ArticleTranslation Theories and Skills http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/tfll.2025.12.017
A Corpus-based Study of Translator Subjectivity in Three English Translations of the Tao Te Ching
Lingzhe Li*, Sijia Li
Maanshan University, Maanshan 243032, Anhui, China.
*Corresponding author: Lingzhe Li
Published: December 31, 2025
Abstract
The Tao Te Ching is one of the most influential philosophical classics in Chinese culture, and its English translations are numerous. The discrepancy of translations results from translators’ cultural background, translation purpose, translation idea and so on. This paper applied a corpus approach to analyze translator’s subjective translation work in three typical English Tao Te Ching translation by Lin Yutang, Xu Yuanchong and John Minford. A parallel corpus was created by Chinese sources and three English translation versions. Quantitative indicators of translations, such as standard type-token ratio (STTR), mean word length, mean sentence length, conjunction frequencies were analysed by WordSmith Tools 7.0 and AntConc 3.5.9. Results revealed systematic deviation of stylistic patterns in three translations. Lin Yutang’s translation obviously reflects cultural adaptation by explanatory materials and logical connectors. Xu Yuanchong’s version also reveals poetic reconstruction with high lexical diversity and rhyme expression. Minford’s translation stresses academic accuracy and terminology consistency with simple and brief sentence patterns. These patterns portray how translator subjectivity is projected at a lexical, syntactic and discourse level. The study shows how corpus-based translation studies can be useful for the study of the translation of Chinese philosophical classics.
Keyword
Tao Te Ching; corpus translation studies; translator subjectivity; Daoist philosophy
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Copyright
© 2025 by the author(s).
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How to cite this paper
A Corpus-based Study of Translator Subjectivity in Three English Translations of the Tao Te Ching
How to cite this paper: Lingzhe Li, Sijia Li. (2025). A Corpus-based Study of Translator Subjectivity in Three English Translations of the Tao Te Ching. Translation and Foreign Language Learning, 1(5), 850-854.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/tfll.2025.12.017