On the Application of Three-Dimensional Transformation Means in Translating Historical Classics — A Case Study of the “Hereditary House of Chu” of the Records of the Grand Historian

Abstract

Chinese historical classics face prominent translation difficulties due to concise classical Chinese, culture-loaded terms and context-dependent dialogues. As the core analytical tool of Eco-translatology, three dimensional transformation requires translators to make adaptive selections from linguistic, cultural and communicative dimensions. Taking the well-known chapter “Zhang Yi Deceiving King Huai of Chu” from the “Hereditary House of Chu” of the Records of the Grand Historian as the source text, this paper conducts translation practice and case analysis. It explores how adaptive transformation strategies solve translation obstacles of ancient historical texts: restructuring run-on sentences, reconstructing rhetorical parallelism, interpreting culture-specific items associated with institutions and geography, and explicating implicit pragmatic motives in historical narration. This study finds that proper three-dimensional adaptive selection can help target-language readers acquire historical facts, perceive character traits and grasp didactic implications, so as to realize effective cross-cultural communication of Chinese historical classics. It also provides practical references for the external dissemination of Jingchu historical materials represented by Records of the Grand Historian.