Chinese classical poetry is not only a kind of special literary style, but also a kind of concentrated art, especially the Tang poetry. Tang poetry is the perfect combination of the form and rhythm of poetry and poetry. Tang poetry with its limited words to enrich the poetry and the glory of the picture. It forms and rhythms also have special requirements, such as antithesis, rhyme, tone and fixed words. These factors constitute the characteristics of the Tang poetry, poetry is an important part of the external beauty.
Keywords Literal translation Free translation the beauty in sense The beauty in rhythm the beauty in form
Contents
AbstractI
ContentsI
Introduction1
1. Translation Strategies of A Tranquil Night2
1.1 Literal translation2
1.2 Free translation2
2.The Beauty of “A Tranquil Night” Translated by Xu Yuanchong4
2.1 Reflect in reproducing the beauty in sense4
2.2 Reflect in reproducing the beauty in rhythm4
2.3 Reflect in reproducing the beauty in form5
3 .Conclusion6
References7
Introduction
Chinese classical poetry is not only a kind of special literature style, but also a kind of concentrated art, especially the Tang poetry. Tang poetry is the perfect combination of the form and rhythm of poetry and poetry. Tang poetry with its limited words to enrich the poetry and the glory of the picture. It forms and rhythms also have special requirements, such as antithesis, rhyme, tone and fixed words. These factors constitute the characteristics of the Tang poetry, poetry is an important part of the external beauty. Due to the different expression in different languages, these characteristics are difficult to maintain in the translation, so many translators and scholars have a point of view: the untranslatability of poetry. For example, we can find some in translation, often appear problem: a misnomer; misunderstanding; not vivid; lose beauty; taking the form of prose and poetry translation, we take a quiet night in the famous Li Bai's translation of Xu Yuanchong as an example, the king of Yesi, the translation strategies adopted how beautiful the original poem included these strategies. In the concrete translation process, the use of translation strategies is also considered.
静夜思(李白)
床前明月光,疑是地上霜。
举头望明月,低头思故乡。
A Tranquil Night (by Xu Yuanchong)
A bed, I see a silver light,
I wonder if it’s frost aground.
Looking up, I find the moon bright;
Bowing, in homesickness I’m drowned.
1. Translation Strategies of A Tranquil Night
"The translator needs not only the semantic information of the original text, but also the cultural information of the source text". The Tang Dynasty's poems are both real and virtual environment, a real beauty, ethereal beauty. Therefore, translators should adopt different translation strategies in different situations. It is important to faithfully reproduce the original poetic habitat, and to maintain the same situation with the original poem, reflecting the original poetry of the mood, so the target readers can get beautiful, the original contains. In a quiet night, the translator uses the following strategy.
1.1 Literal translation
The so-called “literal translation” refers to translate the poem word for word, not change its sentence order. (朱光潜,1946). In A Tranquil Night, the noun in the original respectively translated “床”(bed),“地”(ground),“霜”(frost),“月光”(silver light) and so on;the verb in the original respectively translated “疑”(wonder), “举”(look up),“低”(bow),“思”(drown)and so on. Translator adopts the literal translation strategy to translate the objective things and actions, which makes the translation concise. It also makes the reader can draw a picture that the original presents.
However, in the translation, translator adopt literal translation strategy, it doesn’t mean completely be faithful to the original, doesn’t mean translate the poem word for word. For example, translator translated “床前” into “ A bed” instead of “in front of the bed” , use “looking up” instead of “lifting my head up”. Therefore, even adopt the literal translation strategy, in order to keep the beauty of the poem, it is important for translators to change expression way, add or delete some unimportant words.
1.2 Free translation
The so-called "free translation" refers to the translation of its original meaning, ignoring the order of words and sentences. In a quiet night, the translator "drowned in homesickness" rather than "my hometown". The translator adopts free translation strategies to deal with cultural default, which shows a deep understanding of Chinese traditional culture.
China is an agricultural country. Since ancient times, the Chinese people in their home and their lives together. Leaving home is very sad and unfortunate. In the Chinese dictionary, related to the content such as "leaving home" and "being transferred" and so on, are full of pain, sadness and helplessness. Homesickness is an eternal theme China in classical poetry. It has become a symbol of the emotional attributes. However, in the history, most European countries are the marine culture or the nomadic culture. For these countries, leaving his hometown to seek a better life, such as wealth (many people flocked to California to look for gold), religious freedom (American pioneers took a boat "May flower" across the Atlantic to the continental United States). So the western people are not easy to understand China nostalgia. Ji Yesi translation should be taken into account when the phenomenon of cultural default is very important. In a quiet night, the translator has completed the translation of cultural information in a free translation strategy. "Drowning in homesickness" to now China homesickness, it is successful!
2.The Beauty of “A Tranquil Night” Translated by Xu Yuanchong