中国传统译论文献:主题与分类考察

Traditional Chinese Ideas on Translation——Themes and Categorization

本研究通过采集1950年以前中国传统译论的一手文献资料,仅收录讨论翻译理论或翻译方法的中文文献,筛选获得相关文献900余篇。对这些文献材料按照主题分类后进行定量与定性分析,较为清晰地呈现了中国传统翻译思想的总体发展脉络。纵观中国传统译论主题的演变可发现:1)社会变迁作为译论主题演变的一个诱因,促成了翻译活动所履行社会功能的变化,进而影响人们对翻译的认识; 2)中国传统译论体现出鲜明的实用性,注重可操作性,相对而言,抽象化、理论化程度较低; 3)中国传统译论主题的演变充分体现了同一社会文化中,不同历史时期翻译规范之间的发展变化,以及同一历史时期不同规范之间的竞争。总之,中国传统译论的演变有其内在社会动因,贯穿始终的是一条"以实用为标准,以解决具体问题为目标"的主线。

The present research is based on about 900 articles and excerpts from journals,books and newspapers on translation theories or translating methods published in China before 1950.A quantitative and qualitative analysis of these works clearly presents us an overall evolution of traditional Chinese ideas on translation.A diachronic survey of the themes involved in the literature shows:1)as one of the stimuli to the evolution of translational themes,social changes contribute to the transformation of social functions performed by translations which in turn lead to public attitudinal changes toward translation;2)traditional Chinese ideas on translation is characterized by plain'utilitarianism'focusing on operability in terms of method and a relatively lack of academic abstraction and theorization;3)the evolution of translational themes demonstrates shifts of translation norms of different historical periods as well as conflicts between translation norms of the same historical periods within the same culture.In a word,social motivation is an essential factor affecting the translational thematic evolution which accords with the tenet of practicality,or providing guidance for practice,as the primary goal of translation theory.