The strategies of translating Chinese ancient poems

【Abstract】The challenges of translating the Chinese ancient poetry have been discussed， particularly the preservation of symmetric form， the connotation of images and the delivering of rhythm is difficult to address. The essay translates the poem 《水调歌头· 明月几时有》 and also discuss the translation theory and strategies applied including the combination of literal translation and free translation， Skopos theory and the target of readers.

【Key words】Chines ancient poem; translation theory; translation strategies

【作者简介】王久灵（1990-），女，维吾尔族，湖南桃源人，北京理工大学珠海学院，讲师，硕士，研究方向：法学基础英语。

1. Introduction

Chinese ancient poetry， which is the well-preserved literary text in the traditional Chinese culture， represents the highly-civilized ancient Chinese culture and preserves the complete cultural identity of the Chinese people. （Yao 2006）. However， great challenges of the Chinese classical poetry translation have always been discussed， for its symmetric form， connotation of image， and a strong sense of rhythm have been taken as the hot potato. In this sense， a good translator is expected to go through several drafts to argue his/her translation is appropriate and rethink how the process of translation is completed. Consequently， the aim of this translation project is to analyze the process of how a Chinese classical poem《水調歌头· 明月几时有》is translated and how some difficulties encountered in the practice of translation are overcame.  Firstly， the background of this poem will be introduced. Secondly， an overview of the strategies will be given and the process how these strategies are applied into practical translation will be mentioned. Thirdly， the specific examples in the practice of strategies will be focused on. Lastly， the complete translation and the practice of the poem will be presented at the end.

2.Background of the poem

Ci poetry emerged in the prosperous Tang Dynasty and flourished in the Song Dynasty.（Yao 2006）. Ci poetry was a kind of literary text which fixed with number of characters as well as tune pattern.（ Wagner 1984）. Besides， each Ci poem has the tune name （CiPai） which is the title of tune to formulate the fixed format and the length of a Ci poem.（ Wagner 1984）. Moreover， Ci poetry is a special kind of literary text that can be sung with different melody. Likewise， this poem《水调歌头· 明月几时有》could be sung in a more free and powerful mode which was written by a well-known poet Su Shi. He was a aspiring poet and took an important position in court when he was twenty.（ Yao 2006）. However， arguing against the reform instituted by Wang Anshi， Su Shi was excluded from the court and exiled to Mi Zhou.（ Yao 2006）. This poem was written in Mid-Autumn Festival when he was exiled to Mi Zhou.

3. Literal translation and free translation

In the practice of translation， the way of rendering are extremely difficult for a translator to deal with. Due to the cultural and historical diversity between Chinese and English， exactly equivalent words are hardly found between two different cultures.（ Munday 2008）. Under this circumstance， we have to find special ways of addressing this issue in translation. The combination of literal translation and free translation is a good approach when we can not find the equivalent expressions.（ Xu 2007）. Literal translation is a way of rendering without changing the original meanings. In other words， literal translation keeps the original style and content of the source text. In contrast， free translation is a kind of approach to express the original meaning in a flexible style rather than adhering to the original pattern. （ Xu 2007）..

As for this poem， I am gong to use literal translation and free translation alternately. On the one hand， there is no absolute free translation. If overemphasizing free translation， the arbitrary creativity will play the leading part in translation. In the first draft， I translated ‘明月几时有into ‘ full round moon， when was your birth，because I thought translation was a process of explicating and creating. Initially I considered ‘full， round were the perfect adjectives to modify the moon and ‘ when was your birthexplicitly questioned the origin of the moon. However， when I looked up the explanations of this sentence， I realized my own subjectivity exaggerated the translation and explicit creation is not appropriate in this context. Actually the poet only wants to express the brightness of the moon and is interested in when the moon will appear rather than the origin of the moon. Then in my second draft， I translated ‘明月幾时有into ‘ bright moon， when will you appear. We should be conscious of arbitrary creativity and do not distort the original meaning with our initiative. On the other hand， the beauty of language can not be translated， for the rigid adherence to the original meaning destroy aesthetic function of language. （Liang 2007）. In my second draft， I translated ‘何似在人间into ‘it is better to stay in the human world rather than in moon palace. To be true， I kept the exact meaning of the original content， and then I realized this sentence is long-winded and this translation lacks metrical beauty. So in my third draft， I translated into ‘would it be satisfied in the moon palace in a more condensed style.

4. Skopos theory

The Skopos theory concentrates on the action of translation and the intention of translation is attached much more importance to in terms of the translation results.（ Munday 2008）. Classical Chinese poetry highlighted the significance of using images to express emotions. Chinese poets mainly reflected their experience and feelings through images. However， different interpretations are assigned to images in different cultures and contexts.（Zhou 2007）. Due to various customs and manners in different cultures， the typical images recognized and accepted in my country are probably not shared by other cultures. In other words， the widely recognized images in my culture are not likely to find identical equivalents in another culture. So when we interpret images in poetry translation， it is significant to satisfy the needs of target audience; this is particularly meaningful to finding common images in both cultures.

5. Invisibility

In fact， a good translation should not only focus on the word or the text fluency and fidelity， but also the cultural differences are significant in translating text between very different cultures. When I translated the tune name （CiPai） ‘水調歌头 in my first draft， I mainly focused on the linguistic equivalence and my translation was aiming at achieving fluency and fidelity， so the first draft ‘水调歌头 was translated into ‘ water melody song. However， I did not feel satisfied with this version， I consider sometimes it is beneficial to stop equivalence and we should be aware of cultural difference. Then I decided to translate  ‘水调歌头 into ‘ Shui Diao Ge Tou which was a direct borrowing from Chinese into English. Because I think tune name is unique in Chinese poetry， it is better to preserve its foreign elements to target audiences and this is a good way to keep diversity from another cultures. Bur for target audiences， they maybe feel confused about this translation and difficult to understand. In this respect， the best way is to add annotation to specifically explain the implications of this tune name.

6. Translation is a process of loss and gain

In the first draft， I translated the title ‘ 明月几时有 into‘ bright moon， when will you appearwhich is identical to the first line of the poem. I did not consider much about the titles translation， for the title and first line are identical in form and style. But when I went through the second draft， I realized title was the soul and essence of the whole poem. As mentioned in the background， this poem was written in Mid-Autumn Festival when Su Shi was exiled to Mi Zhou. The Mid-Autumn Festival was a special occasion of family reunion. Living far away from his family， Su Shi suffered from loneliness and homesickness.  Thinking of his brother he wrote this poem to express his depressed mood. So I think it is appropriate to translate the title into ‘ Thinking of you in the Mid-Autumn. Although the original style was changed， the inherent meaning was retained to help target audiences to understand what this poem is about in the first place.

7. Conclusion

In summary， this essay mainly discusses the process of how a Chinese classical poem is translated and several strategies are analyzed to deal with the difficulties encountered in poem translation. Firstly， the combination of literal translation and free translation is a useful translation technique in the practice of poetry translation. Secondly， when doing the translation， we should always consider the needs of target audiences. Thirdly， a good translator should not only endeavor to achieve linguistic equivalences， but also to think about how the cultural differences are also reflected in the target text. Fourthly， poem translation is a process of loss and gain; translators decide what is more important in the translation and make one aspects outstanding.

References：

[1]Liang， Z.M.. On Untranslatability of Classical Chinese Poetry ： from the Perspective of aesthetic function of language[J]. Sino-US English Teaching，2007.

[2]Yao，D.. Chinese Literature[M]. Beijing： china Intercontinental University，2006.

[3]Zhou，N.. The Transference of Imagery in Classical Chinese poetry translation[J]. US-china Foreign Language，2007.