TITLE:
A Comparative Study of Two English Translations of Mencius from the Perspective of Gideon Toury’s Theory of Translational Norms
AUTHORS:
Zhu Zhu
KEYWORDS:
Mencius, Translational Norms, James Legge, D. C. Lau, Comparative Study
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.13 No.9,
September
11,
2026
ABSTRACT: Mencius, as a classic work of Confucianism, holds an important position in Chinese traditional culture. Toury’s theory of translational norms posits that translators are constrained by preliminary norms, initial norms, and operational norms during translation activities, providing a new perspective for translation studies. From this theoretical perspective, this paper compares and analyzes the English translations of Mencius by James Legge and D. C. Lau, exploring the differences between the two translators in terms of text selection, translation tendency, and translation strategy, with the aim of providing some reference for the English translation of Chinese cultural classics.