An Analysis of the Non-mandatory Explicitation in Two English Versions of Chuanxilu from the Perspective of Poetics

HAN Xue,Ma Wen-li

Chuanxilu is a collection of Wang Yangmings questions & answers and letters on learning. It is a masterpiece of Neo Confucianism since the pre-Qin period. This paper， from the perspective of translation poetics， takes two English versions of Chuanxilu as the main research objects， makes quantitative statistics and qualitative analysis of the non-mandatory explicitation in the translation， aiming to explore the influence of poetics on the translators English translation of Chuanxilu， so as to provide some enlightenment for the external translation and interpretation of Wang Yangmings theory of mind.

Keywords： English translation of Chuanxilu， Non mandatory explicitation， translation poetics

Introduction

Chuanxilu is a concise and representative philosophical work of Confucianism. It not only comprehensively expounds Wang Yangmings mind thought， but also reflects his dialectical teaching method， as well as his lively language art， which is of great research value. However， so far， there are only two English versions of Chuanxilu. Compared with the English translation of other traditional Chinese classics， the studies on English translation of Chuanxilu are still insufficient. This paper selects two English versions of Chuanxilu as the research objects. With the support of the theory of translation poetics， this paper intends to demonstrate the non-mandatory explicitation strategies adopted by the two translators in the translation of Chuanxilu， in order to explore the influence of poetics on the translation of Chuanxilu.

Non-mandatory Explicitation from the Perspective of Poetics

The concept of explictation was first proposed by the French scholar Vinay & Darbelnet （1958 / 1995）. Explictation is a stylistic translation strategy that expresses the information implied in the source language but can be inferred from the context or situation in the target language. According to Klaudy （1998， p. 83）， the explictation system can be roughly divided into mandatory explictation and non-mandatory explictation， while non-mandatory explictation is mainly optional and pragmatic explictation.

The word “Poetics” originated from Aristotles Poetics （1990）. Lefevere mentioned that translation is the rewriting of the original text. The process of translation is always manipulated by poetics， the translators or contemporary ideology and patronage. In the whole process of translation activities， the translators views and translation strategy orientation are closely related to ideology and the mainstream poetics at that time. The personal poetics of the two translators not only affects the translation strategies used by the translators in the process of translation， but also reflects the mainstream poetics of the times and society in which the two translators live.

Data Comparison of Non-mandatory Explicitation Translation Strategies in the Two Versions

In this paper， the two versions are sorted and sequenced， and 60 serial numbers are randomly selected from the samples by using Excel software. After sampling， the non-mandatory explicitation translation strategy is adopted in 60 translations randomly selected by Excel， as shown in Table 1：

The data in Table 1 shows that the frequency of using non-mandatory explicitation translation strategies in Chans version is significantly higher than that in Henkes version.

The Poetic Norms of the Target Language

In terms of the poetic norms of the target language， English culture prefers works with relatively simple language and style， and this kind of quotation form adopted in Chuanxilu is not common in English culture. In addition， the book adopts obscure classical Chinese， and the language often shows the characteristics of multiple broken sentences， dominant monosyllabic words and more ellipsis. It is a great challenge for translators to translate and introduce the refined language and rich spiritual connotation in Chuanxilu， such as：

Henkes version：

Reply to Letter from Ku Tung-chiao

Written in the fourth year of Emperor Chia Ching

Later Scholars Devote Themselves to External Things

Chans version：

Letter In Reply to KU TUNG-CHIAO

By comparing the two translations， we can intuitively see that both translations retain the quotation form of the original text. However， it is worth noting that in Henkes translation， he adopts non-mandatory explictation in the form of adding background information under the title and adding a subtitle summarizing the content of this quotation， Obviously， these two additions are not “irrelevant information”， but shape the cultural background knowledge and ideological intention implicit in the original text on the surface of the language， narrowing the cultural， social and historical distance between the original work and English readers. Therefore， English readers can fully understand the background and the gist of Chuanxilu.

In contrast， Chan lived in China as a teenager， was familiar with Chinese traditional culture， received the training of traditional textual research， and then went to the America to receive the training of Western modernization research methods. With rich theoretical background and both Chinese and Western language and culture， he has become a leader in the study of new Confucianism in the International Sinology.

Therefore， in the process of translation， the translator is not only engaged in simple code switching， but also uses another language to explain and convey the connotation of the original to the readers， so that the readers can be enlightened like reading the original. Both Henke and Chan have noticed the differences between English and Chinese poetic norms. In the process of translation and introduction， they have adopted a series of non-mandatory explicitation strategies to adapt to English poetic norms. In particular， Chan uses non mandatory explicit strategies more frequently than Henke.

Conclusion

Henke and Chan adopted non-mandatory explicitation strategy in their English translation of Chuanxilu. Through the quantitative and qualitative analysis， the author finds that Chan uses the non-mandatory explicitation strategy more frequently and his version has a better translation effect. Nowadays， Chinese traditional culture is increasingly integrated into the system of world culture. Before translating Chinese classics， we should fully understand the era background and language style of the original， analyze and study the poetic norms of the target language， reasonably use non-mandatory explicitation strategies， and strive to retain and convey the poetic style， aesthetic tradition and its core thought of the original to the greatest extent.

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