On The Translation Of Culture-loaded Words In Fu Sheng Liu Ji--From The Perspective Of Skopos Theory

Translation serves as a bridge in cross-cultural communication. It involves not only the conversion of linguistic signs, but also the communication, influence and fusion between cultures. Culture-loaded word reflects a particular culture of a country, and it is the most obvious and direct linguistic level in demonstrating cultural disparity. Correct translation of culture-loaded word plays an important role in culture introduction, communication and cultural identity.Fu Sheng Liu Ji, an autobiography novel written by Shen Fu (a scholar in Qing dynasty), contains an enormous amount of culture-loaded words, which forms one of the features of the novel.Based on the study of two English versions of the novel (One is translated by Lin Yutang, while the other is by Leonard Pratt and Jiang Suhui), the thesis mainly explores the translation methods in translating culture-loaded words in the two versions within the framework of Skopos theory. Listing all the culture-loaded words in Fu Sheng Liu Ji exhaustively, then classifying them according to Nida's definition on culture classification, sampling 30 culture-loaded words as research objects on the levels of ecology, matter, society and religion from the two versions respectively, the author carries out quantitative analysis of the translation methods adopted by two translators. We can see that the Lin's version prefers to provide an understandable content to target readers, while the other is inclined to maintain the forms of the original.Guided by Skopos theory, the author analyzes translators' purposes and discusses the data under the coherence rule and fidelity rule.Chapter one is introduction. It consists of research purpose, significance, questions, data collection and methodology.Chapter two is literature review. Reviewing some studies in relation to the status of the study on the English versions of Fu Sheng Liu Ji from the perspectives of culture, aesthetics, linguistic features, translator's subjectivity, images and others, and different methods of culture-loaded words, the author puts forward the theoretical framework---Skopos Theory and research methodology---quantitative analysis and comparative analysis of this thesis.Chapter three is theoretical framework. It introduces the background and development of Skopos Theory, mainly deals with Skopos theory and its three basic rules:skopos rule, coherence rule and fidelity rule.Chapter four makes a statistical and comparative study on the translation methods of culture-loaded words in two versions. Lin mainly adopts substitution and he also uses literal translation as a supplement. The primary methods Pratt and Chiang adopt are literary translation and annotations.Chapter five gives explanations for the differences from the perspective of Skopos theory. Different translation methods are trigged by different translation purposes and target text receivers. Lin Yutang wants to make the world know the lovely woman, the lovely life of a Chinese couple, and the essence of a Chinese way of life. Pratt and Chiang Suhui try to provide more information of the book for readers by a complete translation. Lin' translation is more coherent with target language than Pratt's version, while Pratt's version is more coherent with the source text than that of Lin Yutang.Chapter six makes a conclusion. Translators achieve their different purposes by means of different translation methods.This also proves that Skopos theory is a kind of theory which has a strong descriptive ability.It is necessary to point out that the thesis tries to conduct an empirical study through objective quantitative analysis. Nevertheless, it is flexible in handling the specific culture-loaded words.Thereupon, the judgments of these words are inevitably tinged with subjective opinions.