A Study Of The English Translation Of Citations From Chinese Classics In Chinese Academic Articles

In recent years,China has seen carrying out the state policy of letting Chinese culture "going out" and Chinese translators have paid increasing attention to translation from Chinese into English.Many scholars have been engaging in translating Chinese cultural classics and contemporary scholarly achievements made in studying them into foreign languages,English in particular.There has appeared a Chinese-English bilingual academic journal dedicated to reporting achievements of relevant academic studies.Of the contemporary scholarly achievements concerned with traditional Chinese culture,citations from Chinese classics abound.From the viewpoint of translation,pure translation of Chinese classics is somewhat different from the translation of the citations from Chinese classics in contemporary academic articles.As regards how translators of contemporary scholarly achievements have treated the citations from Chinese classics in them,no research achievement has been reported and available up to date.A study of this topic will be conducive to assessing the translation phenomenon and its result may promote the translation and spread of contemporary academic achievements made by Chinese scholars to the outside world.The object of this study is the citations from Chinese classics and their English translation collected from the Chinese academic articles on the eight issues published in 2016 and 2017 by Confucian Academy: Chinese Thought and Culture Review,China’s only bilingual journal dedicated to studies of traditional Chinese culture,Confucianism in particular.The key research questions of this study are: How did the translators translate the citations from Chinese classics into English in regard to their textual construction? What are their major translation strategies? How are their translations assessed? To answer these questions,this study employs such research methods as literature research,comparative research,simple statistics study,etc.and is conducted in two stages.First,the citations in the Chinese original texts and their translated texts are identified and extracted and their translators’ textual treatments ofthem are described;second,the translated versions of the citations are analyzed mainly by applying a research framework set up on the basis of Wang Hongyin’s modern interpretation of Yan Fu’s translation criteria in regard to three levels concerned with realistic texts in translation.The main findings made by this study are as follows.The translators applied multiform ways in translating the citations from Chinese classics in the Chinese articles under study.As regards textual construction,for example,the translating methods used by the translators include the regular treatment which retains the original citation textual marks;adapting or editing treatment;and melting the original citations into the translated texts implicitly.As regards the construction of translation,translators might cite previous translators’ translated versions of Chinese classics,translate the citations by themselves,or adapt the translated versions from previous translators’ works.On the whole,despite some problems,the translated versions meet the translation requirements on the three levels of faithfulness,expressiveness,and elegance.On the level of faithfulness,when translating the core concepts in the citations,translators adopted such main translating methods as concept-based translation,transliteration,and blended concept-based translation and transliteration,and usually provided the Chinese characters of the concepts after their translated versions.The translators’ expression of the conceptual meaning of the citations is,on the whole,able to meet the basic requirements of objectivity,completeness,and tightness,displaying obvious color of interpretative translation.On the level of expressiveness,the translated versions of the citations display strong features of academic English,which are,generally speaking,accurate,smooth,and concrete.On the level of elegance,on the basis of retaining the original conceptual meaning,the translators modified the translated versions they drew on from previous translators’ works,which is a regular operation,showing some features in conciseness,well-balancedness,and uniformity characterizing the translation of realistic texts for academic purposes.In a few cases,the translated versions also show certain aesthetic features in sound,form,and meaning.In regard to the paratext elements in thetranslated versions of the citations,the footnotes and bibliography of cited translations serve well the purpose of supporting the completeness and accuracy of the translated versions in conveying relevant original content.On the whole,on the basis of the above description on the textual level and critical analysis of the data,the translators tended to employ as their major translation strategy the academic translation which is highly thick.The present study of the translators’ translations of the citations from Chinese classics also reveals their creativity in their translation,indicating their subjectivity.