The Translation of University Motto

Chapter 1 Introduction1.1Background of The StudyA school motto is the central reflection of the educational concepts of a school, and embodies the history and traditional culture of a school. As the spiritual core of a school, the school motto stipulates the common values and behavior standards for both teachers and students.The rapid development of economic globalization and cultural exchanges in the world has inevitably led to high difference of communication between school in China translating its university motto.A university motto not only bears university spirit, but also performs the function of publicizing. Its English translation plays an important role in introducing university culture and spirit to the outside. With the development of international communication and cooperation between China and other countries, a large number of overseas students keep coming to China to study at Chinese universities. The university motto is an access to the first impression of the university. Moreover, Chinese universities which are working on becoming the top universities in the world must publicize themselves by English translation of university mottoes. We can not deny the fact that the English translations of university motto have played a crucial role in introducing Chinese universities to the world.However, not all translation of the university motto are functionally and stylistically equivalent. A lot of problems have risen in translating university motto because the university spirit and cultural connotation of university motto fail to be translated, which make translations fail to perform the function of publicity, some are even misleading and confusing. Some have been translated word by word, sacrificing the intelligibility, clarity, and coherence of the translation, which end up with awkward translation. This could result from the cultural differences between China and foreign countries. The ideas and concepts which are unique to Chinese culture donot have equivalents in English.Due to the lack of theoretical guidance, they fail to provide a framework fo principle, rules and hints for the translation of such particular genre. Many excellent translators. With their translation experience and practice, can only provide new translation examples and cases without innovation and breakthroughs in theory. Some translators even ignore translation theories and overstress the Chinese culture and linguistic characteristics. Therefore, a close study on the translation of university motto is need.A university motto is a refining statement meant to formally describe the educational motivation or intention of a university, which is an indispensable part in the constructing of education orientation of a university at present and in future. It is the reflection of university spirit and culture.This paper aims to fill in this long-neglected gap. And based on the analysis above, the author deems it imperative to study the translation of school mottoes on the basis of a systematic comparison of English and Chinese school mottoes in terms of syntactic structure, rhetoric style and cultural implication1.2 Significance of The StudySince the 1990s, research on school mottoes have been increasing in number and expanding in the researching scope. And in the rapidly developing modern society, the exchanges in education among countries all over the world are of no less importance than those in politics and economy. As the symbol of educational concepts and values or guiding principles of a university, university mottoes are translated mainly into English as an indispensable part in educational exchanges and cooperation between schools at home and abroad. In fact, most educational institutions, especial of higher learning, attach much importance to the translation of their Chinese school mottoes into English, many of which are of great value. But because of the differences in the language systems between Chinese and English and the inappropriate application of translation theories in the practice, many problems pop up in the translation ofChinese school mottoes into English, and the continue practice will present a most disconcerting scenario in this field. Hence, the author finds it very necessary to conduct a systematic study of the translation of Chinese school mottoes into English.The significance of school mottoes gains recognition among schools, especially among those so-called key universities and prestigious high schools, the academic researches related to school mottoes have sprung up in recent years, especially since the 1990s when the number of relevant research papers increased rapidly. Most of the researchers, however, studied the school mottoes from the non-linguistic perspectives, such as the relationship between school mottoes and school culture, the relationship between university mottoes and the university’s moral construction, as well as the functions of school mottoes. Very few focus on their studies of school mottoes from the linguistic perspective. As for the comparative studies of English and Chinese university mottoes, most of them were made from the perspectives of historical development, origins, contents and instructive functions, only with a passing discussion about their differences in sentence structure and rhetorical style, much less about the translation of university mottoes.University motto translation has close relation with the philosophy of a university, the purpose of the education and its mission. It is a reflection of the level of its education and its rank among the universities. It can be part of the university campus culture and the guiding principle of the students and faculty of the university. It can be regarded as one of the symbols of a university. It plays quite a vital role in international exchange and in the cognition of the scholars. It is an way for the foreigners to learn about this university. How to establish the close link between different universities is a difficult question to answer. Because of the close relation between the university and the motto, and its contents, university motto translation is not an easy task. It refers to the process in which the content expressed by one language is expressed by another different language totally. In this thesis we mainly have a discussion about the C-E translation of Chinese university motto and as a complement some E-C translation versions of western university motto are included.From the above we can say university motto translation can make the educationphilosophy publicized and attract the foreign students and from the point of the country, it can enhance the competitive power in 21st century. It is an indispensable part of ascending the external image of a university. It can enhance the education power and broaden the educational link between different universities. Meanwhile, it can impart the Chinese culture to the foreign readers and let the foreigners know more about China and Chinese civilization because some of the mottoes come from the old sayings of the famous people. It can promote the joint development of the Chinese and Western education. In accompany with the development of the world and education plus the cooperation of the different countries, the translation of the university mottoes is a hot topic in theoretic and practical research, but it is exiguous in China. The translation of a university motto is not only a vital and necessary way to entice people into studying the information of this university and mold the characteristic and spirit and soul of the university, but also the internal needs to reflect its own advantages and specialties and so on. The translation of university mottoes reflects the translation of conformation to times.Chapter 2 A Contractive Analysis of English and ChineseUniversity Mottoes2.1 Cultural Connotations of University MottoAs seriously influenced by the traditional culture of Chinese nation, especially the Confucius culture, the motto usually reflects this culture in the characters. Zhang jingbi(张竞碧) argues that university motto in China clearly advocates “moral” and has a strong tendency of moralism. They attach considerable importance to moral and pay great attention on doing goods to others”.Therefore, these culture usually reflected in the characters. For example, the one of Tsinghua University”ziqiang buxi houde zaiwu” self-discipline and social commitment”; the one of China University of Political Science And Law “houde mingfa gewu zhigong(厚德载物，格物致公)”“keeping integrity and law in mind and studying for the people” ; the brilliant culture of Chinese nation is vividly reflected by the expression of “houde zaiwu ”“social commitment” and “houde mingfa” keeping integrity and law in mind”“boxue zhijing mingde zhishan（博学至精，明德至善）” “pursue excellent with erudition, reach perfection with morality”. “Patriotism is the traditional culture of Chinese nation and is also the responsibility of mass intellectuals”. It imposes demands on the staff and students to love his motherland, to be loyal to people, to serve society, to support democracy and to keep harmony. Those are accordingly reflected in the motto of Peking University. National Tai Wan University: “dunpin lixue aiguo airen(敦品励学，爱过爱人)” means “cultivate your virtue, advance your intellect; love your country and people”; Hong Kong Polytechinc University: kaiwu chengwu lixue limin” to learn and to apply for the benefit of mankind”. “The ma jor tasks of university are to seek knowledge, explore truth, and develop innovation. Therefore, the culture is also reflected in the university motto”. Such as, the mottoes of South-Central University for Nationalities: duxing 笃信“faithfulness”, “haoxue 好学”“learning”, ziran(自然)“harmony”, “kuanhe （宽和）”“generosity”; Renmin University of China: “shishi qiushi”“seek truth from facts”.2.2 Differences between Chinese and Overseas University MottoesComparing the sources of English and Chinese school mottoes, there are many similarities as well as differences between the two. As for the similarities, they are as follows:Firstly, many school mottoes in our country and in the West are inscriptions or famous sayings of celebrities, such as the national leaders, government officials, and founders or well-known principals of the school. For example, among English school mottoes, the school motto of University of Berlin was inscribed by Humboldt, the father of modern German education and the Minister of Education in the early 1810s, and what he inscribed is the famous saying of Carl Marx, “What philosophers do is just explaining the world through variety of ways, whereas the key problem is to change the world”. And the school motto of Cornell University. “I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study”, “I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study,” is a famous saying left by Ezra Comell, the founder of the university. Among Chinese school mottoes, the school motto of Nankai University “允公允能日新月异”was formed in 1934 when Nankai University celebrated its 30th anniversary and Mr. Zhang Boling, the principal of the university at that time, officially announced that Nankai University would adopt “公” and “能” as its school motto. Another example is the school motto of Peking University “爱国进步民主科学”, it was inscribed by Chairman Jiang Zemin when Peking University celebrated its one-hundred –year anniversary in 1998. And Chairman Jiang Zemin also inscribed “厚德博学强军兴国”for National University of Defense Technology in 2003, which was taken as the school motto of the university since then.Secondly, many school mottoes in our county and in the West are words or sentences quoted from a hymn by Roman lyric poet Horace. The school motto of Duke University in America “Knowledge and Religion” is also quoted from a hymn named “Sacred Knowledge” by Charles Wesley. And the school motto of AustralianNational University “Above all of find out the way things are”is ancient Rome. Among Chinese school mottoes, the school motto of Tsinghua University “自强不息厚德载物” in Chinese are words taken from the Book of Changes, a prevailing work of Confucianism in ancient China. And the school motto of Sichuan University “海纳百川有容乃大”is taken from the poetic couplet written by the national hero Lin Zexu in his study: “海纳百川，有容乃大，壁立千仞，无欲则刚”。