The National Social Science Fund Project of China “Research on the Translation, Dissemination, and Reception of The Book of Songs from a Digital Humanities Perspective (Number: 22BYY039)” The Postgraduate Scientific Research Innovation Project of Hunan Province “On Construction of a Graded Evaluation Model for the Reception of The Book of Songs in the English-Speaking World from a Digital Humanities Perspective (Number: LXBZZ2024237)”.
Abstract
In the long river of Chinese classic culture, The Book of Songs holds a significant position. At present, more than 20 English translations of the classic have been published, with influential complete English versions translated by James Legge (1871), Arthur Waley, Burnhard Karlgren, Ezra Pound, and Xu Yuanchong. In this study, the Chinese-English parallel corpus of The Book of Songs is used to conduct a qualitative and quantitative analysis of five translations across dimensions, including statistical parameters, narrative parameters, and specific linguistic items parameters, to investigate the features of the five English translations. The findings reveal that, in terms of statistical parameters, Pound exhibits the highest STTR value and lexical richness among the five translators. Waley’s translation features the shortest average word length, reducing reading difficulty. Xu Yu-anchong’s translation has the shortest average sentence length, partially reflecting the source language’s characteristics. In Karlgren’s and Pound’s translations, the use of semicolons and line breaks minimizes reading obstacles. Regarding narra-tive parameters, high-frequency words in the five translations show significant overlap in prepositions, articles, and conjunctions. Legge and Waley mainly em-ploy first-person narration, and Karlgren incorporates third-person perspectives. As for specific linguistic items parameters, Legge’s 1871 translation employs numerous function words to ensure textual fidelity. Waley’s translation, guided by domestication strategies, uses clauses conforming to English expression habits. Karlgren’s translation, guided by a foreignization strategy, uses literal translation and third-person narration to enhance the text’s objectivity. Pound’s translation incorporates Old English into contemporary English, indirectly recreating the source text’s historical context. Xu Yuanchong’s translation uses extensive ab-breviated expressions, showing his pursuit of aesthetic beauty in meaning, sound, and form.
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