A Comparative Study of Two English Versions of The Analects of Confucius

By Zhang Xiaojie

In partial fulfillment of the requirement

For the B. A. degree

Department of English

School of Language and Culture

Nanjing University of Information Science amp; Technology

May, 2017

Acknowledgements

First of all, I want to show my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Professor Xia Yang, who has done a lot for my essay. I have received a lot of advice and suggestion from him, which helped a lot. In addition to the professional guidance, he also expressed his patience and encouragement to help us insist on during the process of the academic work.

Moreover, I'd like to thank my relatives, especially my parents, in that their love and confidence made me feel more brave and confident enough to stick to my opinions and finally completed this work. At last, my thanks to my best friend May, who supported me all the time and would try her best to put forward some constructive advice to help me finish my work.

A Comparative Study of Two English Versions of

The Analects of Confucius

Zhang Xiaojie

Department of English

School of Language and Culture

Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology

Abstract: This essay makes a comparison between two English versions of The Analects of Confucius written by Leege who is an outstanding English sinologist and Ku Hungming who is a scholar known for his writing. It reflects their different translation strategies and proves the significance of their existence of translation works of various translation styles. The choice of translation strategies relies on the purpose of translation. In order to eliminate the misunderstanding or even the discrimination the westerners have for Chinese traditional culture, Ku Hungming adopts domestication. Leege chooses foreignization as his translation method for western missionaries knowing more about Chinese culture and doing better in the work with the Christian missionary.

Key words: Domestication; Foreignization; The Analects of Confucius

摘 要：本文经过对英国有名汉学家理雅各和我国清末民初因外国文字而名满海内外的文士辜鸿铭所翻译的《论语》进行对照剖析和钻探，体现出他们对华夏古典文化经典不一样的翻译方式，从翻译理论上证实不同翻译风格译品的存在的原因各不相同。是采取归化还是异化为翻译策略主要是依据译者的翻译目的。辜鸿铭为了消除西方人对中国传统文化的误解甚至歧视，采取了归化；理雅各为了使得西方传教士了解中国文化，以便更好地宣传基督教义，故采取异化。

关键词：归化；异化；《论语》

Contents

Acknowledgements 3

Abstract: 4

1. Introduction 1

1.1 The Background and Significance of the Translation of The Analects of Confucius 1

1.2 Research Purpose 1

2. Previous Studies of The Analects of Confucius and its English Versions 2

2.1 Foreign Studies of the English Versions of The Analects of Confucius 2

2.2 Domestic Studies of the English Versions of The Analects of Confucius 2

2.3 Studies of Ku Hungming’s and James Leege’s Versions of The Analects of Confucius 2

3. Translation Strategies-----Domestication and Foreignization 3

3.1 Introduction of Domestication 3

3.2 Introduction of Foreignization 3

3.3 The Relationship between Domestication and Foreignization 4

4. The Application of Domestication and Foreignization to Two English Versions 6

4.1 The Application of Domestication to Ku Hungming’s The Discourse and Saying of Confucius 6

4.2 The Application of Foreignization to James Leege’s Confucian Analects 7

4.3 The Comparative Study on the Application of Translation Strategies 8

4.3.1 Key Terms 8

4.3.2. Sentence Patterns 9

4.3.3. Proper Names 10

4.3.4. About Religious Culture 11

5.Conclusion 11

References: 11

Introduction

1.1 The Background and Significance of the Translation of The Analects of Confucius

Confucius is a Chinese educator, ideologist and the founder of Confucian school, who occupies a very important position in Chinese cultural history, Chinese intellectual history and the history of world culture. The First Nishan Forum on World Civilizations was successfully held and Confucius Institutes spring up vigorously overseas, whose ultimate aim is bringing the Chinese traditional culture to the world. Therefore, the world would learn more about China; the international public would understand the traditional culture of China well and grab the essence of it. The cream of the Chinese traditional culture is Confucianism, and the cream of Confucianism is the thoughts of Confucius that is reflected from the book called The Analects of Confucius, which records the views of Confucius and his disciples. Hence, the translation of The Analects of Confucius plays a major role in the promotion of the Chinese culture. Over the past two thousand years, The Analects of Confucius was spread to border areas and Confucian culture cluster has been formed in Asian areas. With the arrival of missionaries, the dialogue and conflict between the oriental culture and the western culture occurred and Confucianism started to pass to western developed countries such as America and Europe. More and more sinologists has appeared because of the popular translation of The Analects of Confucius. These sinologists’ translated works influenced European and American countries’ understanding of Chinese culture. Since the nineteenth century, China has opened up and The Analects of Confucius has drawn scads of attention. The global thinkers, litterateurs and translators all work on the translation and the study of The Analects of Confucius.

1.2 Research Purpose

The Analects of Confucius is an exotic flower among the Confucian classics. Through the ages, scholars at home and from abroad all tried to translate it into English. They take different translation strategies and various translation measures during the process of translating The Analects of Confucius. This essay will do a comparative study of two typical versions, in order to prove the significance of the existence of different translation styles.

2. Previous Studies of The Analects of Confucius and its English Versions

2.1 Foreign Studies of the English Versions of The Analects of Confucius

There are a lot of articles about researching The Analects of Confucius at home and from abroad, while there are few articles on the translation of The Analects of Confucius, among which, there are almost some book reviews of the translation of The Analects of Confucius.

Sunder Joshi briefly introduces William Edward Soothill’s English version of The Analects of Confucius and emphasizes moral sense and practical wisdom reflected from The Analects of Confucius (Sunder Joshi, 1938: 35). Homer H. Dubs makes a comment on William’s English Version of The Analects of Confucius. He believes that this version is readable and has a good entire quality. Moreover, the literariness of it is better than any other versions before (Homer H. Dubs, 1951: 76). Wing-Tist Chan remarkes Lin yutang’s The Wisdom of Confucius, who thinks that the selection of the sentences of The Analects of Confucius is very careful and general and the most important sentences are not omitted (Wing-Tist Chan, 1940: 87). In addition, in this English version, the beauty and the faithfulness are equipped, and the quality is quite high. He also reviewes Cheng Lin’s English version of The Four Books and consideres the expression is clear, the language style is elegant, but the Confucian terms’ are translated differently (Wing-Tist Chan, 1951: 84).

2.2 Domestic Studies of the English Versions of The Analects of Confucius

Di Aiying researches Pound’s English Version of The Analects of Confucius, pointing out that although the translation is not so accurate or faithful, it expresses incisively and vividly his ardor for writing and belief on Confucius. This version is a model of the combination of translation and creation. Jin Xueqin estimates David Hendon’s English Version of The Analects of Confucius, who expectes it colloquial, fluent and concise. He Gangqiang analyzes William’s version, discussing two reasonable questions about classic translation.

2.3 Studies of Ku Hungming’s and James Leege’s Versions of The Analects of Confucius

Han Caiying and Wang Zhengren use Leege’s English version of The Analects of Confucius as corpus to discuss contextual difference and the strategies of contextual amplification during the translation of literature. Beyond that, they also analyze the strength and weakness of literal translation that Leege uses. Wang Hui takes the example of Leege’s version of The Analects of Confucius, and analyzes the feature, success and failure of the scholarly translation. Chen Kepei probes into the process mode of several key words in Leege’s version of The Analects of Confucius and the relationship between the translator’s subjectivity and cultural communication from the aspect of microcosmic, the spirit of language, nationality and the relationship between literal translation and faith. Zhang Xuefei discusses the merit of semantic translation, which is good at reserving the form, content, characteristic and charm of the original work, on the basis of Leege’s version of The Analects of Confucius.

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