Study Of Roger T. Ames’s Translation Of Dao De Jing From The Perspective Of Eco-Translatology

Dao De Jing is one of the most important classical philosophical works and the most representative of Daoism. So it is reasonable that Dao De Jing worthies researchers’ unceasing study to grasp the essence. In recent years, Dao De Jing is being translated into the western world more and more frequently due to westerners’awareness of the importance of it. The publishing of Ames’s Dao De Jing:Making This Life Significant as a philosophical book is also meaningful to the spread of traditional Chinese culture. Therefore, this thesis tries to makes a tentative analysis of Ames’s translation version from the linguistic, cultural and aesthetic dimensions based on Eco-translatology but not limited in Eco-translatology to get the reason why this version can be broadly accepted by the public and how it adapts to the eco-environment.The target of this research is to explore the rationality and deficiency of Ames’s translation version from the perspective of Eco-translatology and offer useful references and translation ways for future translation of Dao De Jing. Besides, this research can give structural suggestions for the study of Ames’s translations. The study of Lao-tzu is still in the preliminary stage in China. Therefore, the active research will promote the development of the study of Lao-tzu in the English world which is also the internal need of Lao-tzu study and will be beneficial for readers to have a brief view of the spread and effect of Dao De Jing. Absorbing the unique perspectives, minds and thinking ways can perfect and give a global view to the study system of Lao-tzu in China.Literature reviewing and comparative study are the two ways adopted by this thesis through the whole research. By collecting all the domestic and foreign documents required, sorting out and analyzing rationally, suitable parts of them will be applied to this research. Comparative study is to find out the ways and conditions used in previous researches related to Eco-translatology and select out the theoretical scope for this thesis. The most important is to compare Ames’s translation thoughts and ways in previous works to provide directive guidance for this research. The core problem to be solved is to judge whether the translation ways adopted by Ames can accord with the traditional Chinese culture and the receptive accustom of western readers or not from the perspective of Eco-translatology. Evaluating and supplying corrective suggestions is one of the major tasks of this thesis. There are still many other problems should be solved including how to treat the translation version under Eco-translatology, how to deal with the differences between Chinese and western culture, how does Ames do with them and whether his ways can achieve the effect or not etc.This thesis bears both theoretical and practical significance. Firstly, it applies the modern theory of Eco-translatology into the study of classical Chinese works. Secondly, it offers a new perspective to the study of Ames’s translation version of Dao De Jing, which enriches the research of Ames’s works. Last but not least, it proves the feasibility and applicability of Eco-translatology in traditional Chinese works.