 1523- 25) . - Wikipedia .org/wiki/

History of Translation in the Middle Ages

In the history of Europe, the middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the Fifth to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the Post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and transitioned into the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery. The middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history: classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is itself subdivided into the Early, High, and Late Middle Ages.

This article is about medieval Europe. For a global history of the period between the 5th and 15th centuries, see Post-classical history. For other uses, see middle Ages (disambiguation).

"Medieval times" redirects here. For the dinner theatre, see Medieval Times.

Latin was the lingua franca of the Western learned world throughout the middle Ages, with few translations of Latin works into vernacular languages. In the 9th century, Alfred the Great, King of Wessex in England, was far ahead of his time in commissioning vernacular translations from Latin into English of Bede’s “Ecclesiastical History”and Boethius's “The Consolation of Philosophy”, which contributed to improve the underdeveloped English prose of that time.

It is argued that the knowledge and findings of Greek academics was developed and understood so widely thanks to the translation work of Arabic scholars. When the Greeks were conquered, Arabic scholars, who translated them and created their own versions of the scientific, entertainment and philosophical understandings took in their works. These Arabic versions were later translated into Latin, during the middle Ages, mostly throughout Spain and the resulting works provided the foundations of Renaissance academics.

Medieval times in human history – also referred to as the “Middles Ages” – was the time period that fell roughly between the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 CE and the 14th century. However, these years bear another moniker as well: the Dark Ages. There are valid reasons for that term. In the eyes of many historians, people during this age made little to no significant advancements that benefitted humankind. In addition, most notably, this was the period when the “Black Death” (the bubonic plague) killed an estimated 30 percent of the population of Europe.

However, the middle Ages were not completely “dark.” In fact, modern historians are taking a second look at this period with a more objective – and perhaps more generous – perspective. There is no doubt, for example, that religion flourished during this time. The Catholic Church came to prominence throughout Europe, and the rise of Islam was occurring simultaneously in the Middle East. It was there – particularly in urban centres such a Baghdad, Damascus and Cairo – that an extremely vibrant culture and intellectual society thrived.

The art of translation also made great strides during the middle Ages. Thanks to Alfred the Great (the king of England during the 9th century), The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius and Ecclesiastical History by Bede were translated from Latin to English – a major feat that would have a great impact on the overall advancement of English prose during this period. Later, during the 12th and 13th centuries, the Toledo School of Translators (“Escuela de Traductores de Toledo”) worked on a wide variety of translations, including religious, scientific, philosophical and medical works. The original texts were created in Arabic, Hebrew and Greek, and all were translated into Castilian – and that formed the basis for the formation of the Spanish language. Also during the 13th century, English linguist Roger Bacon postulated the concept that a translator not only needed to be fully fluent in both the source and target languages of the work being translated, but also that a translator should be fully versed in the topic of the work to be translated – a tenet that still holds true in the language arts to this day.

One of the most notable translators during the middle Ages was also one of the most accomplished authors and poets – Geoffrey Chaucer. In fact, those historians who still maintain that the Dark Ages produced little to no significant contributions to humankind might do well to remember the works of Chaucer. In a lifetime that spanned some 60 years (from the 1340s until 1400), Chaucer earned the reputation as the “father of English literature.” However, that description only scratched the surface of Chaucer’s accomplishments. He was also a noted astronomer and philosopher, as well as a diplomat, bureaucrat and parliament member. Chaucer’s contributions to the language arts were no less significant; his use of Middle English (as opposed to Latin or French, which were the two most commonly used languages of the day) quite literally brought English into mainstream usage, as did his translations of numerous works from Italian, French and Latin into English.

It can truly be said that historians have given medieval times somewhat of a bad rap over the centuries. And while there’s no doubt that the accomplishments of linguists and others during the Middle Ages can’t come close to comparing with those of the Renaissance or later time periods, the contributions made during the “Dark Ages” should not be overlooked. In fact, from a linguistic point of view, this was an extremely crucial time. Not only were the basic principles of translation developed during the middle Ages, but also English itself began to take shape as a language of import for future years.

Studies on the theory and practice of medieval translation reveal therefore that the translation principles and the issues of translation theory in the Middle Ages derive from a long established tradition of translation theory developed by the classical authors. In practice, Roger Ellis states, medieval translation is heterogeneous; "every instance of practice that we may be tempted to erect into a principle has its answering opposite, sometimes in the same work (quoted in Evans, 1994: 27). Evidently, not only the critical approaches to translation in the Middle Ages but also theory and practice of translation of the period vary considerably. However, it seems that medieval translation utilises the translation and writing theories inherited from the classical authors to adopt a translational approach that recognises translation's vital role in the cultural transformation of the middle Ages. Page 96

This paper argues therefore that the medieval interest in translation can be considered as a cultural and political interest since the 1994. pp. 20-45. See Jeanette Beer, Medieval Translators and Their Craft.1989 and Roger Ellis (ed) assisted by Jocelyn Price, Stephen Medcalf and Peter Meredith. The Medieval Translator: The Theory and Practice of Translation in the Middle Ages: Papers Read at a Conference Held 20-23 August 1987 at the University of Wales Conference Centre, Gregynog //a//.Woodbridge, Suffolk: D.S. Brewer, 1989.

Rita Copeland, Rhetoric, Hermeneutics, and Translation in the Middle Ages: Academic Traditions and Vernacular Texts. Cambridge, 1991. See particularly A. J. Minnis and A. B. Scots (eds) Medieval Literary Theory and Criticism c.l 100-1375 The Commentary Tradition. Oxford, 1988.

Translations of the period are introduced as potential projects for cultural transformation. The formative role of translation in the middle Ages can be observed in medieval culture's awareness of the significance of cultural interaction. Medieval culture is a highly bookish culture, which contributed to the development of a vigorous translation activity in the Middle Ages. The recognition of the authority of the books seems to have led to the utilisation of the potential in translation for cultural education and transformation. As there was little or no difference between translation and original composition in the Middle Ages, translation was often considered in association with the pragmatic function of the book (Barratt, 1992:13-14).

In Geoffrey Chaucer's The Prologue to the Legend of Good Women, the fictional dialogue concerning the translations of the narrator provides an instructive interaction concerning translation activity as an integral part of cultural re-construction in the middle Ages.

The god of Love presents two works of Chaucer, the Troilus and Criseyde and the Romance of the Rose, as translations and questions the narrator's motives in choosing to translate works undermining the doctrine of Love (322-335). This fictional questioning introduces, in fact, the main attitude to translation in the middle Ages as it recognises the transformative role of translation on the target audience as an important issue the medieval translator recognises and aims at as the ultimate target of translation. Similarly, the narrator in Chaucer's Prologue to the Legend of Good Women argues that he wanted to teach the reader the true conduct in love through the experience of the lovers in the books he translated (471-474).

The translator in this fictional debate introduces the main objective of translation as making the works of foreign languages available to the linguistically disadvantaged audience for their cultural improvement. This rather pragmatic translational paradigm, moreover, introduces another important issue of medieval translation addressed by theoretical tradition of translation in the middle Ages. In fact, the translator accused of mistranslation in Chaucer's Prologue to the Legend of Good Women is also a writer, his accuser does not make a distinction between his role as a translator and his role as a writer.3 many of the medieval translators were also writers, and translation and interpretation were considered as important strategies in medieval composition. Moreover, most of the medieval translation activity from Latin into the vernacular involved a transfer of the past works into the vernacular by re-writing. As Douglas Kelly argues, "such re-writing is 'translation' as literary invention, using pre- existent source material. It is a variety of translation study « (1997: 48). Medieval reception of the translation theory of the classical antiquity as a principle governing creative activity led to a special sense of translation, that is, translation as "an 3 See the Prologue to the Legend of Good Women, lines 322-35 and 362-370. 97

".. And other bokes took me ...To reed upon ": Medieval Translation and Cultural Transformation 'unfaithful' yet artful interpretation or reinterpretation"(Kelly, 1997: 55), or "secondary translation" to put it in Copeland's words.

Identifying the important status of translation in the Middle Ages as a branch of writing reveals that the Middle Ages was not totally oblivious to the legacy of rhetorical and hermeneutic traditions of the classical antiquity. More importantly, it testifies to the significant function translation is given in the cultural transformation. As stated above, a theoretical understanding of translation in the middle Ages was largely dependent on the classical ideas of translation. Rita Copeland argues for the necessity of recognising the medieval awareness of the classical tradition as the strong theoretical foundation of Medieval translation.

3.1 Translation in middle Ages (The Philological Perspective)

Middle Ages epoch roughly represents the time between late fifth century and the fifteenth century A.D.in Europe. Middle Ages, however, continue until the advent of European Colonialism (about eighteenth century) in the 'Oriental' and African countries. With the spread of Christianity, translation takes a new role of disseminating the word of God. How to translate the divine words faithfully was a serious issue because of dogmatic and political concerns. “St. Jerome claims that he follows sense for sense approach rather than word for word approach when translating the New Testament in AD 384.”18 Since the aim of the divine text is to provide understanding and guidance, it seems logical to follow sense for sense approach. Thence, there is a possibility of intentional or unintentional change of meaning and the context; for these reasons, some scholars emphasize on the word for word translation approach. The first translation of the complete Bible into English was the Wycliffe Bible is which was produced between 1380 and 1384; “Wycliffe believes man should have direct contact with God and thus the Bible should be translated into language that man can understand, i.e. in the vernacular. Purvey believes translator should translate “after sentence (meaning),” not only after words. Martin Luther says, “... the meaning and subject matter must be considered, not the grammar, for the grammar should not rule over the meaning;”19 Criticism on sense for sense was widespread because it minimized the power of the church authorities, “while literal translation was bound up with the Bible and other religious and philosophical works, says Jeremy Monday; non-literal or non-accepted translation came to be seen and used as a weapon against the Church.”20“In the Western Europe this word-for-word versus sense-for-sense debate continued in one form or another until the twentieth century. The centrality of Bible to translation also explains the enduring theoretical questions about accuracy and fidelity to fixed source.”21 In the eighth and ninth century A.D., a large number of translations from Greek into Arabic gave rise to Arabic learning. “Scholars from Syria, a part of the Roman Empire (during 64B.C.-636A.D) came to Baghdad and translated Greek works of Physician Hippocrates (460-360 B.C.), philosophers Plato (427-327 B.C.) and Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) into Arabic during the eighth and ninth century A.D. Baghdad continued to be a centre of translations of Greek classics into Arabic even in the twentieth century A.D.”22 The dominance of religion is prominent in the Translation Era of Middle Ages. In this era, both the trends of Antiquity period can be seen in action, yet emphasis is again on the sense for sense approach.

3.2 Translation In the middle Ages between the 12th and the 15 centuries;

In the 12th and 13th centuries, the Toledo School of Translators (Escuela de Traductores de Toledo) became a meeting point for European scholars who — attracted by the high wages they were offered — came and settled down in Toledo, Spain, to translate major philosophical, religious, scientific and medical works from Arabic, Greek and Hebrew into Latin and Castilian. Toledo was a city of libraries offering a number of manuscripts, and one of the few places in medieval Europe where a Christian could be exposed to Arabic language and culture.

The Toledo School of Translators went through two distinct periods. Archbishop Raymond de Toledo, who advocated the translation of philosophical and religious works, led the first period (in the 12th century) mainly from classical Arabic into Latin. These Latin translations helped advance European Scholasticism, and thus European science and culture. King Alfonso X of Castile himself led the second period (in the 13th century). On top of philosophical and religious works, the scholars also translated scientific and medical works. Castilian — instead of Latin — became the final language, thus resulting in establishing the foundations of the modern Spanish language.

The translations of works on different  sciences (astronomy, astrology, algebra, medicine) acted as a magnet for numerous scholars, who came from all over Europe to Toledo to learn first-hand about the contents of all those Arab, Greek and Hebrew works, before going back home to disseminate the acquired knowledge in European universities. While some Toledo translations of physical and cosmological works were accepted in most European universities in the early 1200s, the works of Aristotle and Arab philosophers were often banned, for example at the Sorbonne University in Paris.

Roger Bacon was a 13th-century English scholar heralded for his early exposition of a “universal grammar” (the concept that the ability to learn grammar is hard-wired into the brain). He was the first linguist to assess that a translator should know well both the source language and the target language to produce a good translation, and that the translator should be well versed in the discipline of the work he was translating. According to legend, after finding out that few translators did, Roger Bacon decided to do away with translation and translators altogether. However, his decision did not last long. He relied on many Toledo translations from Arabic into Latin to make major contributions in the fields of optics, astronomy, natural sciences, chemistry and mathematics.

Geoffrey Chaucer produced the first fine translations into English in the 14th century. Chaucer translated the “Roman de la Rose” from French, and Boethius’s works from Latin. He also adapted some works of the Italian humanist Giovanni Boccaccio to produce his own “Knight’s Tale” and “Troilus and Criseyde” (c.1385) in English. Chaucer is regarded as the founder of an English poetic tradition based on translations and adaptations of literary works in languages that were more “established” than English was at the time, beginning with Latin and Italian. The finest religious translation of that time was the “Wycliffe’s Bible” (1382-84), named after John Wycliffe, an English theologian who translated the Bible from Latin to English.

In the 15th century : Byzantine scholar Gemistus Pletho’s trip to Florence, Italy, pioneered the revival of Greek learning in Western Europe. Gemistus Pletho reintroduced Plato’s thought during the 1438-39 Council of Florence, in a failed attempt to reconcile the East-West schism (a 11th-century schism between the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic churches). During this Council, Pletho met Cosimo de Medici, the politician ruling Florence and a great patron of learning and the arts, and influenced him to found a Platonic Academy. Led by the Italian scholar and translator Marsilio Ficino, the Platonic Academy took over the translation into Latin of all Plato’s works, the “Enneads” of Plotinus and other Neo-Platonist works. Marsilio Ficino’s work — and Erasmus’ Latin edition of the New Testament — led to a new attitude to translation. For the first time, readers demanded rigor of rendering, as philosophical and religious beliefs depended on the exact words of Plato and Jesus (and Aristotle and others).

The great age of English prose translation began in the late 15th century with Thomas Malory’s “Le Morte d’Arthur” (1485), a free translation/adaptation of Arthurian romances about the legendary King Arthur, as well as Guinevere, Lancelot, Merlin and the Knights of the Round Table. Thomas Malory “interpreted” existing French and English stories about these figures while adding original material, e.g. the “Gareth” story about one of the Knights of the Round Table.4

An Overview of Bible Translations in The Middle Ages

The most significant turn in the history of translation came with the Bible translations. The efforts of translating the Bible from its original languages into over 2,000 others have spanned more than two millennia. Partial translation of the Bible into languages of English people can be stressed back to the end of the seventh century, including translations into Old English and Middle English. Over 450 versions have been created overtime. SSN 1799-2591

Theory and Practice in Language Studies, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 77-85, January 2012 © 2012 ACADEMY PUBLISHER Manufactured in Finland. doi:10.4304/tpls.2.1.77-85

Bible translations in the Middle Ages discussions are in contrast to Late Antiquity, when the Bibles available to most Christians were in the local vernacular. In a process seen in many other religions, as languages changed, and in Western Europe, languages with no tradition of being written down became dominant, the prevailing vernacular translations remained in place, despite gradually becoming sacred languages, incomprehensible to the majority of the population in many places. In Western Europe, the Latin Vulgate, itself originally a translation into the vernacular, was the standard text of the Bible, and full or partial translations into a vernacular language were uncommon until the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period. A page from the luxury illuminated manuscript Wenceslas Bible, a German translation of the 1390s.[1] From Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia

During the Migration Period Christianity spread to various peoples who had not been part of the old Roman Empire, and whose languages had yet no written form, or only a very simple one, like runes. Typically, the Church itself was the first to attempt to capture these languages in written form, and Bible translations are often the oldest surviving texts in these newly written-down languages. Meanwhile, Latin was evolving into new distinct regional forms, the early versions of the Romance languages, for which new translations eventually became necessary. However, the Vulgate remained the authoritative text, used universally in the West for scholarship and the liturgy since the early development of the Romance languages had not come to full fruition, matching its continued use for other purposes such as religious literature and most secular books and documents. In the early middle Ages, anyone who could read at all could often read Latin, even in Anglo-Saxon England, where writing in the vernacular (Old English) was more common than elsewhere. A number of pre-reformation Old English Bible translations survive, as do many instances of glosses in the vernacular, especially in the Gospels and the Psalms.[4] Over time, biblical translations and adaptations were produced both within and outside the church, some as personal copies for religious or lay nobility, and others for liturgical or pedagogical purposes.[5][6] From Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia

The Bible was translated into various languages in late antiquity; the most important of these translations are those in the Syriac dialect of Aramaic (including the Peshitta and the Diatessaron gospel harmony), the Ge'ez language of Ethiopia, and, in Western Europe, Latin. The earliest Latin translations are collectively known as the Vetus Latina, but in the late fourth century, Jerome re-translated the Hebrew and Greek texts into the normal vernacular Latin of his day, in a version known as the Vulgate (Biblia vulgata) (meaning "common version", in the sense of "popular"). Jerome's translation gradually replaced most of the older Latin texts, and gradually ceased to be a vernacular version as the Latin language developed and divided. The earliest surviving complete manuscript of the entire Latin Bible is the Codex Amiatinus, produced in eighth century England at the double monastery of Wearmouth-Jarrow. By the end of late, antiquity the Bible was therefore available and used in all the major written languages then spoken by Christians. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia

Conclusion

The history of translation studies and the resurgence and genesis of the approaches to this emerging discipline was marked by the first century (BCE) commentator Cicero and then St. Jerome whose word-for-word and sense-for-sense approaches to translation was a springboard for other approaches and trends to thrive. From the medieval ages until now, each decade was marked by a dominant concept such as translatability, equivalence etc. Whilst before the twentieth century translation was an element of language learning, the study of the field developed into an academic discipline only in the second half of the twentieth century, when this field achieved a certain institutional authority and developed as a distinct discipline. As this discipline moved towards the present, the level of sophistication and inventiveness did in fact soared and new concepts, methods, and research projects were developed which interacted with this discipline. The brief review here, albeit incomplete, reflects the current fragmentation of the field into subspecialties, some empirically oriented, some hermeneutic and literary and some influenced by various forms of linguistics and cultural studies which have culminated in productive syntheses. In short, translation studies is now a field which brings together approaches from a wide language and cultural studies, that for its own use, modifies them and develops new models specific to its own requirements. SSN 1799-2591 Theory and Practice in Language Studies, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 77-85, January 2012 © 2012 ACADEMY PUBLISHER Manufactured in Finland. doi:10.4304/tpls.2.1.77-85

References

1 - https//www.tandfonline.com//

2- Susan * Assist. Prof. Dr., Hacettepe University, Department of English Language and Literature 1 The problematic situation of Medieval translation in the academia is discussed by Ruth Evans in "Translating Past Cultures?" in The Medieval Translator /Vied. Roger Ellis and Ruth Evans, the University of Exeter Press, Medieval Translation and Cultural Transformation .

3- Barnstone Willis. The Poetics of Translation: History, Theory and Practice. London: Yale University Press, 1993. Print. Bassnett, Susan and Lefevere, Andre (Eds.). Translation, History and Culture. London: Pinter, 1990. Print. 4-Early history of translation .By Marouane Zakhir English translator University of Soultan Moulay Slimane, Morocco 5- -Wikipedia .org/wiki/ 6- This article is about medieval Europe. For a global history of the period between the 5th and 15th centuries, see Post-classical history. For other uses, see middle Ages (disambiguation) "Medieval times" redirects here. For the dinner theatre, see Medieval Times

7-  the   1994. pp. 20-45. See Jeanette Beer, Medieval Translators and Their Craft.1989 and Roger Ellis 

(ed) assisted by Jocelyn Price, Stephen Medcalf and Peter Meredith. The Medieval Translator: The Theory and Practice of Translation in the Middle Ages: Papers Read at a Conference Held 20-23 August 1987 at the University of Wales Conference Centre, Gregynog //a//.Woodbridge, Suffolk: D.S. Brewer, 1989. ^ Rita Copeland, Rhetoric, Hermeneutics, and Translation in the Middle Ages: Academic Traditions and Vernacular Texts. Cambridge, 1991. See particularly A. J. Minnis and A. B. Scots (eds) Medieval Literary Theory and Criticism c.l 100-1375 The Commentary Tradition. Oxford, 1988.

8-- Prologue to the Legend of Good Women, lines 322-35 and 362-370. 97 ".. And other bokes took me ...To reed upon ": Medieval Translation and Cultural Transformation 'unfaithful' yet artful interpretation or reinterpretation"(Kelly, 1997: 55), or "secondary translation" to put it in Copeland's words.

9 -SSN 1799-2591 Theory and Practice in Language Studies, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 77-85, January 2012 © 2012 ACADEMY PUBLISHER Manufactured in Finland. doi:10.4304/tpls.2.1.77-85

10 - A page from the luxury illuminated manuscript Wenceslas Bible, a German translation of the 1390s.[1] From Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia

11 - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia

12- SSN 1799-2591 Theory and Practice in Language Studies, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 77-85, January 2012 © 2012 ACADEMY PUBLISHER Manufactured in Finland. doi:10.4304/tpls.2.1.77-85

李习长 History of Modern and Contemporary Chinese Translation

“中国现当代翻译史” Li Xichang, 李习长, Hunan Normal University, China

Abstract

The development of Chinese translation has a long history. Throughout the whole translation history, Chinese translation can be divided into four stages from the origin of translation, that is, the introduction of Buddhist scripture translation. They are ancient translation history, modern translation history, modern translation history and contemporary translation history. This paper will mainly summarize the modern and contemporary translation history, mainly from the three dimensions of translation history, theory and the representatives of translators in each period. In the contemporary era of rapid development, 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, representatives, modern, contemporary

Introduction

The fourth translation climax from the May 4th movement to the founding of new China has formed a unique translation theory system in China through the exploration and practice of countless predecessors. This stage is an extremely important period in China's translation history. It is a period of unprecedented development and magnificent development of translation cause. It is also a period of great development and debate of Chinese translation theory. As the beginning of modern Chinese translation, the May 4th Movement gave birth to a group of outstanding translators, who mostly took literature as the theme, so the literary translation of this period reached the most brilliant moment in history. After the founding of new China, the history of Chinese translation has entered the contemporary period. The proletarian culture in this period is the most outstanding. Translators focus on political literature and literary translation, and focus on foreign translation, so that the west can understand Chinese culture and expand their horizons.

History of Modern Chinese Translation

During this period, driven by the new culture movement and the May 4th movement, the new literature movement was in full swing, giving birth to many literary schools and literary associations, as well as translation ideas representing different literary positions. The role of translation in serving society, politics and the people was becoming more and more obvious. This period gave birth to many famous translators, such as Lu Xun, Yan Fu, Lin Shu and so on. Their emergence enriched the translation content of this period.

2.1 Lu Xun's translation thoughts In 1919, with the rise of the May 4th New Culture Movement, many translators tried to absorb nutrition from foreign literature in order to achieve the purpose of transforming literature and society. Lu Xun is one of them. Lu Xun chose the road of literature out of the consideration of national crisis. He hoped that translation could arouse people's revolutionary enthusiasm, promote new literature and transform old literature.

In the 33 years from 1903 to 1936, Lu Xun's translation activities can be divided into three periods: early, middle and late. Lu Xun's early translation activities focused on the translation and introduction of scientific novels and political novels, mainly free translation, and the translation was mostly deleted and modified. With the change of translation thought, Lu Xun's translation activities gradually turned to the introduction of literary works of weak and small countries, and the translation strategy gradually changed from free translation to literal translation. In the later stage, Lu Xun focused on translating and introducing foreign revolutionary literary works and introducing foreign literary thoughts and policies to the Chinese people, and his literal translation and even "hard translation" translation strategy was further consolidated.

2.1.1 Lu Xun's early translation thoughts In 1903, Lu Xun published the work sad dust by Victor Hugo, a French writer, which is considered to be the beginning of Lu Xun's translation career. In October 1903, Lu Xun translated Jules Verne's scientific novel "journey to the moon", and also translated "underground travel" in the same year. Subsequently, Lu Xun translated the world history, the scientific fantasy novel Arctic adventure and the two chapters of the theory of world evolution and the principle of element cycle in the new interpretation of physics. Unfortunately, these translations were not published or preserved. In the spring of 1905, Lu Xun translated the American Louis tolen's scientific fantasy novel "the art of making man", which was published in the fourth and fifth issues of women's world in Shanghai. A careful analysis of these works translated by Lu Xun shows that Lu Xun's translation materials in this period mainly include political novels and science fiction. In 1907, Lu Xun and Zhou Zuoren jointly translated the novel "lost history of the Red Star", which should be originally named "desire of the world", which was co authored by haggard and Andrew LAN. This book was mainly translated by Zhou Zuoren. Lu Xun translated 16 poems, which were published by the Shanghai Commercial Press in December.

In short, Lu Xun's early translation was deeply influenced by the famous Yan Fu and Lin Shu at that time. However, without the early imitation translation, there will be no outstanding translation achievements in the future.

2.1.2 Lu Xun's mid-term translation thoughts From 1909 to 1926, Lu Xun's translation thought gradually matured. The translation and introduction of foreign literature in many fields, levels, schools and channels is a major feature of Lu Xun's translation activities in this period.

In 1909, the collection of foreign novels was published. The translation was completed by Lu Xun and Zhou Zuoren. The position of the collection of foreign novels in the history of Chinese translation and modern Chinese literature can not be ignored. It is a milestone translation event, which has a far-reaching impact on China's later literary creation and translation.

In 1919, Lu Xun translated the dream of a young man, during which his thought also changed deeply and complex. In 1920, with the help and support of Qi Shoushan, Lu Xun translated the worker Sui huiluefu. He began to cry out for the profound problem of "national character" and vigorously revealed it in his works, so as to attract people's attention and achieve the purpose of rescue. This kind of grief and anger that hates iron but does not become steel is in line with the ideal of the author alzhiba Suifu. During this period, Lu Xun paid more attention to Japanese literature and translated and introduced the collection of modern Japanese novels. In this collection, Lu Xun has translated 11 works of six people, including hanging scroll by his favorite writer Natsume Soseki, Mr. kleika, game by Mori ouwai and the tower of silence, with the young man by takero shimajima of the white birch school, the death of ah Mo, the last of Sanpu youweimen by Kikuchi Kuan of the new trend of thought, words of revenge and Ryunosuke Akutagawa Nose, Luo Shengmen, and night in the canyon by Jiangkou Huan are the works of famous masters of various schools in the Meiji era.

Lu Xun selected a wide variety of translation materials during this period, which created a precedent for translating and introducing the literature of "weak and small countries" to Chinese readers. In terms of translation style, he still adopted simple classical Chinese, but he has begun to use "alienation" At that time, Lu Xun's literary creation was closely accompanied by literary translation, and his literary creation was deeply inspired and influenced by literary translation.

2.1.3 Lu Xun's later translation thoughts After 1927, Lu Xun ushered in the most brilliant period of his life. Whether in literary translation practice or literary translation theory, Lu Xun's achievements are the most prominent stage.

Lu Xun translated and introduced four works of literary theory of the former Soviet Union: 1. Lunacharski's work on art, which was translated in April 1929 and published by Shanghai Dajiang bookstore in June; 2. Lunacharski's collection of literary papers, literature and criticism, which was first published by Shanghai Shuimo bookstore in October, has six main texts On the task of Marxist literary criticism, the death of Tolstoy and young Europa, today's art and tomorrow's art, Soviet state and art, how art happens, Tolstoy and max; 3. In June 1929, Lu Xun spent four months translating Plekhanov's Marxist theory of Art (also known as art theory) In July, 1930, the first edition was published by Shanghai Guanghua book company; in April, 1929, the resolution of the Soviet government on the Communist Party's literary and artistic policy and the relevant meeting minutes, Soviet Russian literary and artistic policy (also known as literary and artistic Policy), the first edition was published by Shanghai Shuimo bookstore in June, 1930. In addition, Lu Xun also participated in the compilation of the small series of literary and artistic theories and the series of scientific theories of art.

During this period, Lu Xun's translations were different from the martial works of the first period and the works of resistance and cry of weak countries in Eastern Europe in the mid-term, but more focused on the translation of literary policies and artistic works. From literary revolution to revolutionary literature, it was precisely because of these debates that Lu Xun really firmly turned to the translation and introduction of revolutionary literary works. At the same time, through his own understanding of Soviet Russian literature The translation and understanding of theoretical works word by word, coupled with his personal experience of the revolution of 1911, Yuan Shikai becoming emperor and the second revolution, Lu Xun's thinking and insight on revolution, literature and art and life are more profound.

Lu Xun's translation thought is formed through continuous reflection and exploration. Dominated by the fundamental purpose of ideological enlightenment and political salvation, Lu Xun began his translation process. His choice of translated texts 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" and "better believe than smooth". He advocates hard translation and maintains the "foreign style" and "exotic" of the translation , for Lu Xun at that time, literal translation was not only a problem of translation and language construction, but also meant the construction of ideas and ideas, the introduction of new ideas and ideas, and the transformation of Chinese values and world outlook.

Lu Xun's choice caused an uproar in the intellectual circles at that time. Liang Shiqiu, a famous scholar at that time, also sarcastically said that he was "dead translation" and "hard translation". Lu Xun's articles sometimes read sentence patterns, and even the order of sentences is rarely reversed.

2.2 On Yan Fu's translation style Yan Fu is one of the outstanding translators in modern China. His translation theory of "faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance" has experienced the test of history and practice, and plays an important role in the history of Chinese translation.

2.2.1 Imitating the language structure of the pre Qin Dynasty Yan Fu tried his best to use the pre-Qin morphology and syntax in his translation. In addition to imitation, the ready-made sentences of various schools of thought will also be borrowed by him as a part of the translation.

Yan Fu tried his best to imitate the morphology and syntax of the Pre-Qin Dynasty in western translation. An important feature of the pre-Qin Chinese morphology is the flexible use of parts of speech. According to his understanding and Research on the polysemy of a word in the pre-Qin classical Chinese, it is found that it can be extended at will. Therefore, in his translation language, the use of the characteristics of the pre-Qin morphology has made many parts of speech flexible use successful Application.

Another feature of Yan Fu's translated language is that some phrases have evolved through sentences. If you remove the "Zhi" in such phrases, you will find that the sentences will be complete. Yan Fu also imitated the language of the Pre-Qin Dynasty and used parallelism and dual sentences many times. The "four books and Five Classics" of the Pre-Qin Dynasty There are many parallelism and antithesis sentences in his translation. He uses parallelism and antithesis sentences in his translation. For example, "it's easy to work for the actual measurement of the other, but it's difficult to work for the pursuit of this." (four words of group studies · criticism of fools first) Yan Fu's parallelism and antithesis sentences did not continue the Han Dynasty, which only paid attention to the beauty of form and ignored the form of parallel prose with ideological content, but imitated the sentences of the Pre-Qin Dynasty. According to the needs of reaching the purpose, they were naturally paired without any trace of carving.

2.2.2 Deeply influenced by Buddhist scriptures and historical records Yan Fu has always respected the Buddhist sutra translator kumarosh. In Tianyan Lun · examples of translation, he respected kumarosh as "master Shi". Therefore, kumarosh also had a great impact on Yan Fu. Yan Fu's translation language also imitated the historical records There are a large number of case language in the translation of the stylistic model of Yan Fu. Case language refers to the explanation and textual research made by the writer on the content of the article. The case language of Yan Fu's various translations totals about 170000 words, accounting for one tenth of the whole text of his translation. Yan Fu expresses his views and attitudes in the comments through a large number of case language, interpretation and analysis, so as to achieve his purpose of publicity and enlightenment.

2.2.3 Inheriting the "elegant and clean" characteristics of Tongcheng school's ancient prose Tongcheng school is the mainstream prose school in Yan Fu's life era. Yan Fu is deeply influenced by it. Tongcheng school advocates elegant and clean style. The proposal of "elegant and clean" theory has created a simple, strict and elegant style, which is deeply respected by Yan Fu. Tongcheng school calls it "elegant and clean", which refers to "standardization and purity of language", "concise and concise materials and concise style", "Simplicity and natural brilliance of style". The words "elegance" and "cleanliness" can also be seen in Yan Fu's translation remarks. Yan Fu's proposal of "elegance" as a part of the translation standard is largely influenced by the "elegance" proposition of Tongcheng sages.

In short, Yan Fu's translated language adheres to the "elegant" style of Tongcheng ancient prose. Its translation is civilized, with elegant morphology and syntax, short and concise sentences, concise and fresh between the lines. It reads cadently, catchy and delicious.

History of contemporary Chinese translation

After the founding of new China, China's translation industry flourished rapidly. The practice of Chinese translation and foreign translation organized by the government was in full swing. There were a large number of excellent translators active on the cultural front, such as Yang Xianyi, Fu Lei, Qian Zhongshu, ye Junjian, Xu Yuanchong and Yang Bi. They not only had rich translation practice, but also had solid theoretical knowledge, It has 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 Professor Xu Yuanchong of Peking University is a famous translation theorist in China and the only expert in English French rhyme translation of Chinese poetry. He was nominated as a candidate for the Nobel Prize for literature in 1999, won the lifelong achievement award of translation culture of China Translation Association in 2010, and became the first "northern lights" of the International Federation of translators in 2014 The Asian translator of the outstanding literary translation award was also rated as the person of the year of "light of China" in 2015. Xu Yuanchong has worked tirelessly in the field of translation theory and practice all his life with indomitable and excellence craftsman spirit, and has put forward several important translation ideas and theories.

3.1.1 Translation practicality and practicability The "practical function" of translation is reflected in that translation theory and translation research are always closely related to social reality and its development. They have obvious characteristics of the times, reflect the social and humanistic characteristics of the time, and express the humanistic spirit and cultural requirements of the times. Xu Yuanchong's translation theory and Practice deeply reflect the "practical function" He proposed that the philosophical basis for the creation of Chinese school literary translation theory is that practical theory comes from practice and is tested by practice. Practice is the only standard for testing truth.

3.1.2 Inheritance and innovation of translation Xu Yuanchong innovated on the basis of inheriting Chinese traditional philosophy and aesthetics, put forward new ideas that conform to the development of the times, and put these ideas into translation practice to test and revise them repeatedly, so as to form a new translation theory. Therefore, inheritance and innovation are another important feature of Xu Yuanchong's Translation theory. Xu Yuanchong's combining the Chinese classical philosophy and the aesthetic thought is summarized as "the literary translation theory of the Chinese school, which gives them significance in the context of the new era, innovates theory in inheriting tradition and carries forward Chinese culture in theoretical innovation.

3.1.3 Translation foresight and Vanguard As early as the early 1980s, when domestic translation studies were still focusing on the summary of translation practice and thinking about the level of translation language, Xu Yuanchong pointed out prospectively that the responsibility of Chinese translators and the mission of translation were to instill part of the blood of foreign culture into Chinese culture and part of the blood of Chinese culture into world culture. Xu Yuanchong regarded Chinese translation theory as "a cultural dream of China" to "enter the advanced ranks of world culture and make the development of world culture more brilliant". It points out the tasks and missions of cultural translators in the new era, and this is the best interpretation and response of “Chinese Dream” proposed by the chairman Xi given by the older generation of translationg wokers.

Xu Yuanchong's criterion for translating Chinese poetry is the "Three Beauties" theory put forward by himself, that is, he believes that the translated poetry should pay attention to the "Three Beauties", namely the beauty of meaning, sound and form. The basis of three beauties is three similarities: meaning similarity, sound similarity and shape similarity.

Iconicity is to convey the content of the original text, and can not be misinterpreted, omitted or translated more, but iconicity does not necessarily convey the beauty of the original text. To convey the beauty of meaning, we can choose wonderful words that are similar to the original meaning, borrow the words loved by British and American poets, and express the beauty of meaning of the original text with the help of sound beauty and shape beauty. Phonological beauty means that poetry should have rhythm, rhyme, smooth and pleasant to hear. Translators can choose rhymes similar to the original with the help of the metrical rules loved by British and American poets, and can also express phonological beauty with the help of double tone, rhyme, repetition, antithesis and other methods. However, the transmission of sound beauty is often difficult to achieve, and it is not even necessary to achieve sound similarity. The beauty of form mainly has two aspects: neat antithesis and the length of sentences. It is best to be similar in shape, or at least be generally neat. Among the three beauties, the beauty of meaning is the first, the beauty of sound is the second, and the beauty of form is the third. On the premise of conveying the beauty of the original meaning, the translator should convey the beauty of sound as much as possible, and on this basis, he should convey the beauty of form as much as possible, and strive to achieve the three beauties. If you can't do it, first of all, you can not require shape similarity or sound similarity, but in any case, you should convey the beauty of meaning and sound of the original text as much as possible.

3.2 Qian Zhongshu's translation thoughts Qian Zhongshu, born in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, is a famous modern Chinese writer, literary researcher and translator. He has an in-depth study of translation theory and loves the cause of translation. Mr. Qian Zhongshu is known as the "cultural Kunlun", which shows his profound knowledge. Mr. Qian has covered a wide range, including philosophy, anthropology, psychology, aesthetics, history and linguistics. Qian Zhongshu graduated from the Foreign Language Department of Tsinghua University, but he has been engaged in the study of Chinese literature for a long time. Representative works include Tan Yi Lu and Guan Zhi Bian, both of which are created in classical Chinese. In addition, there are selected notes of Song poetry. This work interprets the poetry of the Song Dynasty from a new perspective. In his works, many famous words and sentences of Chinese and Western scholars are usually quoted, and the corresponding foreign original texts are attached.

In Lin Shu's translation, Qian Zhongshu pointed out: "the highest standard of literary translation is'localization '. Transforming works from one country's language into another country's language can not reveal the traces of hard thinking due to differences in language habits, but also completely preserve the original flavor, which can be regarded as' realm of change." The core of 'realm of change' is localization, There are two kinds of translation: one is the realization of the highest ideal in literary translation, which is the goal pursued by a large number of translators represented by Qian Zhongshu; The second is the incomplete "assimilation". That is, the translator's translation practice.

However, Qian Zhongshu's "Huajing" theory has been misunderstood by many scholars for many years. Qian Zhongshu once pointed out that the translation should be faithful to the original, so that the translation does not read like the translation. In other words, the work will never read like what has been translated. This attitude makes many scholars think that the "transformation" of Qian Zhongshu's "realm" is actually equivalent to "faith". However, according to Qian Zhongshu, "Hua" and "faith" cannot be equated, but "Hua" is based on "faith" to achieve the goal of "beauty". In other words, "Hua" is a further accomplishment of "faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance", and a transcendence of translation skills.

In his 1963 translation of Lin Shu, Qian Zhongshu wrote: "(incarnation) translation is compared with the reincarnation of the original work, the body changes, and the soul remains the same. In other words, the translation should be faithful to the original work, but it does not read like the translation, because the work will never read like the translation in the original text". Mr. Qian's lifelong commitment to "modernization" has roughly two meanings. First, the translation should change its form and conform to the grammatical rules of the target language. According to Xunzi's definition, translation is a process of change. In this process, some things will flow away, but sometimes we have to do so in order to make the translated results coherent and authentic. Qian Zhongshu also said that "there is always distortion and distortion in the translation". Therefore, the translation of "Huajing" is a departure from the mechanical literal translation in the past. It is better to "lose this" than to "change". The second is that "complete and complete 'transformation' is an impossible ideal". As the - first point says, "Hua" is an elusive and flexible concept. In other words, the translator can create the "realm" according to the habits of the original text and the target language, and translate the so-called perfect translation.

In his article "Lin Shu's translation", Qian Zhongshu put forward the circle of ancient Chinese characters, "Wai, translation also. From the" mouth "and" sound ", those who lead birds have been called" Yang "since the birth of birds". Using the meaning of this Chinese character, Qian Zhongshu summed up that translation should lead to "inducement", avoid "error" and seek "transformation". Qian Zhongshu regards "transformation" as the highest ideal of translation.

First, the reasons for the emergence of "error" and analyze the manifestations of "error". With regard to "e", Ji Jin wrote in his monograph Qian Zhongshu and modern Western Learning: "there are always distortions and distortions in the translation, which violate or do not fit the original text in meaning or tone. That is" e "(9175). The causes of" e "are caused by many factors. Qian Zhongshu, combined with his translation practice for many years, summarizes two reasons:

First of all, there are differences in characters between countries. In particular, China's character system is completely different from European languages. Newmark once said that the inevitable loss of capital comes from the differences between the two languages, both in terms of characteristics (Language) and social variants (Language) In terms of context, there are different lexical, grammatical and phonological differences. It is also different for many objects and abstract concepts. 1017. Translation is a process of transforming words with defects. Qian Zhongshu's goal is to "get through" and "be inseparable" It is also an impossible translation standard.

As like as two peas, there is a certain difference between the translator's own ability and his original work. What's wrong with the production is also hard to avoid. Because the translator (subject to his own cultural level and his own experience) can not understand the original works exactly as the author did at that time, it's easy to understand why many books (including classic books). It has been translated several times.

Second, the necessity of "inducement" and the analysis of its manifestation Translation is a bridge connecting the cultural and cultural exchanges between the two countries. The function of "SEDUCTION" is to seduce, which is vividly compared to "matchmaker". Goethe once compared translation to "obscene professional matchmaker". This "matchmaker" acquaints and attracts people from different language backgrounds.

Qian Zhongshu said, "I increased my interest in learning foreign languages by reading Lin Shu's translation" [7] 500. It can be seen that Lin Shu's translation is After the May 4th movement, Chinese modern and contemporary writers, such as Lu Xun, Zhu Ziqing and Mao Dun, all mentioned the guidance and influence of Lin Shu's translation on them. The climax of translation also drives social development and broadens the horizons of Chinese people, which is the necessity of "inducement".

Modern and contemporary Chinese translation history from the perspective of social translatology

Social translatology originated in the West. In 1972, James Holmes, a Dutch American scholar, published the name and nature of translation studies. When discussing function oriented descriptive translation studies (DTS), he stressed that once the emergence and influence of the translated text in when, where, under what circumstances have become the academic focus, he has entered the field of studying translation activities from the perspective of sociology. Holmes further pointed out that emphasizing the important role of translation in social culture means the birth of the concept of translation sociology, or more accurately, social translation studies.

Sociology mainly focuses on the interactive relationship between agent structures, and practice is the intermediary between the two. Accordingly, social translatology focuses on the interactive relationship between the translator's actors and the social structure, and translation practice is the intermediary between the two. This chapter mainly discusses the history of modern and contemporary Chinese translation from the perspective of social translatology.

4.1 Modern Chinese translation history from the perspective of social translatology During this period, the Communist Party of China was born, the Communist Manifesto was widely translated and spread, and the socialist thought was introduced into China and gradually rooted in the hearts of the people. The Chinese left-wing writers represented by Lu Xun do not hesitate to advocate "hard translation", mainly to convey the proletarian revolutionary theory, advocate humanism and promote the revolutionary theory, hoping to lay the foundation for the proletarian revolutionary literature through translation. At that time, a large number of excellent foreign literary works and literary theories, especially the literary works of the invaded weak and small nationalities, as well as some revolutionary theory works translated by Lu Xun, were translated into China. Through translation activities, the translator's social recognition is improved, the treasure house of Chinese literature is enriched, and it also provides a powerful ideological weapon for the proletarian revolution.

4.2 contemporary Chinese translation history from the perspective of social translatology After the founding of new China, China's translation industry flourished. During this period, excellent translators such as Fu Lei, Qian Zhongshu and Xu Yuanchong produced a large number of translation works, which made great contributions to the cultural construction of new China.

As the dividing line of modern and contemporary Chinese translation history, the social background before and after the "Cultural Revolution" is very different. Since the general tone of the whole society is to wait for prosperity and start from scratch, the social function of translation practice is mainly to learn from socialist countries, and pay attention to the introduction of Marxist Leninist works to serve the country's political, economic and cultural construction. Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and other revolutionaries of the older generation attach great importance to translation, actively promote the compilation of Marxist Leninist classics and the introduction of foreign excellent literary works, advocate the guiding position of dialectical materialism and historical materialism in translation, and pay attention to the use of philosophical methodology to analyze problems. After the "Cultural Revolution", China soon entered the period of reform and opening up. With the rapid economic development, the translation industry also flourished, making great contributions to China's political, economic and cultural construction.

Conclusion

This paper mainly introduces the translation thoughts of famous translators Lu Xun, Yan Fu and Xu Yuanchong to reflect the development characteristics of modern and contemporary translation history in China. It can be seen that the thoughts of translators of various generations have their own advantages and have played a great leading role in the development of translation theory and practice in various periods, At the same time, the theory of output in these periods can be used for reference and learning for future translation learners, and has a far-reaching impact.

China's translation history has a history of more than 2000 years. We should sum up experience from the cultural heritage accumulated in 2000 years, develop our translation cause, and introduce more and better foreign scientific, technological and cultural achievements ‚ Accelerate the pace of China's construction. At the same time, we should also introduce China's excellent culture to the world with the help of translation, so that China can go to the world and the world can understand China.

References

[1] Jiang Zhigang, Zhan Yajie. Chinese translation history from the perspective of social translatology [J]. National translation, 2021 (04): 88-96 [2] Wang Yamin. Research on Yan Fu's translation style and strategy [J]. Journal of Civil Aviation Flight College of China, 2018,29 (01): 55-58 [3] Gan Lu, Luo Xianfeng. Three dimensions of the evolution of Lu Xun's translation thought [J]. Shanghai translation, 2019 (05): 78-83 + 95 [4] Jiang Yan. Xu Yuanchong. Characteristics of translation theory and practice [J]. Journal of Lanzhou Institute of technology, 2021,28 (02): 119-123 [5] Wang linli. Four translation climaxes in Chinese history and the development of Chinese translation theory [J]. Journal of insurance vocational college, 2007 (05): 94-96 [6] Jiang Zhigang, Zhan Yajie. Chinese translation history from the perspective of social translatology [J]. National translation, 2021 (04): 88-96. Doi: 10.13742/j.cnki.cn11-5684/h.2021.04.011

Written by- Li Xichang

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).

王镇隆 The Brief History of Bible's Chinese Translation

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.

= 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.

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

[1]陈顺意.法国翻译理论源流.法国研究,2014 [2]谭载喜.西方翻译简史.商务印书馆,2004 [3]许均,袁筱一.当代法国翻译理论.湖北教育出版社,2001 [4]柳鸣九,郑克鲁,张英伦.法国文学史,人民文学出版社,1979 [5]谢天振.中西翻译简史,外语教育与研究出版社,2009

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.

The spreading of western culture to the East was an extensive and far-reaching influence of modern Western culture on Eastern civilization, resulted from translation as a means of cultural communication.Scholars in China and Korea had 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, regardless of 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, dig out the historical information behind the practices, and finally achieve the purpose of restoring the history of cultural exchanges between the two.--Liu Peiting (talk) 07:23, 11 December 2021 (UTC)

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.

The spreading of Western learning to the east exerted an extensive and far-reaching influence on Eastern civilization.In the 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. In order to attain prosperity, Japan left Asia and entered Europe, taking a series of measures to actively learn from the West and introduce advanced ideas and culture through the media of translation.Under the influence of such a univerasl situation, the translation of overseas literature in China and the Korean Peninsula had also set off a boom.It could 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 translation plays an important role in the process of modernization in East Asia represented by Japan.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 from 1894 to 1949. 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 practices, and finally achieve the purpose of restoring the history of cultural (literary) exchanges between the two countries.--Liu Peiting (talk) 07:34, 11 December 2021 (UTC)

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.

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.

There were 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 had carried out the exploration of saving the nation from extinction.Translation was 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 literature in the two countries also presented many similarities and even intersecting points. As analyzed above, the most obvious common point was ideology influence. For China and Korea at that time, one of the mainstream ideologies was "modernization transformation",for which translation was the driving force. Therefore, utilitarianism and purposefulness ran 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. Without doubt, the influence of the subliminal form of the western learning spreading to the east constituted similarities between the two countries.Comparing the literary translation of the two countries in terms of specific content,we found 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 had broadened the horizons of the people 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 to the influence and status of translation in the history of national literature, Chinese modern translation was obviously higher. The main reason was that the translation environment and background of the two countries at that time were 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 literary exchanges between the two countries, and at the same time to provide necessary background for 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 generalized and arranged the subject from a macro perspective, and many details were not developed in depth, such as the sources of the related works,the evaluation of literature translation of words, the properties and significance of literary translation and so on. This paper will be more rich and three-dimensional with further discussion and exploration of the content.--Liu Peiting (talk) 07:59, 11 December 2021 (UTC)

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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.--Liu Peiting (talk) 06:19, 11 December 2021 (UTC)

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.--Liu Peiting (talk) 06:24, 11 December 2021 (UTC)

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.(Tan Zaixi,2000:21)

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.--Liu Peiting (talk) 06:25, 11 December 2021 (UTC)

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.--Liu Peiting (talk) 07:15, 11 December 2021 (UTC)

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).--Liu Peiting (talk) 07:16, 11 December 2021 (UTC)

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 (Tan Zaixi, 2004:76) . 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 and thus approximately achieved "formal correspondence" (Catford,1965:32). 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.--Liu Peiting (talk) 06:45, 11 December 2021 (UTC)

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.(Tan Zaixi,2004:80)

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.--Liu Peiting (talk) 07:17, 11 December 2021 (UTC)

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.--Liu Peiting (talk) 07:17, 11 December 2021 (UTC)

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.(Tan Zaixi,2004:56)

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. (Luther,1530:124) 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 his was considered to be the earliest written language in German and opened a new era in the development of modern German (Xie Tianzhen,2009:23). It endowed him with the highest reputation and the most profound influence in Germany.--Liu Peiting (talk) 07:04, 11 December 2021 (UTC)

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.The translation activities in the Renaissance period were basically devoid of disciplinary consciousness, and the theories were fragmentary and unsystematic. Most of the authors were translation practitioners, and most of the theories were empirical (Pan Wenguo,2002:23). Thanks to the translators in these three countries who 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.--Liu Peiting (talk) 07:14, 11 December 2021 (UTC)

References

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刘薇 Contemporary American Translation History)

Liu Wei 刘薇 Hunan Normal University, China

Abstract

The United States is an important part of the "West", so when we talk about the conception of "West", it is impossible not to include the United States.Therefore, this chapter combs the development of contemporary American translation by introducing a series of theories of American Translators.

Key words

translation theory of American, Eugene Nida,Robert Boogrand.

Introduction

In the field of translation studies, the situation in the United States is very special.Since the history of the United States itself is not long, we can not expect to talk about "ancient American translation theory", "medieval American translation theory", or even "modern American translation theory".American translation theory is mainly the "contemporary translation theory", which is developed after World War II (Guo Jianzhong, [introduction]: 2).Although the development of American translation theory is relatively short, there are still many influential translation theorists, such as Eugene Nida, Robert Boogrand, Andre Leverville, Lawrence Venudi, Edwin Gentzler and so on. They are constantly innovating and developing new theories in the field of translation.

Chapter1 Characteristics of the local American translation theory

The development of contemporary American translation theory has three main characteristics: first, it inherits the tradition of European translation theory in terms of overall research methods;Second, the early studies were mostly influenced by the schools of American structural linguistics;Third, there is a tendency to catch up in research results.These characteristics are discussed one by one below.

On the first point, the inheritance of European tradition in the overall research method of American translation theory is due to its unique language and cultural tradition.As an integral part of the whole culture, translation culture naturally presents the basic characteristics of the development of the whole culture.Since the American culture with English as the national language is mainly inherited from European culture, the development of American translation culture, as an integral part of American culture, also inherits European translation culture.Especially in the early stage of the development of American translation theory, many influential people engaged in translation studies were immigrants from Europe or descendants of recent European immigrants.

Take Thorman as an example: his translation theory work the art of translation published in 1901 is one of the earliest published works in the field of American translation theory, but the contents and discussion methods involved in the book have no obvious "American characteristics".On the contrary, it is more like a work belonging to Europe, especially the British translation tradition. Even the examples in the book are similar to the European, especially the British translation tradition.

The second characteristic of the tradition of American translation theory is that the early studies were greatly influenced by the schools of American structural linguistics, which can be said to be a more distinctive "American characteristic" in American translation studies.

American linguistic studies are at the forefront of the West in many aspects. There have been many linguistic schools, such as human language school, structuralism school, transformational generative school and so on. All kinds of schools have also had various direct or indirect effects on American translation studies.

The representative of American structuralist language school is Bloomfield. He adopts the method of behaviorism and believes that everything about language can be studied scientifically and objectively.He put forward a behaviorist semantic analysis method, which holds that meaning is the relationship between stimulus and language response.In 1950s, Chomsky's transformational generative theory replaced Bloomfield's theory and occupied the dominant position in American linguistics theory and occupied the dominant position in American linguistics.The influence of Chomsky's theory on translation studies mainly lies in his discussion of surface structure and deep structure.The concept of "deep" has led to large-scale semantic research. Because semantics is closely related to translation research, Chomsky's theory has promoted the development of translation theory in the United States and even the whole west.

Therefore, under the influence of various linguistic theories, many people try to put forward new translation concepts and research methods. These people can be collectively referred to as the structural School of American translation theory.Among them, the main characters include Wojilin, Bolinger, Katz, Quinn and Eugene Nida.

Take Wojilin as an example. He is a human linguist.His greatest contribution is to put forward a multi-step translation method (also known as step-by-step translation method).The biggest advantage of his multi-step translation method is that the steps are clear, flexible and easy to master.

Using Chomsky's transformational generative theory, Boringer puts forward a concept of structural translation as opposed to lexical translation.Based on structural linguistics, Katz makes a profound analysis of the translatability of language and the philosophical problems in language and translation.Based on the discussion of strange language, Quinn expounds some basic problems of translation from the perspective of philosophy, which has aroused great repercussions in the field of western translation theory.

The third characteristic of the development of American translation theory is that it has a tendency to catch up with others in research results.One of the most prominent scholars is Eugene Nida. Although he is an outstanding linguist, his views on "translation is science", "translation is communication", "translation must pay attention to reader response" and other aspects are an innovation and breakthrough to the previous views. In addition, after Eugene Nida, many scholars have put forward many new views because of their existence,It was only after World War II that American translation theory continued to catch up. Therefore, we will focus on him in the next chapter.

Chapter2 Eugene Nida's translation theory

Eugene Albert Nida (1914 -) was born in Oklahoma City in the south central United States. He graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1936. In 1943, he worked in Bloomfield and fries (Charles fries received his doctorate in linguistics under the guidance of two famous scholars. As the leading translation theory figure in contemporary America, Nida has also engaged in research in linguistics, semantics, anthropology and communication engineering. Before his retirement in the 1980s, he worked in the Translation Department of the American Holy Bible Association and served as the executive secretary of the translation department for a long time. He is mainly engaged in the Bible Organization of translation and revision of translations and the Bible Training and theoretical guidance for translators. He is proficient in many languages and has investigated and studied more than 100 languages, especially some small languages in Africa and Latin America. In 1968, he served as the president of the American language society. Although he does not take teaching as his career, he has extremely rich experience in Translation training and lecturing. In addition to a long-term part-time job, he speaks linguistics in the famous American summer In addition to teaching linguistics and translation courses in the Institute, he also served as a guest lecturer and professor in many American universities. He was often invited to give short-term lectures in Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia, and won several honorary doctorates. In order to recognize his contribution to translation research, especially in the field of Bible translation research, the American Bible Association named the Institute after him in 2001 In particular, Nida has deep feelings for China. Since 1982, he has been invited to give lectures in China more than ten times, and has maintained close academic contacts and exchanges with many schools and academic colleagues in China for a long time.

Nida is a prolific language and translation theorist. From 1945 to 2004, he published more than 200 articles and more than 40 works (including works cooperated and edited with others). Among them, there are more than 20 works on language and translation theory, and a collection of papers has been published.

His research achievements include "Toward a Science of Translating" published in 1964, "The Theory and Practice of Translation" Co authored with Charles Taber in 1969, "Com ponential Analysis of Meaning " published in 1975 and "language structure and Translation" . Nida's anthology "Language Structure and Translation : Essays by Eugene A. Nida，ed. by Anwar S. Dil" , "From One Language to Another" , co authored with de warrd in 1986, "The Sociolinguistics of Interlingual Communication" , published in 1996 and published in 2001 "Language and Culture :Contertsin Translating" 。

Throughout Nida's translation thought, we can divide it into three main development stages: the linguistic stage with obvious American structuralism in the early stage, the stage of translation science and translation communication in the middle stage, and the stage of social semiotics.

The first major stage is the linguistic stage, from 1943 when he wrote his doctoral thesis "a summary of English syntax" to 1959 when he published "principles of translation from biblical translation".At this stage, he tries to clarify the structural nature of language through the description of syntax, morphology and language translation.In his early days, he was greatly influenced by American structuralist Bloomfield and human linguist Sapir, and paid attention to the collection and analysis of language materials in language research.Through the opportunity to visit and contact different languages all over the world, many examples of speech differences are collected.However, he does not regard speech differences as insurmountable obstacles between languages, but as different phenomena of the same essence.

The second development stage of Nida's translation thought is the stage of translation science and translation communication. It took 10 years from the publication of "principles of translation from biblical translation" in 1959 to the publication of "translation theory and practice" in 1969.The research achievements at this stage have played a key role in establishing Nida's authoritative position in the whole western translation theory circle. By summarizing this main development period, the main contents of the following five aspects can be summarized:

（一）Translation science.Nida believes that translation is not only an art, a skill, but also a science.The so-called science here means that translation problems can be handled by "scientific approaches to language structure, semantic analysis and information theory", that is, a linguistic and descriptive method can be adopted to explain the translation process.If the principles and procedures of translation seem to be normative, it is only because they are generally considered to be the most useful in a specific scope of translation.Nida's view that "translation is science" has had great repercussions in the field of western linguistics and translation theory.

（二） Translation communication theory. Nida applies communication theory and information theory to translation studies and holds that translation is communication. After World War II, not only advertisers, politicians and businessmen attached great importance to the intelligibility of language, but also scholars, writers, editors, publishers and translators realized that any information would be worthless if it could not play a communicative role. Therefore, to judge whether a translation is successful, we must first see whether it can be immediately understood by the recipient and whether it can play a role in the communication of ideas, information and feelings. Therefore, in the field of translation research, various names and statements such as "communicative translation", "functional translation" and related "equal response theory", "equal effect theory", "equal role theory" and "equal power theory" have sprung up one after another. Nida's "translation is communication" and his "reader response theory" and "dynamic equivalence" discussed below“ "Functional equivalence" has become an important representative of the communicative school in the field of western translation studies.

Nida's theory of "translation is communication" is based on the theory of language commonality. Nida, like Jacobson, believes that all languages in the world have the same expression ability, which can enable native speakers of the language to express ideas, describe the world and carry out social communication. His argument is based on the same "identity" For example, in countries with relatively developed productive forces, many scientific and technological words will appear in their languages, while in countries with less developed or very low productive forces, there may be a lack of scientific and technological words in their languages. However, this does not mean that the latter has the same expressive ability as the former, but only shows that people have different requirements for languages in different languages, It is not because the language cannot produce scientific and technological vocabulary, but because the speakers of the language do not have or temporarily do not have the requirement to use scientific and technological vocabulary. Once there is such a requirement, there will be corresponding vocabulary in the language, or "native" scientific and technological vocabulary, or "foreign" vocabulary transplanted from foreign words. In short, the expression efficiency of various languages is the same.

Nida believes that the primary task of translation is to make it clear to the readers at a glance after reading the translation. That is to say, the translation should be fluent and natural, and the readers can understand it without the knowledge of the cultural background of the source language. This requires that rigid foreign words should be used as little as possible in translation, and expressions belonging to the receiving language should be used as much as possible. For example, in a Sudanese language, for If the expression "repent and reform" is translated directly, it will make people feel at a loss, and it should be translated into the local familiar "spitting on the ground in front of someone". For example, in the language without "Snow", white as snow may be puzzling, but it should be said "white as frost" or "white as egret hair" Another example is that in the ancient West, the habit of people meeting and greeting each other was "sacred kiss", but now it should become "very warm handshake".

In a sense, the theory of translation communication is not only one of the main symbols of Nida's second development stage of translation thought, but also one of the biggest characteristics of his whole ideological system.Especially after the publication of translation theory and practice, Nida's translation communication theory has had a great impact on the western translation circles, including those in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.

（三） Dynamic equivalence theory.The so-called dynamic equivalence translation is actually translation under the guidance of translation communication theory. Specifically, it refers to "reproducing the source language information with the closest (original) natural equivalence in the receiving language from semantics to style".In this definition, there are three key points: one is "nature", which means that the translation cannot have a translation cavity;The second is "close", which refers to selecting the translation with the closest meaning to the original text on the basis of "nature";The third is "equivalence", which is the core.Both "nature" and "close" serve to find equivalents.

（四） Translation function theory.From the perspective of sociolinguistics and language communicative function, Nida believes that translation must serve the reader.To judge whether a translation is correct or not, we must take the reader's response as the criterion.If the response of the target readers is basically the same as that of the original readers, the translation can be considered successful.

（五） Four step model.This refers to the translation process.Nida puts forward that the process of translation is: analysis, transfer (transfer the meaning obtained from the analysis from the source language to the receiving language), reorganization (reorganize the translation according to the rules of the receiving language), and inspection (detect the target text against the source text).Among these four steps, "analysis" is the most complex and key, which is the focus of Nida's translation research.The focus of the analysis is semantics. He distinguishes four parts of speech from the perspective of semantics: object words, activity words, abstract words and relational words.In semantic analysis, he introduced three methods: linear analysis, hierarchical analysis and component analysis.In the specific analysis of semantics, he focuses on grammatical meaning, referential meaning and connotative meaning (or emotional meaning and associative meaning).These distinction theories are of great significance to understand his translation thought.

Nida's research achievements in the 1980s can be regarded as the third stage of translation thought.He has made a series of modifications and supplements to his translation theory.He did not completely abandon the theory of the original communicative school, but further developed on the original basis and incorporated the useful elements of the original theory into a new model, which is the social semiotics model in the third development stage translation thought.

Compared with previous works, Eugene Nida has the following four changes and developments in from one language to another: first, based on the translation theory of social semiotics, he emphasizes that everything in the text has meaning, including speech form, so form cannot be easily sacrificed.That is to say, form is also meaningful. Sacrificing form means sacrificing meaning.Secondly, it points out that the rhetorical features of language play an important role in language communication, so we must pay attention to these features in translation.Third, the theory of "dynamic equivalence" is no longer used, but replaced by "functional equivalence", which is intended to make the meaning of the term clearer and easier to understand.Fourth, instead of using the distinction of grammatical meaning, referential meaning and associative meaning, meaning is divided into rhetorical meaning, grammatical meaning and lexical meaning, and all kinds of meaning are divided into referential meaning and associative meaning.From the whole historical process of the development of translation theory, it should be said that these changes are basically positive.

Of course, his theory and works are not perfect.First, his theory focuses too much on solving the problems of communicative and intelligibility of translation, so its scope of application is limited.It is natural to emphasize the intelligibility of the translation in the field of Bible translation, but if the intelligibility of the translation is always put in the first place in the translation of secular literary works, it will inevitably lead to the simplification and even non literariness of the translated language.

Second, he no longer completely negates "formal correspondence", but believes that the expression form of the original text cannot be broken at will in translation.In order to expand the scope of application of his theory, he also added rhetoric.However, despite his amendments, he failed to elaborate more deeply on his new views.

Thirdly, Eugene Nida once put forward the proposition that "translation is science", and then basically abandoned this proposition.Whether he put forward or gave up, he did not put forward sufficient and convincing arguments, which can not be said to be a major defect.

Of course, Nida's theory and works are not perfect. Firstly, his theory focuses too much on solving the problems of communicative and intelligibility of translation, so its scope of application is limited. It is natural to emphasize the intelligibility of the translation in the field of Bible translation, but if the intelligibility of the translation is always put in the first place in the translation of secular literary works, it will inevitably lead to the simplification and even non literariness of the translated language. Newmark, a British translation theorist, once pointed out: "if we delete all the metaphors in the Bible that Doneda believes readers cannot understand, it will inevitably lead to a large loss of meaning." . an important feature of literary works is that they use more metaphorical and novel language. The author's real intention may have to taste and capture between the lines. If all the metaphorical images in the original work are deleted and all the associative meanings are clearly stated, the result will be that the translation is easy to understand, but it is dull and can't reach To the purpose of literature. In recent years, Nida has become more and more aware of this, and has constantly revised and improved some of his past views. For example, he later no longer focused on the intelligibility of the translation, but advocated a "three nature principle", that is, the principle of paying equal attention to comprehensibility, readability and acceptability. In addition, he no longer completely denied "formal correspondence" In order to expand the scope of application of his theory, he especially added rhetoric. However, despite Nida's amendments, he failed to make a more profound exposition of his new views; he was only aware of the existence of the problem rather than successfully solving the relevant problems Besides, Nida once put forward the proposition that "translation is science", and then basically gave up this proposition. Whether he put forward or gave up, he did not put forward sufficient and convincing arguments, which is a major defect.

Of course, flaws do not hide the jade. Looking at Nida's lifelong contributions, he is one of the most outstanding theoretical figures in the field of contemporary translation studies in the United States and even the whole west. The historical theory of the development of western translation theory should give him a heavy pen.

Chapter3 Robert Boogrand's translation theory

Since the 1970s, more voices outside the structural language school and the communicative school have gradually emerged in the field of translation studies in the United States, especially the voice of discourse linguistics theory and discourse analysis represented by Robert Boogrand. Boogrand teaches in the English Department of the University of Florida and is engaged in the study of literary discourse rhetoric and grammatical structure.In 1978, he published a book called "elements of translation theory of poetry"), which was listed as one of the Translation Studies Series edited by Holmes and attracted extensive attention.

Boogrand's view is: 1. The unit of translation is not a single word or sentence, but the whole text.2. Translation is a process of interaction among authors, translators and readers.3. What is worth studying is not the characteristics of the article itself, but the skills of language use reflected in these characteristics.

After the publication of the above translation theory works guided by the thought of discourse linguistics in 1978, Boogrand continued to engage in the research of language and translation along the same line, and more than ten relevant works (including Works CO authored and co edited with others) have been published successively, mainly including discourse, discourse and process: multidisciplinary discourse science exploration Linguistic Theory: Discourse of basic works, introduction to discourse linguistics, language discourse, Western and Middle East translation Boogrand has always expounded language and translation from the perspective of discourse linguistics, thus establishing his important position as the leader of discourse linguistics in the field of British and American translation studies. Boogrand's contribution as one of the pioneers of discourse analysis and discourse linguistics in translation studies is very important and worthy of full recognition.

Chapter4 Andre Lefevere's translation theory

  With the development of the times, translation studies in the United States, like other parts of the west, have been continuously improved in theoretical depth. By the 1990s, the focus of theorists' discussion on translation has gradually separated from the previous specific translation processes and methods, and turned more to the fundamental nature of translation, translation and ideology, translation and culture. This chapter introduces Andre Leverville's translation theory. Andre Leverville, a professor of translation and comparative literature at the University of Texas at Austin, originally from Belgium, is a very important theoretical figure in the field of Contemporary Western comparative literature and translation research. We can discuss his main ideas from the following two aspects.

(一)The cultural turn in translation studies. It is a common feature of all cultural schools to turn the focus of translation studies from the language structure and language form correspondence that language schools are most concerned about to the meaning and function of the target text and the source text in their respective cultural systems. He believes that any literature must survive in a certain social and cultural environment, and its meaning and value Value, as well as its interpretation and acceptance, will always be affected and restricted by a series of interrelated and mutually referenced factors, including both internal and external factors of literature. Therefore, as far as translation research is concerned, the goal of the research is far from limited to exploring the equivalence or equivalence of the two texts in language forms, but to explore at the same time.Study various cultural issues directly or indirectly related to translation activities.

（二） The concept of manipulation in translation. When talking about and describing the basic characteristics of the cultural school, we often can not do without using the word "manipulation". Here, "manipulation"It is not emotional, but a special term representing the concept of neutrality. According to the translation operation of Andre Leverville and others, the core meaning is that in the process of processing the source text and generating the target text, the translator has the right and will rewrite the text in order to achieve a certain purpose. Andre Leverville believes that translation is a reflection of the image of the text.Other literary forms such as literary criticism, biography, literary history, drama, film, fiction and so on are also the rewriting of the text image, and rewriting is the manipulation of the text.

（三） Obviously, the manipulative rewriting in Lefevere and his cultural school theory is not simply equivalent to "Rewriting" in the general sense, because in his view, all translation is rewriting, even the "most faithful"Translation is also a form of rewriting. As a translation manipulator, this rewriting or manipulation should be regarded as a cultural necessity in essence. In the process of translation, the translator is bound to be affected and restricted by various social and cultural factors. In addition to considering all the characteristics related to the source text, such as the original author's intention, the context of the source text and so on, the more important thing is toIt is necessary to consider a series of factors related to the target or receiving culture, such as the purpose of translation, the function of the target text, the expectations and reactions of readers, the requirements of clients and sponsors, and the review of the publishing and distribution organization of the work. The existence of these factors and the degree of constraints imposed by the translator on them vary from person to person constitute the inevitable "manipulation" condition of the translator on the text. For "manipulation" in this sense, we can not judge it by moral value words such as "legitimate" or "improper", but only by the "appropriateness" criteria such as whether the target text has achieved the purpose of translation, whether it meets the expectations of the audience, and whether it can be accepted by the accepted culture.

Chapter5 Lawrence Venudi's translation theory

  It is precisely because the cultural school or manipulation school, and even the polysystem school, in translation studies have established a relationship with the theory of domestication and Foreignization in translation, that a new group of scholars and viewpoints have emerged. In the field of American translation studies, Lawrence Wenudi is the most vocal theoretical figure on the issues of "domestication" and "Foreignization". As an English professor at Temple University in Philadelphia, winudi is one of the most active and influential figures in the field of American translation theory since the 1990s. Winudi belongs to the deconstruction school in translation studies, that is, what genzler calls the "post structuralism school"In his works on translation studies, Venuti advocates that literary translation should not aim at eliminating alien features, but should try to show cultural differences in the target text.

Venuti's main view is that it is wrong to require the translator to be invisible in translation; the translator should not be invisible in the translation, but should be visible. That is to say, translation should adopt the principle and strategy of "alienation" to keep the translation exotic and exotic, and read like the translation, rather than "domestication"So that the translation can be transformed completely in accordance with the ideology and creative norms of the target culture. It doesn't read like foreign works, but the original of the target language.

However, translation has never been carried out in an unaffected way. Foreignization translation and domestication translation are actually the products of translation activities affected. From the perspective of translation ethics, it is difficult to assert which is good or which is bad, because translation reality shows that the two play irreplaceable roles in the target language and culture and complete their respective missions.Therefore, the two kinds of translation will always coexist and complement each other.

Chapter6 Edwin Gensler's translation theory

  Edwin Genzler is the director of the translation center of Amherst University of Massachusetts, doctor of comparative literature and professor of translation. His famous translation work is contemporary translation theory published in 1993 and reprinted in 2001.

Genzler's contribution to translation theory is mainly reflected in the following three aspects: First, it comprehensively combs the contemporary western translation theories, so as to clarify people's understanding of various western translation theory schools since World War II, and thus arouse the research interest in all kinds of contemporary western translation theories in the field of translation studies (including China's Translation Studies).In contemporary translation theory, Genzler studies translation from different perspectives such as scientific theory, polysystem theory and deconstruction. By exploring the "political reality" outside translation (literary translation practice), he outlines the outline of contemporary western translation research and guides readers to rethink a series of theoretical issues such as the definition and classification of translation.

Secondly, on the basis of comprehensively and systematically combing various contemporary western translation thoughts and theories, Genzler puts forward a multi-channel cooperative translation research view of "fair treatment of all systems".He believes that contemporary translation theory, like literary theory, originates from structuralist theory.All these structuralist or post structuralist theories have been confined to their respective academic circles for a long time.Various schools have very special requirements for the terms used in this system, and the terms are limited;Their pursuit of "correctness" or "objectivity" of theory tends to be one-sided, and they all try to gain universal recognition in the academic circles at the expense of other perspectives.The result is only the continuous conflict between theories, but there is no due cooperation and exchange between theories, which leads to the marginalization of academic research.

Thirdly, Genzler puts forward a post structuralist interpretation model of the essence of translation.In translation, post structuralism and power, he analyzes the deconstruction (post structuralism) thoughts of Derrida, Spivak and others, as well as the translation thoughts of translation theorists such as Wenudi, Levin and Robinson under the influence of their deconstruction thoughts, and points out that the new translation interpretation model can no longer follow the past tradition and simply define translation as"The transformation from a single language to another single language", but it should be regarded as the transformation between a multicultural form environment and another equally multicultural form environment.

Conclusion

In addition to the above-mentioned important theoretical figures in the field of contemporary American translation studies, many others, such as Roberto Tradu, Daniel Shaw, Burton Raphael and so on, have also made achievements in translation theory. However, due to space constraints, they cannot be discussed in detail here.

Generally speaking, due to the historical origin and the influence of the subject's immigrant culture, the initial development of American translation studies depends on the inheritance and promotion of the tradition of European translation theory. With the evolution of the times, American translation studies catch up with each other in many aspects with rapid development and fruitful achievements, and walk in the forefront of western translation studies, becoming the driving force of contemporary western translation theory. On an important force for forward development.

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--Liu Wei (talk) 16:11, 8 December 2021 (UTC)Liu Wei

周俊辉 Translation of Science and Technology in Late Qing Dynasty and Early Republic of China

Hist_Trans_EN_11

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; organizations of scientific translation; May 4th Movement period; organization

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.”(Xiong Yuezhi 1994:46-48) 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”(Xiong Yuezhi 1994:46-48), 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’.” (Xiong Yuezhi 2000:47) 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.

Object of Translation from the Late Qing Dynasty to the Early Republic of China

Overview of Translation’s Object

“The scientific and technological translations of the late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty were all cooperative translations of foreign missionaries and Chinese doctors”(Du Zezong 1949:11), 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’”(Lan Hongjun 2010:93-94). 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.”(Ni Qinhe 1988:13-14) 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 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, likewise the Way changeth not"(Yang Jindin 1996:830). 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.

Object of Translation Activities after the May 4th Movement

The May 4th New Culture Movement advocated science and democracy. After the May 4th Movement, Chinese translation activities entered a new historical period. In order to introduce western science and technology and textbooks to Chinese people, many progressive intellectuals and overseas students, with the enthusiasm of "science to save the country", actively participated in the translation of foreign new science and new ideas. The quality of scientific books translated by talents who are fluent in foreign languages and have a solid foundation of professional knowledge of the subject has been greatly improved compared with previous translations of relevant books. For example, Ma Junwu (1881-1940), a doctor of engineering who returned from studying in Japan in 1901, translated and published a series of scientific works such as The History of Natural Creation and the Mystery of the Universe by E. Haecke (1834-1919). His translation of Charles Robert Darwin's The Origin of Species (1809-1882) was a best-seller and was reprinted 12 times in 16 years.

The Government of the Republic of China also followed the old rules of the Qing Dynasty and established the National Compilation and Translation Library under the Ministry of Education of the Beijing government in 1920. At the same time, the government also set up a book compilation agency. After that, “the Nanjing Nationalist government rebuilt and expanded the National Compilation and Translation Library under the Graduate School and the Ministry of Education.” (Li Nanqiu 1999:42)The tasks of the Library included translating and publishing scientific books, compiling textbooks for higher and secondary education, compiling the translation of scientific terms and terms, and compiling dictionaries of various disciplines. But overall, the government-sponsored translation agency's publications account for only a small proportion of the total number of translated books published.

At that time, Chinese scholars established a number of early scientific societies, which played an active role in the translation of foreign scientific books, the unification of translation names and the compilation of disciplinary dictionaries. For example, the Chinese Medical Association, founded in Shanghai in February 1915, held its first conference in the second year for its establishment. The responsibility of the nominating division of the sub-body formed by the resolution of the conference is to participate in the examination of scientific translations. From 1916 to 1926, the Medical Association was represented at the annual conferences of the Medical Terminology Review Committee (changed to scientific Terminology after 1919), Anatomy, chemistry, medicine, bacteriology, pathology, parasitology, biochemistry, organic chemistry, pharmacology, surgery, physiology, internal medicine, pharmacology, etc. Chinese Science Society was founded by Zhao Yuanren, Ren Hongjun and Hu Mingfu in October 1915. At the beginning of the establishment of the society, it clearly declared that it would create a foundation for examining and approving translated names. In the sixth chapter "Administrative organs" of the General Chapter of the Chinese Science Society, there is also a "book translation department". The ministry "manages translated books" and "has a minister in charge of translated books". There was a symposium on nouns in 1916, the results of which were published in the society's monthly Science. Later, the ministry attended the noun examination meeting held by Jiangsu Education Association and Chinese Medical Association for many times. The Science Society organized many translations activities of books and papers, and Science published many scientific translations. The efforts of these civil academic societies to unify the translation of scientific names have attracted the attention of the government. The Kuomintang government changed the Ministry of Education into a graduate school in 1927, and in the following year, the preparatory Committee for the Unification of Graduate School translation names was established. Later, with the joint efforts of civil academic groups and government departments, a series of work on the unification of the translation of scientific nouns was carried out, which has done a lot of work for the unification of Chinese translation names.

At the beginning of the founding of new China, China mainly relied on the former Soviet Union to introduce various advanced scientific and technological information. Under the planned economy system, a large number of Spanish translators quickly changed to Russian translators, and many scientific research and higher education personnel actively joined the group of amateur translators. At the same time, many national and local publishing houses also actively engaged in the translation and publication of Russian scientific materials. A large number of Russian translated materials played an important role in scientific research, education and economic construction at that time. Publications such as Translation Bulletin, Russian Teaching and Translation and Research on Russian Teaching have become important publishing fields of Research on Russian translation methods.

Pioneers and Important Organizations of Scientific Translation

Pioneers

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.”(Ma Zuyi 1998:53)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.”(Zou Zhenhuan 2007:349) 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.

Translation and Publishing Institution Established by Westernizationists

At the end of the Qing Dynasty, advocates of the westernization mouvement, such as Li Hongzhang, Zeng Guofan, Zuo Zongtang, Zhang Zhidong, etc., actively promoted the creation of modern schools and modern military industry, and established a number of translation and publishing institutions. The Sino-British Treaty of Tianjin was renewed in 1858 to provide that "subsequent English instruments were written in English". In order not to be fooled into dealing with foreigners who appeared as victors, the Chinese government had to find ways to reserve its own translation talents, establishing the Jingshi Tongwen Guan in Beijing in 1862 to train foreign language talents, and appointing Xu Jishe the general manager purser of this institution. An English-language department was opened in the same year, and an additional Russian and French department was established in the following year, each with 10 students. The government of Qing dynasty set up a science museum to organize students to study arithmetic and astronomy in 1866. The Buwen (German) department was added in 1872, and the East (Japanese) department was added in 1895. These foreign language department have invited foreign teachers to give courses with better conditions for textbooks and materials. Textbooks cover many aspects, including chemistry, medicine, grammatology, geography, agriculture, military law, dictionaries, poetry and history. In the field of foreign language teaching, in addition to the use of the above-mentioned original textbooks, there are some teaching materials in the courses were translated and compiled by the Chinese teachers. The general teacher of the Jingshi Tongwen Guan, Ding Yuliang, organized teachers and excellent students to translate Western books beginning in 1874. The number of books have been compiled and published by the Jingshi Tongwen Guan has not yet been able to make accurate statistics, and its translations include Chinese and Western books, manuscripts of scientific and technological publications, diplomatic documents of the Prime Minister's affairs in various countries, telegrams and so on. The first translators in the history of China have been trained in Tongwen Guan.

In 1863, Li Hongzhang applied to his superiors to imitate the Jing Shi Tongwen Guan in Beijing to open the wide dialect school in Shanghai, originally named "Shanghai Institute of Foreign Languages and Characters", later fixed "Tongwen Guan of learning foreign languages", referred to as "Shanghai Tongwen Guan", then changed its name in 1867 to "Shanghai Wide Dialect School." “Students also take foreign languages as their major course, and take historical and natural sciences as their minor course.” (Li Nanqiu 1996:96) Many excellent translators have been cultivated in Shanghai Wide Dialect school. In 1864, Guangzhou imitated Shanghai Wide Dialect School and also set up a institution of foreign languages and characters, called Guangdong Tongwen Guan or Guangzhou Tongwen Guan. Although the institutions in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong were established in different time and they are independent mutually, they possess the obvious common ground at the aspect of , purpose for founding, teaching methods, curriculum settings, employment of the teachers and student selection. At the same time as the Tongwen Guan cultivate foreign language talents, it has also been translated a large number of western scientific works of higher quality.

Zeng Guofan founded Jiangnan Machine Manufacturing Bureau in Shanghai in 1865, which recruited talents and gradually developed into a large-scale factory group engaged in military production. “For the needs of factory production and manufacturing, xu Shou (1818-1884) and Hua Hengfang (1833-1902) founded the Translation institution in 1867, and presided over the translation and publication of a large number of scientific and technological books.”(Li Yashu, Li Nanqiu 2000:106-107) Xu Shou participated in the systematic translation of books on general chemistry, inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, analytical chemistry, chemical quantitative analysis and chemical qualitative analysis, and promoted the diffusion of Western chemistry knowledge, which is recognized as “the enlightenment of modern chemistry in China”(Du Shiran 1982:251). Hua Hengfang’s translated books cover a wide range of subjects, because he like mathematics since childhood, his translation focus mainly on mathematics. His translation of the Microcomputer Traceability introduced the new knowledge of mathematics calculus, Decisive Mathematics for the first time introduced to the Chinese people the knowledge of probability theory. Through the translation of books, he improved his level of mathematical research, become a well-known mathematician and scientific and technological literature translator at the end of the Qing Dynasty. Zhao Yuanyi (1840-1902) is another outstanding translator of Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau Translation Museum. Knowledgeable, he widely translated Western books, especially good at translating Western modern medical books, such as The Law of Internal Medicine, Western Medicine Denton, Confucian Medicine, General Theories of Medicine and so on. The quantity and quality of the medical books he translated were among the best at that time.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty, many translation institutions were set up in Beijing, Shanghai and Fujian, such as the Military Engineering Secondary School (Shanghai, 1869), the Strong School Of Books (Beijing, 1895), the Nanyang Institute of Public Studies (Shanghai, 1895), the Agricultural Society (Shanghai, 1896), and the Translation Association (1897), Shanghai), Jingshi University Hall Translation Museum (Beijing, 1901), Jiang chu Compilation Bureau (1901, Wuchang), Business Press Library Compilation Institute (1905, Beijing) and Fujian Ship Administration School ( 1866, Fuzhou). These translation agencies have translated and published a large number of scientific and technical documents and textbooks.

Compilation and Publishing Organization of Foreign Missionaries in China

A number of translation and publishing institutions were also founded by Christian missionary who came to China in the late Qing Dynasty, which, although serving missionary activities, objectively translated a number of Western natural science books. One of the earliest was founded in 1843, the Mohai Library. It is not very large that the number of western modern science books translated and published by Mohai Library. These books introduced the knowledge of Western modern calculus, astronomy, botany, symbolic algebra, mechanics and optics to our country earlier.

In addition to western missionaries, there are also some Chinese scholars, such as Wang Tao, Li Shanlan, Zhang Fuxuan and so on. Among them, Li Shanlan (1811-1882) was a famous mathematician in the Qing Dynasty and a pioneer of modern Chinese science. He has known mathematics since he was a child, and he learned Elements at the age of 15. During his stay in Shanghai in 1852, he met Alexander Wylie, an Englishman, and others, discussed Chinese and Western scholarship with them, and collaborated with Vera Toure on the last nine volumes of Element, which were translated in 1856 and published the following year, culminating in Xu Guangqi's unfinished business. He has also collaborated with Westerners on a variety of scientific books, including Botany, About Sky, Algebra, Generation Micro-Accumulation, etc.

Since then, a number of Christians have set up printing and publishing institutions. Such as the American-Chinese Library was set up by the American Presbyterian in Shanghai in 1860, which printed and published science and technology books. “In 1875, the British missionary John Fryer opened The Chinese Scientific BookDepot in Shanghai.” (Sun Shangsun 1996:124-125) In addition to selling scientific instruments and foreign books, he translated independently and printed a variety of science books, including the most famous books "knowledge series", which covering mining, geosciences, astronomy, geography, animals, plants, mathematics, acoustics, mechanics, hydrology, optics, chemistry and Western history, humanities and social etiquette and other aspects.

Church Hospital Guangzhou Boji Hospital also has an attached translation agency. In order to compile teaching materials for the attached South China Medical School, Boji Hospital has compiled and published a large number of medical books since 1859, such as "The Pox Book", "Western Medicine", "Cutting Book", "Phlegmonosis", "Chemical Primary Order", "Internal Medicine", "Ten Chapters of Physical Use", "Western Medical Encyclopedia" and dozens of other books, early dissemination of Western medical knowledge. Its attached medical school for our country to train a batch of early Western medical talent.

Foreign missionaries held a conference in Shanghai and decided to create a school textbook committee in 1877, later known as the Puzzle Book Club, to publish textbooks for church schools in many cities in China, especially coastal ports, and to compile and publish 104 textbooks in the 10 years from 1877 to 1886. At that time, China's own profane schools also used these textbooks, which promoted the development of modern modern schools in the late Qing Dynasty.

In addition, the more influential translation and publishing institutions are the British, American, German and other countries composed of missionaries of the Broad Society, the agency to translate and publish a variety of social science books mainly. Foreign missionaries set up these translation and publishing institutions of course for the purpose of missionary and colonial, but objectively they still introduced a lot of advanced Western scientific knowledge to China at that time.

Conclusion

Throughout China's translation achievements of science and technology , it seems that we go with the tide. Though occasionally we have some own views, the science that we are now in contact with is the view of Westerners. This can also provides some enlightenment from our modern education: it seems we have been western and internationalised, in fact, remain in a lack of the influence of the technology in the Chinese intrinsic culture. For quite a long time, we regard scientific translation as a pure translation in oral to express meaning. It demands a strictly functional equivalence. Translators were completely anonymous, absolutely invisible. Translation of science and technology with a great sanctity and authority, there have been a domestic famous scholar was opposed to the view that translation should have the artistry. In fact, scholarship is a matter, academic education is another matter. In academic research, our ancients were earnest and sincere in educating people by virtue. To put it in modern terms, it means to cultivate EQ as well as IQ of people. But throughout our education, we are producing a lot of people with high IQ but low EQ.“The translators of modern science and technology are generally invisible for fear of revealing any ‘translation traces’.”(Wang Hongzhi 2000:38) Although this can also be regarded as rigorous scholarship, but in view of the international development trend, scientific and technological literary style also began to pay attention to a certain artistic and aesthetic value. A technical article of literary or aesthetic value will continue to live on even when the technology described has become obsolete. “For scientific and technological translation, the same is true, if we want to make our translation vitality for a long time, we must also emphasize artistic and aesthetic value.”(Tan Suqin 2008:61)

The translation of science and technology in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China adopted the mode of mutual cooperation between Chinese scholar-officials and missionaries in China, among which the more famous ones were William Elias and John Fryer from England and Li Shanlan and Xu Shou from China. After the Opium War, the Translation institute of Jiangnan General Bureau of Manufacturing, The Jingshi Tongwen Guan, and the Guanghui Society all produced many cooperative translations. This model can be used for reference by many single-handed and independent workers in the field of scientific and technological translation. Scientific translation itself requires the translator to have a deep knowledge of English and Chinese, as well as professional knowledge of science and technology, which is multidisciplinary. If a translator should possess these abilities at the same time and be able to complete the translation work well, it is self-evident that it is difficult. And if it is given to those who have these abilities separately, they will do their best and take their responsibilities together, and their efficiency and quality will be improved a lot.

In the history of Chinese translation, the 20th century was a climax period with many translation activities. There is no other period that can be compared with the number of translated works, the wide range of subjects covered, and the great influence on Chinese society. In particular, the tide of translation at the beginning of the century is even more brilliant. It can be said that the large-scale multi-disciplinary translation activities in the new century have begun at this time, and its important position at the beginning can not be underestimated.

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周玖Translation of Science and Technology in Ancient China

周玖 Zhou Jiu Hunan Normal University，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.

Science and Technology translation in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties

In the middle of the sixteenth century, the feudal society of Ming Dynasty turned from prosperity to decline. “The old agrarian culture was under attack; capitalism began to sprout; a new breed of industrialists and businessmen emerged. The citizen class represented the emerging power, demanding self-expression and eager for reform”. Some intellectuals began to reflect on traditional culture and were eager to understand the outside world. While the Reformation emerging in Europe seized most of the territory of Catholicism in Europe, so they began to expand their power to the East. In order to spread their religion, the Western missionaries tried hard to study Chinese culture and adopted culturally applicable strategies in the translation process, with flexible and reader-oriented translation methods. In terms of ideology and culture, they conformed to Chinese culture with Western culture and allowed the scholars to absorb Western culture without degrading Chinese culture, emphasizing the complementarity and consistency of Chinese and Western cultures to ensure that the Chinese could accept Western ideas and knowledge smoothly. Translation was a bridge for mutual communication between China and the West, and the late Ming and early Qing dynasties were characterized by scientific and technical translations, the second climax in the history of translation in China. (Wang, 2013:49-51)

According to statistics, "From 1582 to 1773, a total of 352 Western works were translated into China, including 71 in astronomy and 20 in mathematics”. When the Italian missionary Matteo Ricci first came to China in 1582, he found it difficult to preach in China because of the deep-rooted traditional thinking. The first president of the Jesuits in China, Matteo Ricci discovered the status and influence of the scholarly class in Chinese society and began to study the ancient Chinese scriptures and make friends with officials in order to facilitate travel to China and the construction of churches. In 1584, he hung up a map of the world in his church and named it Great Universal Geographic Map for public viewing. This was the first time that geography, a modern Western science, was introduced to China. In about 1605, Xu Guangqi wrote The Explanation of Great Universal Geographic Map, which was the first work of the Chinese to spread Western science. When the subjects of the great kingdom of heaven discovered that this great country actually occupied only a small part of the earth, you can imagine how much they were shocked. The Chinese scholars, such as Xu Guangqi and Li Zhizao, believed that translation could broaden the horizons of the nation. Therefore, it was necessary to introduce advanced Western science and technology into China, and they worked together with Western missionaries to translate and co-edit some works on natural sciences, and later on, many works on philosophical principles, scientific ideas and religious beliefs. (Zhao, 1998:33-37 )

The translation of the first scientific work is Ricci's dictation, Xu Guangqi's Euclid's Elements 6 volumes, which opened the climax of China's first scientific and technological translation. The book was completed at the beginning of the thirty-five-year calendar (1607) and was immediately imprinted. Mathematics is a basic science, because geometry is lacking in ancient Chinese arithmetic. Therefore it was first translated into Chinese. Xu Guangqi and others translated and studied Western scientific and technological works, participated in the compilation of the Chongzheng Almanac, and produced astronomical instruments such as the armillary sphere, telescope and so on. In 41 years (1613), Li Zhizao edited the arithmetic book, which he had studied and translated with Ricci, into the book Tongwen Suanzhi. Thus, Western science has been integrated with ancient Chinese science from the very beginning of its introduction.

In 1622, the German missionary Tang Ruowang, an expert in astronomy and almanac, arrived in China and worked with Xu Guangqi to set up an early cooperative variant of the "Calendar Bureau" in China. "But then Yang Tingjun and others called on the court to set up a more formal translation sentence, but due to the death of the Wanli Emperor and the tightening of the border war. The ambitious plan to systematically translate 7,000 Western scientific works afterwards also came to naught". But Xu Guangqi still organized a considerable number of Western calendar books through his work on calendar revision. In 1626, Tang Ruowang wrote The Theory of Telescope, introducing the optical principles, functions, production methods and usage of telescopes. Under the oral transmission of Deng Yuxuan, Wang Zheng wrote the book Yuanxi Qiqi Tushuo, which was the first mechanics book in China. The book describes the specific gravity, center of gravity bar and other methods and their usage. He also made some simple machines by himself. Xiong Sanbao translated the book Biao Dushuo, which described the theory of astronomy and the principles of measuring the twenty-four solar terms from a table. The missionaries Pang Di and Ejuelo wrote and drew The Theory of Overseas Map and Great Universal Geographic Map，which supplemented the introduction of geography. Long Huamin wrote Earthquake Interpretation, which describes the modern earthquake doctrine such as causes, grades, scope, size and time, and omens of earthquakes. Dictated by Tang Ruowang and written by Jiao Castellan, the book Huogong lveyao was translated, which contains the methods of casting, mounting and using artillery, as well as the methods of manufacturing bullets and mines. The work of transmitting the Western calendar began in 1629-the second year of Chongzhen. In 1635, the famous Chongzhen Calendar, which is about 1.8 million words, was completed. (Li, 2012: 88-90)

Soon after the introduction of this technological knowledge into China, the Ming Dynasty fell. In 1645, Tang Ruowang revised and added to the Chongzhen Calendar and presented it to the Qing court as the New Western Calendar. During the reign of Shunzhi, the missionary Mu Ni Ge taught the Na's logarithm, which was not long produced in the West. During the Kangxi period, Xue Fengzuo, who studied with Mu Ni Ge, compiled a book called Lixue Huitong, which included astronomy, arithmetic, physics and medicine. In addition, the missionary Nan Huairen made six kinds of astronomical measuring instruments and left behind the book Lingtai YiXiang ZhiTu to introduce the method of making them. The Kangxi Emperor also personally presided over the compilation of the Essence of Mathematics, and organized and led missionary Bai Jin and others to conduct the mapping of the whole country together with the relevant personnel in China, and compiled the Huangyu Quantu. (Xie, 2009:114)

This culmination of scientific and technological translations has promoted the development of science and technology in China. The introduction of this advanced Western knowledge opened the eyes of the Chinese and gave us a more correct and clear understanding of the world. The introduction of these advanced technologies also promoted the production and improvement of advanced scientific instruments. The climax of scientific and technological translation in this period opened up new ways for everyone to learn Western knowledge and promoted the progress and development of traditional Chinese technology and society as a whole. What’s more, this surge in scientific and technological translation also had a positive effect on the development of Chinese industrial civilization. These translated scientific and technological books broadened the Chinese people's horizons and enhanced their ability to transform society and nature, enabling them to create more efficient material and spiritual wealth and thus improve the material, spiritual and living standards of the people. These translations spread the ideas of materialism and dialectics, profoundly combating the ruling ideology of idealism of the time and further liberating the productive forces. The scientific and technological translations of this period not only injected fresh blood into the then dead China, but also laid the foundation and played a positive bridging role for the industrial revolution in later China.

Matteo Ricci

In the middle of the sixteenth century, the feudal society of the Ming Dynasty turned from prosperity to decline, and since the climax of the Northern Song Dynasty, the field of science and technology stagnated, which was the beginning of the sprouting of capitalism. In 1582, Matteo Ricci came to Macau with a Portuguese caravan, where he diligently studied the Chinese language and learned about Chinese customs, state systems and political organizations. In the eyes of the Chinese, China was the only country in the world worthy of praise: “As far as the greatness of the country, the advancement of its political system and its academic fame were concerned, the Chinese regarded all other nations not only as barbarians, but even as irrational animals. There is no other king, dynasty or culture in the world that is worth boasting about in the eyes of the Chinese” (He 1983:181) The Western missionaries, in their efforts to spread their religion, studied Chinese culture and adopted culturally applicable strategies in the translation process, which was flexible and reader-centered. “In terms of ideology and culture, they conformed to Chinese culture with Western culture and allowed the scholars to absorb Western culture without degrading Chinese culture, emphasizing the complementarity and consistency of Chinese and Western cultures to ensure that the Chinese could accept Western ideas and knowledge smoothly”(Xiong 1994:16).

The year 2021 marks the 420th anniversary of the settlement of the late Ming Jesuit Ricci in Beijing. He then managed to gain a foothold in the capital, establishing a church, "legitimizing Catholicism in China," and "pioneering the history of combining Chinese and Western translation and introduction of Western scientific and technical literature, as well as being the first to translate the Four Books: The Great Learning, The Doctrine of the Mean, The Confucian Analects and The Works of Mencius into Latin, opening the way for the introduction of Chinese texts to the West. He was also the first to translate the Four Books into Latin, which was the first time that Chinese texts were introduced to the West. In the history of cultural exchange between China and the West, this is an event of great significance. Since entering China, Matteo Ricci adopted the strategy of attaching to Confucianism and complementing Confucianism, hoping to convert China to Jesus Christ through the adaptation of Catholicism to traditional Chinese culture. Ricci's friendly and tolerant attitude toward Confucianism made the spread of Catholicism at that time a success, and he himself won the eyes of some of the great scholars. “Ricci wrote a hundred aphorisms in Chinese about friendship from the Western philosophers he had read, had them embellished by Wang Kentang, and had them printed in Nanchang in 1595 under the title "On Friendship" and presented to the dignitaries of the time. This book contains the treatises on friendship from Plato's Rutgers, Aristotle's Ethics, Cicero's On Friendship, Montaigne's Essays, and Plutarch's Moral Theory”(Xie 2009:115). Some of them were also authored by Ricci himself. He maintained a friendly, tolerant and sincere attitude toward traditional Chinese culture and the Chinese people, and was therefore respected by some Confucian students as "Li Zi" or "Western Confucian", and many people were happy to make friends with him. In the following decade, Matteo Ricci laid the foundation for the spread of Christianity in China and objectively promoted a deep cultural dialogue and scientific and technological exchange between China and the West. Ricci's success was largely based on the "academic missionary" and "dumb missionary" methods, i.e., the translation and compilation of Western scientific and technical works and theological works to expand his influence and achieve the missionary purpose. The Western translation of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, which began with Matteo Ricci, was the second high point in the history of translation in China. Although the impact of this translation on Chinese culture could not be compared with the translation of Buddhist scriptures, Chinese people learned directly from it for the first time about European scientific and technological knowledge such as mathematics, calendars, geography and arms manufacturing. This scientific and technological knowledge, especially the modern world concept, opened the eyes of some of the scholars, and the Western scientific thinking method began to influence our academia from both logical reasoning and empirical investigation. Matteo Ricci is the most influential figure in the history of cultural exchange between China and the West. Ricci is credited with pioneering the development of modern Western science and Catholicism in China. Ricci's map of the world, Great Universal Geographic Map, was engraved in 12 different editions from 1584 to the end of the Ming Dynasty. In order to illustrate the concept of the map, Matteo Ricci especially applied the cone projection to draw the equatorial north and south hemispheres on the map, indicating the circle of the earth, the north and south poles, the length of day and night north and south of the equator, and the five belts. The names of the five continents: Europa, Lemuria (Africa), Asia, North and South Asia, Murica, and Murray Mecca. He marked out more than thirty countries in Europe, and introduced North and South America, and made field measurements with modern scientific methods and instruments, and drew the latitude and longitude of eight cities in China: Beijing, Nanjing, Datong, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Xi'an Taiyuan, Jinan. The concept of the five continents, the doctrine of the circle of the earth, and the division of the zones have all made important contributions to Chinese geography. Many of the translations of the names of countries and places on the five continents are still in use today. In addition, there are more than twenty Chinese works of Matteo Ricci, among which thirteen are included in the Siku Quanshu,and six in The History of Ming Dynasty. What’s more, there are also a number of series of books or individual collections in which Matteo Ricci's writings are collected, and he himself has been called "the first foreigner from whom Chinese people could learn from his Chinese writings”. Mr. Hushi also affirmed that "in the last three hundred years, Chinese thought and learning have all tended to be scientific in their precision and nuance .... All of them were influenced by Matteo Ricci's arrival in China". Mr. Fanghao also believed that "Matteo Ricci was the first person who bridged Chinese and Western cultures in the Ming Dynasty". Of course, Matteo Ricci's subjective intention was to preach, and what he imported was mainly Greek science, which was far from modern scientific theories and methods. But for the Chinese scholars, who lacked an axiomatic, systematic and symbolic scientific system, these scientific theories did have a liberating significance. Moreover, "when missionaries such as Matteo Ricci used science as a missionary tool, they not only aroused the interest of some of the scholars in Western science, but also to some extent satisfied the needs of some scholars and even the emperor. It was this relationship between the need and the wanted that made possible the peaceful dialogue between Chinese and Western civilizations, mediated by the missionaries and the scholars”（Cheng 2002:70-74).

Xu Guangqi

Xu Guangqi was an official in the late Ming Dynasty, a member of the scholarly class. This position gave Xu Guangqi early access to Western missionaries and to Western technology in the context of national development. Seeing that his country was in decline, that the gap between the East and the West was great, and that the "Heavenly Kingdom" was only an illusion, Xu Guangqi tried to revitalize his country by translating Western learning. He translated and compiled a series of Western academic works in many fields, including astronomy, mathematics, and water conservation. Wu Jin considers Xu Guangqi to be the first scientist to accept Western scientific knowledge and introduce it to the Chinese, and to be the pioneer and founder of Chinese science and technology. In 1593, Xu Guangqi, who was an official, began to communicate with missionaries, and his love for science and technology, coupled with his sense of crisis and national salvation after the contrast between the East and the West, actively cooperated with Matteo Ricci, who used "academic missionary", and they each took what they needed and began to translate and compile academic works. The two men began to translate and compile scholarly works.

The second culmination of translation in China shifted from Buddhist scripture translation to scientific and technical translation. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Xu Guangqi's cooperation with the missionaries became an important driving force for this climax. According to A Brief History of Chinese and Western Translation edited by Xie Tianzhen, the works that Xu Guangqi translated and compiled with the missionaries mainly include: 1) Elements , in 1604, Xu Guangqi contacted Matteo Ricci and studied Elements with him, and the first six volumes were translated in 1607. The first six volumes were translated in 1607. Thus, Western geometry began to spread in China and became famous for centuries. 2) Water Conservation and Irrigation Methods in the West , which was translated by Xu Guangqi and Xiong Sanbao in 1612, mainly introduced Western water engineering and machinery. 3) Chongzhen Calendar, as early as the beginning of the 17th century, knowledgeable people wrote to request the revision of the calendar, and it was not until 1629 that Emperor Chongzhen decreed that Xu Guangqi and Li Zhizao and other knowledgeable people were ordered to revise the calendar and compile the astronomical calendar.

Xu Guangqi had a far-sighted and strategic mind. As a proponent of Western learning in the late Ming Dynasty, Xu Guangqi's translation activities were inseparable from Catholicism. From his first acquaintance with Catholics in Shaozhou in 1595, he was formally baptized as a Catholic eight years later in 1603. It was during the exchange with Matteo Ricci and others that Xu Guangqi gradually learned about the basic situation of university education in the West and further realized the fundamental place of mathematics and science. So in the selection of the content of the translation, determined the Western mathematical and scientific classics as the first choice for translation. He believed that the Western mathematical theory was rigorous and had a certain logical system, which seemed to be useless but was actually the basis of all uses. Ancient China was an agricultural civilization, and when agriculture flourished, the country flourished. From Li Bing's construction of Dujiangyan, we can see the importance of agricultural water conservancy to the country and to the people. Xu Guangqi's strategic vision of translation went beyond the study and debate on the mere textual "translation techniques" of Buddhist scriptures translation, such as the "text-quality controversy" of the time. “Xu Guangqi's translations of Elements and The Celiang Fayi saved traditional Chinese mathematics, which was on the verge of extinction, and the people's attention and research on mathematics facilitated the transformation of China from classical to modern mathematics”(Li 2021:60-64). The social function of translation was highlighted in this culmination of translation, and Kong Deliang argues that "although it was not fully realized due to the time constraints, it became a turning point in the history of Chinese translation” (Kong 2015:76-80).

In the midst of China's social transformation and the tide of Western learning, Xu Guangqi was involved in the translation and proofreading of Western scientific and technical books. He selectively filtered, absorbed, borrowed, digested and integrated Western learning to add fresh and heterogeneous elements to the ancient Chinese culture, in order to maintain the vitality of the local culture and promote the modern transformation of Chinese society in political, economic and cultural aspects. His translation statements are the grass-roots threads in the interpretation of the history of Chinese translation and thought, and they have been the pulse of Chinese thought since modern times. Xu Guangqi of the late Ming Dynasty was "the first person of distinction to expand the scope of translation from religion and literature to the field of natural science and technology", and he had "outstanding philosophical thinking ability", but unfortunately he did not "elaborate the theory of translation from a philosophical height" (Chen, F. K. 2010:55).

Conlusion

Before the sixteenth century, China had the most frequent cultural exchanges with Arabia and India. While promoting the spread of Buddhism in China, it also promoted the progress of astronomy, calendar and medicine in ancient China, and laid a solid foundation for the development of science and technology in ancient China. The climax of scientific and technological translation in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties pushed forward the development of modern science and technology in China, introduced advanced Western instruments, and set off a wave of learning Western science and technology for China. At the same time, the scientific and technological translations in the late Qing and early Ming dynasties also transformed the way of thinking and values of Chinese people, making China modernize its ideology. The missionary Matteo Ricci brought advanced Western science and technology to China, opening up the eyes of the Chinese people and promoting the development of traditional Chinese science and technology. The attention to and translation of traditional Chinese texts, triggered by the ancient Chinese scholar Xu Guangqi, went far beyond the confines of East Asia and created a craze for admiration in Western European countries as well, reflecting to a certain extent the breakthrough and growth of China's translation business.

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钟雨露Western Translation History in the Old Ages

钟雨露 Zhong Yulu, Hunan Normal University, China

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.

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. Corrected by--Zhong Yifei (talk) 12:12, 13 December 2021 (UTC)

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. (Xie, 2009: 57)

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. 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. (Xu, 2006: 363)

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. (Xie, 2009: 57)

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. 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. (Xu, 2006: 363) Corrected by--Zhong Yifei (talk) 12:14, 13 December 2021 (UTC)

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. (Lefevere, 2006: 15)

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. 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. (Tan, 2004: 16)

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, 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. 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. (Jiang, 2006: 108–109)

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. 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”. (Jiang, 2006: 280)

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: 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.” 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. Secondly, 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. Thirdly, 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, 2007:9)

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: Firstly, 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.” 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. Secondly, 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”. Thirdly, 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, 1981:79)

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?)

Quintilian was another famous figure who advocated flexible translation after Cicero and Horace. Quintilian was born in 35 AD in a small town of Galaguris in the upper reaches of the Ebro River in northern Spain. He was an orator and educator during the Roman Empire. His thoughts on translation were concentrated in his book De institutione oratoria. Although this book primarily concerned with Quintilian's educational ideas, it made important observations on the subject of translation. He noted differences in vocabulary, rhetoric between Greek and Latin, but he did not think such differences would lead to untranslatability. In his opinion, no matter how different languages and cultures are, there are various ways to express the same thought and emotion. Although translation cannot achieve the same effect as the original work, it can approach the original work through various means. In addition, he also proposed that translation should struggle with the original work. He said: “As for translation, I mean not only free translation, but also the struggle and competition with the original text in expressing the same meaning.” That is to say, translation is also a kind of creation, which must be comparable with the original work and even strive to surpass it. (Robinson, 1997:20)

It is not hard to find that the above three ancient scholars’ translation views have some similarities. They all oppose literal translation and advocate creative free translation. To talk about the early western translation theories, we should first clarify a fact— in the special context of ancient Rome, individual translators or translation theorists represented by Cicero did not talk about translation exclusively, but instead regarded translation as an exercise in rhetoric education and literary creation. Translation serves speech and literary creation and does not have the value of independent existence. In spite of this, their translation thoughts are of great significance, which create the first literary school in the history of western translation and form a distinctive tradition in the later development of translation theory.

Early Bible Translation And St. Jerome As Well As St. Augustine

Bible translation plays an important role in the history of western translation. From the ancient times to the present day, the translation of the Bible has never stopped. The range of languages, the number of translations and the frequency of use of the translations are unmatched by the translations of any other works. From the macro view of the Bible translation history, it has the following several important milestones: the first is The Septuagint; then followed by Vulgate of four to five centuries; later there are different language versions in the early Middle Ages(such as Martin Luther’s version in Germany, the King James Bible in Britain, etc.) and various modern versions. All these translations have made indelible contributions to the spread and development of Christianity in the West, as well as to the flourishing of national languages and cultures.

The Septuagint

The first important translation of the Bible in the West was the Greek version of the Old Testament. The Old Testament was the official text of Judaism, and it was first written in Hebrew. Because the Jews were scattered and drifted abroad for a long time, they gradually forgot the language of their ancestors. So they used Arabic and Greek and other foreign languages, among which Greek speakers accounted for the majority. In ancient times, the Alexandria of Egypt was a cultural and trading center in the eastern Mediterranean region, where Jews accounted for two-fifths of the city’s total population. In the third century BC, the church decided to translate the Hebrew text of the Old Testament into Greek to meet the increasingly urgent religious needs of these Greek-speaking Jews. According to Ptolemy II’s will, 72 Jewish scholars gathered at the Library of Alexandria in Egypt between 285 and 249 BC to translate the Bible. According to legend, the 72 scholars came from 12 different Israeli tribes, each with six members. When they arrived at the Library of Alexandria, they worked in pairs in 36 different places and produced 36 very similar translations. In the end, 72 translators got together to check the 36 translations, and chose the final version, which they called The Septuagint. (Liao, 2000: 2)

The translation of The Septuagint has two main characteristics. First of all, it is not an individual achievement, but the result of many people’s cooperation, which opens the history of collective cooperation in translation. A great advantage of collective translation is that it can guarantee the accuracy of the translation. Secondly, the 72 translators are not Greek, they are Jews in Jerusalem. Although Greek has become their daily language, they are not in Greece and the non-Greek language environment undoubtedly also has a great influence on them, which leads to affect the quality of translation. In addition, the foothold of their translation is that translation must be accurate. So, some words in translation are old and some sentences are translated straightly, even unlike Greek. However, far from being dismissed as eccentric, The Septuagint holds a special place in the history of translation. Later translations of the Old Testament in different languages such as Latin, Coptic (an ancient Egyptian language) and Ethiopian are based on it.

St. Jerome (347–420)

In the late period of the Roman Empire, the ruling class intensified the use of Christianity in order to save the Empire from collapse. In this way, religious translation naturally received more attention and got greater development. It can be said that religious translation at this stage constituted the second climax in the history of western translation. During this period, the more influential figures in the field of translation were St. Jerome and St. Augustine.

St. Jerome was one of the four leading theologians of the early Western Christian Church and was considered the most learned of the Roman priests. He loved Latin literature and had a great interest in Greek religious culture. He praised highly the ideas of the Greek theologian Origenes. He translated 14 of his sermons. But Jerome was best known for his translation of the Bible, Vulgate. It was a great success. It ended the confusion of Latin translations of the Bible and gave Latin readers the first “standard” translation of the Bible, which later became the only text recognized by the Roman Catholic Church. To some extent, it even replaced the Hebrew and Greek ones and became the basis for many later translators in European countries to translate the Bible. (Delisle, 1995: 101)

Jerome was not only an excellent translator, but also an outstanding translation theorist. In hundreds of prefaces and letters, Jerome set forth his mature thoughts on translation. During his lifetime, he had put forward some contradictory views on literal translation and free translation. In his early years, he advocated free translation. He cited some examples to support his point of view. For instance, he cited John Mark’s handling of translation. There was a paragraph in The Gospel of Mark that told the story of Jesus evoking a little girl who was ill. The original Hebrew phrase was “Ali that kumi” (little girl, get up), but John Mark translated it into Greek as “little girl, I tell you, get up.” Jerome thought that Mark had understood the tone of the command in Jesus’ words, and that it was all right to translate it literally rather than originally. It can be seen that Jerome realized that different languages are different from each other in terms of diction style, expression habit, syntax and so on. So it was not suitable to adopt the “word for word” translation method, but should adopt free translation following the principle of flexibility. But in the later years, in The Letter to Pammachius, Jerome made clear the differences in translation between religious and non-religious texts. “I will freely confess that I have never translated Greek word for word, but meaning for meaning, except the Bible where word order is divine and mysterious.” Therefore, he believed that in literary translation, translators could and should adopt an easy-to-understand style to convey the meaning of the original text. In religious translation, free translation was not always adopted, but literal translation should be mainly adopted. It can be seen that his later viewpoint was a revision and an enrichment of his earlier viewpoint. Finally, he regarded the relationship between literal translation and free translation as a “complementary” relationship. He admitted that he sometimes adopted free translation and sometimes literal translation. And in some cases, he would integrate the two methods to pursue a better translation. (Jerome, 2007: 25–26)

Jerome’s translation principles and methods have exerted a great influence on later translation theories and practices, especially in the translation of the Bible during the Middle Ages. Many of his theories, such as “style is an inseparable part of content”, have been inherited and developed.

St. Augustine (354–430)

Augustine was a Christian theologian and philosopher in the Roman Empire. Augustine was born in Thagaste, a small town in the Numidian mountains of North Africa. At that time, the city was part of the Roman Empire. Thagaste was originally a closed and monocultural town. But during the Roman Empire, a large number of immigrants poured in, making Thagaste gradually developed into a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural city. Augustine's father was a public servant in Thagaste. His family did not have much property and his father was keen on public charity, so he enjoyed a certain social status. However, his father was lazy, bad-tempered and had constant scandals. This had a great impact on Augustine’s growth and his attitude towards life. His mother was a devout Christian. She often induced Augustine to understand Christianity and even believe in Christianity, which was closely related to Augustine’s later philosophical achievements and even his eventual conversion to Christianity. The good educational environment in Rome laid a solid foundation for Augustine’s education. He studied Greek and Roman literature. His famous works were De Civitate Dei, Confessiones and De doctrina christiana.

Augustine played a very important role in the history of western translation. His discussion on translation was mainly found in his book De doctrina christiana. Augustine explained his views on some aspects of translation. When talking about translation, Augustine recognized that translation was not always a “dictation”, but that there were also the transcendent wisdom of God, the personal understanding and interpretation of man in it. Augustine once wrote: “the Bible, as a remedy for the terrible disease of the human will, was originally written in the same language so that it might spread throughout the world. But later it was translated into various languages, a remedy known to all nations. One studied it to find out the will of the minds of those authors, and through them to find the will of God.” This shows that although the language of the translations varies, the will of God is eternal and unchangeable. A careful study and proper understanding of the different translations of the Bible will surely lead to hearing the call of God. Such an exposition of the translation has been taken out of the linguistic dimension and is filled with theological discourse, which is metaphysical. That is, although Augustine affirms the value of translation, what is actually implied is the wisdom of God that is transcendent over translation and language. The Bible is not to be read to understand the will of its author, but to understand the wisdom of God through the text. The original, the translation, and the wisdom of God must be viewed separately, and the translation is only a proven way of understanding God’s will. (Augustine, 2004: 47)

He was also the first to propose that the translation style (plain, elegant and solemn) depends on the requirements of the readers. In his opinion, the translation of enlightenment texts needs simple style; a text glorifying God needs elegance; exhortation and guidance texts require dignified style. His comments played an important role in the later generations and had a profound influence on translation studies. Therefore, he was regarded as the founder of the linguistic school in the history of western translation.

Conclusion

From the heyday of the Roman Empire to the fall of the Roman Empire, translation had gone through more than 700 years, during which there had been two major stages of the development of translation. In the first stage, it was mainly the Romans who translated Greek classics on a large scale, especially Homer's epics and plays. Translation activities in this stage promoted the emergence and development of Roman literature and played an important role as a bridge for later European countries to inherit ancient Greek culture. The second stage was the large-scale religious translation stage, which was the translation of the Bible and other theological works. At this stage, religious translation surpassed secular literary translation and gradually became the mainstream of western translation.

The earliest studies on translation theories and methods in the West can also be traced back to this period. Although some translation theories are sporadic, scattered and not systematic, they have a lot of insights on translation and have influenced subsequent translation theories. For example, Cicero explicitly put forward the problem of literal translation and free translation. Writers and translators began to discuss about this problem, and later formed the school of free translation represented by Cicero and Horace as well as the school of literal translation represented by Augustine and the school of both free translation and literal translation represented by Jerome. With the decline of the Roman Empire, western translation gradually turned into a low tide and transferred to the Middle Ages.

In addition to the historical study of ancient western translation, this thesis also aims to make readers understand the importance of translation history. Translation itself is a cross-cultural communication activity, reducing or even dredging communication barriers between different languages and regions. The development of translation activities can accelerate and promote the development of human civilization. Translation history is indispensable in translation studies. It is the testimony of the origin of translation activities and the record of their development. People should pay attention to the study of the history of translation and constantly explore its implications. The research results of translation history can provide a clear direction for translation studies and promote the further development of translation activities.

From the heyday of the Roman Empire to the fall of the Roman Empire, translation had gone through more than 700 years, during which there had been two major stages of the development of translation. In the first stage, it was mainly the Romans who translated Greek classics on a large scale, especially Homer's epics and plays. Translation activities in this stage promoted the emergence and development of Roman literature and played an important role as a bridge for later European countries to inherit ancient Greek culture. The second stage was the large-scale religious translation stage, which was the translation of the Bible and other theological works. At this stage, religious translation surpassed secular literary translation and gradually became the mainstream of western translation. The earliest studies on translation theories and methods in the West can also be traced back to this period. Although some translation theories are sporadic, scattered and not systematic, they have a lot of insights on translation and have influenced subsequent translation theories. For example, Cicero explicitly put forward the problem of literal translation and free translation. Writers and translators began to discuss about this problem, and later formed the school of free translation represented by Cicero and Horace as well as the school of literal translation represented by Augustine and the school of both free translation and literal translation represented by Jerome. With the decline of the Roman Empire, western translation gradually turned into a low tide and transferred to the Middle Ages. In addition to the historical study of ancient western translation, this thesis also aims to make readers understand the importance of translation history. Translation itself is a cross-cultural communication activity, reducing or even dredging communication barriers between different languages and regions. The development of translation activities can accelerate and promote the development of human civilization. Translation history is indispensable in translation studies. It is the testimony of the origin of translation activities and the record of their development. People should pay attention to the study of the history of translation and constantly explore its implications. The research results of translation history can provide a clear direction for translation studies and promote the further development of translation activities. Corrected by--Zhong Yifei (talk) 12:20, 13 December 2021 (UTC)

References

Augustine 奥古斯丁:《论基督教教义》De doctrina christiana, 石敏敏译 translated by Shi Minmin，中国社会科学出版社 China Social Sciences Press，2004，p.47。

Luo Niansheng 罗念生，《论古典文学》On Classical Literature，上海人民出版社 Shanghai People’s Publishing House，2007，p.279。

Editorial committee of A Journey to World’s Civilization《世界文明之旅》编委会，《古罗马文明读本》On Ancient Rome’s Civilization，中国档案出版社 China Archives Press，2006，p.108。

Tan Zaixi 谭载喜，《西方翻译简史》A Short History of Translation in the West，商务印书馆 Beijing: The Commercial Press，2004，p.16。

Liao Qiyi 廖七一，当代西方翻译理论探索[M] Exploration of Contemporary Western Translation Theory，译林出版社 Yilin Press，2000，p. 2.

Xu Haishan 许海山，《古罗马简史》A Short History of Ancient Rome，中国言实出版社 Yanshi Press，2006，p.363。

Bassnett, Susan. Translation Studies [M]. Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2004, p. 57.

Cicero. 2007. The best kind of orator[C]//D. Robinson. Western Translation Theory: from Herodotus to Nietzsche, Beijing: FLTRP: 7-10.

Horace. English Literary Studies [M]. University of Victoria, 1981, p.79.

Jerome. Letter to Pammachius. In Robinson, Douglas. Western Translation Theory: from Herodotus to Nietzsche. Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2007, p.25.

Robinson, Douglas. Western Translation Theory from Herodotus to Nietzsche. Manchester: St. Jerome, 1997, p.20.

Xie Tianzheng 谢天振．中西翻译简史［M］A brief history of Chinese and Western Translation．北京:外语教学与研究出版社 Beijing: foreign language teaching and Research Press, 2009, p.57.

Delisle, Jean, & Judith Woodsworth. Eds. Translators Through History. John Benjamins Publishing Company. 1995, p. 101.

Lefevere, André. Translation/ History/ Culture: A Sourcebook. Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2006, p.15.

钟义菲: The Chinese Translation History in Mordern Age

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魏楚璇: Western translation history in the Modern and Contemporary Ages

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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.

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.

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.

The traces of written translation in different periods of the history of Persian language have mostly been based on the king’s demands or special order by one of the influential people in the royal court, mostly for their immediate political needs. This history, before the last century, has was interwoven with political, sometimes military and less commonly scientific texts. Therefore, individual or freelance translators who had been engaged in translation of literary works, or the Persian scientists who were keen to translate texts into Persian are absent in many historical periods. Azarang (15), studying the history of Safavid dynasty (1501–1736), in which Iran had lot of communications with Europe, has associated this strange phenomenon to the lack of concern and interest for learning and evolving in Persian travelers or dispatched students who commute to western countries. He believes that Iran missed a unique opportunity to use the scientific benefits for fundamental changes during Safavid dynasty, which was concurrent with the scientific and industrial transformations of Europe. As we will see, the attempts for translating texts for Iranian users were mostly confined to translation into Arabic instead of Persian as the main language of the whole plateau in post-Islamic era. The new movement of translating texts from different subjects into Persian was seen some 100 years after Safavid kings, during mid-Qajar era (1795–1925).

In this article a historical investigation of Persian translation is presented based on what is available in collecting books and articles, mostly based on four important references: Karimi-Hakkak’s article in Encyclopedia of Translation Studies (1998), Daeratol’ma’aref-e Bozorg-e Eslami (2008), Behrouz Karoubi’s important article (2017), and Azarang’s detailed chronological event book (2015). The study has been divided into five sections based on the five historical periods: Ancient Persia, Medieval Persian, The Mongol Era, Post-Mongol Era, and the Modern Period. This is more or less the same division done by Karimi-Hakkak, as the main resource of this article, but with a specific extension. This investigation refers primarily to translation into Persian and some comparatively rare cases of translation from Persian into the other languages, will exclusively be dealt with.

Ancient Persia (Before 651) Karimi-Hakkak (493) mentions that “Translation into Persian has a long and eventful history; it has played an important part in the evolution of Iranian and Iranate civilizations throughout Western Asia and beyond.” We see the first traces of translation in medieval Persia, in which close contact and interface between Arabic and Persian occurred. He claims that “The Achamenian empire was multilingual, and many of its documents were written not only in various language of the empire, but in Babylonian and Elamite as well. Still our information about specific translation activities among these languages is too sketchy to allow any in-depth discussion of trends and patterns.” Later on, only with the formation of the Sasanian dynasty in Persia (AD 224–652) and the rise of Middle Persian the first authentic historical information about intercultural exchange could be found.

Behistun Inscription as the unique masterpiece in Achamenian’s era is an exclusive phenomenon in the history of translation of the world; Azarang argues that it is one of the most important translated texts in that era as well as one of the examples of precise translation. Translation of Behistun inscribed stone seems to be done by a number of trusted linguists who probably checked the texts’ conformity more than once. This translation shows that a precise translation accompanied by artistic delicacies on the stones had reached a very good level in that time (35).

Scholarship suggests that Old Persian was transmitted orally, as we have no written records from that time. There is Avesta, a religious book in what scholars have termed Avestan, a language closely related to Old Persian. Even though it was committed to writing in the fourth century AD, Avesta contains some Zoroastrian hymns thought to be in older Iranian languages” (qtd. in Karimi-Hakkak 493).

Akira Jantarat： History of Chinese-Thai literature Translation in 19th century

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Jawad Ahmad; History of Translation

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Bible Translation in Christian History

Benjamin Wellsand, Hunan Normal University, China Hist_Trans_EN_18

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 (JMSJ) 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 JMSJ 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 JMSJ and recognize just by the stark contrast in Chinese character counts between the two versions that the JMSJ 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: l. 47) 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.

References

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