Interpreters in Early Imperial China
Lingnan University
This monograph examines interpreters in early imperial China and their roles in the making of archival records about foreign countries and peoples. It covers ten empirical studies on historical interpreting and discusses a range of issues, such as interpreters’ identities, ethics, non-mediating tasks, status, and relations with their patrons and other people they worked with. These findings are based on critical readings of primary and secondary sources, which have rarely been utilized and analyzed in depth even in translation research published in Chinese.
Although this is a book about China, the interpreters documented are, surprisingly, mostly foreigners, not Chinese. Cases in point are the enterprising Tuyuhun and Sogdian interpreters. In fact, some Sogdians were recruited as China’s translation officials, while many others were hired as linguistic and trading agents in mediation between Chinese and Turkic-speaking peoples. These idiosyncrasies in the use of interpreters give rise to further questions, such as patterns in China’s provision of foreign interpreters for its diplomatic exchanges and associated loyalty concerns. This book should be of interest not only to researchers in Translation and Interpreting Studies, but also to scholars and students in ancient Chinese history and Sinology in general.
Although this is a book about China, the interpreters documented are, surprisingly, mostly foreigners, not Chinese. Cases in point are the enterprising Tuyuhun and Sogdian interpreters. In fact, some Sogdians were recruited as China’s translation officials, while many others were hired as linguistic and trading agents in mediation between Chinese and Turkic-speaking peoples. These idiosyncrasies in the use of interpreters give rise to further questions, such as patterns in China’s provision of foreign interpreters for its diplomatic exchanges and associated loyalty concerns. This book should be of interest not only to researchers in Translation and Interpreting Studies, but also to scholars and students in ancient Chinese history and Sinology in general.
[Benjamins Translation Library, 96]
2011.
xvii, 181 pp.
Publishing status: Available
Hardbound – Available
ISBN
9789027224446
|
EUR
85.00
|
USD
128.00
e-Book – Sold by e-book platforms
ISBN
9789027284181
|
EUR
85.00
|
USD
128.00
Table of Contents
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Preface
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ix
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Introduction
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xi–xiv
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Acknowledgments
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xv
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Chronology
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xvii
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1. Perceptions of translating/interpreting in first-century China
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1–20
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2. Bridging language barriers in encounters with China in sixth-century Asia
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21–42
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3. Türkish diplomatic correspondence to Sui China (581–618): Was it translated?
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43–58
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4. Translation officials in Tang China (618–907)
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59–76
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5. Interpreters and archival records of foreign contacts of imperial China
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77–90
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6. Interpreters and the writing of histories about interlingual encounters
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91–102
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7. Interpreters as consultants in historiography in eighth-century China
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103–116
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8. Interpreters and the making of the Kirghiz Memoir and Kirghiz accounts
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117–134
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9. Oral translators in outbound diplomatic correspondence
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135–148
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10. Sogdian interpreters in Tang China: An issue of loyalty
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149–158
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Conclusion
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159–164
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Appendix. The thirteen letters and the two exceptions
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165–166
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Bibliographies
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167–176
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Index
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177–???
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Quotes
“China was international long before globalization, but this chapter in Chinese history is rarely, if ever, studied. Rachel Lung’s Interpreters in Early Imperial China will fill an important lacuna, not only in Chinese history, but in world history.”
Eugene Eoyang, Indiana University / Lingnan University
Subjects
Benjamins Subject classification
Linguistics
Translation & Interpreting Studies
BIC Subject
CFP: Translation & interpretation
BISAC Subject
LAN023000: LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Translating & Interpreting
U.S. Library of Congress Control Number: 2011026145