Strategies of Translating the Images in Chinese Ancient Poems into English.doc

strategies of translating the images in chinese ancient poems into english191. introduction1.1 project background looking back on chinas 5000-year-long history there were so many beautiful poems attracting peoples interest. reading chinese ancient poem is just like appreciating chinese ink and wash painting. among many different elements, image is considered the soul of a poem. translating image is the key point of poetry translation. as a matter of fact, image transmission is meanwhile the biggest barrier for translating chinese ancient poems into english. on the one hand, image is a thing created by the poet using artistic artifice to express emotions and thoughts. on the other hand, for readers, image is a kind of feeling when they immerse in the world of a poem, knowing and understanding the feeling of the poet, even producing resonance with the poet. a good translator is both the author and the reader at the same time. he or she needs to taste the image of the poem and try to have resonance with the poet.1.2 research objectivein this thesis, the author will try to analyze image from ways of classifying its types and examine the treatment of image in poetry translation. the author will also make a brief comparison among images in different poems. through analyzing the three main aspects of image i.e. the motional beauty, the sentimental beauty and the visual beauty, the paper will discover how to actualize image translation from some aspects such as the form, the rhythm as well as the style of language. through comparing and contrasting the translations of cultural images in different poems, some practical translation skills are intended to be discovered.1.3 project designthis main body of this thesis will be divided into three parts. in part one, the author will define what the image is and describe how to exactly express the image of a poem. in part two, the author will go further research the three main aspects of image in chinese ancient poems i.e. the motional beauty, the sentiment beauty and the visual beauty by 10 examples. in part three, the author will summarize the whole research and present the implications for future practice and research.2. rationale 2.1 definition of imagesfrankly speaking, poetry translation is like dancing with shackles. translators should obey the meaning and the format of the original poems. meanwhile, their ultimate goal is to express the abstract image of the poem to their readers. image could be considered as the soul of a poem. what is image? ezra pound made a definition in his book a few donts by an imagist. he said it is an intellectual and emotional complex in an instant of time. simply speaking, image means all the feelings, emotions and senses a poet wants to express out in a poem. in narrow sense, image means amalgamations of subjective senses and impersonal scenes.2.2 classification of imagesin practical poetry translation, expressing the image of the poem is quite difficult. if we could classify and treat different kinds of images with different strategies, it will be much easier to perform good translations. as in most genres of literature, images in poems could represent many kinds of beauties such as the motional beauty, the sentimental beauty and the visual beauty. through researching different kinds of beauties created by images, discussing translation strategies of images in different aspects and levels, comparing the images in different poems, translators could finally conclude the right ways to rebuild the images.2.3 strategies for image transmissionthen how to exactly express the image of a poem? in this thesis this topic will be discussed in several aspects. firstly, the principle of poetry translation is all-around reappearance of the original poem from format to content. it requires a translator to understand the image of the original text deeply and use useful translation strategies and language resources to rebuild it. its important to emphasize the artistic effects of the translation. secondly, the fundamental part of poetry translation is the translation of a poems image. poems depend on images to express poets thoughts. poets also need to use this way to inspire and communicate with readers. before translating a poem the translator must pay attention to the key point that is he or she must catch on the image of the poem and faithfully reproduce it in the target language. thirdly, preserving the style of the original poem in translation is also an important thing. poets often use amazing rhythm to present the emotion or the environment when they create poems. consequently, dilemmas might be created for translators whether to choose rebuilding the original image faithfully or holding the same rhythm with the original one. based on the principle of faithfully rebuilding the image, translators should try their best to use the same rhythm in translation. a good translator ought to think over every word when he or she is doing the translation, thinking over the meaning of the word, the number of the letters and the pronunciation of the syllables. finally, cultural differences could make more difficulties for the translation of a poem. here is a question how could we make the translation correspond with english culture? fortunately, there are some theories for us. firstly, the reappearance of the image is prior to the format. secondly, the words we choose must match the image. thirdly, connotative meaning of the core words should be expressed into unconnotative meaning.2.4 brief review on image transmission2.4.1 the principle of expressing the motional beauty of imagein all kinds of beauties of image, beauty in motion is the most metrical one. it could bring reverie to readers and make readers feel the changes of the poets emotion. motion is the way of things being so. as a representative of language art, poems are most likely to express motional beauty. we can easily find it in many chinese ancient poems. this kind of beauty makes poems great-hearted forever. there are many ways to express the motional beauties in poems. poets could use motional things and scenes. actually, this is the simplest and the most direct way. using trope properly can also express motional beauty very well, especially with the using of reiterative locution. rhythm of poetry is another way to express motional beauty. with the effect of intonation made by the rhythm, the motional beauty will sounds like a lovely melody.2.4.2 the principle of expressing the sentimental beauty of imagesentiment means peoples aesthetic ideal, interest and the ability for understanding and requiring the beauty in art. it is another important factor in chinese ancient poems. sentimental beauty in poetry means the poet concentrates his or her own feeling and experience in real life and put it in the poem. by using artistic strategies, the poet put his or her subjective emotion in the poem and makes it a special artistic style and a beautiful image. only the poet who has his or her unique feeling towards the life could create the good sentimental beauty in the poem and produce interesting, inspiring and intoxicating characters. sentimental beauty has many categories such as un-normal sentimental beauty, philosophic sentimental beauty, facetious sentimental beauty, intellectual sentimental beauty and cryptic sentimental beauty. whether a translator could make a good translation for the sentimental beauty of image in the poem is an important standard to judge the quality of the translation.2.4.3 the principle of expressing the visual beauty of imagevisual beauty includes sound, color and shape, etc. a vivid visual beauty could express the pictures of life in all kinds of arts. however, poetry is different from other literature types. it has short and concise words and sentences. creating visual beauty could let poems have beautiful images. through describing visual beauty a poet could put his or her own feeling into the poem and make it like a beautiful painting. for translators we could study the visual beauty of image from the aspect of esthetics, analyzing how to understand visual beauty in original chinese poems and find the right methods to present it to english readers. in order to understand visual beauty better we could research on some poems which have typical types of visual beauty in them such as scenery poems, the portraits of heroes and lovely women in character poems.3. data descriptionthe data of this thesis consists of ten ancient chinese poems and their english translations. through analyzing the translations of these ten poems we can conclude the ways of treating images in chinese ancient poetry when we are doing the translation. the sources for the analysis are cited from three books and three articles respectively. examples are cited from: 1) new aesthetic approach to english translation of ancient chinese poetry (2006) by gu zhengyang (顾正阳). 2) study ancient chinese poetry translation (2004) by mu shixiong (穆诗雄). 3) linguistic explorations in translation studies (2006) by huang guowen (黄国文). 4) on the poetry translation techniques (2004) by yao qiaomei (姚俏梅) and wu dianning (吴殿宁). 5) explorations of transferring image in ancient chinese poetry translation (2006) by hu saizhu (胡赛珠). 6) the treatment of image in translation between chinese and english poems (2006) by liu suzhou (刘苏周) and yuan xiaojun (袁晓军).4. data analysisthe expected aim of this thesis is trying to find out ways of translating images in chinese ancient poems into english. the analysis is based on the following translation methods.4.1 strategies of translating motional beautymotional beauty is widely used in chinese ancient poems. sometimes motional objects or scenes are directly used to express the image. this is the most common usage of motional beauty, such as the beginning part of念奴娇by 苏轼.大江东去，浪淘尽，千古风流人物。故垒西边，人道是，三国周郎赤壁。乱石穿空，惊涛拍岸，卷起千堆雪。江山如画，一时多少豪杰！(st1)we could literarily translate some words in the above sentences. for example, “淘”could be translated as was gone; “穿”as tower; “拍”as beat and “卷” as roll up. beside this, rhetoric is another way of expressing motional beauty used in some poems. in the first sentence of如梦令“遥夜沉沉如水”by 秦观, we could find the use of reiterative locution “沉沉”describing the word“遥夜”. an existing piece of translation for this sentence is the long night is draggy like water by 龚景浩. draggy here means depressing and logy. it shows the length of a boring night and expresses the depressing feeling of the poet properly. some poems use special rhythm or form to express the motional beauty. such as the first part of 声声慢by 李清照.寻寻觅觅，冷冷清清，凄凄惨惨戚戚。乍暖还寒时节，最难将息。(st2)(i look for what i miss. i know not what it is. i feel so sad and drear, so lonely, without cheer.) (tt2) the translation changed the form of the poem, added the subject, and inserted what i miss and i know not what it is. although the shape of the poem has been changed by the translation, the real feeling of the poet is perfectly showed. the goal of the translation is accomplished.4.2 strategies of translating sentimental beautyancient chinese poets tended to express their own feelings and experiences of the realistic world through using literary ways in their writings. this is called sentimental beauty. the result of fusing sentimental beauty into a poem is that the poem has an attractive image. for example, the江雪by柳宗元千山鸟飞绝，万径人踪灭。孤舟蓑笠翁，独钓寒江雪。(st3)(a hundred mountains and no bird, a thousand paths without a footprint; a little boat, a bamboo cloak, an old man fishing in the cold river-snow.) (tt3) apparently, the translator used the way of reducing words to express the sentimental beauty. “千山” and “万径”in the original text were replaced by “a hundred mountains” and “a thousand paths” in the target text. chinese character“万”could be translated into english as ten thousand. if the translator had used ten thousand in the translation of this poem, it would have been too verbose. meanwhile, the translator used only one verb “fishing” in the whole translation to make it very concise. here is the second example, the乌衣巷by刘禹锡.朱雀桥边野草花，乌衣巷口夕阳斜。旧时王谢堂前燕，飞入寻常百姓家。(st4)(by the pose finch bridge the weeds and wild plants are in bloom; the dying sun makes the entrance to the black clothes lane gloom. the swallows that frequented the grand hall of the nobles bygone, are flying now to and fro in the commoners roofs and rooms.) (tt4) in fact, there is a historic story in this poem. we could imagine that trying to understand word to word translation of this poem would be quite hard work for foreign readers who dont know chinese history very well. to avoid this situation, the translator used the way of explanation in the translation. in chinese, “王谢” means noble. “旧时王谢” could be translated into the grand hall of the nobles bygone so that readers could understand the image correctly even they dont know who is “王谢”. this phrase contrasts against “the commoners roofs and rooms” in next sentence and expresses the image well. sometimes, facetious language is used by poets to express sentimental beauty in poems. 菩萨蛮by张先.牡丹含露真珠颗，美人折向帘前过。含笑问檀郎：“花强妾貌强？”檀郎故相恼，刚道 “花枝好”“花若胜如奴，花还解语无？” (st5)(there the peony, pearled with drew. here the lady, her steps turned towards the one behind the blinds. smiling, she asks: “which is prettier, the peony or me?” teasing, he begins: “why, the peony” “be it so, let her talk to you.”) (tt5) this poem relates a scene presented by two young lovers and their conversation. the translator used the way of transferring the format of sentences to express the image. the original question sentence “花若胜如奴，花还解语无？”was translated into an imperative sentence as be it so, let her talk to you. through the changing of the format of the sentence, it vividly shows the secret in a girls heart and let readers understand the feeling of young lovers just like it happens on themselves. 秋浦歌by李白.白发三千丈，缘愁似个长。不知明镜里，何处得秋霜。(st6)(my whitening hair would make a long long rope, yet could not fathom all my depth of woe; though how it comes within a mirrors scope to sprinkle autumn frosts, i do not know.) (tt6) at the beginning of this poem, the poet used exaggeration to describe the troubles he had. how to rebuild the image properly? the translator used opposite translation. the sentence “白发三千丈，缘愁似个长” was translated into (even the long long rope) could not fathom all my depth of woe. the translator used negative sentences describing the positive depiction of the original text. this way strengthened the feeling of the poet and made the image easily understood by readers.4.3 strategies of translating visual beautyvisual beauty here means the figure of people or the appearance of things such as sound, color and shape. visual beauty in poetry is based on the poets deep cognition of real society and highly condensed image. it is very important to poetry translation getting the same image with the original text. there are usually two ways of expressing visual beauty in ancient chinese poems. one is expressing it in natural view.游园不值by 叶绍翁. “应怜屐齿印苍苔，小扣柴扉久不开。春色满园关不住，一枝红杏出墙来。”(st7) (visitors here trample the lichen; it is shameful the clog marks everywhere. i knock at the gate for a long time, but no one is home to welcome me. how restless the spring colors are! the garden gate simply cannot shut them in. a red apricot reaches over the wall, with a branch full of blossoms.) (tt7) in this translation the translator contained the original natural view through construing verbs. the poem describes the beautiful spring view of a garden. the words “扣” and “出” are the key points of the poem. they were translated into verb phrases knock at and reach over respectively. then the natural view of that garden appears in readers minds vividly. 山行by 杜牧. 远上寒山石径斜，白云生处有人家。停车坐爱枫林晚，霜叶红于二月花。(st8) (a flagstone path winds up into the chilly hills, where houses are just discernible amid the thick white cloud. i stop my carriage for i love the maple trees in the twilight; the leaves after early frost are as crimson as spring flowers.) (tt8)this poem uses simile to describe the view of a mountain in autumn. the last sentence is the central sentence of this poem which was translated into as crimson as spring flowers. the poet compared maple leaves in autumn with flowers in spring and expressed the preference for the former one.the other way is to express visual beauty in the appearance of people. through describing the portrait, the action, the conversation or the mentality of people, the poet could indirectly express the image in a poem. 如梦令by李清照. 昨夜雨疏风骤，浓睡不消残酒。试问卷帘人，却道“海棠依旧”。“知否？知否？应是绿肥红瘦。”(st9) (it hardly rained, but the wind blew like crazy last night. i feel the wine this morning. although my sleep was dreamless. now the maid comes in. and i question her as she rolls he window shade. she answers the crabapples. are the same as yesterday. i cry well is that a fact. you ought to know. they should look much greener now. and a lot less red.) (tt9) this poem relates the conversation between a maid and the poet. it might not be the real conversation but the feeling in the poets mind. so the translator translated it into indirect speech according to the habit of english. the translator used she answers and i cry to translate the last two sentences of the conversation. that makes the translation more logical. following is a part of长恨歌by白居易. 天生丽质难自弃，一朝选在君王侧。回眸一笑百媚生，六宫粉黛无颜色。春寒赐浴华清池，温泉水滑洗凝脂。(st10) (yet with such beauty bestowed by fate, how could she remain unknown? one day she was chosen to attend the emperor. glancing back and smiling, she revealed a hundred charms. all the powdered ladies of the six palaces at once seemed dull and colorless.) (tt10) this p