‘Translator studies’: Liang Shiqiu’s discourse on translation

Abstract

Liang Shiqiu is a prominent translator in 20th century China. This article offers an analysis of his direct and indirect discourse on translation. It demonstrates that Liang’s discourse on translation, including attitudes to and functions of translation, faithfulness and appropriate degree of literalism, is in line with his discourse on literature, culture and some traditional Confucian ideas like ‘cheng’, ‘li’ and ‘zhongyong’. It is fascinating to discover that Liang’s attitude toward the value of traditional Chinese thinking, particularly Confucianism, at a time when it was strongly denounced during the New Culture Movement, was greatly influenced by Irving Babbitt, his teacher at Harvard.