StrategiesinTranslatingTangPoemsfromChinesetoEng

1、strategies in translating tang poems from chinese to english submitted by liu gui-zhistudent id number w2005b1001b0069supervised by wang shi-yua paper submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of bachelor of artsthe institute of online educationbeijing foreign studies universitymarc

2、h, 2008北京外国语大学网络教育学院学士学位论文诚信声明本人郑重声明： 所呈交的学士学位论文，是本人在导师的指导下，独立进行研究工作所取得的成果。论文所涉及的项目为本人亲自负责或者参与实施的项目。除文中已经注明引用的内容外，本论文不含任何其他个人或集体已经发表或撰写过的作品成果。本人完全了解本声明的法律结果由本人承担。学士学位论文作者签名： 日期：2008 年 3 月 27 日论文摘要论文中文摘要应包括以下内容：概述研究背景、目标、语料类型、语料分析方法、结论和意义。字数要求：300字至500字。唐诗是中国古典文学宝库中的瑰宝，是高超的汉语语言艺术的集中体现，唐诗的英译更是文学翻译中体现最

3、高翻译水平的语言转换艺术之一。因中英文语言文化上的巨大差异，唐诗的英译会涉及到很多语言现象的处理，因本文篇幅有限，所以只讨论唐诗英译中专有名词的翻译。唐诗所描写的内容多是诗人身处某地时对某一景物或人物的所思所感，因此，唐诗中有很多涉及包括人名、地名、节日名词和文化名词等专有名词的现象出现，并且具有影响整个诗篇的效果。在不同的英译本中，对它们的处理可谓是仁者见仁，智者见智。本文作者选择12首不同体裁的唐诗和它们的多种英译本，根据英国语言学家纽马克(peter newmark)和许渊冲的翻译理论, 就不同译文在专有名词翻译中使用的策略进行了比较性分析。结论：本文通过对部分唐诗英译作品的分析，揭示了

4、一个事实, 即对唐诗英译作品中专有名词翻译的评定是没有唯一衡量标准的，不同的译本体现了不同的风格，并受到不同类型读者的喜爱。同时，作者亦希望通过此研究让更多的中外翻译工作者和翻译爱好者以及英文读者，对唐诗的英译有进一步的了解，并对他们的实际翻译工作产生一定的指导作用。关键词：唐诗英译 翻译策略 专有名词 衡量标准abstract the abstract should include the following information: research background, objective(s), data type(s), data analysis method(s), resul

5、t(s) and significance of the research.suggest length: 300-500 words. poetry translation is one of the most difficult forms in literature translation, especially between different language families. with highly extracted lexicons and popular styles, tang poems (tang poems will be referred to as tp in

6、 the following context) has been translated into english by many english and chinese translators in the past hundred of years. the first english publication of tp is made by giles in the early of 19th century that is lately followed by a number of other english collections of tp in colorful forms an

7、d styles during the 20th and 21st centuries. proper name is a language element which frequently happens in tp. it is an illustration of the feelings of the poet about someone or some object that causes special effects on the whole discourse of tp. therefore, a discussion on the translation of proper

8、 names has an important meaning for the translation of tp.the research here is to discuss the strategies employed in transmitting the proper names from chinese to english including persons names, geographic names and cultural terms. by comparing different english versions of tp, the author tries to

9、work out the different factors such as linguistic characters and different cultural connotations that affect the translators decision-making. the data is consisted of 12 tp in sl and several english versions of their translation. the data in tl are selected from different english anthologies publish

10、ed from 19th to the 21st century. since the language character of tp which are written in ancient chinese, each poem in sl will be firstly explained, and then several versions of english translation are provided so that a comparative analysis of st and tt will be carried out based on peter newmarks

11、translation theories on proper names and xu yuanchongs translation theories of beautifulization.conclusion: this research tries to prove that, in proper names translation, a diversity of translation strategies and techniques will be put into practice. and different english versions in unique styles

12、will cause assorted effect on both translators and readers. therefore, no general theory of poetic translation is possible to direct all the practice. in addition, the author hopes that the research will provide both chinese and english translators some useful experiences in translating ancient chin

13、ese poetry. she furthermore expects that the research will evoke the interest and enthusiasm of english readers in chinese tang poetry. key words: tang poems/ english translation/ proper names/ geographic name/ persons names / cultural termstable of contentspages1. introduction .1.1 research backgro

14、und1.2 research objective1.3 project design.11.111222. rationale .32.1 definition of proper name32.2 the three categories of proper names2.2.1 persons name2.2.2 geographic name.2.2.3 cultural term34442.3 translation principles adopted in the research 2.3.1 strategies on proper names translation prop

15、osed by newmark 2.3.2 translation methods summed up by huang guo-wen 2.4 the connotative meaning of proper names and cultural terms45553. data description . 3.1 data sources3.2 data types4454. data analysis54.1 persons names4.1.1 elaboration of chinese persons names in st4.1.2 translating the person

16、s names 4.2 translating geographic names in tp 4.2.1 elaboration of geographic names in st4.2.2 transforming the geographic names 4.3 translating cultural terms in tp 4.3.1 elaboration of geographic names in st4.3.2 translating the cultural terms55799101212135. conclusions 5.1 result 5.2 suggestion

17、5.3 conclusions16161616bibliography18appendix1924strategies in translating tang poems from chinese to english -concerned with proper names and cultural terms1. introductiontang poems are the most glittering gems in ancient chinese literature. they are a scallop of ancient chinese poetry that derived

18、 from汉魏乐府(han-wei folk-song-styled-verse) (贺研，2007:45), and touched the top level in the tang dynasty (618-907ad). tang poems are famous not only for its highly extracted chinese language but also for its strict rules on rhymes and vivid presentations of styles. the classical verses are so beloved b

19、y people that even a little chinese kid of 3 or 4 year-old could recite a few lines of them. in recent decades, with the development of international communication and cultural exchanges, more and more excellent classic works are being translated, shared and appreciated by people all around the worl

20、d. however, according to the authors research, the first publication of english translations of tp can be traced back to the days as early as the 19th century. the first english version of tang poems is chinese poetry in english verse (1898) translated by giles (1845-1935), a british diplomat dispat

21、ched to china in 1867. (/wiki/herbert_giles) lately, other english collections of tp made by the british and american translators had been published in the 19th and the early of 20th centuries. from then on, a wide range of studies on english translations of tp have been going

22、on for centuries. however， the discussions on the transmission of proper names and cultural terms in tp are rarely happened. 1.1 research background proper name and cultural terms covers a wide range of specific nouns involving in person, place, object, and national culture. it is a language phenome

23、non which highly likely happens in tp used to express the authors feelings or emotions about persons or objects. according to the authors statistic to the 34 selections of li bais poems in 300 tang poems translated by xu yuanchong, the number of titles which involves in proper names is 19. the high

24、frequency of proper name that happens in tp also proves the necessity of studying the language phenomenon. meanwhile, due to the special effects of the two categories of proper names and cultural terms on most ancient chinese poems, the analysis is not only necessary but also has substantial meaning

25、s for the translation of other ancient chinese poems. 1.2 project objective the practice of proper name translation seems to be an easy task but actually quite demanding, especially the english translation of proper names appeared in ancient chinese poetry. due to the highly extracted language chara

26、cters of tp and the cultural differences between chinese and english, the tp translators will inevitably face great challenges in transforming the proper names which carry cultural connotations. the author here attempts to analyze and compare the distinct strategies and techniques employed by differ

27、ent translators and the elements that affected them on the decision-making. 1.3 project design the thesis is to be divided into four parts. in part one, the author will introduce the definition of proper names and the translation theories related to the research. in part two, the author will introdu

28、ce the data that to be analyzed in the research and demonstrate the relevance of the data to the research. the third part is data analysis. the author will discuss the strategies in translating the proper names involving persons names, geographic names and cultural terms from chinese to english. in

29、the final part, the author will approach to a conclusion based on the data analysis. in addition, the significance of doing the research will also be summarized in this part. 2. rational2.1 definition of proper name and cultural termsaccording to newmarks definition, proper names and cultural terms

30、are “both referring to persons, objects or processes peculiar to a single ethnic community” and the distinction between them is that “the former have singular references, while the latter refer to classes of entities.”(newmark, 1982:70) huang guowen, a chinese linguist on chinese-english translation

31、 of ancient chinese poems defines proper names as specific references of person, object, time and place. (黄国文，2006:109) “the reasons why so many proper names are included in ancient chinese poems ” he continued to explain, “is that person, object, time and place are usually the subjects to be descri

32、bed in the poems.” (黄国文，2006:110)2.2 the importance of discussing the strategies of translating proper names and cultural terms in tpin ancient chinese poems, especially in tp, proper names and cultural terms are popular language phenomena. a person, a place or an object is always the focus to be de

33、scribed or depicted as the theme of a poem. due to the long history of chinese civilization, proper names and cultural terms in tp always carry special connotative meanings. just as e. nida said, “words only have meaning in terms of the cultures in which they function.”(nida, 1993:110) so, what tran

34、slation strategies should be employed to reveal the connotations and how to reach a successful translation of the proper names and cultural terms in tp will be the focus we are going to discussed in the paper.2.3 translation principles related to the researchsince the difference between chinese and

35、english (they are divided to distinct language families), the translation principles suited to analyze the translation between different language families is actually rare to find, especially between chinese and english. so the author adopts some of theories which are partly related to the subject t

36、o discuss the problems occurred in translating the proper names in tp. in the following parts, two theories will be introduced that are individually given by british linguist peter newmark and chinese linguist and translator xu yuanchong.2.3.1 principles of translating proper names by newmarkon the

37、issue of translating peoples names, british linguist peter newmark, pointed out: “normally, peoples first and surnames are transferred, thus preserving their nationality, and assuming that their names have no connotation in the text.” (newmark, 1982:214) the passage can be explained that if no conno

38、tation contained in the peoples name, both the family name and given name shall be transliterate. on the issue of the translating proper names, newmark proposed that “a possible method of translating literary proper names that have connotations in the sl is first to translate the word that underlies

39、 the proper name into the tl, and then to naturalize it back into a new sl proper name.”(newmark, 1982:71) the passage may be explained that newmark firstly gives a general principle on reaching an eloquence of peoples name in translation, and secondly provides a useful method of testing the practic

40、e of translation. besides newmark, xu yuanchong, a chinese linguist and outstanding translator, from another view, gives his perspective on the issue of translating chinese poetry.2.3.2 translation theory proposed by xu yuanchong“if the formula for the principle of science school is 1+1=2，then that

41、for the theory of art school is 1+1>2. for in science, the word goes as for as the sense, while in art, the sense goes beyond the word. therefore, i think literary translation, and verse translation in particular, is not science but art. ”(许渊冲，2003：preface 12) through the paragraph, we may have a

42、 brief but clear understanding of xus criteria for verse translation. furthermore, xu proposes the theory of beautifulization, he said the target verses should be as “beautiful as the original in sense, in sound and in form.” xus views about translation may be concentrated on two points: one of them

43、 is “being faithful”, and the other one is “beauty”. (许渊冲，2003：preface 15) 3. data description3.1 the sources of datathe data to be analyzed in the research are comprised of twelve pieces of tang poems written by poets of tang dynasty (618-906). all of the poems selected here are closely related to

44、the subject, so that the analysis will not be inclined from the research. the data are consisted of 12 tp in sl and several versions of translation in tl. and all of the data in sl are selected from 300 tang poems by xu yuan-chong, and their different versions of english translation are seperately e

45、xcerpted from 300 tang poems by xu yuan-chong, an anthology of the tang dynasty poetry by sun dayu, 300 tang poems by wu juntao and best-known tang and song four-line poems by wen shu, and the jade mountain by witter bynner.3.2 data typesthe types of data selected here are consisted of short poems a

46、nd regular poems (five-character-ancient-verse and seven-character-ancient-verses). the original chinese tp and their english translations will be listed at the end of the thesis in the appendix.4. data analysisin this part, the data will be analyzed from the following three aspects consisting of pe

47、rsons names, geographic names and cultural terms. all of the proper names and cultural terms selected from the st will be firstly explained and then, several versions of its translation will be discussed in a comparative way. 4.1 persons namespersons names generally happened in the titles of tp. the

48、 author takes ten titles of poem as examples that are written by li bai(李白), han yu(韩愈),jia zhi(贾至), gao shi(高适) and luo yin(罗隐). since the cultural specification of chinese nation, persons names in the titles of tp are usually presented in a form of either the official name add a surname such as 水部

49、张(shui bu zhang)，or the bearing order in a family add a family name such as 李十二(li shi er). so the persons names will be treated as a whole section and being explicitly dissected and explained in the following forms.4.1.1 elaboration of chinese persons names in stform 1.number of ordertitles of poem

50、 in slauthor of the poemelaboration of the section of person's name 1黄鹤楼送孟浩然之广陵li bai（李白）in this section,孟浩然(meng haoran) is made of two parts. the first part 孟is a surname, 浩然 is a given name. the two parts form a regular chinese name.2戏赠杜甫li bai（李白）in this section, 杜甫（du fu）is made of two part

51、s. the first part 杜 is a surname, and the second part 甫is agiven name.3宣州谢眺楼饯别校书叔云li bai（李白）in this section,校书叔云(jiao shu shu yun) will be divided into three parts: the first part is 校书 which meanslibrarian; the second part is 叔which means uncle explaining the relations between the poet and the hero

52、; and the final part 云is a given name meaning cloud.4与夏十二登岳阳楼li bai（李白）in this section,夏十二(xia shi er) is comprised of two parts. the first part is 夏,a surname; the second is 十二,an ordinal number which means the twelfth referring to the persons birth order in his family. 5哭宣城善酿纪叟li bai（李白）in this se

53、ction,善酿纪叟(shan niang ji sou)is comprised of four parts. the first one is 宣城, name of a town referring to the town where the hero lives, the second part is 善酿 which means a good brewer; the third part is 纪, a surname; and the final part is 叟meaning an old man.6左迁至蓝关示侄孙湘han yu（韩愈）in this section, 侄孙湘

54、(zhi sun xiang) can be divided into two parts. the first part is 侄孙 which means grandnephew explaining the relations between the poet and the hero. the second part is 湘, a given name, referring to han xiang(韩湘). 7早春呈水部张十八员外han yu（韩愈）in this section, 水部张十八员外(shui bu zhang shi ba yuan wai )is consiste

55、d of four parts. the first one is 水部 ，an official name; the second part is 张 , a surname; the third is 十八means eighteenth, an ordinal number, referring to the persons bearing order in his family; the final part is 员外, an official range.8初至巴陵与李十二白裴九同泛洞庭湖jia zhi（贾至）this section 李十二白裴九(shi er bai peijiu)is consisted of two names. the first one is 李，a surname; the second is 十二, an ordinal number; the t