A Comparative Study of Five English Versions of Ding Feng Bo from the Perspective of Eco-Translatology

Abstract

Chinese classical poetry involves abundant information about Chinese traditional culture, playing an important role in the publicity of Chinese culture and history. The proper Chinese-English translation will help eliminate the barriers to target readers’ comprehension, promoting the conveyance of cultural connotation and aesthetic value of Chinese classical poetry. Based on Eco-translatology, this paper takes five representative English versions of Ding Feng Bo as a research corpus and explores the prosody, onomatopoeia, culture-loaded words, and emotional aspects about whether the three dimensions–language dimension, culture dimension, and communication dimension of Ding Feng Bo have been effectively transformed, so as to evaluate the quality of translation. Through multifaceted consideration, it is suggested that the version by Xu Yuanchong is more in accordance with three-dimensional transformation, achieving harmony between selection and adaptation. The research on the value and function of eco-translatology not only provides strategies for the translation of Chinese classical poetry but also facilitates the construction of China’s public discourse and images in international communication and external publicity of Chinese culture.