Modern Social Science Research

Under the background of “Chinese culture going global strategy”, the translation and international communication of ceramic culture are becoming increasingly important, and the translation of ceramic classics as written summary of ceramic history and craftsmanship has also aroused much more attention. Taking ceramic classic Tao Ya and its English translation by British scholar Geoffrey Sayer as the source data, adopting specific glaze color words and its translation as the research object, this paper discusses the translation methods of literal translation and literal translation plus footnotes adopted by Geoffrey Sayer in translating object glaze color words, “properties/object plus color” glaze color words, synonymous glaze color words. Meanwhile, some mistranslated cases are analyzed. It is hoped that this study can provide some references for the translation of ceramic classics and international communication of ceramic culture.

Ceramic classic; Tao Ya; Glaze color words; Translation