Queries for Faithfulness Observed by Yan Fu in His Chinese Works
Abstract
The question about criteria of translation has been a controversial question for a long time. As the most famous translator in Chinese modern history, Yan Fu wrote in the preface of his Chinese work of Evolution, Ethics and Other Essays that there are three criteria in translation: “faithfulness, expressiveness, elegance”, which he called “xin—da—ya”. From then on, “xin—da—ya” became the most actual principle in the fields of translation permanently. Among the three principles, “faithfulness” is the core principle of translation which was advocated by the fields of Chinese translation, and it has the central position in translation steadily. In this thesis, in order to put forward queries for “faithfulness” in Yan Fu Chinese works, the connotation of “faithfulness” is explained to a further degree, and some well-known translators’ opinions about Yan Fu’s translating works are given. Besides, Yan Fu’s translating works are analyzed in the view of his language, his cultural background and his thought. This thesis also proposes that with regard to “faithfulness” in Yan Fu’s translating works, there should be more and more profound criticism. With some analysis, it was evident that because of Yan Fu’s living limitation and other reasons,, he misunderstood some of the Western thoughts, meanwhile, his political preference has heavily affected his Chinese works. Owing to this, Yan Fu’s Chinese works are not faithful to the original ones not only in language but also in thoughts. Moreover, Yan Fu’s misunderstanding is very representative, so the Chinese and foreign scholars should put forward more queries for “faithfulness” in his Chinese works.
Key Words: Yan Fu; queries; faithfulness; language; culture; thought
摘 要
翻譯標準問題是個很有爭議性的問題．作為中國近代史上最著名的翻譯家，嚴復1986年在翻譯《天演論》時指出：“譯事3難，信達雅。”自此，“信達雅”在中國翻譯界知道原則上長期佔據絕對地位。而其中的“忠實”原則是中國翻譯界公認的核心翻譯原則，1直處於不可動搖的地位。本文對“信”這1翻譯原則的內涵進行了進1步的闡述，並結合中國歷史上的著名翻譯人士的觀點，在語言、文化和思想上對嚴復的譯作作了分析，以探討嚴復自己的譯作是否忠實於原文。且該文在最後提出對於嚴復翻譯的忠實性問題以後應有更多的，更加深刻的批評。作了1系列分析之後，得知由於嚴復的'生活環境和另外的1些原因，導致嚴復對西方1些思想有所誤解，而且他的政治取向也深深影響了其譯作。因此，嚴復在其譯作中，無論是語言或是思想方面，都沒有忠實於原文。且嚴復的這1誤解是很有代表性的，所以學者們應該更深1步探討嚴復譯作中“信”的問題。
關鍵詞：嚴復、質疑、忠實、語言、文化、思想