《古文观止》英译的非语言范畴转换研究

A Study of Non-Linguistic Category Shifts in the English Translation of Gems of Classical Chinese Prose

汉英对照《古文观止》(Gems of Classical Chinese Prose)是《大中华文库》工程项目,是国内外首部英译全本,全书四册由文言文、白话文、英文三部分构成,内含丰富的中国传统文化元素。作为一种认知语用学理论,范畴转换认为翻译是源语到目标语范畴的动态转换过程。在翻译范畴转换中,翻译转换的范围和内涵也由单一的语言范畴转换扩展为语言范畴和非语言范畴的两层面转换。本文借助范畴转换中的非语言范畴转换模式探究了《古文观止》英译中的范畴对等、范畴错位及范畴空缺关系及其相应的范畴转换模式,并探析了其转换的翻译策略和具体的操作机制。本研究有助于进一步完善中国典籍的翻译研究,挖掘其作品内部丰富的文化内涵,有助于中华优秀传统文化“走出去”。

Gems of Classical Chinese Prose, the first English-translated book at home and abroad, is a Chinese-English translation project of the Library of Chinese Classics. The four volumes of whole book are written in mandarin, vernacular, and English, containing abundant traditional Chinese cultural elements. As a theory of cognitive pragmatics, category shifts define translation as a dynamic conversion process from source language to target language categories. In translation category shifts, the scope and connotation of translation shifts are also expanded from single linguistic category shifts to two-level shifts of linguistic and non-linguistic categories. This paper uses the non-linguistic category shifts mode to investigate the category equivalence, category displacement and category vacancy in the English translation of Gems of Classical Chinese Prose and its corresponding category shifts mode, and further explores the translation strategy and the specific operation mechanism of shifts. This study will help to further improve the translation research of Chinese classics, explore the rich cultural connotations within the works, and contribute to the “go out” of Chinese excellent traditional culture.