Abstract:

Based on the classification of book titles in Dunhuang documents, we tend to attach the importance to revealing cultural connotations of various book titles before translation, then discuss the three principles (conventionality-pre-emptiveness, author-pre-emptiveness, and self-pre-emptiveness) to be followed and the strategies (transliteration and literal translation supplemented with various methods of compensation) to be adopted while translation, and offer criteria (accuracy, readability, distinguishability as well as systematicity and uniformity) to assess translation quality of book titles after translation. We think book title translation can facilitate the process of Dunhuang document translation, thus promote international interaction of Dunhuang studies and disseminate Dunhuang culture through translation.

Key words: Dunhuang documents, classification of book titles, cultural connotation, translation principles of book titles, translation approaches of book titles