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Chinese Discourse on Translation: Views and Issues

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Translation Studies in China

Part of the book series: New Frontiers in Translation Studies ((NFTS))

Abstract

This paper discusses the theoretical thinking about translation in the Chinese tradition. Taking on from where I left in a previous paper on the ‘Chineseness’ and ‘non-Chineseness’ of Chinese translation theory published in The Translator (2009 [2]), the research examines how Chinese thinking on translation evolved down the centuries, what major ideas and theoretical points were produced that were deemed to carry a ‘Chineseness’, and how Chinese discourse on translation (in the sense of Chinese translation theory) has been developing in the globalizing contemporary times. The paper begins with a discussion of the concepts of ‘Chinese translation theory’ and ‘Chinese translation discourse’. The discussion duly allows me to position myself on how ‘translation theory’ distinguishes from as well as relates to ‘translation discourse’ from the perspective of the ‘Chinese’ context. The paper then turns to discuss what I consider to be the defining features of Chinese thinking on translation through history. Whilst it is not my intention nor is it possible, given the immensity of history, to include everything important in the paper, I will nonetheless zero in on the ways in which Chinese thinkers perceive translation that may be regarded as most characteristically ‘Chinese’. Three such perceptions are identified, i.e. those of the activity/phenomenon of translating/interpreting; the requirements of/prerequisites for the translator/interpreter; and the fundamental principle of Xin (translational faithfulness). The paper also examines how Chinese translation scholarship has been progressing in the contemporary, ‘non-traditional’ period from the mid-1940s up to the present. The main argument is built on my 2009 position, a position describable as ‘ethnoconvergent’ in the sense that it sees the ‘Chineseness’ of Chinese translation discourse/theory as but a reflection of translational reality, not something to be deliberately designed or planned by translators or translation theorists. The paper concludes with reflections on the dynamics of Chinese TS development under the new conditions of today.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Also translated as the Classic of Rites, the Record of Rites, or Collection of Treatises on the Rules of Propriety and Ceremonial Usages, The Liji (《礼记》) is one of the FiveChinese Classics of the Confucian canon, the other four being the Classic of Changes (《易经》), the Classic of Poetry (《诗经》), the Classic of History (《书经》) and the Spring and Autumn Annals (《春秋》).

  2. 2.

    The Rites of Zhou (《周礼》), originally known as the Zhouguan (《周官》) or Officers of Zhou, is one of the three ancient ritual texts listed among the classics of Confucianism, the other two being the Book of Rites(《礼记》) and the Etiquette and Ceremonial (《仪礼》).

  3. 3.

    See also Lung (2011, pp. 59–75) for a discussion of the ‘government officials’/‘envoys’ status of Chinese translators/interpreters in the old times, for example in the Tang Dynasty of the 7th to 10th centuries.

  4. 4.

    For detailed discussion of these ten guiding principles, see Chen (2000, p. 26).

  5. 5.

    Researches show that the earliest use of the Chinese term Fanyixue (翻译学/translation studies) was found in Fanyixue Tonglun (翻译学通论/Introduction to Fanyixue) published by Jiang Yizhen (蒋翼振) in 1927. However, though Jiang’s creation and use of the term Fanyixue came a few years earlier than Lin use in 1933 of 译学 (Yixue), Lin’s use of the term as well as his general contribution in the field of Chinese translation studies is much better known and much more influential, this paper deliberately cited Lin instead of Jiang in the text as representing the early efforts at Chinese Fanyixue (translation studies).

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  1. Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China

    Zaixi Tan

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  1. School of English Studies, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai, China

    Ziman Han

  2. Center for Translation Studies, SOAS, University of London, London, UK

    Defeng Li

  3. Center for Studies of Translation, Interpreting and Cognition, University of Macau, Taipa, Macau SAR

    Defeng Li

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Tan, Z. (2019). Chinese Discourse on Translation: Views and Issues. In: Han, Z., Li, D. (eds) Translation Studies in China. New Frontiers in Translation Studies. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7592-7_2

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