中国特色翻译理论:回顾与展望

A Review of Translation Theories with Chinese Characteristics and Further Reflections

在国家大力提倡理论自信与文化自信的大环境下,中国特色翻译理论建设显得尤为重要与迫切。中国特色翻译理论指的是基于中国传统哲学、美学、文论等学术话语资源发展而来的翻译理论,国内学者提出的文章翻译学、和合翻译学、大易翻译学等是其典型的样态,理论构建遵循"本位观照,外位参照;古今沟通,中西融通"的基本原则,具体方法视研究对象与研究目的而定。中国特色翻译理论具有广阔的发展空间,除广为人知的信(达雅)、神(似)、(化)境之外,其他如道、气、诚、本、和、韵味、阴阳、自然等重要哲学、文论范畴还有待深度引入翻译研究之中,但也面临着志士难寻与方法论层面的发展困境。我们唯有扎扎实实地做下去,才有望在国际译坛上发出自己独特的声音。

In the context of promoting our confidence in Chinese theories and cultures,it is of great importance and urgency to build translation theories with Chinese characteristics.As an integral part of humanities and social sciences,translation studies as a discipline should have its own cultural genes.Translation theories with Chinese characteristics refer to those that are based on the discursive resources in traditional Chinese philosophy,aesthetics,literary theories,painting theories,calligraphic theories,kongfu culture and so on.Updated and modernized traditional Chinese translation theories also belong to such a category.There have been debates on translation theories with Chinese characteristics between supporters and dissenters,but after extensive and in-depth learning from Western translation theories over the past decades,more and more supporters seem to have emerged in order to highlight their distinctive theoretical features.Considerable achievements have been made,such as compositional translatology put forward by Pan Wenguo,harmonizing heterogenesis translatology put forward by Wu Zhijie,Yi-Translatology by Chen Dongcheng,golden-mean framework for translating poetry by Zhang Junjie and so on.These are typical cases of translation theories with Chinese characteristics.As a huge project that has immense space for further development,it should follow an"internally-bound and externally-extended"principle to build translation theories with Chinese characteristics,which should make best use of Western theoretical resources at the same time.Specific methods for building such a kind of translation theories include direct transplanting,adapted transplanting,metaphorical isomorphism,terms mutually connected,diachronic changes,new wine in an old bottle,comparison between the East and West,etc.,and as to which method or methods to be used,it depends on the specific research object and purpose.The widely-known translation standards of faithfulness,expressiveness and elegance(xin,da,ya),similarity in spirit(shensi),sublimation(huajing)also belong to the category of translation theories with Chinese characteristics,and so is the"pushing hands"of translation newly put forward by Martha P.Y.Cheung and enriched by other scholars.Other key terms and propositions in traditional Chinese philosophy and literary theories are still waiting to be further transplanted in translation studies,terms like Dao,qi(force or principle),cheng(honesty or sincerity),ben(root or original),he(harmony),xin(heart or mind),yunwei(flavor or charm),ziran(nature or natural),wenzhi(content and form,or flowery and simple),qingzhuo(clear and muddy),yinxiu(implicit and explicit),xushi(empty and real,or abstract and concrete),gangrou(solid and supple,or hard and soft),tongbian(unobstructed and flexible)and so on,and propositions like"Poetry expresses what is intently on the mind","Dao is governed by Nature","Qi is the dominant factor of literature","Rhetoric aims to be sincere"and so on.These time-honored terms and propositions deserve our efforts in integrating them into translation studies.It is the unavoidable responsibility of Chinese scholars to build translation theories with Chinese characteristics,which is considered a certain kind of cultural strategy by some scholars.Although the prospect is rather encouraging,some obstacles are still to be removed due to various kinds of objective restrictions,especially a lack of(young)scholars who are capable of such a task,or rather who are courageous and single-minded enough to shoulder such a task.Translation scholars in China should consciously draw nourishment from the profound heritage of Chinese culture and make best use of it in order to build a system of translation theories with Chinese characteristics.Only by ceaseless,down-to-earth efforts in building a batch of translation theories characteristic of Chinese culture and make them known to the Western world can we have our unique voice heard and win due respect in the arena of international translation studies.