A Study Of English Translation On Aesthetic Terms Of Calligraphy

Chinese calligraphy is the art about the writing of Chinese characters. It is one of the oldest artistic forms in China with a history of thousands of years. Chinese calligraphy plays an important role in Chinese people's ordinary lives. In ancient China, it was a required skill for Chinese intellectuals, and men of letters to express their thoughts and emotions through calligraphy; before the invention of printing, calligraphy exercised the function of information recording. Besides, Chinese calligraphy is an abstract distillation of Chinese culture, which represents Chinese traditional philosophical spirit and reflects the spirit of the times. Therefore, it is of great importance for Chinese people to inherit and spread Chinese calligraphy. Nowadays, after China has achieved great material progress,more attentions are being attached to the promotion of culture. In this context, the international dissemination of Chinese calligraphy, the defining feature of Chinese culture,seems increasingly important. With the intensification of cultural communication, the number of publications about Chinese calligraphy is on the rise and more and more exhibitions of Chinese calligraphy are held by foreign museums to attract people from all walks of life. The international recognition of Chinese calligraphy is thus enhanced.Of the publications in English about Chinese calligraphy, many are the translations of Chinese calligraphic texts. However, translation study of these texts receives less attention than it deserves. There has not been a clear translation criteria or a systematic guidance for the translation of calligraphic terms, thus to some extent impeding the spread of Chinese calligraphy.This thesis chooses Zhong Guo Shu Fa Yi Shu (????????)and the English version --Chinese Calligraphy as the case to do the translation study. Zhong Guo Shu Fa Yi Shu is one of the representative books published in 2007 intended to introduce Chinese calligraphy. It is co-written by famous scholars of Chinese calligraphy. The history and theories about Chinese calligraphy, as well as its dissemination in the west are introduced in this book, with almost all aesthetic terms of calligraphy covered, it has presented readers a panorama of Chinese calligraphy. Chinese Calligraphy, the English version by Wang Youfen,a ranslator and the late editor-in-chief of Beijing Review,is regarded as a typical translated work about Chinese calligraphic texts in recent years.Based on the self-constructed Chinese-English parallel corpus for Chinese Calligraphy,the high-frequent aesthetic terms in this book are obtained, and qualitative and quantitative methods are combined to carry out the study. In this thesis,the author attempts to make a preliminary research into the translation of the aesthetic terms of calligraphy on the basis of translation compensation and the criteria of term translation,so as to conclude a translation pattern and compensation strategies for them, and make the translation of aesthetic terms of calligraphy more accurate and standard. Besides,this study can be expected to provide some reference for the translation studies of Chinese calligraphy, and furthermore facilitate the spread of Chinese calligraphy.