Translation Theory||A brief discussion on the translation of Chinese philosophical concepts

This article is transferred from: Foreign Philosophical Studies

When it comes to philosophical translation, whether it is from foreign to Chinese or Chinese to foreign, it is a matter of knowing that it cannot be done. Because of a special opportunity, I have been translating the catalogue into English for Philosophical Dynamics for five years, and I am still training young people to do this work. In the process, I have accumulated a little experience and reflection on the translation of Chinese philosophical concepts and terminology, and I would like to take this opportunity to share with you today.

When it comes to translation, people like to use "faith, reach, and elegance" as a criterion, but from my personal experience, this criterion may apply to literary translation, but it is by no means applicable to philosophical translation. When it comes to philosophical translation, I prefer to quote Kumarosh, the translator of Buddhist texts in the fifth century A.D., "Translation is like chewing food and feeding people." Following this line of thought, Mr. Feng Youlan clearly stated that "any translated text, in the final analysis, is only an interpretation". In the process of translating philosophical concepts, the effort of understanding and interpretation is primary, so there is no reason to force the unity of the translation of philosophical concepts. Under this principle, for the concepts and terms unique to Chinese philosophy, the treatment method of phonetic + English equivalent + explanation should be adopted.

This method was widely used in the book A Short History of Chinese Philosophy (Derk Bodde/Zhao Fusan), compiled by Mr. Feng Youlan in 1946-1947 when he taught the history of Chinese philosophy in English at the University of Pennsylvania (the book is Mr. Feng). The use of pinyin and even Chinese characters is not only to give a clue to have the ability or possibility to read Chinese, but also to eliminate the shortcomings of English translation as much as possible. This method is also the most used today.

conception	Pinyin	Translation
benevolence	Jen/ren	Human-heartedness/benevolence
righteousness	Yi	Righteousness
courtesy	Li	rituals, ceremonies, proper conduct
reason	Li	Principle
road	Tao/Dao	the Way or Truth
Forgiveness	chung and shu	the practice of chung and shu means the practice of jen
Chimei	Knowing Ming	Fate, destiny, decree/the Decree of Heaven or Will of Heaven
tai chi	T'ai Chi/Taiji	the Supreme Ultimate
卦	Trigram (each hexagram is divided into a complete or two straight lines)

When translating Xunzi Heavenly Treatise, the way I did it was "Tian Lun" (On the World). Also involving the concept of Xunzi, "Zhixin - Intellectual Mind" and "Sincere Mind - Sincere Mind" also uses a combination of pinyin and English translation.

However, there is a class of concepts in which it is almost impossible to find a single English word that echoes its main idea, but it is necessary to use the method of enumeration and extract many examples from daily life to illustrate it. In this case, the above-mentioned method of pinyin + translation is difficult to operate, and the method of direct transplantation can only be adopted, that is, the Latinization of Chinese philosophical concepts through pinyin.

Typical examples of this are "yin-yang", "feng shui", "heaven", "tianxia", and even "rivers and lakes". The first thing to avoid here is literal translation and hard translation. Some literal translations of everyday life, such as "spring roll" and "bitter melon" in the Chinese-American community, will eventually be eliminated by the conventions of language, but if the philosophical concepts are translated literally, the results can be devastating. For example, if the concept of "tianxia" is literally translated as "all beneath the sky", which is synonymous with "all within the four seas", then it is not a concept and does not know what it means; In this case, the Latinization of Chinese philosophical concepts by pronunciation with the help of pinyin is a path worth trying. English as an international language is very inclusive, "yin and yang" and "feng shui" have entered the English language, and the Book of Changes was translated as Book of Changes, but now more and more people call it I Ching. In order for other concepts to be accepted, it is necessary to be like Dr. Zhang Lin, who is bold and practical, and explores a path in practice to make Chinese philosophy go to the world of philosophy.

The third situation is that the compound concept term is not suitable for pinyin and must be paraphrased.

In dealing with these concepts, the translator must have the courage to take responsibility and boldly interpret the subtleties of these concepts on the basis of intensive study of Chinese and Western ideas and cultures. Let me give you a few examples:

黄宗羲《明夷待访录》：Waiting for the Dawn: A Plan for the Prince“慎独-self-disciplinary”“精神修养-spiritual cultivation”“静虚-vacuity in quiescence”

In the translation of "Philosophical Dynamics", I once encountered an article - "From "Song" to "Opera": The Transformation of the Investigation Path of "Music Education" in the Pre-Qin Dynasty" (Wang Shunran). Based on what I have discussed, I am satisfied with the fact that I am satisfied with the fact that "qu" is translated as Musical-melody, "drama" is translated as Musical-drama, and "music-melody" is translated as Musical-Literary Education. In the same way, the use of poetry edification for "poetry education" is also appropriate.

The fourth case, which is indeed the case throughout all translation activities, is to be flexible according to the context.

Let me give you two examples that I consider typical. The first is about the "God" of the Confucian classics that "the God of the Viet Nak". In order to spread the teachings of Catholicism among the upper intellectual class of the Ming Dynasty, Matteo Ricci chose the word "God" from the ancient Chinese scriptures to correspond to the Christian God. Then, when we need to translate the word "God" in the Confucian classics into English, we can't use God, but can only use pinyin + Chinese characters to deal with Shangdi (God), which is how Professor Li Feng of the Department of East Asian Studies at Columbia University handles it. When I came across an article entitled "The Religion of Confucianism and Confucianism" in "Dynamics", I used the method of pinyin + Chinese characters to interpret it as "Connecting with and the Religious Character of Confucianism."

For another example, when talking about Wang Yangming's "kung fu theory", we can't use kungfu theory indiscriminately just because kungfu has entered English, but we have to return to the original meaning and use self-cultivation theory instead.

Once when I encountered Shao Yong's concept of "innate and easy to learn", this "innate " was not expressed in a priori, but in pinyin, after all, there are differences in conceptual paradigms and ways of thinking between Chinese and Western philosophies, and it is not good to treat them equally without specific analysis.

There is no end to learning, and there is no end to translation. I would like to encourage you to share it with all readers.