An Analysis of Professor Zhao Yanchun’s English Version of The Three Character Classic in the Light of Peter Newmark’s Translation Theory

Abstract

With reform and open up for three more decades and inevitable globalization, the cultural communication among countries comes to an unprecedented period. Translation which acts as a medium for cultural communication plays a crucial role. The ancient China for more than five thousand years brings about numerous classics. Scholars at home and abroad actively enter into translation field. Many of them are elites and great works have been created by them. Based on practice, they put forward a series of influential theories. And Peter Newmark is one of them. His communicative and semantic theories as well as text appropriateness have a profound influence for the whole translation field. The Three Character Classic is an immortal work in Chinese culture and popular among translators. However, the level of the translated versions varies from people to people because of the authors’ knowledge and comprehension. The well-known scholar Professor Zhao Yanchun has translated The Three Character Classic . He has choosen exact words, uses decent expression and proper rhyme in a fluent way. Therefore, it is regarded as an excellent work and worth of taste.

The thesis analyses Zhao’s English version of The Three Character Classic based on Newmark’s theory. Firstly, the author gives a brief introduction to The Three Character Classic and its famous English versions. Secondly, the author throws light upon Newmark’s main theories, including semantic theory, communicative theory and text appropriateness. The third part is the most significant part of this thesis because the author makes the most of Peter Newmark’s main translation theory to analyze several examples from Professor Zhao Yanchun’ s English version of The Three Character Classic in detail. Finally, the author draws some conclusions. The main features including word-choosing, text structure and language style in English The Three Character Classic by Zhao fully reflects Newmark’s crucial theory.

This thesis is not only a perfect example for Newmark’s theory and practice, but also provides a relatively clear translation method for Chinese ancient classics.

Key words: English The Three Character Classic, semantic translation, communicative translation, text appropriateness

•  《灵活应用多媒体,提高学生英语自主学习

•  phonics让孩子们在英语里展翅翱

•  论高职院校公共英语教学

•  小学英语报刊阅读教学的尝试

•  略论广告英语模糊性及语用准则

•  《高职英语教学现实存在的问题及改进意

•  从跨文化交际角度看食品广告的翻译

•  通过中学英语课堂教学，培养学生创新思

•  高中英语“互动教学模式”的构建方式

•  略论大学英语教学在网络环境下的自主学

•  《解析被动句的语法特性》

•  浅析英汉广告语言的文化内涵

•  How is Absolute Poverty Line Measured范文

•  中学生对英语课堂教学副语言反应的性别

•  小学英语阅读教学的理性突围的有效性