CHINESE TRADITION

Maria Gabriela

Santos

Nº160462

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Text presentation
• Chinese language
• Translation in Chinese History
• Translation of buddhist scriptures

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TEXT PRESENTATION

• Authors: Eva Hung and David Pollard (2001)
• From the book: Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies, edited by Mona Baker and Gabriela Saldanha.
• Part II: History and Traditions

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CHINESE LANGUAGE

• Sino-Tibetan language;
• An official language of the United Nations;
• Spoken in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, etc;
• Use of characters (ideographs) since back to the first millennium BC.

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Evolution of Chinese characters

Shuǐ

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(Water)

Huǒ

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(Fire)

FEATURES OF TRADITIONAL CHINESE

• High density;
• Versatile grammar;
• Moderate use of tense and number;
• Tonality.

Why is tonality so important?

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THE FOUR CHINESE TONES

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THE FOUR CHINESE TONES:�EXAMPLES

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These features led to wide differences in interpretation, evident in translation.

TRANSLATION IN CHINESE HISTORY

First century BC:

• Records of the Grand Historian -» references to translation in the context of diplomacy and commerce.

Zhou Dynasty (ninth century BC):

• Government officials in charge of interpreting and translation work.

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TRANSLATION IN CHINESE HISTORY

Tang Dynasty (618–906):

• Period of cultures exchanges;
• The foreigners in China were employed as government interpreters.

Zhou Dynasty to the present:

• Translator´s work focused in government and commerce.

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PERIODS RELATED TO CHINA´S CULTURAL AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

• The translation of Buddhist scriptures;
• The work of Christian missionaries;
• The May Fourth Movement;
• The emerge of the People´s Replublic of China;
• Contact with European countries.

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TRANSLATION OF BUDDHIST SCRIPTURES

• The translation of Buddhist sutras marked the beginning of a massive translation movement that lasted for nine centuries.

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• Sutra translation allowed the practice and discussion of different translation approaches.

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TRANSLATION OF BUDDHIST SCRIPTURES

First phase (c.148-265):

• Translations were word-to-word;
• Transliteration was used very liberally.

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Sanskrit

Chinese

TRANSLATION OF BUDDHIST SCRIPTURES

Second phase (c.265-589):

• Free translation
• Kumarajiva (344-413) -» one of the most respected and productive monk-translators.
• He was the pioneer of this approach.

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TRANSLATION OF BUDDHIST SCRIPTURES

Third phase (c.589-1100):

• Xuan Zang (602-644) -» the most prolific monk-translator in Chinese history. Who rendered over 1,300 volumes of sutras into Chinese;
• Attention to the style of the original text;
• Rules about the use of transliteration.

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REFERENCES

• Hung, E. and Pollard, D. (2001) Chinese Tradition. (2^nd ed.). Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies, Routledge, London and New York, 369-378.
• Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2024, August 29). Sino-Tibetan languages. In Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sino-Tibetan-languages
• Zhang, P. (2024). The story of Chinese characters. Magnifissance. Retrieved from https://magnifissance.com/arts/the-story-of-chinese-characters/
• Chinese Language Institute. (2024, October 14). Chinese etymology: Origins of Chinese characters. StudyCLI. Retrieved from https://studycli.org/chinese-characters/chinese-etymology/#Pictographic_characters_xiangxingzi
• Listen & Learn. (2023, January 6). The four Chinese tones and how they affect meaning. Retrieved from https://www.listenandlearn.org/blog/four-chinese-tones-meaning/

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THANK YOU�谢谢�(XIÈXIÈ)

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Quiz time!!