Comp Stud Trans EN 3

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Chapter 3:A Comparative Study of Two English Versions of Shijing from the Perspective of Functional Equivalence Theory

饶金盈，Rao Jinying, Hunan Normal University, China

Abstract

As the first general collection of poetry in ancient China, Shijing is unique in style and rich in words and phrases. The translation of Shijing has a history of several hundred years, and scholars at home and abroad have never interrupted the study of Shijing, but the translation study of it is still in an initial stage. Nowadays, the multicultural background of the times highlights the contemporary significance of the study of the English translation of Shijing even more. This paper intends to apply Nida’ s functional equivalence theory to analyze the two versions of English translations by Xu Yuanchong and Jame Legge of Shijing from four perspectives: stylistics, rhythm, diction and imagery. The following conclusion can be drawn according to the analysis: Shijing has a unique style and rhyme scheme, so the translation should firstly achieve parity with the original text in terms of style and form, and secondly the harmony of sound and rhyme should be focused on, so that readers of the target text and readers of the original text will have a similar impression on the form of Shijing. Therefore, the translators should consider the words and phrases, and strive to reproduce the imagery of the original text or the emotion conveyed by that imagery while ensuring the fluency of the translation in order to achieve content equivalence. Key Words: Shijing, English Translation, Functional Equivalence Theory


Key Words

Shijing, English Translation, Functional Equivalence Theory

中文摘要

《诗经》作为我国古代第一步诗歌总集，文体独特，词句丰富。《诗经》的翻译已经有几百年的历史，国内外学者对《诗经》的研究从未中断过，但《诗经》翻译研究仍处于起步阶段。现如今，多元文化的时代背景更加突显《诗经》英译研究的当代意义。 本文旨在运用奈达的功能对等理论，从诗歌的文体、韵律、用词及意象四个角度，来分别对许渊冲和理雅各的《诗经》英译本进行分析，从而得出了以下结论：《诗经》中的诗歌有独特的文体和押韵方式，翻译时应首先在文体形式上达到与原文对等，其次应注重音韵的和谐，从而让译文读者与原文读者对《诗经》的形式有相似的印象。因此，译者应在词句上仔细斟酌，在确保译文流畅的同时争取再现原文意象或该意象所传达的情感，以达到内容对等。

关键词

《诗经》，英译，功能对等理论

Introduction

Comparative study is of great significance in the study of literary texts in translation, especially in comparing different translation versions of a same literary work. However, it is necessary to first clarify the theoretical framework applied in it before a specific translation comparison analysis can be brought out.

Eugene Nida’ s Functional Equivalence Theory

This paper in an attempt to analyze the two English versions of Shijing under the guidance of Eugene Nida’ s functional equivalence theory. Functional Equivalence Theory, one of the most important and practical translation theories all around the world, especially in the United States and Germany, was proposed by Eugene A. Nida, the famous American linguist, translator, and translation theorist. This translation theory has affected the western translation field a lot, which led to the result that Eugene Nida is considered as “the patriarch of translation study and a founder of the discipline”(Snell Hornby, 1988). Originally known as dynamic equivalence and formal theory, the functional equivalence theory is one of the most outstanding contributions that Eugene Nida had made to the field of translation study. The theory was explained as “ translation is the reproduction of the message of the source language from semantics to style in the most appropriate, natural and reciprocal ways”(Nida Eugene, 1964:159), so as to set a standard for the conversion between source and target texts, and narrow the gap between the two. Nevertheless, before the theory was clearly defined in 1969, three stages of its development emerged. Finally, Nida defined the dynamic equivalence in his work The Theory and Practice of Translation as the “quality of a translation in which the message of the original texts has been so transported into the target texts that the response of the receptors is essentially like that of the original receptors”(Nida A. Eugene, Charles R. Tabler, 1969:200). Later, Nida realized that the concept of “dynamic equivalence” had been misunderstood. In order to avoid this phenomenon, he put forward the term “functional equivalence” in the book From One Language to Another written together with De Ward in 1986 to replace the dynamic equivalence. Functional equivalence emphasizes not only the equivalence between the function of the source culture in the source text and the equivalence of the target culture in the target text, but also that the “function” is considered to be a property of the text. What’ s more, the functional equivalence embodies both the equivalence of content and form. In another word, the first principle of functional equivalence is to ensure the target text is precisely equivalent to the source text, at the same time, the equivalence of translation style should also be taken into account by translators. The core of functional equivalence is also reflected in Nida’ s definition of translating, “translating consists in reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalence of the source language message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style”(Nida A. Eugene, Charles R. Tabler, 1982).

A Brief Introduction of the Two Versions of Shijing

Shijing, or The Book of Poetry, Book of Odes, is a collection of 305 pieces of poems from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. Generally, Shijing can be divided into three sections: Feng, Ya and Song according to different their contents respectively. One of the remarkable features of Shijing is the frequent use of simile and metaphor, and the application of “association”, which means starting a poem by drawing forth some images quite irrelevant to the central subjects. What’ s more, Shijing contains a larger number of cultural characteristics, so it is hard to totally reproduce the source text in another language. Both of the following English versions has its own features with a lot of investigation and research by the two translators.

Legge’ s Version

James Legge, a Scottish missionary, a scholar of sinology and founder of bilingual education system in Hong Kong, was best known as one of the earliest translators of Chinese texts into English. He started his translation including various volumes of Chinese classic texts, such as The She King（《诗经》）, The Tao Te Ching（《道德经》）, The Analects（《论语》）, The Work of Mencius（《孟子》）. Due to his prolificacy in translation, he had translated completely The Four Books and Five Classics, becoming the first western sinologist independently and perfectly translating the Confucian classic texts into European language. Legge’ s translation acquired its honour for strict faithfulness to the original texts and has been considered as “a standard translation” (李霜, 2004: 9-10). As for Shijing, Legge accomplished his verbal version of it when he resided in Hong Kong and had it published in 1987. In this version, Legge applied the translation method of “word for word”, “sentence for sentence”, and “stanza by stanza” (姜燕, 2010:25), which probably prompted Chinese learners or scholars and specialists to attend to explore ancient Chinese culture and understand Chinese academics. Owing to the primary concern focused on the accuracy of concepts and the expectation of a very precise translation of the original text in his translation, other distinct features of Chinese poetry were neglected and not well transformed into the corresponding target text, even if being discussed in the preface. Also, the focus on aesthetics in Legge’ s translation of Shijing is comparatively inadequate.

Xu Yuanchong’ s Version

Xu Yuanchong, a native Chinese translator, was famous for his translation of ancient Chinese poems into English and French. In 1938, he entered National Southwest Associated University and studied in the Department of Foreign Languages. Later, he was admitted to the Foreign Literature Institute of Tsinghua University. Then he was hired as a professor in English and French, and worked in Peking University from 1983 to 2021. He had translated more than sixty works, making outstanding contribution to Chinese poetry translation field. Based on extensive practice and rich experience of poetry translation and inheritance of predecessors’ theories of literature and arts, he puts forward the Three Beauties Principle in translation of poetry, that is, beauty in sense, beauty in sound and beauty in form. He emphasized that a translator should try his best to convert the beauty in sense, sound, and form of the original works into the target works when translating poems (许渊冲, 1990). What’ s more, beauty in sense is of first importance among the three principles, followed by beauty in sound and then beauty in form. In addition to the Tree Beauties Principle, Xu proposed that the translation practice is the only criterion for testing translation (许渊冲, 2021:83) under the guidance of “faithfulness” and “expressiveness”. Xu Yuanchong’ s version of Shijing is characterized by its capacity to convey the beauty of sound as much as possible. Faced with the controversy of whether rhyme should be omitted in pursuit of the correct expression of meaning, he argued that rhyme might obstacle rhetoric in some cases, but the absence of rhyme would inevitably lead to a loss of beauty in the translation as a whole. So he insists on rhyming to make the work readable, which not only ensures comprehensibility of readers but also delights them.

Literature Review

This chapter illustrates the previous studies on the English translation of Shijing, including the foreign studies and domestic studies respectively. And also, a brief summary will be made to points out the shortcomings or gaps of previous research and put forward the main contents and innovation of the current study.

Foreign Studies on the English Translation of Shijing

Due to its historical and cultural importance, Shijing has been the focus or attention for many sinologists as cultural exchanges between China and the West. As a result, Shijing has a long history of dissemination in the West, nearly 400 years old. A large number of English versions have been published. Today, Shijing have spread around the world in dozens of languages, influencing world cultural history and becoming an important cultural heritage for all mankind. The first English-language anthology of Shijing was completed by Sir William Jones in 1785. He first translated some of the Psalms into Latin prose poetry and rhymed verse. He then translated both versions into English, and in 1876 James Legge retranslated Shijing in rhymed verse for publication in London. In short, from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, many excellent anthologies of Shijing translation appeared. For a long time, the study of Shijing has been centered on Europe. With the great cultural value of Shijing and its influence in the West, an academic boom in the study of Shijing has gradually spread from Europe the United States. Among the many scholars who have studied the English translation of Shijing, Ezra Pound is an important representative. Although he knew little about Chinese, he had a deep affection for the ancient culture of China and Japan. He published a series of translations based on the culture. The most influential early translation was Cathay, which was published in 1915. In Cathay, he translated a dozen ancient Chinese poems, including some from Shijing. Considering the difficulty of understanding the poems, Pound used the method of adding notes and making annotations. Two different translations of a poem were made to compensate for the difficulty in expressing the content. Moreover, Pound greatly admired the imagery of classical Chinese poetry and he was the first poet to translate Shijing in free verse style. The main elements of Pound’s theory of Imagism are: poetry should be concrete and avoid abstraction; in form, poetry should be line oriented; language should be refined, etc. It is clear that Pound’s poetry translation emphasizes creativity. Research on the English translation of Shijing continued in the United States into the second half of the 20th century. William McNaughton published a complete English version of Shijing. John. A. Turner (1976) selectively translated several poems from Shijing, which were collected in A Golden Treasury of Chinese Poetry. Burton Watson (1984) also translated some poems from Shijing. A number of poems from Shijing are also translated in his work, The Columbia Book of Chinese Poetry: From Early Times to the Thirteenth Century.

Domestic Studies on the English Translation of Shijing

Since the 1980s, with the promotion of economic reform and opening up and the need for cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries, there has been a boom in the translation of Chinese classics into foreign languages. Shijing have also been included in these classics. There are six versions of English translation of Shijing in China. It can be divided into selected translations and complete translations. The translators who published selected translations of Shijing include Yang Xiangyi and Gladys Taylor (1983) and Ding Zuxin and Burton Raffel (1986). Xu Yuanchong (1992). Xu Yuanchong (1993), Wang Rongpei and Ren Xihua (1995), and An Zengcai (2000) finished complete version of Shijing. These works have had a great influence on the English translation of Shijing in China, and the complete edition of Shijing translated by Xu Yuanchong (1993) is known as one of the most classic versions. Although there are few English versions of Shijing in China, many scholars are engaged in the study of these versions. It can be divided into three main parts to illustrate the history of its development. They are the spread of Shijing abroad, the three stages of the development of Shijing in the West, and an overview of the development of the study of Shijing in Japan. Fan Cunzhong (1981) published a paper on “Chinese Poetry and English Translation” in Foreign Language Journal, which focuses on the theories and ideas of some translators, such as William Jones, Herbert A. Giles, Arthur Waley and other American translators. Zhou Faxiang (1993) provides an overview of the dissemination and study of the Shijing in the West from both a vertical and horizontal perspective. Shan Qing (1995) briefly summarizes the dissemination and English translation studies of Shijing in the West. Wang Rongpei (1995) lists some excellent English versions of Shijing at home and abroad. Xia Chuancai (1997) studied the development of Shijing abroad. In the 21st century, scholars have gradually shifted the focus of their research on the English translation of Shijing from abroad to at home. At the end of the last century, Chinese translators also published English versions of Shijing, and scholars began to analyze the English translation of Shijing in conjunction with the domestic English versions. Li Yuliang and Wang Hongyin (2006) reviewed and looked forward to the research on the English version of Shijing at home and abroad. He believes that the research focuses on five aspects: the study of translation, the study of translators, the study of translation methods, the comparison of editions, and the comprehensive study. He also put forward the problems in the study of Shijing and suggestions for future research on the translation of it. Wen, Jun, and Hao, Shujie (2011) studied domestic studies of the English versions of Shijing published from 1980 to 2010. They conducted statistical analysis and discussion on translators, editions, and dissemination. Li Guangwei and Yue Feng (2019) conducted an ephemeral study of English translations and English editions of Shijing in China and abroad. They analyzed the existing problems and proposed future research prospects. For example, the translation study of Shijing is integrated with national strategies to promote interdisciplinary research in order to improve the science level of Shijing. From the perspective of translation typology, Zuo Yan (2020), in a recently published paper, provides a structural grasp of the English translations of Shijing. He divides these English versions into two major categories: documentary and literary versions. In a word, Scholars have sorted out the sequence of ideas in the study and development of the English translations of Shijing from an overall macroscopic perspective in accordance with the chronological development, which is conducive to a clearer understanding and grasp of the translation history of Shijing.

A Comparative Study of the Two English Versions

According to the functional equivalence theory, formal and functional equivalence should be achieved as far as possible so as to make the target readers appreciate the target text in a similar way as the original readers enjoy the original text. This chapter is going to analyze the two English versions of Shijing from the facets of formal equivalence and functional equivalence. Stylistics and rhyme are more appropriate to be analyzed from the aspect of formal equivalence, because they are obviously exterior elements of poetry. However, the content and meaning of poetry, no matter being more implicit or explicit, are more associated with functional equivalence. In other words, there are four elements of a poem discussed in this paper: stylistics, rhyme, diction and imagery.

Formal Equivalence

This paper will make good use of formal equivalence as a fundamental criteria to analyze the two English versions of Shijing. In particular, the analysis is divided into two parts: stylistics and rhyme.

Stylistics

As Simpson and Paul illustrate in the book Stylistics: A Resource Book for Students in 2004, stylistics is a method of textual interpretation in which priority is laid on language, and is a study and interpretation of texts concerning their linguistic and tonal style. Therefore, it does not exist as an subset by itself, but can be applied to the comprehension of literary works and also linguistics. An example from Shijing is as follows: 相鼠有皮，人而无仪！人而无仪，不死何为？ 相鼠有齿，人而无止！人而无止，不死何俟？ 相鼠有体，人而无礼，人而无礼！胡不遄死？ 

               ——《国风·鄘风·相鼠》

Xu’s: The rat has skin, you see? Man must have decency. If he lacks decency, Worse than death it would be.

The rat has teeth, you see? Man must have dignity. If he lacks dignity, For what but death waits he?

The rat has limbs, you see? Man must have propriety. Without propriety, It’s better dead to be.

Legges’s: Look at a rat,—it has its skin; But a man shall be without dignity of demeanor. If a man have no dignity of demeanor, What should he do but die?

Look at a rat,—it has its teeth; But a man shall be without any right deportment. If a man have have not right deportment, What should he wait for but death?

Look at a rat,—it has its skin; But a man shall be without any rules of propriety. If a man observe no rules of propriety, Why does he not quickly die?

Both of the two versions adopted the style of three stanzas with four lines in each stanza, which in line with the original text. Therefore, we can draw the conclusion that formal equivalence is achieved in both versions. Western readers are able to form their first impression that this is a poem, which is exactly the nature of Shijing, not any other genres of literature. And the reaction is similar to Chinese who read Shijing for the first time. Stylistics of literary works is an exterior element easy for readers to grasp. With the achievement of equivalence in form, both domestic and foreign readers gain similar reaction and feeling, and then the elementary success of translation has been realized. Both translators did a good job on this point.

Rhyme

A rhyme is the repetition of the same or similar sound in two or more words, usually applied to the final syllables of lines in a stanza or a poem. If two words have the same stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable, dependent on the number of syllables included in a rhyme and the position of the final stressed syllable, such as “madness and sadness”, we can name it as a double rhyme. It is obvious that the application of rhyme can make a poem read cadent and sound pleasant and then prompt readers to have a deeper impression on a poem, memorize it more easily and enjoy it more thoroughly. As for the analysis of rhyme in poetry, the rhyme scheme is inevitably taken into consider. It is the patterns of rhymes appearing at the end of each line in a poem and analyzed by using letters “a” and “b” to indicate rhyme of lines. In English poetry, the most common rhyme schemes include alternative rhyme, enclosing rhyme and couplet rhyme and so on. An example from Shijing is as follows: 何彼襛矣，唐棣之华！曷不肃雝？王姬之车。 何彼襛矣，华如桃李！平王之孙，齐侯之子。 ——《召南·何彼襛矣》 Xu’s: Luxuriant in spring As plum flowers o/er water, How are revere the string Of cabs for the king”s daughter!

Luxuriant in spring As the peach flowers red, The daughter of the king To a marquis’ son is wed.

Legge’s: How great is that luxuriance, Those flowers of the sparrow-plum! Are they not expressive of reverence and harmony,— The carriages of the king’s daughter?

How great is that luxuriance, The flowers like those of the peach-tree or the plum! (See) the grand-daughter of the tranquilizing king, And the son of the reverent marquis!

In the two versions of translation, Xu’s adopted alternative rhyme with the first line rhyming the third line and the second line rhyming the forth line in each stanza. The first and forth lines in the first stanza applied a double rhyme [ɔːtə], while the rest lines applied a single rhyme, that is respectively [ed] and [ɪŋ]. By using rhyme, the beauty of sound in the original text can be conserved in the target text, which makes it easier for the western readers to grasp the beauty of ancient Chinese works. On the contrary, Legge’ s version was presented in a free style, focusing on a strictly precise correspondence between the original text and the target text while lacking the utilization of rhyme. His translation of the poem lacks beauty of sound which results in the failure of presenting the same beauty of sound those readers of the original text can acquire to the western readers.

Functional Equivalence

Apart from the equivalence of form in translation, Nida also emphasizes the great significance of functional equivalence in his theory. Therefore, equivalence of content and meaning which are bound up with functional equivalence will be discussed in this section. The explicit and implicit meaning are going to be discussed in the part “diction” and “imagery” respectively.

Diction

The “diction” originally means “a saying, expression, word”, but now it refers to the writers’ or the speakers’ distinctive vocabulary choices and style of expression in a poem or story. An example from Shijing is as follows: 关关雎鸠，在河之洲。窈窕淑女，君子好逑。 ——《周南·关雎》 Xu’s: By riverside a pair Of turtledoves are cooing; There is a maiden fair Whom a young man is wooing.

Legge’s: Kwan kwan go the ospreys, On the islet in the river. The modest , retiring, virtuous, young lady: ─ For our prince a good mate she.

In the first line, “关关” can be explained as a kind of bird call or mutual responding between male and female”. Legge’s transliteration “Kwan kwan” is witty enough to focus on bird’s calling for love, but the verb “go” weakens the poetic quality and flavor of the whole verse. Xu’s version adopts “cooing”, which not only rhymes with “wooing”, but also maintains the spirituality of original text. Another datable issue is the choice of word for translating “淑女” and “君子”. In Legge’s version, “淑女” is understood as an elegant royal “lady”. However, the verse here presents the contenting wooing and call for love between man and woman. Thus, it is more suitable to consider “淑女” as a young and unmarried girl. Xu’s version adopts “maiden”, which is more in line with the style of poetry. Moreover, “君子” refers to an ordinary man, not an emperor or prince, so the adoption of “a young man” is more close to the original text from the aspect of function equivalence than “prince” in Legge’s version. In other words, the western readers can obtain the same information and feeling as the readers of the original text do by reading Xu’s version of this verse.

Imagery

Imagery, an important element in literature, means the utilization of vivid and concrete description to attach extensive meanings to the sentences or diction in works. The major types of imagery include auditory imagery, visual imagery and so on. This sector will presents a discussion on the equivalence of imagery between original texts and target texts in the two English versions of Shijing. An example from Shijing is as follows: 桑之未落，其叶沃若。 桑之落矣，其黄而陨。 ——《卫风·氓》 Xu’s: How fresh were mulberries, With their fruit on the trees. The mulberries appear, With yellow leaves and sear.

Legge’s: Before the mulberry tree has shed its leaves, How rich and glossy are they. When the mulberry tree sheds its leaves, They fall yellow on the ground.

Plants play an important role in implying special meanings in literature, especially for people lived in ancient society. As for this poem, the luxuriant leaves of white mulberry symbolize the woman in her youth, and the blasted leaves symbolize the aging woman. This kind of metaphor is common and universal that both the readers of the original text and the target text can comprehend it if translators reproduce the meanings of imagery to a great extent. Legge’s version is loyal to the original text as far as possible, mentioning “mulberry tree” and “leaves”. Nevertheless, Xu describes the fruit of mulberry in his version, which makes the meaning of mature mulberry more explicit. As a result, the reproduction of the meanings of imagery mulberry is more complete in the target text for readers to obtain the similar or the same feeling as readers of the original text do. To summarize, the functional equivalence of imagery mulberry is achieved more thoroughly in Xu’s translation of this poem.

Conclusion

Under the guidance of the functional equivalence theory, the paper picks up “whether readers of target texts obtain the similar or same feeling as readers of original texts do” as a criteria to analyze Xu Yuanchong’s and James Legge’s English versions of Shijing. Eugene Nida’s functional equivalence theory emphasizes not only the equivalence of form but also function in order to make readers of target texts respond in a way as similar as readers of original texts do. As an ancient collections of poems in China, Shijing is characterized by remarkable stylistics and rhymes, which reflects the priority of formal equivalence in the translation process of it. Moreover, based on the construction of form, translators should also take the selection of diction into consideration, promoting target texts to be logical and fluent, and also reproduce the meanings, thoughts and emotions of original texts. Only in this way can readers of target texts gain the similar or same feeling as readers of original texts do, that is, the equivalence of form and function are achieved as far as possible. With the rapid development of globalization process, multiple aspects of our life will be integrated into the whole world, especially culture. Thus, the cultural communication between China and other countries is bond to be more direct and frequent. Studies on ancient Chinese classic works, such as Shijing, can build a bridge across China and other countries to push the cultural communication to a further step.

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written by--Rao Jinying (talk) 04:49, 12 December 2021 (UTC)

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