【Abstract】Translation is a manner of inter-cultural communication， it works as the bridge connecting different nations. As for China， the translation of its ancient cultural classics provides a platform for spreading Chinese culture and thoughts to the westerners. The Analects is one of the classical literature by Chinese Confucianism and was a great representative to the traditional Chinese culture. Since the ancient times， translators， both inland and abroad， have been trying to translate The Analects. But the translation of such classical literature works like The Analects was often hindered by different obstacles. Symbol， according to semiotics， signifies the conventional link between the sign and its signified. So， under such classification， words would seem to be examples of verbal symbols and can be used to signifies different meanings. Under such distinction， every word is a symbol， signifying a specific meaning. This leads to a problem： like The Analects， the words kept unchanged for thousands of years， symbol does not change， but its meaning， due to different context， historical background， and thoughts， will change. This leads to not only problems of understanding， but also to the appropriate translation of literature works. Its of no exaggeration to say， most of the translation mistakes were caused by the inappropriate understanding to words， or symbols. By taking the whole text as a language system and each of its words as a language symbol， the process of translation will be more systematic， providing the translator a clear framework and orientation when searching for the absolute meaning of the source-language text.
　　【Key words】Symbol; Language; Translation; Concept
　　【摘要】翻译是一种文化交流的方式，是不同民族之间相互沟通的桥梁。而对于中国而言，古代文学典籍的英译向西方世界传播和弘扬东方文化和思想提供了一个载体。《论语》是中国儒家学派的经典著作之一，对传统的中华文化极具代表性，故历来有大量中外翻译家尝试其翻译工作。但由于其历史跨度之大，它的翻译面临历史和文化差异带来的双重挑战。符号学中的“符号”二字象征着实体与其概念之间的常規联系。那么在这一定义下，所谓字词便成为了代表既定概念的语言符号，即字词皆符号。但在《论语》这样的文化典籍中，历经几千年的时间跨度，作为符号的文字本身并未发生改变。但这些字词的意义却因语言环境，历史背景，思想意识的改变而改变。这无疑对典籍的理解乃至翻译带来了诸多挑战，可以毫不夸张地说，许多对典籍文本的误译源于对其字词（或符号）的误解。因此如何准确理解源语言文本中字符的含义将有助于使翻译的过程更具系统性，为译者提供清晰的翻译框架，在分析文本的真实含义过程更具目的性。
　　【关键词】符号;语言;翻译;概念
　　【作者简介】陈振（2000.01-），男，汉族，浙江金华人，广西大学外国语学院外国语文学专业翻译学方向研究生，中国翻译协会会员。

1. Introduction

　　The translation career in China starts early and Chinese translators always take the translation and spreading of its classical literature as their duty. Translation is a process of expressing the original meaning honestly to listeners through the targeted language. Many translators also take it as the key in translation. For example， Yan Fu， in his translation work Evolution and Ethics， pointed out the translation theory of “信，达，雅”， or （faithfulness， expressiveness， elegance ）， was taken as the highest standard of translation yet it was quite difficult to realize， especially for the translation of classical literature and poetry. With its unique style and different， unknown cultural and social background， the translation of classical literature and poetry can hardly express the original article’s meaning while preserving its original style at the same time. So translators may sacrifice original style in order to preserve its meaning. As Ezra Pound， who is the father of the English free style poems， does not focus on keeping the original style and rhythm but pay more attention to the meaning of the literature works. This principle helped him gain huge achievement and finally become the speak person in the field of free style poetry. 　　But no matter in what language， literature style， or time background. One rule never changes： all literature requires words to symbolize their thoughts. As long as written language still exists， translation process will have to pursue an inevitable process of analyzing and comprehending symbols.

2. Why Symbol Matters

　　“Language is a kind of symbols”， such proposition seems easy to understand， but when we take a deep look at it， it trigger out a rather complex problem in discipline classification. As we all know， language is the research object of linguistic， but as one of the symbolic appearances， language is also the research object of semiotics. So what is the relationship between linguistics and semiotics？
　　2.1 Language is Symbol
　　Saussure first mentioned in his book Cours de linguistique generale that