论典籍英译中的去西方中心主义问题——从安乐哲、罗思文《论语》关键词的英译说起

On the Problem of De-Eurocentrism in the English Translation of Chinese Classics——A Study of Roger Ames and Henry Rosemont's Translation of Some Keywords in the Analects

中国典籍的英译往往无可避免地伴随西方中心主义问题。从传教士翻译到早期汉学家翻译,再到当代汉学的发展,随着中西方文化学术交流的日益密切,去西方中心主义的问题也得到越来越多中外学者的关注,并提出各种应对策略,如异化翻译和后殖民主义翻译等。然而,在典籍的英译中,西方中心主义仍然是难以消除的问题。安乐哲、罗思文所译的《论语》关键词"天"和"仁",其表面的"异化"翻译策略背后同样隐藏着对中国文化的"他者化"。只有消除文化相对主义的偏见,通过跨文化的概念互译互诠,才能真正达到去西方中心主义的目的。

The translation of Chinese classics into English is often accompanied with the problem of Eurocentrism.From the early missionaries to the 19th century sinologists to contemporary Chinese studies,Eurocentrism has aroused more and more concern among scholars home and abroad.Various translation strategies,including foreignization and post-colonial translation,have been proposed to cope with the problem.In analyzing Roger Ames and Henry Rosemont’s translation of Tian(heaven)and Ren(benevolence)in the Analects,this article points out that,though the two translators claim to adopt the foreignization strategy to show their respect for cultural differences,China is nonetheless'othered'in being regarded as fundamentally different from the West.The article proposes that,only by eliminating the prejudice of cultural relativism,conducting a truly comparative study of cultural texts can we really attain the aim of de-Eurocentrism in the translation of Chinese classics.