Translation Skill and Appreciation of The Analects of Confucius
　　Li Jingyuan
　　（Department of English and International Studies， China Foreign Affairs University， Beijing 100037）
　　Abstract： The Analects of Confucius is an integral part of Confucian school classics. It has been translated into many versions. This paper will compare Arthur Waley's English version with KU Hungming's to study the translation method of classical literature from the perspective of cultural domestication and foreignization and the application of simplification and explanatory note.
　　Key words： The Analects of Confucius；domestication；foreignization；simplification；explanatory note
　　1.Introduction
　　Confucius （551-479B.C.） is the most studied in the West among all the Chinese philosophers.
　　His teachings have influenced Chinese thought for more than two thousand years. The people in the West who desire to know the Chinese thinking way naturally begin with Confucius-his personality， his thought， his influence， and etc. The Analects of Confucius is a book that vividly recorded the words and deeds between Confucius and his disciples. It is a significant constituent part of Confucian classics and its translations have become an import content for sino-foreign cultural exchanges. It has been translated by many masters from home and abroad since the late 16th century， like James Legge （1861）， Ku Hung-ming （1898）， Arthur Waley （1938）， Lin Yutang （1938）， Ezra Pound （1950）， Huang Jizhong（1997）， （Roger T. Ames& Henry Rosemont Jr. 1998） and etc. Now， over 60 English versions have been published. This paper is going to compare and appreciate the translation skills between Arthur Waley（Hereinafter referred to shortly as Waley）and Ku Hung-ming（Hereinafter referred to shortly as Ku）.
　　Waley and Ku are outstanding representatives for translating The Analects of Confucius. One is from home and the other abroad. They lived in different period of history. They used different translation tactic and skopos to reveal the process how the traditional Chinese classics were translated into English. Their translations have gained popularity and remain an important influence.
　　Arthur Waley （1889-1966） used to work in British Museum， resigned his post in 1929 and became an independent oriental literature translator. He is regarded as an authority to research Confucius and Li Po.

    Ku Hung-ming （1857-1928）， a cultural eccentric of late Qing Dynasty， described himself as 'born in Southeast Asia， study in the west， marry in Japan and work in China'， and had profound Chinese and western cultural background. His translation works-The Analects of Confucius， was published in Shanghai in 1898. It was the first complete English version translated by a Chinese. It's a remarkable contribution to Chinese translation history. Ku's translation had western language characters and gained widespread popularity in the west. Due to his good English background and years of devoted study of Confucianism， his translation is outstanding among Chinese translators.
　　Both Waley and Ku had done a lot of research work to Confucius' ideology. They strived to make the translation fidelity and smoothness and retain the styles of the original. Their translations are worth well to learn from for us.
　　2 Comparisons of translated texts
　　2.1 Cultural domestication and foreignization
　　During the process of translation to heterogeneous culture， it requires translators to make choices between domestication and foreignization. Domestication strategy refers to the target-language-culture-oriented translation in which expressions acceptable in the target language culture are exploited in order to make the translated texts intelligible and suitable for the target text readers.Foreignization strategy refers to the source-language-culture-oriented translation which fully reflects the features of original text in order to keep the exotic color.
　　Foreignization was used by Waley. His translation retained the cultural heritage， paid attention to the translation of every detail and strived to get close to the original with concise text. His version was quite popular not only among English-speaking countries but also in China. Ku chose to use Domestication strategy. In his translation， he let Confucius and his disciples talk like well-educated British， deleted all the Chinese proper nouns to eliminate the strangeness and uniqueness. He quoted from many famous writers and ideologists to annotate. He absorbed western concepts to replace Confucian terms. His version has been a phenomenal success. He has been regarded as sage of oriental culture. His translation has been widely spread and read.
　　Example 1：子见南子，子路不说。夫子矢之日："予所否者 ，天厌之！天厌之"（P76-77）
　　Ku： On one occasion when Confucius allowed himself to be presented to fl princess of a State who was notorious for the irregularities of her life.His disciple，the intrepid Chung YU，was vexed.Confucius then swore an oath，saying，"If I have had an unworthy motive in doing that.may God forsake me一may God forsake me for ever！" (责任编辑：南粤论文中心)转贴于南粤论文中心: http://www.nylw.net(代写代发论文_广州毕业论文代笔_广州职称论文代发_广州论文网）