University of Virginia Library

I

The need and value of translation, indeed, appears whenever
there is an inter-cultural contact. So did it appear when
Buddhism, along with Hindu culture, was coming to China,
and such was the case during the Græco-Roman days.
Cicero was puzzled by the problems of translation, and
many a scholar has ever since attempted to solve the same
problems. Confronted by the same, if not greater, difficulties,
the present translator hopes that a few remarks here on matters
of translation may not be out of place.

As the Chinese language is far more concise and less
precise than English, writers of both languages, though able
to write lucidly in either tongue, are somehow or other at a
loss when asked, How should each be rendered into the
other? In this connection it is well remarked by
Dr. Duyvendak in the Preface to his own translation of
The Book of Lord Shang, that "a translation is a re-interpretation
of thought, and should never be a mechanical rendering
of words, least of all in the case of Chinese". Then, what
ought to be the right methods to attain that object, and how
was The Book of Lord Shang translated? To such natural
questions Duyvendak did not expound his answers, but
only added that "a translation into a Western language
acquires therefore more clearness and preciseness of expression
than the original possesses, as Chinese characters have a far

wider connotation than the English words by which they are
rendered, and verbs and nouns are not differentiated".

The first great achievement in the study of the problems,
principles, and methods of translation was in 1790 when
A. F. Tytler read before the Royal Society his papers on
Translation, which were soon afterwards published. Thus
in his Principles of Translation he prescribed three golden
rules:—

I. A translation should give a complete transcript of the
ideas of the original work.

II. The style and manner of writing in a translation
should be of the same character as that of the original.

III. A translation should have the ease of the original
composition.

The serviceability of these as guiding principles to
subsequent scholars and the difficulties for every translator
to reach such levels are beyond any doubt. Nevertheless,
in correspondence to them, there were preached and practised
by Yen Fu (1866-1921) three famous principles, Faithfulness,
Elegance, and Proficiency, throughout his translations of
English books into Chinese. So far in the art of translating
English into Chinese, he has excelled everybody and has
been surpassed by none.

On account of both technical requirements and etymological
differences, it goes without saying that every translator
of Chinese into English has to fight his way through all
hardships. Thus, either because Chinese is more concise, or
because it is less precise than English, I have found, above
everything else, the necessity of using the liberty of making
additions and omissions within certain limits. For instance,

in many cases I have added to the ideas of the original such
words as would help the reader grasp their meanings in so
far as the superadded thought has the most necessary
connection with the original and actually increases its
intelligibility, not to speak of my additions of articles and
specifications of tense, mood, case, number, and gender.
Naturally, here and there throughout the translation I
have interposed not only single words but also phrases, and
sometimes even clauses.

Again, I have endeavoured to assimilate the style and
manner of writing in the translation to that of the original.
Take for example parallelism, which is a peculiar characteristic
of the style and manner of Chinese writing. For illustration,
Han Fei TzŬ said, "the literati by means of letters disturb
laws; the cavaliers by means of weapons transgress
prohibitions." To preserve the native colour in cases like
this, I have kept repetitions in wording and balances in
expression close to the original, provided they do not appear
tiresome; otherwise, I have shortened them. On the
contrary, the Chinese language very often admits of such
brevity of expression as can not be successfully imitated in
the English; wherefore to achieve perfect transfusion of the
sense in such cases, I have found it necessary to sacrifice the
imitation of style. On significant occasions, however, even
matters of rhyme and rhythm have been taken into
consideration.

As regards idioms, there are a number in the original to
which I have found no corresponding idiom in English.
In case a literal translation appears to be confusing, the sense
is expressed in plain and easy English. Likewise, whenever
the English way of expression is more concise in wording

and elegant in style and less monotonous and less complicated
in structure than the Chinese way, then the native colour is
sacrificed with no regret. But wherever it is tolerable, there
is made a literal rendering. Such Chinese idioms as "Allunder-Heaven",[1]
"the Son of Heaven,"[2] "the lord of
men,"[3] "the hundred surnames,"[4] and "the Altar of the
Spirits of Land and Grain",[5] being both expressive of the
native colour and impressive to English readers, I consider
worth translating literally. On the contrary, such Chinese
terms as Tao,[6] Teh,[7] li,[8] mou,[9] etc., which have no exact
equivalent in English but are rather widely understood by
English readers, seem better transliterated in most cases
than translated.

In short, I have taken for the guiding principle of the
present translation the retention of Chinese native colour
within the limits of intelligibility to an average English reader.