Under the cultural renaissance of the Chinese nation, this research will help us spread the Chinese culture to world, and also help us to look at the national culture inheritance and innovation in a more rational attitude.
2. Literature Review
Generally speaking, the translation of Tao Te Ching has exerted the great influence at home and abroad.
2.1 Study on the translation of Tao Te Ching at home
In 1997, Wang Rongpei, in his essay“Yi Ke Yi, Fei Chang Yi(译可译,非常译)--probing into the English translation of the Tao Te Ching in Length and Breadth”, made a comparative study of the four translations of“道可道非常道,名可名非常名。无名万物之始,有名万物之母” by Bynner, Blakney, Lau and Mair through the retroversion, and thus concluded that the translation of the Tao Te Ching was not external, instead, different translations are possible from different angles.(Wang 51)文献综述
Yao Xiaoping got the inpiration for the essay“The English Translation of Tao and Tao in the Bible”, in which Yao affirmed Wang’s opinion. What’smore, on the basis of the comparative analysis of the translations of“道可道非常道,名可名非常名。无名万物之始,有名万物之母” by Bynner, Blakney, Lau and Wang Rongpei, Yao explored at length why“道” was translated into“way” by most Westerners. Moreover, Yao probed into the connotation of“Tao” in the Bible.
Wang Hongyin, in his article“Tao Ke Tao, Fei Chang Tao--the translation of the First Chapter of Tao Te Ching” in 2005, made a comparative study of the translation of the first chapter of Tao Te Ching in different versions. Wang compared some versions of contemporary Chinese translation and thus concluded that the author could not judge who the first person was to introduce the Chinese classic into contemporary Chinese or first into the English world and believed that the philosophical ideology was the important one.
So far the number of studies on the translations of Tao Te Ching has been actually far beyond the above-mentioned. Next, the author will make a further study on the translation of Tao Te Ching abroad.
2.2 Study on the translation of Tao Te Ching abroad
Both sinologists and amateurs, fascinated by the intoxicating qualities of Tao Te Ching, have tried to capture its flavor and have appeared new translations. With the large number of translations of Tao Te Ching coming forth, studies on these translations have been made continuously. Among these studies, some focus on the rendering of a certain translator, at the same time, comments on more than the translation.
As early as 1885, in the China Review XIV, Herbert A.Giles published a long article named“The Remains of Lao Tzu:Re-Translated” which was reconstructed by Giles according to his own comparsion of some traces of the findings in Han Fei Tzu, Huai Nan Tzu, and the writings of some Taoist scholars in the late Han Dynasty.
In 2000, the co-writers Damian, J.Bebell and Shannon,M.Fera. of Comparsion and Analysis of selected English Interpretations of the Tao Te Ching, the authors finds that Tao Te Ching has been translated and adapted into the English language more than 100 times in the last 150 years .(Damian,et al. 105)“Tao” and its subtle philosophy are being actively assimilated into mainstream Western culture actually. By means of inquiries, a specific understanding of the cross-cultural relationship between East and West was investigated.
Besides, there are a lot of translators focus on the translation of Tao Te Ching, such as Arthur Waley. Waley’s translation has been reprinted for many times.
In a word, the translation on Tao Te Ching has a great influence on the translation study at home and abroad. Next, the author will focus on Tao Te Ching translated by Arthur Waley and illustrate the mistranslations in it. In addition, the author will explore the reason about mistranslations on the basis of Arthur Waley’s translation of Tao Te Ching.来!自~751论-文|网www.751com.cn