In China, the translation of Buddhist scriptures lasted 12300 years from the end of Han Dynasty to Song Dynasty, which is unprecedented in the world. Buddhism is the most systematic and profound theory from practice. Daoan (3 14 ~ 385) advocated quality, that is, literal translation. He put forward "five lost versions", that is, when translating Buddhist scriptures into Chinese, there are five situations that allow the translation to be inconsistent with the original. He also put forward the "three difficulties", which refers to three situations that are not easy to do. Father Kumarajiva (344 ~ 4 13) advocated that besides "getting its essence", "style" should also be considered. He said: "The ethnic customs of Tianzhu are very literary. What is the charm of its palace merchants?" Be good. Anyone who visits the king will be praised; Seeing the Buddha's instrument, sighing with songs and praising with classics is also its style. However, if the Vatican is changed to Qin, it will lose its algae. Although casual, but different styles, like chewing rice with people. Not only tasteless, but also disgusting. "(Biography of Sanzang, Volume II, Biography of Kumarajiva) Yan Cong (557 ~ 6 10) of the Sui Dynasty most admired Dao 'an's theory. He advocated literal translation and put forward" eight preparations "and" ten articles. " "Eight preparations" refers to the eight conditions that a translator must meet, and "Ten Articles" refers to his ten provisions on the style and format of translation. Xuanzang (602 ~ 664) in the Tang Dynasty was a master in the history of translation in China. His translation quality and literature were equally important, but it seemed that quality was the main thing. He didn't leave any articles devoted to translation theory. His theory of "five kinds of non-translation" is recorded in the Collection of Translation Names, and it is pointed out that five words can only be transliterated. Zanning in the Northern Song Dynasty summarized the previous experience, put forward "six cases" of translating Buddhist scriptures, and discussed six aspects of translation in detail. He defined translation as: "A person turning over a brocade is like turning over a brocade with flowers on the back, but the ears of the flowers are different. "This vivid metaphor shows that translation is an art (such as turning over brocade), changing the form (left and right) (flowering on the back) while keeping the content unchanged.
There was translation activity in the early Northern Song Dynasty (960 ~ 1 127), and then it gradually declined. Its revival began in the fifth year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty (1368 ~1644) (1407). At that time, due to the need of external traffic, Siyi Pavilion was established to train translators. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, western learning spread to the east, and translation became more active. But at this time, the direction of translation has completely changed. It is no longer an Indian Buddhist scripture, but a classic of European astronomy, geometry and medicine. China's translation history has reached a new stage.
Some famous translators in Ming Dynasty also put forward their own translation views. Italian missionary Matteo Ricci (1552 ~ 16 10) said: "Besides, the East and the West are arts and sciences, each with its own strong points and mutual desires, but there are still many shortcomings. Clearly know, or acceptable; It will be difficult to write for words. " In other words, the structure of Chinese and western languages is different, and the context of the article is also different. Some western terms are not available in China. Oral explanation is enough, and everyone will not understand it when translated into words. A contemporary scientist in China, Li Zhizao (? ~ 163 1) describes the attitude of foreign missionaries in translating books at that time. He said, "They all borrowed my Chinese characters to dig out the meaning of western languages, but they did not dare to increase their knowledge, which led to the loss of truth." At this time, the translation often adopts the cooperative way, which is similar to the early Buddhist translation, that is, China scholars and foreigners cooperated in translation, and the responsibility of polishing the text was placed on China scholars.
After the Opium War, people of insight in China felt it necessary to learn from the West, and translation activities gradually rose, forming another new stage in China's translation history. Ma Jianzhong (1845 ~ 1900) emphasized the difficulty of translating things. Liang Qichao (1875 ~ 1929) advocated brilliant translation of classics. Yan Fu (1853 ~ 192 1), who has been engaged in the translation of western social sciences all his life, stated the principles he followed in his translation in several prefaces. In the preface to evolution, he said: "There are three difficulties in translating things: faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance." "Faithfulness" means loyalty to the original work, "expressiveness" means loyalty to readers, and "elegance" means loyalty to literary language. Faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance are only three words, but they reflect the relationship among works, readers and languages. In Yan Fu's translation, evolution is close to free translation, while Fu Yuan is close to literal translation. He said: "Translation is different from evolution. Although the whole paragraph of arts and sciences can't be integrated, there is no inversion between words and meanings. " But he deleted the "superfluous and irrelevant" places in the book. In the translation of On the Boundary of Group Rights, he said: "The original book is quite profound in arts and sciences, with heavy meaning and complicated sentences. If you translate according to the text, it will be difficult for people to understand, so you have to turn it around a little. This is also the Chinese translation of western books. " It can be seen that the theory of evolution is a narrative translation intended to achieve the goal, Fu Yuan is a strict translation without inversion of word meaning, and the theory of group rights boundary is a generalized translation that does not follow the text. However, no matter what the translation method is, one thing is the same: avoid literal translation, and try to use new words or phrases to convey all the meanings. For example, if there is no corresponding word in Evolutionary Chinese, use the word "Eye of the Sky"; Freedom, the concept of a legal system, did not exist in China at that time, so we used the term "the field of group rights". Yan Fu has made a valuable attempt in translating the meaning of western languages, but the research in this field needs to be carried out.
After the May 4th Movement, the history of China has entered a modern era, and the importance of translation is far greater than before. The rise of China's new literature is inseparable from translation. The first person who paid attention to translation and strongly advocated it was Lu Xun. Lu Xun advocated literal translation. The purpose of this is to introduce foreign ideas for reference, and also to transform our language through translation. 193 1 1 February 28th, he talked about Yan Fu in his letter to Qu Qiubai. He said: "His translation is really a microcosm of the translation history of Han and Tang classics. At the end of Han Dynasty, China's translation of Buddhist scriptures was straightforward, but he didn't take any measures. The Six Dynasties were really "elegant" and "elegant", which is a model of his theory of evolution. Tang, on the other hand, focuses on' faith', which is almost incomprehensible at first glance, just like his later translation of books. " Lu Xun does not advocate complete China translation. "Incomplete China translation" is not only to input new contents, but also to input new expressions. He thinks that China's grammar is not accurate enough. "The inaccuracy of this grammar proves the inaccuracy of thinking. In other words, the brain is a little confused. "
Qu Qiubai and Lu Xun agreed to literal translation. He said: "Apart from introducing the original content to readers in China, translation also plays a very important role: it helps us create a new modern language in China. However, he also pointed out: "When translating, if you just' put different syntax' and so on, whether it can be said in a living person's mouth or not, then these' different syntax' can never be' taken for yourself'. He believes that "new words should be the language of the public-the language that the public may understand and use". "Many modern translators are basically literal translations. The so-called "literal translation" means that the original text exists and cannot be deleted; What is not in the original text cannot be added. This has nothing to do with the fluency of translation. Lu Xun's translation of The Symbol of Depression and other books is fluent, but it is still literal translation. The so-called "free translation" means that the original text can be added or deleted. Kumarajiva in ancient times belonged to this school. On the one hand, Guo Moruo said: "We believe that the ideal translation is naturally forbidden to revolve around the meaning of the original text, especially the charm of the original text"; On the other hand, he also advocated: "I know that translation is by no means an easy task, and the style of translation is by no means an insignificant factor in the casting of a country's national language or literature. Mao Dun even pointed out concisely: "There is no need to discuss literal translation of translated literature today. He added: "The word' literal translation' did not become an authority until after the May 4th Movement. Fu Sinian, Zheng Zhenduo, Zhou Zuoren and Ai Siqi all advocated literal translation. Therefore, literal translation is the overriding criterion in the modern translation history of China.
Comparing the translation history and translation theory of Europe and China, we can see that the issues discussed by the East and the West are basically the same. The two sides discussed the possibility and impossibility of translation, as well as literal translation and free translation. But the two sides also have differences. When talking about translation theory in the west, the focus is on the possible and impossible issues and the possible degree. They come to the conclusion that literary translation is difficult and scientific translation is easy. Literal translation and free translation are occasionally involved; But as far as the basis or background of translation is concerned, this is not the point. Europe is different from China. In Europe, except the earliest Hebrew, it is basically the mutual translation between languages of the same language family. So there appeared three translation methods advocated by some theorists: first, translation; Second, transformation; Third, compare the text word for word. This dichotomy does not apply to China at all. China will never change. Because in the thousands of years of translation history in China, it is a translation between languages of different language families, and it can only be converted between languages of the same language family. China focuses on the dispute between literal translation and free translation. The so-called "quality and quantity" is. This is because the translation from Buddhist scriptures to modern scientific documents has its special cultural and historical background. The different ways of thinking between China and the West are also shown here. Translators in China don't analyze the essence of language in detail, but focus on synthesis and practical application, so they talk more about translation skills than abstract theories. After solving the problems of literal translation and free translation, how to solve the translation problems of specific works and sentences is put on the agenda.
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