The Tri-matching Theory of "Meaning, Genre and Literary Strength" for the English Translation of Ancient Chinese Dictionaries: A Study on the Multi-Criteria for the English Translation of Erh-ya

Erh-ya, a representative classic of ancient Chinese dictionary, is characterized by its complex text style.To fully conveys its complex text style, when translated into English, it is necessary to construct the translation criteria corresponding to the complexity.Guided by the tri-matching theory in "meaning, genre and literary strength" of written translation, and based on the multi-functional features of Erh-ya, the English translation criteria of this Chinese dictionary can be constructed from seven aspects: (1) three criteria derived from "meaning matching" i.e.the matching of Chinese and English sememes, the matching of annotation-commentary motivations and the matching of terminological connotations; (2) two criteria derived from "genre matching" i.e.the matching of exegetic sentence structures and the matching of essential elements of sinograms, and (3) two criteria derived from "literary strength matching" i.e.the matching of veins and nadis from ancient Chinese canons and the matching of exegetically poetic rhymes.The multi-criteria for the English translation of Erh-ya are also be applicable to the translation of other ancient Chinese dictionaries.