Semiotics East and West: an aesthetic-semiotic approach to translating the iconicity of classical Chinese poetry

Semiotica ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Guangxu Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Translation Studies ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Translation Theory ◽  
Chinese Poetry ◽  
Semiotic Approach ◽  
Classical Chinese ◽  
Classical Chinese Poetry ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The Sacrifice

Abstract For some Western translators before the twentieth century, domestication was their strategy to translate the classical Chinese poetry into English. But the consequence of this strategy was the sacrifice of the ideogrammic nature of these poems. The translators in the twentieth century, especially the Imagist poets and translators in the 1930s, overcame the problems of their predecessors and their translation theory and practice was close to that of the contemporary semiotic translators. But both Imagist translators and contemporary semiotic translators have the problem of indifference to the feeling of the original in their translations. For the problem of translating the classical Chinese poetry by the Westerners before the twentieth century and the Imagist poets and translators of the twentieth century, see Zhao and Flotow 2018. This paper attempts to set up an aesthetic-semiotic approach to the translation of the iconicity of classical Chinese poetry on the basis of the examination of both Eastern and Western translation studies.

scholarly journals Teaching translation: university courses in "Translation Theory and Practice" of the early 1930s

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Translation Studies ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Translation Theory ◽  
University Courses ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Set Up ◽  
First Time ◽  
Academic Year ◽  
Translation Methodology ◽  
Official Recognition

The article describes the programs of the first academic institutions, which started running translation courses as early as the 1930s: the Ukrainian Institute of Linguistic Education set up in Kyiv (with a branch in Kharkiv) in May of 1930 and the Moscow Institute for Modern Languages founded in July of the same year. The article shares new archival findings and analyzes the content of two syllabi in translation studies. The first course entitled “Translation Methodology” and compiled by Mikhailo Kalynovych was designed for the second-year students for the 1932/33 academic year in Kyiv/ Kharkiv; the second course “Theory and Practice of Translation” was compiled by Dmitrii Usov in Moscow in 1934. Usov’s course is made public for the first time here. The comparative analysis of these two documents demonstrates that both programs addressed a wide range of issues that extended far beyond purely practical concerns. The article also provides brief information on the scholars who stood at the origins of the new discipline of Translation Studies several decades before its official recognition (Mykola Zerov, Mykhailo Kalynovych, and Dmitrii Usov). The article also discusses the lists of recommended literature to the syllabi, which proves that Russian and Ukrainian scholars worked with a close eye on each other’s achievements, programs, and developing ideas.

scholarly journals A Study on Peach Blooms Painted With Blood From the Perspective of Foreignization

2022 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 185-192
Author(s):  
Shaohui Lu
Keyword(s):  
Translation Method ◽  
Translation Theory ◽  
Chinese Poetry ◽  
Cultural Contexts ◽  
Classical Chinese ◽  
Classical Chinese Poetry ◽  
Sociocultural Contexts

This research analyzes the drama, Peach Blooms Painted with Blood, as translated by Xu Yuanchong in light of Lawrence Venuti’s foreignization translation theory. The four elements influencing the foreignization translation method: purpose of the translator, type of text, poetics, and ideology are introduced, defined, analyzed, and illustrated in the translations by employing foreignization translation in linguistic, religious, and sociocultural contexts based on the five cultural contexts put forward by Eugene A. Nida. Following discussion of Nida’s contexts, the cases are analyzed through comparison and contrast of the connotations, implications, and situations existing between Chinese and Western cultures with the aim of enhancing the understanding of classical Chinese poetry and prose, thus enabling translators to interpret and advance Chinese classical works in a more effective way.

scholarly journals An Analysis of the Aesthetic Features in the English Versions of Li Bai’s “Hard Is the Journey (Ⅰ)” from the Perspective of “Eight Beauties Criteria”

2019 ◽  
pp. 42-47
Author(s):  
Ying Ting ◽  
Wang Feng ◽  
Ma Yan
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Culture ◽  
Translation Theory ◽  
Chinese Poetry ◽  
Unique Position ◽  
Translation Practice ◽  
Chinese Characteristics ◽  
Poetry Translation ◽  
Classical Chinese ◽  
Classical Chinese Poetry ◽  
The Aesthetic

The combination of translation theory and aesthetics has a unique position in the translation theories with Chinese characteristics. It is better to learn poetry or to translate poetry from the perspective of beauty. Dr. Wang Feng’s “Harmony-Guided Three-Level Poetry Translation Criteria” is one of the latest poetry translation theories in China, which provides a more comprehensive and effective perspective for poetry translation. This paper, taking several English versions of Li Bai’s “Hard Is the Journey (Ⅰ)” as the object, explores how the "Eight Beauties Criteria" in Dr. Wang Feng’s “Harmony-Guided Three-Level Poetry Translation Criteria” can be applied in translation practice. It proves the practical value of "Eight Beauties Criteria" in the translation practice of classical Chinese poetry in better carrying forward its aesthetic thoughts and aesthetic charm, and better helping Chinese culture to go out.

Translating iconicities of classical Chinese poetry

Semiotica ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 (224) ◽  
pp. 19-44
Author(s):  
Guangxu Zhao ◽  
Luise von Flotow
Keyword(s):  
Ezra Pound ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Chinese Characters ◽  
Chinese Poetry ◽  
Princeton University ◽  
Amy Lowell ◽  
Classical Chinese ◽  
Classical Chinese Poetry ◽  
History Of

Abstract In the history of translating classical Chinese poetry, there are two kinds of translators. The first kind translate classical Chinese poetry “by way of intellectual, directional devices” (Yip, Wai-lim. 1969. Ezra Pound’s Cathay. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press: 16). What these translators are concerned with most is the coherence of their translations. They give little attention to the ideogrammic nature of Chinese characters. I call them traditional translators. These translators include those in the history of translating classical Chinese poetry from its beginning to the first decade of the twentieth century, although there are still some who translate classical Chinese poetry in this way later. The second kind of translator is highly interested in the images created by ideogrammic Chinese characters and tries to convey them in target language. We call them modernist translators. These translators are represented by some American modernist poets such as Ezra Pound, Amy Lowell, Florence Ayscough, etc. From the point of view of iconicity, modernist translators’ contribution lies in their concern with the iconic characteristics of Chinese characters. But they did not give enough attention to syntactical iconicity and textual iconicity in classical Chinese poetry.

The lyric oeuvre of Afanasy Fet and Chinese idyllic poems

2021 ◽  
pp. 222-232
Author(s):  
Zh. Lu
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Culture ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Lyric Poetry ◽  
Chinese Poetry ◽  
Classical Chinese ◽  
Classical Chinese Poetry ◽  
Man And Nature ◽  
Chinese Texts ◽  
The Ancient Chinese ◽  
Light And Shadow

There are compelling similarities between Afanasy Fet’s lyric poetry and classical Chinese lyric poetry. This connection is traced in the article with specific examples. Fet, carried away by the ideas of Schopenhauer, argued that thepoetic feeling lives in every person and can be called the sixth and highest feeling. In classical Chinese poetry, the Confucian concept of ‘the sense of things,’ the Taoist formula ‘words and forms’ and the idea of the unity of man and nature played an important role. With characteristic fixation of subtle changes of light and shadow, with the transmission of flushed feelings, Fet’s oeuvre reminds the readers of the ancient Chinese lyric poetry. Like classic Chinese texts, Fet’s poems are textbooks where the idea of the unity of man and nature is developed. In both Chinese poetry and Fet’s works, human life goes into natural life, gaining eternity in the nature. As a result, although Fet was not familiar with Chinese culture, the intuitions that fed his work surprisingly coincided with pictorial techniques as a way of conveying emotion in classical Chinese poetry, separated from him by many centuries.

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