How many years of world translation history

I. China's translation career has experienced five major climaxes, namely, the translation of Buddhist scriptures from the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Tang and Song dynasties, the translation of science and technology from the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the translation of Western studies from the Opium War to the May Fourth Movement, the translation of Eastern and Western literature from the early period of the founding of the People's Republic of China to the time before the Cultural Revolution, and the period of the full blossoming of translation in all fields from the seventies to the present day.

1. The Period of Translation of Buddhist Scriptures from the Two Han Dynasties to the Tang and Song Dynasties

From the Two Han Dynasties to the Tang and Song Dynasties, Buddhism was introduced into China and blended with the Chinese tradition of Confucianism and Taoism. Along with the translation of Buddhist scriptures, Indian philosophy, literature and art had a far-reaching influence on China, and Indian medicine, astronomy, arithmetic and even language also had a certain influence on China. The translation of Buddhist scriptures played a great role in promoting the first great collision of Chinese and Western cultures in China. However, the translation activities in this period were still focused on the dissemination of religion. Although a few books describing foreign scientific knowledge were also included in the translation of Buddhist scriptures, it cannot be said that an independent scientific translation activity was formed in China. Therefore, the scientific translation in this period is at best a subsidiary of the religious translation.

Between the two Han and the Tang and Song dynasties, a group of famous translators published a number of theories on translation methods, initially constructing the early Chinese translation theory. For example, Shih Tao-an advocated direct translation, in which no addition or subtraction was made to the text but only some adjustments in the word order, while Hatamarash favored paraphrase, in which the original text was often changed to suit the Chinese style. Their ideas about translation methods had a lasting impact on the later translation theories in China. For example, the three-word standard of "faith, attainment and elegance" put forward by Yan Fu in the Qing Dynasty can find its origin in the theories of translation method in this period.

In the history of Chinese translation, there are three great masters of sutra translation, namely: Hatamarash, Zhenshi, and Xuanzang.

1) Hatouma Roshi (344-413): the Eastern Jin Dynasty post-Qin monk, he and his disciple monk Zhao translated the Diamond Sutra, Dharma Flower Sutra, Vimalaya Sutra, Zhongguancun and Hundred Discourses, such as **** seventy-four, three hundred and eighty-four volumes, and played an important role in the development of Buddhism in China. It has been commented that Hatamarishi's translations "have a natural Western flavor", which means that the spirit of the originals can still be seen in the translations. Hatamarash's translation laid the foundation for the literary translation of China.

2) Zhenshi: During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Indian Buddhist scholar Zhenshi came to China on the invitation of King Wu of Liang, and translated 49 sutras, among which the Treatise on the Regeneration of the Mahayana had a great influence on Chinese Buddhist thought.

3) Xuanzang (602-664): A Tang Buddhist monk. In the second year of Zhenguan (826 AD), Xuanzang went to India to seek Buddhist scriptures, and returned home after 17 years, bringing back 657 Buddhist scriptures. Xuanzang presided over a larger translation field, and spent 19 years translating 1,335 volumes of 75 sutras. In addition, he translated part of Laozi's works into Sanskrit, and was the first Chinese to introduce Chinese writings abroad. After the Tang Dynasty, the translation of sutras in China was uninterrupted, but the scale could not be compared with that of the Tang Dynasty.

2. the end of the Ming and early Qing dynasties of scientific and technological translation period

Ming dynasty Wanli years, Xu Guangqi and Matteo Ricci cooperated in the translation of Euclid's "Geometry Originally", "Measurement of the law of justice," and other books, marking a directional change in the Chinese translation of the work. The court, represented by the Chongzhen Emperor, was mainly interested in translating western books on calendars for the purpose of fixing the calendar. 1629 saw the establishment of the Calendar Bureau by the court, which organized missionaries and people who knew about calendars in China to systematically compile mathematical and astronomical books. Xu Guangqi, Li Zhizao and Wang Zheng, on the one hand, loved science and technology, and on the other hand, tried to change the economic condition of China by science and technology. In addition to their participation in the translation of books by the Bureau of Calendars, they also translated Western books on geometry, measurement, arithmetic, agriculture, water conservancy, mechanics and philosophy.

The scientific translations of the late Ming initiated the second great contact between Chinese and foreign cultures. Scientific translation in the late Ming Dynasty was an attempt by a few Chinese intellectuals to break through the long-standing feudal and conservative atmosphere and to open their eyes to the world. Not only was the purpose of translation different from that of the Western missionaries who were keen on evangelization, but it also faced persistent resistance from conservative officials. Due to the lack of support from the court, the lack of translators, and the lack of private translation and publishing organizations, a large number of Western books that had been introduced to China at that time could not be translated and transmitted, so that our country missed an excellent opportunity to comprehensively learn advanced Western scientific knowledge.

Strictly speaking, the scientific translation activities in the early Qing Dynasty were mainly centered on the personal interests of Emperor Kangxi. He used missionaries to translate a small number of books on astronomical devices, calendars, geography, and mathematics. However, these translations were kept at the court and had no impact on the public. The only Chinese translator who made an impact in the early Qing Dynasty was Xue Fengzuo. In cooperation with the missionary Munigaku, he translated some books on logarithms, astronomy and trigonometry, which made it possible to disseminate this knowledge to the people in time.

3. The period of Western translation from the Opium War to the May Fourth Movement

The representatives of Chinese translations during the Opium War were Lin Shu and Yan Fu. Lin Shu (1852-1924) was a scholar in the Guangxu period. He collaborated with some British and Americans and translated more than 160 masterpieces of European and American literature. The most famous of them were La Dame aux Camelias (The Legacy of the Lady of the Camelias in Paris), Uncle Tom's Cabin (The Negro's Appeal to Heaven), David Copperfield (The Remains of the Day), Hamlet (The Prince's Revenge), etc. The interesting thing is that Lin Shu didn't know English. Interestingly, Lin Shu did not understand English, so he had his translations dictated to him, and then he transcribed and organized them. Lin Shu's translations are full of omissions and deletions, but they are highly readable and played a role in introducing Western literature to Chinese readers for the first time. These translations exposed Chinese readers to Western literature for the first time, aroused their interest in Western literature, and also broke the old format of the chapter book, which had a great influence on Chinese literary creation.

Yan Fu (1853-1921), known as Yueling, was a great translator in Chinese history. From the failure of the Hundred Days' Reform in Guangxu 24 to the third year of the Xuantong era, Yan Fu devoted himself to translating books, and most of his translations were western political and economic doctrines, which were obviously intended to introduce western progressive ideas to the people of China. Therefore, Yan Fu is also known as a bourgeois Enlightenment thinker. Yan Fu's translations include Evolution and Ethics and Other Essays, Inquiry into the Nature and Cause of the Wealth of Nations, L'esprit des Lois, and Social Generalization. des Lois, A History of Politics, Study of Sociology, and On Liberty. The translation standard of "Faithfulness, Expressiveness and Elegance" proposed by Yan Fu has been passed down for nearly a hundred years and is still respected by many translators, which shows its vitality.

During the period between the May Fourth Movement and the founding of the People's Republic of China, translation activities in China made great contributions to the spread of Marxism-Leninism and world literature in China. For example, the Marxist-Leninist classic Communist Manifesto (translated by Chen Wangdao), Marx's Critique of Political Economy (translated by Li Da), Shakespeare's Plays (translated by Liang Shiquiqiu), and the Soviet literary works Dead Souls and Destruction (translated by Lu Xun). Lu Xun). The typical feature of the translations in this period was that the vernacular language was used instead of the literary language, which made the excellent literary works of the East and the West have more readers. The study of translation theory also expanded to the scope of linguistics, philosophy, aesthetics and psychology, laying a good foundation for the systematization and scientization of translation theory in China.

4. Literary Translation from East to West in the Early Period of the Founding of the People's Republic of China and Before the Cultural Revolution

After the founding of the new China, the achievements of China's translation endeavors have exceeded those of any other period in its history. We translated the Complete Works of Marx and Engels and the Selected Works of Mao Zedong in an organized, planned and systematic manner. The results of our research into the theory of translation have been remarkable, the level of translation has been greatly improved, and we have reached a **** understanding of the standards of translation. We have introduced foreign cultures and advanced science and technology to China, as well as China's national conditions and development to foreign countries.

From the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China to the time before the Cultural Revolution, counting 17 years, in fact, the real prosperity was only in the 1950s. The translation work in that decade focused on the translation of literature from the East and the West, and the number of translated works was far less than today. However, thanks to the good organization and the strict attention to the two aspects of planning translations and improving the quality of translations, the quality of translations was generally high, and a large number of famous translators emerged. (Sun Zhili, 1999, 2)

5. The period from the 1970s to the present, when translation has blossomed in all fields

The climax of translation, which began in the 1970s and is still in the ascendant today, has greatly surpassed that of the 1950s in terms of its scale, scope, level of quality, and contribution to the development of Chinese society. Instead of thousands of translators at that time, China's translation team has formed a vast army of hundreds of thousands of people. The field of translation in which they are engaged is no longer the "sole flower" of literature and art, but the "full blossom" of social sciences, science and technology, military, diplomacy, trade, law, literature, education, health and other fields, which is second to none in the world's cultural history. The emergence of this climax of translation is, first of all, the result of the advent of the global information age. The explosion of information, the explosion of knowledge, and at the same time the explosion of translation. In today's "global village," it is unthinkable to talk about knowledge and information without translation. In addition, the emergence of this translation climax is also an opportunity for China to implement the policy of reform and opening up, and embark on the road of modernization and power of the socialist market economy. If China wants to be in the forefront of the world in the fields of economy, science, technology and culture, it must learn the advanced science and technology and management experience of the West, and strengthen the cooperation and exchanges with other countries in the fields of academics and cultures, which cannot be done without translation.

Second, (a) Ancient Western translation

Throughout the whole process, Western translation in history, there have been six climaxes or can be divided into six major stages. The first is the initial stage. At the end of the fourth century B.C., the Greek slave society, which had flourished for a while, began to decline, and Rome gradually became stronger. However, Greek culture at that time was still superior to Roman culture and therefore had a great attraction for Rome. The translation and introduction of Greek classics may have begun in this period or earlier. However, documented translations did appear in the middle of the third century BC. Andronicus, Nevius and Ennius, who are known as the three originators of Roman literature, as well as later great writers such as Plautus and Terence, translated or adapted Homer's epic poems and the Greek dramas of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Menander, etc., in Latin. This is the first large-scale translation activity in Europe and the whole Western history, its historical merit lies in: - it created the situation of translation, introduced the ancient Greek literature, especially the drama to Rome, promoted the birth and development of Roman literature, and played an important role as a bridge for the inheritance of the ancient Greek literature in Rome and even the West in the future.

The second climax of translation occurred in the late Roman Empire and the early Middle Ages, and was religious in nature. In the West, religious power has always been strong and stubborn, the Christian Church has always been hostile to secular literature, and try to develop a religious culture for its own service. The Bible, as the source of Christian thought and spiritual weapon, has naturally become the classic of religious belief. The Bible, written in Hebrew and Greek, had to be translated into Latin in order to be universally accepted by the Romans. Therefore, translations of the Bible into Latin were made at an early date, and this activity culminated in the fourth century A.D., resulting in a variety of translations. The translation of the Bible into Latin by Jerome in 382-405, which was the definitive text, marked the beginning of the importance of Bible translation as a separate entity from secular literature. Especially in the Roman Empire and the early Middle Ages, when the Church gained cultural arbitrariness, the interpretation and translation of the Bible and other religious works were further strengthened. As Europe entered feudal society and the "barbarians" established their own states, there was a greater market for religious translations, and the Bible was successively translated into the languages of the "barbarians", with some translations even becoming the first literary materials in the languages of the peoples concerned.

(2) Western translations in the Middle Ages

In the middle of the Middle Ages, between the eleventh and twelfth centuries, Western translators gathered in Toledo, Spain, to translate a large number of works from Arabic into Latin. This was one of the few friendly encounters between Christians and Muslims in history, and the third high point in the history of Western translation. It turned out that as early as the ninth and tenth centuries, Syrian scholars had come to Athens and translated a large number of Greek texts into Syriac and brought them back to Baghdad. In Baghdad, the Arabs translated these works into Arabic, and Baghdad became the center of the Arab study of ancient Greek culture. Later on, many of the Greek texts translated into Latin in Toledo were translated from these Arabic translations. As a result, Toledo became a center of European scholarship (similar to the "Translation Institute" in Baghdad), and translation and scholarly activities continued for more than a hundred years, with far-reaching effects.

(3) Western translation in the Renaissance period

The Renaissance movement that took place in Europe between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries was a great movement of intellectual and literary innovation, and it was also a great development in the history of Western translation. Especially in the sixteenth century, when the Renaissance movement was widely carried out in Western European countries, and in the following period, translation activities reached an unprecedented peak. Translation activities penetrated into the ideological, political, philosophical, literary, religious and other fields, involving the major works of antiquity and contemporary, and produced a large number of outstanding translators and a series of excellent translations. In Germany, the Reformer Luther followed the will of the people and adopted the language of the people by translating and publishing the first "People's Bible" from 1522 to 1534, which opened a new era in the development of modern German. In France, the literary Amiou spent seventeen years (1542-1559) to translate Plutarch's Comparative Biographies of Greek and Roman Personalities, Chapman's translations of the Iliad and the Odyssey from 1598 to 1616, and Florio's translation of Montaigne's Collected Essays from 1603, which are a group of brilliant stars in the translation of English literature. In 1611, the publishing house of the translation of the Bible marked another great development in the history of English translation. It won the reputation of "the greatest translation in the English language" for its authenticity, popularity and beauty of its English style, and became the only classic work known to every household in England for a long period of time, which had a profound influence on the development of modern English. In short, the Renaissance is a very important period in the history of the development of translation in the West (mainly in Western Europe), which marks the consolidation of the status of national languages in the field of literature and translation, and also shows the great role of translation in the formation and development of national languages, literature and thought.

After the Renaissance, from the second half of the seventeenth century to the first half of the twelfth century, translation in Western countries continued to develop. Although in terms of scale and influence, this period of translation is not as large as the Renaissance, but there are still a large number of excellent translations. The most characteristic feature was that translators not only continued to translate classical works, but also took a great interest in modern and contemporary works. The works of such great writers as Cervantes, Shakespeare, Balzac, Goethe and others were repeatedly translated into various national languages, and translations of oriental literature also appeared one after another.

(4) Modern Western Translation

The sixth major development of Western translation was manifested in the translation activities since the end of the Second World War. After the Second World War, the West entered a period of relative stability, production was developed, the economy gradually recovered, and science and technology changed rapidly. This is the material basis for the prosperity of the translation business. Due to the evolution of the times, the characteristics of translation have also undergone great changes. Translation in the new period is very different from any other period in the past in terms of scope, scale, role and form, and has made great progress. The first is the expansion of the scope of translation. Traditionally, translations were mainly focused on literary and religious works, but in this period, translations were extended to other fields, especially science and technology and business. Secondly, the scale of translation was much larger than before. In the past, translation was mainly the business of a few literary giants; nowadays, translation has become a specialized profession, not only literary scholars, philosophers and theologians are engaged in translation, but also a strong and specially trained professional team undertakes all kinds of translation tasks. Moreover, the role of translators has become more important than ever before. Especially after the formation of the United Nations and the European market, the exchanges and exchanges between Western countries in the fields of literature, art, science, technology, politics, economy and so on have become more and more frequent and close, and all of these communicative activities are carried out through translators because translators play an increasingly large practical role in them. Finally, the form of the development of the translation business has also undergone great changes and progress. "The largest international organizations include the International Federation of Translators (IFT), the International Association of Translators and Interpreters, and national translation associations; (3) breaking the traditional way and developing machine translation. This third point is actually an important symbol of the development of the new period. Since 1946, when British and American scholars first discussed the possibility of using computers for translation, the development and utilization of translation machines have increasingly shown vitality after nearly forty years of tortuous course. It is a challenge to the traditional manual translation for thousands of years, and a revolution of far-reaching significance in the history of translation. At present, the Western translation business is still in the sixth climax; where the future development and how long the sixth climax will last is still difficult to predict.