Look at the foreign translation of Chinese literature from the perspective of comparison and development

Translation plays an indispensable role in cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries. Chinese culture should "go out", and the foreign translation of Chinese literature has a special importance, and the issue of the introduction and dissemination of Chinese literature to foreign countries has attracted special attention from the academic circles and society. At the same time, there are different or even contradictory views within the translation community, as well as in the literary and cultural circles, around the necessity of active foreign translation of Chinese literature, the methods of foreign translation of Chinese literature, and the acceptance of foreign translation of Chinese literature. There is a loud voice in the translation community and the media, questioning the principle of fidelity of translation, and based on the success of the translation of the American translator Ge Haowen, he advocates updating the concept of translation and adopting the strategy of "simultaneous translation and reform" in the foreign translation of Chinese literature. Under the influence of a certain "acceptance anxiety", some scholars even emphasize that the acceptance mentality of overseas readers should be oriented to choose translation strategies. Literary critics, on the other hand, have a tit-for-tat view, arguing that Ge Haowen's translation and rewriting is an act of dishonesty, which is equivalent to deception of foreign readers. Another translation scholar has proposed that Ge Haowen's translation method should not be absolutized or modeled, nor should it overemphasize the decisive role of readers' acceptance of literary translation, which leads to the acceptance theory of acceptance in Chinese literature, but should rationally explore the issue of translation methods based on the stage and imbalance of cultural acceptance and the fundamental demands of Chinese literary translation.

How to grasp the important value of Chinese literary translation and further clarify the relevant understanding of Chinese literature translation urgently requires in-depth thinking and discussion in the translation community. The author believes that when looking at the foreign translation of Chinese literature, there should be a kind of comparison and development vision. First of all, it is necessary to construct a comparative vision of "Chinese translation to foreign" and "foreign translation". Under the background of the new era, "Chinese to foreign" has become an increasingly important translation direction, and a new trend of "Chinese to foreign" and "foreign translation" side by side has gradually taken shape, and some scholars have keenly proposed that this is a "fundamental change" that is taking place in the field of translation in the current era. In this regard, the translation community should fully recognize the actual differences between the translation behaviors of the two different directions of "Chinese translation to foreign language" and "foreign translation", change the research ideas in a timely manner, pay attention to and grasp the new phenomena and new problems that appear in the process of Chinese literature translation, and carry out theoretical discussions from multiple levels. However, we know that translation activities are two-way exchanges involving two languages, and under the influence of cultural, historical, social and ideological factors, there must be differences between translation and translation, and the translation community cannot ignore this objective difference, but it should not be exaggerated. Comparatively speaking, it is not difficult to find that the fundamental issues of translation involved in "Chinese to foreign" and "foreign translation" are to a large extent common and can be used as mutual references. Taking Ge Haowen's translation as an example, he adopted translation strategies such as abridgement and retranslation based on the reader's acceptance, which is not uncommon in the history of Chinese literary translation, and the most representative is Lin Shu's translation. In view of the certain similarities between Ge Haowen and Lin Shu in terms of translation strategies and translation concepts, the translation community can learn from the relevant research results of Lin Shu's translation, based on the essential attributes and fundamental goals of translation, and more reasonably view Ge Haowen's translation strategy from the height of historical development, so as to avoid some one-sided understanding.

Second, it is necessary to construct a comparative vision of Chinese literature from English to non-English translation. In general, at present, the attention and discussion of "Chinese to foreign" in the translation academic circles mainly focuses on the translation and introduction of Chinese literature in the English-speaking world, and many views are also derived from the investigation of the translation and introduction behavior in this direction. A very important reason why Ge Haowen's translation method of "continuous translation and reform" is highly respected, and even with the help of the media, it is almost regarded as the only mode for the success of chinese literature to be translated and introduced to foreign countries, and a very important reason is that Ge Haowen adopts the naturalized translation strategy to translate and introduce Chinese modern and contemporary literature, and promotes the ideal acceptance and dissemination of Chinese literature in the United States and even the entire Western world. In fact, the choice of translation strategy is the result of a combination of subjective and objective factors, which not only reflects the translator's concept of translation, but also closely related to the cultural context of the target language country and the tradition of acceptance of foreign literature. Examining Chinese literature in the non-English-speaking world such as the Translation in France, it will be found that France is also one of the important cities in the world for translation and acceptance of Chinese literature, and the birth of the French translation of some Chinese literary works even predates its English translation, while French translators mostly advocate following the principle of fidelity of translation, such as one of the most important French translators of contemporary Chinese literature, the French translator Duttlelet, who has clearly stated that he "always strives to be as loyal as possible". This is not only due to The Translation Ethics of "Respecting the Departure Language as much as possible" that Duterlai has always adhered to, but also because France has its own deep literary tradition and a high degree of openness and acceptance of foreign cultures. In view of this, in the process of understanding and discussing the foreign translation of Chinese literature, if the translation community can broaden its horizons, consciously study the translation and introduction of Chinese literature in the English-speaking world and the non-English-speaking world, and comprehensively analyze the various complex factors affecting translation activities, it will help to break some absolute concepts.

As a representation and construction of cultural relations, translation inevitably presents a profound historical situation in the process of collision and fusion of two languages and cultures. Rational understanding of the foreign translation of Chinese literature not only requires a comparative vision, but also a vision of development.

Development means the continuous expansion of the translation path. In the context of the new era, international cultural exchanges are more frequent and in-depth, and the richness and complexity of translation are becoming increasingly prominent. The translation community should change the one-way perspective that mainly focused on "foreign translation" in the past to a two-way perspective that attaches equal importance to "foreign translation" and "Chinese translation", comprehensively consider the translation activities in Sino-foreign cultural exchanges, and carry out multi-perspective and multi-level discussions on chinese literary foreign translation from the aspects of values and ethics, models and methods, subjects and contents, acceptance and dissemination, and pay deep attention to the changes in translation paths and the renewal of the entire translation field brought about by this change. We must not only pay attention to the ways, models and methods of cultural exchange, but also grasp the positions and fundamental demands of literary translation at a deeper level.

Development means the long-term pursuit of the fundamental goal of translation. The "going out" of Chinese literature is not the appeal of a certain writer or a certain work, nor is it the appeal of a certain social group or a certain literary category, nor is it an "expediency" or "pandering" to a temporary matter, but should take Chinese culture to the world and carry out equal exchanges and dialogues with the cultures of others in other places as the fundamental goal. To achieve such a goal, it is necessary to overcome the utilitarian nature of translation, and it is not advisable to hope that Chinese literature will be accepted as soon as it is translated, only to consider the acceptance of current readers, or to "go out" for the sake of "going out" and other rushing mentalities. Both the objective laws of translation and communication activities, or the relative marginal position of Chinese literature and culture in the world, tell us that acceptance once and for all is unrealistic. In the current foreign translation of Chinese literature, the translation methods such as abridgement and translation adopted for the sake of accepting context and readers are reasonable and even necessary to a certain extent, but any staged translation mode and method will change with the evolution of language, culture, society and other factors with significant characteristics of the times. Therefore, from the perspective of historical development, the foreign translation of Chinese literature should become a long-term pursuit based on the essential appeal of translation.

Development means in-depth exchanges between the world's diverse cultures. Translation is a dynamic process characterized by generativeness. As long as the times are developing, the various relationships and conditions on which translation is based are also in flux, and the accumulation of conditions and the evolution of relations provide direct possibilities for the occurrence and growth of translation. As far as the foreign translation of Chinese literature is concerned, the in-depth exchange of Chinese and foreign cultural exchanges continues to expand the space for translation, turning the impossibility of translation into possible, and then turning the possibility of translation into reality, so as to gradually promote Chinese literature to better "go global". In turn, in its own growth, translators have further broken down cultural barriers with their unique open spirit, prompted Chinese literature and culture to go global, carried out dialogue with foreign civilizations, and enriched themselves in the collision and integration of self and others, thus promoting the in-depth exchange of multiculturalism in the world. History has repeatedly proved to us that the road of translation from closure to openness and exchange is the only way to maintain human cultural diversity and promote the development of human civilization. There is no doubt that the foreign translation of Chinese literature is shouldering such a historical mission.

(Author Affilications:School of Foreign Chinese, Nanjing University)

Editor: Liu Xing