Coherence of the Translation of li (礼) in Lun Yü — A Case Study of James Legge’s and Ku Hung-ming’s Renditions
Abstract
The Analects (Lun Yü), as a classic work of ancient Chinese Confucian philosophy, enjoys a high reputation both in China and abroad. The translation of The Analects can better promote exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations. In cross-lingual presentation, the coherence of topics can reduce the misunderstanding of targeted readers, make the whole text coherent and cohesive, and contributes to the transmission of Chinese culture. Therefore, based on Halliday and Hasan’s Cohesion theory, the present study contrasts the usage of the coherence of James Legge’s and Ku Hung-ming’s renditions of The Analects. The study finds that Legge’s version is more coherent and cohesive, while in Ku’s version the coherence of li is to some degree affected by the fact that one Chinese word li is translated into various English words.
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