English Abstracts of Major Papers

System Modeling and Graphical Presentation in Theoretical Construction of  Eco-Translatology

By HU Gengshen (Hugs) & LI Xiaoxiao (Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China) p.5

Abstract: As a visually descriptive representation of the basic conceptual elements of an intricate knowledge system, a system model takes the form of a combination of words, symbols, charts, etc. The more complex a system, the greater the need for its modeling, and the more complicated the form of its system model tends  to be. With its exceptionally complex theoretical structure, Eco-Translatology is particularly in need of the  modeling in question. A graphical representation of its core concepts, basic ideas and various viewpoints would  not only make it easier to grasp its essential characteristics, but also help to clear up some misconceptions of or misunderstandings about Eco-Translatology. An adequate system model also amounts to a fresh attempt to “tell a good story”about Eco-Translatology to non-Chinese translation scholars and thus to facilitate its interaction with other theoretical models in the field of translation studies.

Keywords: Eco-Translatology; knowledge system; system modeling; graphical representation; theoretical construction

Translation as Embodied Cognition 

By HUANG Zhonglian (Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou, China) & SUN Fuqing (Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, China) p.15

Abstract: Since translating blends both somatic and intellectual experiences in its efforts to interpret and represent across symbol systems, the process and behaviour of translation could be characterized as a kind of  embodied cognition. Examining translation from this perspective deepens and enriches our understanding of the  three operational steps in translation process, namely, comprehension, variation and expression. The translator  should experience vicariously how the author must have simultaneously experienced physically and intellectually  in producing the original text, so that the latter’s embodied cognition ends up being reconstructed in the target language, and translation is thus turned into a cognitive process of re-embodiment. Translation behaviour can therefore be seen anew as an act of cognitively re-embodying the source text. Such an act of re-embodiment can be differentiated procedurally in terms of two orientations. In the case of complete translation, the embodied cognition is oriented toward achieving maximal similarity. If the goal is instead variational translation, the embodied cognition would then be oriented toward producing specific effects. The analysis offered here is expected to shed more light on translation as an embodied cognitive process, incorporating three operational steps and two embodiment procedures.

Keywords: embodied cognition; translation; comprehension; variation; expression

Adequate Construction of the Translator's Knowledge Structure as a Prerequisite for  Successful Translation

By LIU Heping & LU Ning (Beijing Language and Culture University, Beijing, China) p.23

Abstract: This paper takes another look at the prerequisites for translation from a cognitive perspective. Calling attention to the established fact that the production of meaning falls within the domain of cognitive psychology and that the text is a medium whereby meaning is conveyed and thought is expressed, the paper argues that  the process of meaning generation is intricately intertwined with the activation and refinement of knowledge.  As agents of communication, translators need to possess not only a knowledge structure that enables them  to understand the meaning of the text, but also the linguistic and non-linguistic knowledge shareable with  the readers or audience members and the method suitable for its expression as well. The construction of the translator's knowledge structure should therefore be deemed a crucial prerequisite for undertaking the task of communication through translation.

Keywords: translation; translator; cognitive perspective; meaning generation; text; knowledge construction

Two Sides of the Same Coin: How Creative Writings and Translations by a Poettranslator Affect Each Other

By SHAO Bin & SHEN Ying (Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China) p.31

Abstract: Will a poet-translator’s creative writings and translations reciprocally affect each other, endowing  both types of texts with some special attributes explainable only by her double identity? This is a question of  obvious interest to studies of literary translation and yet remaining little explored so far. Making a fresh attempt  to address the question, this paper looks closely into the works of a group of Chinese poet-translators who had  all undertaken to render The Rubaiyat into Chinese, including Wen Yiduo, Sun Yutang and Kerson Huang. As  a careful comparison, in terms of poetic narrative technique, form, theme and imagery, between their original  poems and their translations of The Rubaiyat has demonstrated, an interactive and mutually enlightening  relationship exists in most cases between the two genres of texts these poets-cum-translators produced. Their  writings and translations tend to convey so strong a sense of unity and harmony as to suggest the two sides of the  same coin. Since a poet-translator's authorship and translatorship are necessarily rooted in the same foundation of poetic or literary experiences, an act of writing or translating in this case would also produce some priming  effects by activating the next output.

Keywords: authorship; translatorship; priming effect; poetry translation; poet-translator; The Rubaiyat

The Translation and Research of Hong Lou Meng (A Dream of Red Mansions) in Russia

By ZUO Anfei (Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, China) p.46

Abstract: Among the European and North American countries where native language versions of Hong Lou  Meng have been rendered widely available over the past two centuries, Russia stands out by the leading and extraordinarily active role its sinologists have been playing in the translation and research of this classical  Chinese novel, and by the unique contributions they have made to advancing the scholarship of Redology (i.e.,  academic studies of Hong Lou Meng). The first full translation of the novel ever published in Europe is in  the Russian language. A one-of-a-kind early Chinese manuscript of Hong Lou Meng was discovered from an  orientalist collection stored in Leningrad. The rigorous investigation into and meticulous criticism of this rare  text by Russian sinologists further demonstrate the high level of expertise they possess on Hong Lou Meng in  particular and on Chinese literature in general. Briefly reviewing the dissemination of Hong Lou Meng through  three important periods in modern and contemporary Russian history, the paper argues in conclusion that Russian  achievements in Redology have helped to promote further dissemination of Chinese culture and literature in  Russia, and would in turn enrich the studies of Hong Lou Meng in China as well.

Keywords: A Dream of Red Mansions; Russia; translation; Redology; V. A. Panasyuk

The Foreign Eyes Through Which Chinese Literature Links up with the World:  Sinologist Cyril Birch as a Translator

By LI Zhen (Anhui Normal University, Wuhu, China) p.76 

Abstract: As is exemplified by the life-long work of the late Cyril Birch, sinologists have been playing a  pivotal role in making Chinese literature known and read outside of China. Taking credit for such monumental accomplishments as the first full English version of Mu Dan Ting (The Peony Pavilion) and the first comprehensive English anthology of Chinese literature, Birch had offered both panoramic and close-up views of Chinese letters  to an international audience. He translated classical Chinese drama, creatively reproducing its poetic effects and musical rhythms. He published a host of essays on Chinese literature, successfully discovering its commonality  at root with other literary traditions in the world. His “eyes of the foreign” thus helped to establish Chinese literature as an integral part of world literature. An in-depth examination of Birch’s translation activities promises to facilitate Chinese translation scholars’ efforts to find out what, how and why Chinese literary works come to be received and accepted by readers in the West. And such an examination would also help to project a mode of cultural communication for worldwide transmission of Chinese literature in general.

Keywords: Cyril Birch; Chinese literature; English translation; anthology of literature; comparative perspective