The Cross-cultural communication of Confucianism introduced by Lin Yu-tang

魏凤玉

天津外国语大学研究生院，天津 300204

The Cross-cultural communication of Confucianism introduced by Lin Yu-tang

魏凤玉*

天津外国语大学研究生院，天津 300204

Contradiction becomes a new noun in modern world.People are lost in the debating of different cultural parties.So，it is a high time to review the root of our traditional culture——Confucianism.And，Lin Yu-tang，as an outstanding writer and translator makes great contributions to the inheritance and translation of Confucianism in the world of English.Like his words，his translation has got the striking feature of the combination of Chinese and western styles.This thesis will studies on one of his masterpiece The Wisdom of Confucius. Key words： The Wisdom of Confucius；Lin Yu-tang

一、Chapter One Introduction

The wisdom of Confucius is a masterpiece of Lin Yu-tang’s translation and introduction to traditional and Chinese culture.The author thought that Confucius not merely own the super wise himself but also proposed a theory about wisdom for the people，which is valuable for the development of civilization and philosophy in China especially in the world.And it is worthy to study and learn the wisdom of Confucius.What impact us so deeply and enduringly in Confucianism? And，why Lin Yu-tang got the success in introduction traditional Chinese culture? This thesis abstracts essences of Confucianism and analyses Lin Yu-tang’s translation and introduction of Confucianism.

二、Chapter two The essences of Confucianism

(一)Self-cultivation

The progress of oneself has great relationship with self-cultivation.There is no one can give us an impaction greater than ourselves.In the lesson of self-cultivation，that means we should set our heart rightly.Furthermore，Putting the heart rightly means did not upset by anger，disturbed by fear，blinded by love or involved in worries and anxieties.

(二)Walking on road of Li

Li is the rule and order.As a social principle conduct，Li prevents the straying of moral and social chaps，likes a dam prevents flood.It leads people gradually toward virtue and away from vice，if people who march violate the social order，he must get punishment.

三、Chapter three Lin Yu-tang’s cross-culture communication of Confucianism

(一)Lin Yu-tang’s translation strategy——hybridization

In this part，thesis analyzes its core issue from two aspects：the hybridization of language and the hybridization of culture.

1.Hybridization of language

The hybridization of language concerns linguistic factors，such as lexical and syntactic aspects.

In the wisdom of Confucius，the lexical translation method is mainly applied to translation of names and some words or characters in Chinese which do not accord with the customs and rules of the target language.Ancient Chinese names are featured by Chinese character“子”，which is translated into “tse”by Lin Yu-tang，such as 子路 Tselu.The original word for “孔子” is“孔夫子”，which is translated as Confucius accordingly.

2.hybridization of culture

As the result of communication，translation text is a hybridized integrity of both the source culture and the target culture.It includes the Hybridization of cultural customs and cultural ideology.

First，in the selected texts of the Wisdom of Confucius，the cultural customs can be referred in the ancient books and records.For example “三皇五帝” was interpreted into “three elders and five superiors” using the foeigination-oriented；and “仁”was expressed in “moral sense and true man hood” which was using the domestication-oriented.

Second，the cultural ideologies refer to the values，the mode of thinking，the religious belief within a community.In The Wisdom of Confucius，cultural ideologies are mainly represented by culture on the religious aspect，on the moral thought.Such as，“五行” was translated into“five elements” through the method of foreignization-oriented expressions.The combination of the two strategies successfully transplants the original cultural images into the target language culture.

(二)Sentence translation

In the Analects，Lin Yu-tang used sentences as a unit，which increased the coherence and significance in the article.For example：“子曰：‘不愤不启，不悱不发。’”，the author used the method，sentence translation，to paraphrase it into：“ Confucian said，I won’t teach a man who is not anxious to learn，and will not explain to one who is not trying to make things clear to himself.”

四、Chapter four Conclusion

In the year 1988，a Nobel Golden Prize winner said in the Paris meeting that，“ If the people want to survive in the 21st century，they must review Confucius in 2500 years ago and get the wisdom.I believe his judgment is correct.Lin Yu-tang’s translation and introduction of the Wisdom of Confucius is a great action and achievement which blow away the myths of Confucius.Therefore，the Chinese can understand Confucius more deeply，and the west began to know and accept Confucianism.

魏凤玉(1992-)，女，汉族，天津人，天津外国语大学研究生院，国际商务英语专业研究生在读。

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