A Comparative Study Of The Three English Versions Of The Analects From The Perspective Of Yan Fu's Xin-Da-Ya

The Analects of Confucius, as one of The Four Books, is one of the most important Chinese classics in the history of the development of Chinese intellectual thinking and culture. Through comparing the three English versions of The Analects of Confucius, this paper explores some issues in translation standards, pointing out that the choice of translation standards may greatly affect the quality of translation. First, Confucius is introduced, and a brief account is given to the social and historical status of The Analects of Confucius both at home and abroad, and its renditions, including the English versions of the book. Then an explanation of the reasons of choosing the three versions among others is accounted. I precede then to introduce some theories of translation that still have powerful influences in China. This paper uses the famous translation theory of Yan Fu's Xin (faithfulness),Da (expressiveness) and Ya (elegance) as the standard to measure the three versions on the pros and cons, including the comparison of the three versions from the aspects of structure, style, semantic,etc. On the one hand, it is pointed out that the overall quality of Arthur Waley's version is best of the three, although not wholly desirable in semantic legitimacy (that is the aspect of Yan Fu's faithfulness). On the other hand, it attempts to prove that the translation standard of Yan Fu's faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance is not obsolete, and might be beneficial for the translating of The Analects of Confucius, and the other Chinese classical books as well. After some practical translation methods are compared and evaluated, the relatively appropriate translation methods are suggested, such as paraphrasing translation added to literal translation. At last, the paper concludes tentatively that Yan Fu's translation principle of Xin-Da-Ya is still both requirement of translation and reference of appreciating translation. The study of this paper might be beneficial for translating Chinese classical books, and it also suggests some ways to improve the quality of the future translation of Chinese classics.