中国翻译史(英文版详细)

Brief Introduction of the Chinese Translation History

Chinese translation theory was born out of contact with states during the . It developed through translations of into . 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 word fanyi"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 contain various words meaning "interpreter; translator", for instance, sheren舌人(lit. "tongue person") and fanshe反舌(lit. "return tongue"). The records four regional words: ji"send; entrust; rely on" for 東夷"Eastern Yi-barbarians", xiang"be like; resemble; image" for 南蠻"Southern Man-barbarians", didi

"Di-barbarian boots" for 西戎"Western Rong-barbarians", and yi"translate; interpret" for 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, tr. 1885 vol. 27, pp. 229-230)

A work attributes a dialogue about translation to . 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 , and began looking at translation practice and theory of the great translators in Chinese history.

Zhi Qian (3rd c. AD)

(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 . It recounts an historical anecdote of 224AD, at the beginning of the period. A party of Buddhist monks came to . 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 an easy-to-understand manner: literary adornment is unnecessary. All present concurred and quoted two traditional maxims: 's "beautiful words are untrue, true words are not beautiful" and '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.