Translation Fidelity And Power Discourse-A Study Of Staunton's English Translation Of Ta Tsing Leu Lee

Ta Tsing Leu lee is the first Chinese legal work that has been translated to an English version.On the basis of translation principle of legal texts,this thesis probes into the deep research of fidelity and accuracy of the English translation of Ta Tsing Leu lee and analyzes the influence of power discourse on translating texts.It finds out that Staunton's English translation of Ta Tsing Leu lee is an almost successful translation that precisely expresses the original meaning,but to some degree it has manifestation of some inappropriate translations because of the influence resulting from power discourse.Therefore,the English translation of Ta Tsing Leu lee contains the feature of translation fidelity and inappropriate translation.In the frame work of the general introduction of the English translation of Ta Tsing Leu lee and relate researches,combining with the translation principle and translation strategy of legal texts and analyzing multiple examples in this English translation,it is assertive that the English translation of Ta Tsing Leu lee precisely expresses the original meaning of legal texts in terms of word meaning and sentence meaning on the one hand.However,on the other hand,this thesis makes a detailed illustration of power discourse,which heavily influences Staunton's translation activity,and at the meantime explores the way how the English translation was influenced by power discourse with reference to the analysis of examples,thus identifies the causes of inappropriate translation in the English translation of Staunton.To be more specific,this paper analyzes the translation fidelity and power discourse of the English translation of Ta Tsing Leu lee in four parts: the basic analysis of the translation principles and strategies;the research about Staunton's translation of Ta Tsing Leu lee from the perspective of source materials and translation principles and methods;the analysis of the background information with relate to power discourse from the perspective of social,historical and political ideology factors and the analysis about the translator;the manifestation of inappropriate translation of some words from the perspective of power discourse.This paper is divided into six parts:Chapter one introduces the research background and its significance;Chapter two,the introduction of literature review,summarizes Ta Tsing Leu lee and its English translation and the relate researches of the English translation of TaTsing Leu lee at home and abroad;Chapter three makes a detailed elaboration of translation principles and strategies;Chapter four gives the basic background information of Staunton George Thomas,and the selection of source materials,translation principles of Ta Tsing Leu lee and translation methods of Ta Tsing Leu lee of Staunton;Chapter five makes study on translation of Ta Tsing Leu lee that has been influenced by power discourse,introduces historical background relate to power discourse and pays attention to the study on translation of some special legal languages to explore the manipulation of power discourse of Staunton;At last,it comes to the conclusion that as a whole the English translation of Ta Tsing Leu lee is a successful translation that faithfully and precisely expresses the original meaning of the Chinese version,but to some degree it has manifestation of some inappropriate translations,which was on the basis of the hidden loyalty toward the cultural hegemonism of Staunton as a British.To sum up,the English translation of Ta Tsing Leu lee contains the feature of translation fidelity and inappropriate translation,although Staunton rewrote and processed some content of Ta Tsing Leu lee slightly,it is objective to acclaim that the English translation of Ta Tsing Leu lee is still an almost perfect and faithful translation of Chinese traditional legal code.