Asian Translation Traditions Edited by Eva Hung and Judy Wakabayashi First published 2005 by St. Jerome Publishing Published 2014 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 ThirdAvenue, NewYork, NY 10017, USA Rautledge is an imprint af the Taylar & Francis Group, an infarma business © Eva Rung, Judy Wakabayashi and Contributors All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Notices Knowledge and best practice in this field are constantly changing. As new research and experience broaden oUf understanding, changes in research methods, professional practices, or medical treatment may become necessary. 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ISBN 13: 978-1-900650-78-6 (pbk) Typeset by Delta Typesetters, Cairo, Egypt British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A eatalogue reeord of this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Asian translation traditions / edited by Eva Rung and Judy Wakabayashi. p.em. Includes bibliographical referenees and index. ISBN 1-900650-78-9 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Translating and interpreting--Asia--Ristory. I. Rung, Eva. 11. Wakabayashi, Judy. P306.8.A7 8A84 2005 418'.02'095--de22 2005017785 In memory of Professor Ohsawa Yoshihiro, who passed away on March 21, 2005, shortly after this manuscript was submitted to the publisher This page intentionally left blank Contents Introduction 1 EVA HUNG AND JUDY WAKABAYASHI Translation in the East Asian Cultural Sphere 17 Shared Roots, Divergent Paths? JUDY WAKABAYASHI Translation in China – An Analytical Survey 67 First Century B.C.E. to Early Twentieth Century EVA HUNG From ‘Controlling the Barbarians’ to ‘Wholesale Westernization’ 109 Translation and Politics in Late Imperial and Early Republican China, 1840–1919 LAWRENCE WANG-CHI WONG Amalgamation of Literariness 135 Translations as a Means of Introducing European Literary Techniques to Modern Japan OHSAWA YOSHIHIRO The Lover’s Silence, The People’s Voice 155 Translating Nationalist Poetics in the Colonial Period in Korea THERESA HYUN Sino–Vietnamese Translation from Classical to Vernacular 169 KEITH W. TAYLOR Rethinking the Translation in Translation Studies 195 Questions from Makassar, Indonesia WILLIAM CUMMINGS Translation in the Malay World 211 Different Communities, Different Agendas DORIS JEDAMSKI Translation and the Korido 247 Negotiating Identity in Philippine Metrical Romances RANIELA BARBAZA The Fiction of Translation 263 RITA KOTHARI Notes on Contributors 274 Index 276 This page intentionally left blank Introduction EVA HUNG AND JUDY WAKABAYASHI i The seeds for this volume were sown back in 2002 when Eva Hung, then director of the Research Centre for Translation at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, sug- gested organizing an intimate workshop on Asian translation history, for a few days of “getting to know each other’s turf”. This eventuated in London in May 2004, with generous sponsorship from the Research Centre for Translation and the AHRB Centre for Asian and African Literatures run by the School of Oriental and African Studies and University College London. We would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to Professor Theo Hermans, associate director of the AHRB Centre, for his interest in and support of this venture. With one exception, the pa- pers in this volume were presented at that time. Yet the real roots of the present endeavour go much deeper, stemming from the bias in the contemporary field of Translation Studies, which remains highly Eurocentric both in its theoretical explorations and its historical grounding. Having evolved largely on the basis of European languages, Western cultures and philo- sophical and literary theories developed by Western scholars, the discipline of Translation Studies lacks reliable data and systematic analyses of translation activi- ties in non-European cultures. There are welcome signs of a growing awareness of the crucial need to redress this imbalance, based on a recognition that ‘non- Western’ translation traditions not only offer the opportunity to refurbish Translation Studies in the West and critique it from an outside perspective, but that they are also of value and interest in their own right. An implicit idea underlying this book is that ideas and practices of translation in different cultures are not necessarily a replica of translation elsewhere, so Western models and theories of translation cannot sim- ply be applied uncritically to other contexts. Our own research on translation in China and Japan has demonstrated that different historical factors and different epistemologies underlie the practice and norms of translation in these regions. The assumptions, perceptions and modes of operation surrounding translation in Asia clearly merit further investigation. The present volume is an attempt to help rectify this bias and lack of informa- tion by giving Asian scholars and discourses a greater presence within the discipline and demonstrating that Asian voices on translation are not merely an echo of the Western voice. It is not necessarily that translation theorists in the West today dismiss non-European thinking on translation as unworthy of attention; rather, they are simply uninformed. Even the most conscientious theorist has little re- course in the face of a dearth of reliable information. The language barrier plays a 2 Asian Translation Traditions major role here, compounding the earlier lack of interest in translation “beyond the Western tradition”, to borrow the title of a book edited by Marilyn Gaddis Rose in 2000. The fact that most Asian academics in Translation Studies are products of foreign languages departments in their countries is a further obstacle to the desire to investigate Asia: increasingly, many of them are more familiar with Western theo- ries than with their native traditions, let alone those of their Asian neighbours. The need for a wider perspective is by no means restricted to Western academics, and increasing the involvement of scholars familiar with Asian traditions and theories of translation will help broaden and relativize the perspectives of Western and non- Western scholars alike. Why is the focus here on history rather than on the latest ideas on translation in the countries discussed? The answer lies in our belief that contemporary views and practices need to be understood in the context of their origins. The saying that has been the motto of many Chinese historians has also influenced the conception of this book: “theories arise from historical studies; they should be tested against his- torical data” (lun cong shi chu, yi shi zheng lun). The very terminology used in relation to translational activities today can be better understood by tracing its ety- mology and how these terms have changed over time and accumulated an encrustation of meanings – meanings that do not always map one-to-one onto their English ‘equivalents’. Juxtaposing the different articles in this book also makes certain links apparent, such as the similarities between the word for translating in Tagalog (salin) and that in the Malay world (tersalin). Although we need to be wary of placing too much credence in etymological explanations, the original concepts underpinning such terms – and how they might differ from the concept underlying the term ‘trans- lation’ – merit consideration. Occasionally the contributors to this volume use terminology different from that generally accepted in Western Translation Studies, offering an alternative perspective. A related issue is the loaded nature of terms such as ‘non-Western’ and the potentially misleading nature of terms relating, for instance, to periods (e.g. ‘premodern’), as these do not necessarily match the ‘equiva- lent’ labels in Western history or even in other Asian cultures. Although the idea of giving greater focus to Asian translation traditions is com- mendable, implementation is not easy. Even the task of identifying scholars with expertise in an Asian language and culture plus an understanding of contemporary Translation Studies both in the Asian culture concerned and in the West proved challenging. Translation in Asia largely remains a practical task rather than an aca- demic discipline, and Translation Studies has not yet achieved full status in most Asian countries – indeed, it is only recently beginning to achieve that status in the West. The number of researchers of Asian origin who have taken up the topic of translation is limited, and few researchers in the West have an interest and ex- pertise in Asian translation history. Much of the primary research has so far been done by scholars in fields other than Translation Studies – intellectual and social historians, ethnologists, and cutting-edge researchers in religious studies