A Study of C-E Translation of Three-Character Classic from the Perspective of Plural Complementarism

Abstract：Three-Character Classic is the traditional Chinese classic enlightenment. With the circulation of its English versions, it has made profound influence on English-speaking countries, being regarded as “encyclopedia of the twelfth century” by Europe and America, listed as “world children education series” by UNESCO and utilized as a textbook for learning Chinese and Chinese culture. There have been many achievements in the study of C-E translation of it, but most of them focus on analysis of characteristics and translation methods of different versions. There is little pertinent research analyzing dissemination effect of English versions in the light of cultural translation. Plural Complementarism was proposed by Professor Gu Zhengkun in 1980s, including absolute standard, supreme standard and concrete standard. As an important representative of contemporary translation theories, it is largely affected by Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism in Chinese traditional culture, especially by Chuang Tzu.

This thesis compares two English versions of Three-Character Classic translated by Herbert Allen Giles, a sinologist and Zhao Yanchun, a native scholar from the perspective of Plural Complementarism from six aspects - meaning,   form,   rhythm,   purpose,   cultural   dissemination   and    overseas accepting effect. It is aimed at discovering proximity of the two English versions to the original text and relationship of the two versions on dissemination effect. The chief findings are as follows. First, under the theoretical framework of Plural Complementarism, the English version of Zhao Yanchun achieves higher proximity than that of Herbert Allen Giles to the original text of Three-Character Classic. Second, Zhao’s version surpasses Giles’s in four criteria - meaning, form, rhythm and cultural dissemination while Giles’s has stood the test of history of over 100 years and has been unparalleled in overseas accepting effect. Third, the two versions are complementary and jointly act on the translation of Chinese culture.

Keywords: Three-Character Classic; C-E Translation; Herbert Allen Giles; Zhao Yanchun; Plural Complementarism

多元互补论视角下的《三字经》英译研究

摘 要：《三字经》是中国经典蒙学读物，随着其英译本的流通，《三字经》在英语国家 产生了较为广泛的影响，被欧洲和美国认为是“12 世纪的百科全书”，被联合国教科 文组织列为《世界儿童教育丛书》，并作为学习中国汉字和文化的教科书。其英译研 究已取得较为丰硕的成果，但大多侧重于不同译本特点和翻译方法的分析，从文化译 介角度来对译本的传播效果进行分析的研究相对较少。20 世纪 80 年代辜正坤教授提 出翻译标准多元互补论，这是一个由若干个具体标准组成的相辅相成的标准系统，包 括绝对标准、最高标准、具体标准。作为当代翻译理论的重要代表，其理论构建深受 中国传统文化儒释道尤其是庄子学说的影响。本文以多元互补论视角将汉学家赫伯特

▪艾伦▪翟理斯的《三字经》英译本与本土学者赵彦春英译本从语义、形式、韵律、目 的、文化传播、海外接受效果六个方面作比较，探讨两译作与原作的近似度高低以及 两译作在传播效果上的关系。研究发现：1)在多元互补论理论框架下，赵彦春英译本 较翟理斯英译本与《三字经》原作的近似度更高。2）赵彦春译本在语义、形式、韵 律及文化传播方面更胜一筹，但翟理斯译本已经受住了 100 多年历史的检验，在海外 接受效果上无以伦比。3）两译本是互补的，共同作用于中国文化对外译介。

关键词：《三字经》；英译；翟理斯；赵彦春；多元互补论