On The Translation Of Chinese Political Essays From The Perspective Of Functional Equivalence

Functional equivalence theory contributes a lot to the development of translation since it was put forward in 1969 by the American famous translation theorist Eugene A. Nida. This paper is primarily concerned with the translation of Chinese political essays in light of Nida's functional equivalence theory.Unlike the traditional theories that mainly stress the correspondence between the source language and target language, Nida's functional equivalence theory emphasizes reader's response. Nida points out that in order to reach the ideal translation, it's necessary to find the closest natural equivalence. Nida's equivalence theory distinguishes itself by shifting the focus of attention to the relationship between text and reader and by regarding reader's response as the criterion of translation. His theory greatly enriches translation studies at home and abroad, opening up a new perspective to translation studies.With the development of economy, China is playing an important role in the present world. Due to this, more people want to know China, not only culture and history, but also political, economic and technological development. Therefore, translation of political essays becomes an important medium for foreigners to know China's current development. This paper, as a tentative study of exploring effective methods for translating Chinese political essays on the basis of Nida's functional equivalence, is expected to be conductive to the translation.This thesis gives a detailed introduction to Nida's equivalence theory which is an important guiding principle. The review of the development of equivalence theory at home and abroad is presented. In China, Jin Di, Ma Huijuan, Tan Zaixi and in the west Tytler, Moner Baker, Werner Koller and Nida are the main researchers of the equivalence theory. What' s more, a general description of Chinese political essays in terms of its functions, stylistic features and factors influencing the practical translation from the perspective of culture and linguistics, which lays a sound foundation for the translation of Chinese political essays. The author also analyzes the feasibility of functional equivalence in the translation of Chinese political essays, practical translation in light of the theory and explores some rules for the political translation. At last, the author points out that Nida's functional equivalence theory is conductive in the practical translation but it is not a panacea for all problems existing in political essays and it also bears some limitations. Therefore, further research must be made to improve the translation cause.In short, the author introduces Nida's functional equivalence and analyzes its application to the translation of Chinese political essays. Functional equivalence proves to be quite effective and instructive in political translation. However, through the analysis, the author finds the limitations of the theory are inevitable. Further explorations are needed to provide guidance for the translation in practice.