Study On The English Translation Of Wenxin Diaolong From The Perspective Of Translation Ethics

With the policy of “Culture Going Out”,Chinese literature is working to obtain discourse power on the world stage.As a bridge of cross-cultural communication,translation has great implications for spreading traditional Chinese culture which demonstrates an important part in disseminating Chinese knowledge.Wenxin Diaolong is known as a landmark in the history of Chinese literary theories.Vincent Yu-chung Shih,the Chinese-American sinologist,made the first complete translation of Wenxin Diaolong into English.His version has enjoyed an influential status for the foreign scholars studying Chinese literary theories.Compared with the researches of the English translations of other Chinese classics or other English versions of Wenxin Diaolong,however,there are only a small number of studies on Shih’s version of Wenxin Diaolong,which is inconsistent with its contribution to the global dissemination of Chinese culture.Translation ethics refers to a moral norm and code of conduct that should be followed throughout translating.It is the essential attribute of translation activities to regulate translation behavior and uncover translation laws.Its core contents entail the ethics of respecting differences of the “other”,the ethics of assimilation in caring for readers,and the ethics of concordance in promoting cross-cultural cooperation and exchanges.Thus,the translation ethics theory is taken as a framework for studying Shih’s translation of Wenxin Diaolong in an attempt to explore the guiding significance of translation ethics in promoting Chinese culture going global.Firstly,the thesis reviews the researches on the English version of Wenxin Diaolong at home and abroad and analyzes translation ethics theory and its application to translation practice.Secondly,the thesis sheds light on the ethical dimensions of Shih’s English version from three aspects: respecting differences,assimilating similarities,and landing cooperation.Finally,the relation between the three aspects of translation ethics and their integration in Shih’s translation are discussed.The study shows that Shih has made valuable ethical exploration in translating,which is manifested in respecting and tolerating differences,turning “differences” into“similarities” in a timely manner,and striving to promote cooperation.His translation not only respects the foreignness of the source text,but also takes care of the reading habits of the target readers,pays attention to acceptability,and seeks the cooperation and exchange of Chinese and Western literary theories.The English translation of Chinese cultural classics calls for more translators to abide by translation ethics,translate excellent works,and make their contribution to the going global efforts of Chinese culture.