A Comparative Study On English Versions Of Xu Xiake’s Travelogue Based On Eco-translatology

Xu Xiake’s Travelogue,authored by Xu Xiake,a geographer,litterateur and traveler in Ming Dynasty,is long in length and rich in content,making great achievements in tourism,literature,history,ecology,geography and so on.As Chinese soft culture rises and travel environment improves,Xu Xiake and the cultural,spiritual and practical values reflected in his masterpiece Xu Xiake’s Travelogue stand out,constructing a friendly bridge between Chinese and foreign cultural tourism.However,the study on English translation of Xu Xiake’s Travelogue comparatively lags behind,which indirectly effects its international spreading.Eco-translatology,fathered by Hu Gengshen,aims at studying translation from an ecological perspective.Based on the relevance chain “translation-language-culture-human/ society-nature”,the theory attaches much importance to overall and comprehensive translation.Started in 2001,Eco-translatology is showing great promise in theoretical and practical values after seventeen-year development,which deconstructs and balances the either-or translation theory and pioneers a new theoretical perspective for translation study.With changing translation eco-environment of spreading Xu Xiake’s Travelogue at home and abroad,it will be of great importance to use Eco-translatology to comparatively study its English versions and forward its spreading from both macro and micro perspectives.Selecting Li Chi’s as well as Lu Changhuai and Jia Xiuhai’s English versions of Xu Xiake’s Travelogue respectively as research objects,the paper,based on Eco-translatology theory,uses descriptive method,literature research method,comparative analysis method and quantitative analysis method to not only comparatively study two English versions in terms of translation eco-environment,degree of multi-dimensional transformations and degree of holistic adaption and selection,but also put forward the suggested procedures of translating Xu Xiake’s Travelogue and the cultural tourism text of such kind.The paper’s tentative conclusions are as follows: in order to adapt to different translation eco-environment,Li Chi’s English version pays more attention to the transformations in linguistic and communicative dimensions,while Lu Changhuai and Jia Xiuhai’s English version focuses more on the transformations in linguistic,cultural and communicative dimensions.As a whole,Li Chi’s English version adapts better to then translation eco-environment,while Lu Changhuai and Jia Xiuhai’s English version adapts better to present translation eco-environment.Indeed,Lu Changhuai and Jia Xiuhai’s English version also faces survival advantages and disadvantages,which means that its degree of holistic adaption and selection needs improving.In another word,this explains the publishing of new version of Xu Xiake’s Travelogue.In a broad meaning,when translating Xu Xiake’s Travelogue and cultural tourism text of such kind,we should start and finish translation from both macro and micro perspectives.That is,we should center on translation eco-environment from a macro perspective.Moreover,from the micro perspective,we should transform one or more dimensions of linguistic dimension,cultural dimension and communicative dimension at least in hope of achieving the best degree of holistic adaption and selection.The paper aims to use Eco-translatology to guide and advance the international course of English version of Xu Xiake’s Travelogue in a better way.On the other hand,the paper aims to use such theory to improve translation and spreading of cultural tourism text of such kind,thereby advancing the communication and development of Chinese and foreign culture and tourism.