EACS-2016. Book of Abstracts

Translation Studies 21st Biennial Conference of the European Association for Chinese Studies 70 sionaries had different understanding of how Greek word θαρσεῖτε (θαρσέω) should be rendered, which can literary be translated as “be full of courage”, “act boldly”, “be confident” and “to take heart”. In order to reveal influence of the Orthodox theological tradition on these renderings author uses Commen- taries on the Book of John made by the blessed Theophylact of Bulgaria, commentaries from the Explanatory Bible known as the Lopukhin Bible and Homilies on the Gospel of St. John by St. John Chrysostom. Guo Weiwei (Université Lumière Lyon 2) A Chinese Perception of Translation through Metaphors Key words: translation conception, metaphors, categorization, comparative study, diachronic inves- tigation The translation of figurative expressions has been widely studied recently, but research on metaphors used to describe translation is still at an early stage. Nevertheless, as George Lakoff and Mark Johnson (Metaphors We Live By, 2003) mentioned, far from being a mere decorative element to serve poetic expres- sion, metaphor is an important instrument for thought and action. It is particularly interesting in the case of translation, because translation tends to resist all conceptualizations, even though translation experience is familiar to all of us (according to Jean-René Ladmiral). This paper is an attempt to outline a Chinese view of translation through the most famous metaphors in its translation history. The collected metaphors range from the 4th century to the present day. The authors are all translators. Despite differences in historical periods and specialties (Buddhist canons, scientific essays, literature, etc.) and target domains (art, food, life, etc.) some common features emerge from their perception of translation: a translated text can never equal the source text. Translators try to make their work as similar as possible to the original. In this approach, the essence of the work (the feeling that readers experience when reading a novel for example) prevails over linguistic forms. This point of view corresponds to the etymology of the word “translation” in Chinese ( 翻译 ): turn over the fabric to show the other side, which is similar but never identical. Magagnin Paolo (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice / IrAsia (CNRS, Aix-Marseille Université)) Translating Chinese Children’s Literature: CaoWenxuan’s “Qingtong kuihua” and the Challenges of Internationalisation Key words: Chinese children’s literature, translation, Cao Wenxuan, Qingtong kuihua, editing This presentation will provide an insight into the factors of specificity of contemporary Chinese children’s literature (CCL), as well as an investigation of the possibilities for its translation for foreign readerships, using the Italian translation of Cao Wenxuan’s 曹文轩 novel “Qingtong kuihua” 青铜葵花 as a case study. The novel, an account of the growing pains of two children against the background of the final years of the Cultural Revolution, epitomises the features that are typical of CCL since the 1920s: emotionally-charged descriptions of events that do not refrain from portraying death and pain, idyllic overtones reminiscent of xiangtu wenxue 乡土文学 , and a deep-rooted pedagogical intent. Moreover, the novel puts the imagined child in relation to major shifts in Chinese history, culture, and society, contributing to the construction and definition of adult identity in a time of changes. Such a complexity emerges strikingly when translating “Qingtong kuihua” for a non-Chinese audience. The translation process must necessarily take into account the formal specificity of the original, but also deals with the historical, cultural, political, and ideological connotations that are China-specific and need to be processed in order to be accepted by the target readership. Using Cao’s novel as a case study, this paper aims to outline the specificities of the translation process (with special reference to the treatment of thematic, textual, lexical, cultural, and ideological factors), putting it in relation with the editing work carried out by the publishing house. The methodological framework will be offered by Skopostheorie, descriptive transla- tion studies, and the method of translation quality assessment elaborated by House (2015). A comparison