第三章 中国翻译史

中国翻译简史31840年鸦⽚战争后中国沦为半殖民地半封建社会。

⾃鸦⽚战争失败后，⼀批忧国忧民的先进⼈⼠⾯对民族危亡，图⾃强、谋复兴，积极推动翻译和传播西⽅⾃然科学和哲学、社会科学知识，培养早期翻译⼈才，在近代翻译史上开创了西学翻译的⾼潮，使中国近代向西⽅国家寻求真理的历程进⼊了⼀个新的阶段。

鸦⽚战争的失败促使清政府在19世纪60年代开始推⾏洋务运动，促成西⽅的科学技术再⼀次传⼊中国。

张之洞的“中学为体，西学为⽤”，成为晚清新式知识分⼦最典型的西学观点。

洋务派认为学到西⽅的坚船利炮之技艺，就能“师夷之长技以制夷”。

洋务派兴办新式学堂，官派留学⽣，培养了⼤批学者型翻译家。

从19世纪60年代起，开办讲习外语、军事、⼯艺的新式学堂，如京师同⽂馆(1862)、上海⼴⽅⾔馆(1863) 、⼴州同⽂馆(1864), 江南制造局翻译官（1867）等。

同时派遣⼤批留学⽣赴英、法、美、德等国学习军事、技术、⾃然等科⽬。

设译书局、翻译西籍，传播西⽅科学，沟通中西⽂化。

清朝最早创建的翻译馆是俄罗斯⽂馆，后在京师同⽂馆、天津⽔师学堂、上海江南制造局等校均创设译书局（翻译学馆），专门从事西籍翻译，有组织、有分⼯、系统译介西学的精华。

中外合作译书，发挥各⾃优势，造就⼀流科技翻译家。

各译书局聘请⼀批外国来华教会⼈⼠和汉学家担任教习，或主持馆务，并与中国教习合作，从事西学翻译⼯作，对清末的科学技术发展和社会改⾰起到了积极的促进作⽤同时早就了⼀批中国⼀流科技翻译家。

他们的历史功绩和翻译成就为后⼈敬仰。

其中杰出的代表有李善兰、华蘅芳、徐寿。

），清代杰出的数学家，科技翻译家，中国近代科学的先驱。

他⾃幼通晓数学，15岁⼜习《⼏何原本》。

1852年在上海客居期间，结识英国⼈伟烈亚⼒等⼈，与他们⼀起探讨中西学术，并与伟烈亚⼒合作续译《⼏何原本》后九卷，于1856年译成，翌年出版，最终完成徐光启未竟之业。

还译有英国数学家棣么⽢《代数学》13卷，美国数学家罗密⼠的《代微积分拾级》18卷，使西⽅近代符号代数学、解析⼏何学、微积分学第⼀次传⼊我国。

Brief Introduction of the Chinese Translation HistoryChinese translation theory was born out of contact with vassal states during the Zhou Dynasty. It developed through translations of Buddhist scripture into Chinese. It is a response to the universals of the experience of translation and to the specifics of the experience of translating from specific source languages into Chinese. It also developed in the context of Chinese literary and intellectual tradition.The modern Standard Mandarin word fanyi翻譯"translate; translation" compounds fan "turn over; cross over; translate" and yi "translate; interpret". Some related synonyms are tongyi通譯"interpret; translate", chuanyi傳譯"interpret; translate", and zhuanyi轉譯"translate; retranslate".The Chinese classics contain various words meaning "interpreter; translator", for instance, sheren舌人(lit. "tongue person") and fanshe反舌(lit. "return tongue"). The Classic of Rites records four regional words: ji寄"send; entrust; rely on" for Dongyi東夷"Eastern Yi-barbarians", xiang象"be like; resemble; image" for Nanman南蠻"Southern Man-barbarians", didi狄鞮"Di-barbarian boots" for Xirong西戎"Western Rong-barbarians", and yi譯"translate; interpret" for Beidi北狄"Northern Di-barbarians".In those five regions, the languages of the people were not mutually intelligible, and their likings and desires were different. To make what was in their minds apprehended, and to communicate their likings and desires, (there were officers), — in the east, called transmitters; in the south, representationists; in the west, Tî-tîs; and in the north, interpreters. (王制"The Royal Regulations", tr. James Legge 1885 vol. 27, pp. 229-230)A Western Han work attributes a dialogue about translation to Confucius. Confucius advises a ruler who wishes to learn foreign languages not to bother. Confucius tells the ruler to focus on governance and let the translators handle translation.The earliest bit of translation theory may be the phrase "names should follow their bearers, while things should follow China." In other words, names should be transliterated, while things should be translated by meaning.In the late Qing Dynasty and the Republican Period, reformers such as Liang Qichao, Hu Shi and Zhou Zuoren began looking at translation practice and theory of the great translators in Chinese history.Zhi Qian (3rd c. AD)Zhi Qian (支謙)'s preface (序) is the first work whose purpose is to express an opinion about translation practice. The preface was included in a work of the Liang Dynasty. It recounts an historical anecdote of 224AD, at the beginning of the Three Kingdoms period. A party of Buddhist monks came to Wuchang. One of them, Zhu Jiangyan by name, was asked to translate some passage from scripture. He did so, in rough Chinese. When Zhi Qian questioned the lack of elegance, another monk, named Wei Qi (維衹), responded that the meaning of the Buddha should be translated simply, without loss, in aneasy-to-understand manner: literary adornment is unnecessary. All present concurred and quoted two traditional maxims: Laozi's "beautiful words are untrue, true words are not beautiful" and Confucius's "speech cannot be fully recorded by writing, and speech cannot fully capture meaning".Zhi Qian's own translations of Buddhist texts are elegant and literary, so the "direct translation" advocated in the anecdote is likely Wei Qi's position, not Zhi Qian's.Dao An (314-385AD)Dao An focused on loss in translation. His theory is the Five Forms of Loss (五失本):1.Changing the word order. Sanskrit word order is free with a tendency to SOV. Chinese is SVO.2.Adding literary embellishment where the original is in plain style.3.Eliminating repetitiveness in argumentation and panegyric (頌文).4.Cutting the concluding summary section (義說).5.Cutting the recapitulative material in introductory section.Dao An criticized other translators for loss in translation, asking: how they would feel if a translator cut the boring bits out of classics like the Shi Jing or the Classic of History?He also expanded upon the difficulty of translation, with his theory of the Three Difficulties (三不易):municating the Dharma to a different audience from the one the Buddha addressed.2.Translating the words of a saint.3.Translating texts which have been painstakingly composed by generations of disciples.Kumarajiva (344-413AD)Kumarajiva’s translation practice was to translate for meaning. The story goes that one day Kumarajiva criticized his disciple Sengrui for translating “heaven sees man, and man sees heaven” (天見人,人見天). Kumarajiva felt that “man and heaven connect, the two able to see each other” (人天交接,兩得相見) would be more idiomatic, though heaven sees man, man sees heaven is perfectly idiomatic.In another tale, Kumarajiva discusses the problem of translating incantations at the end of sutras. In the original there is attention to aesthetics, but the sense of beauty and the literary form (dependent on the particularities of Sanskrit) are lost in translation. It is like chewing up rice and feeding it to people (嚼飯與人).Huiyuan (334-416AD)Huiyuan's theory of translation is middling, in a positive sense. It is a synthesis that avoids extremes of elegant (文雅) and plain (質樸). With elegant translation, "the language goes beyond the meaning" (文過其意) of the original. With plain translation, "the thought surpasses the wording" (理勝其辭). For Huiyuan, "the words should not harm the meaning" (文不害意). A good translator should “strive to preserve the original” (務存其本).Sengrui (371-438AD)Sengrui investigated problems in translating the names of things. This is of course an important traditional concern whose locus classicus is the Confucian exhortation to “rectify names” (正名). This is not merely of academic concern to Sengrui, for poor translation imperils Buddhism. Sengrui was critical of his teacher Kumarajiva's casual approach to translating names, attributing it to Kumarajiva's lack of familiarity with the Chinese tradition of linking names to essences (名實).Sengyou (445-518AD)Much of the early material of earlier translators was gathered by Sengyou and would have been lost but for him. Sengyou’s approach to translation resembles Huiyuan's, in that both saw good translation as the middle way between elegance and plainness. However, unlike Huiyuan Sengyou expressed admiration for Kumarajiva’s elegant translations.Xuanzang (600-664AD)Xuanzang’s theory is the Five Untranslatables (五種不翻), or five instances where one should transliterate:1.Secrets: Dharani 陀羅尼, Sanskrit ritual speech or incantations, which includes mantras.2.Polysemy: bhaga (as in the Bhagavad Gita) 薄伽, which means comfortable, flourishing, dignity, name, lucky,esteemed.3.None in China: jambu tree 閻浮樹, which does not grow in China.4.Deference to the past: the translation for anuttara-samyak-sambodhi is already established as Anouputi 阿耨菩提.5.To inspire respect and righteousness: Prajna 般若instead of “wisdom” (智慧).Daoxuan (596-667AD)Yan Fu (1898)Yan Fu is famous for his theory of fidelity, clarity and elegance (信達雅), which some believe originated with Tytler. Yan Fu wrote that fidelity is difficult to begin with. Only once the translator has achieved fidelity and clarity should he attend to elegance. The obvious criticism of this theory is that it implies that inelegant originals should be translated elegantly. Clearly, if the style of the original is not elegant or refined, the style of the translation should not be elegant either.Liang Qichao (1920)Liang Qichao put these three qualities of a translation in the same order, fidelity first, then clarity, and only then elegance.Lin Yutang (1933)Lin Yutang stressed the responsibility of the translator to the original, to the reader, and to art. To fulfill this responsibility, the translator needs to meet standards of fidelity (忠實), smoothness (通順) and beauty.Lu Xun (1935)Lu Xun's most famous dictim relating to translation is "I'd rather be faithful than smooth" (寧信而不順).Ai Siqi (1937)Ai Siqi described the relationships between fidelity, clarity and elegance in terms of Western ontology, where clarity and elegance are to fidelity as qualities are to being.Zhou Zuoren (1944)Zhou Zuoren assigned weightings, 50% of translation is fidelity, 30% is clarity, and 20% elegance.Zhu Guangqian (1944)Zhu Guangqian wrote that fidelity in translation is the root which you can strive to approach but never reach. This formulation perhaps invokes the traditional idea of returning to the root in Daoist philosophy.Fu Lei (1951)Fu Lei held that translation is like painting: what is essential is not formal resemblance but rather spiritual resemblance (神似).Qian Zhongshu (1964)Qian Zhongshu wrote that the highest standard of translation is transformation (化, the power of transformation in nature): bodies are sloughed off, but the spirit (精神), appearance and manner (姿致) are the same as before (故我, the old me or the ol。