Translation Studies On Cultural Elements In Howard Goldblatt’s Big Breasts And Wide Hips From The Perspective Of The Functionalist Skopos Theory

Since1970s, the Functionalist Skopos Theory, devoleped by Reiss, Vermeer, Manttari and Nord, has provided a new perspective for translation studies. According to this theory, the whole translation process is comprehensively constrained by various factors; the purpose of translation determines the translation action; the translator can adopt appropriate translation strategy in accordance with the translation purpose.Based on the Functionalist Skopos Theory, this thesis takes Feng Ru Fei Tun authored by the first Chinese Nobel Prize winner Mo Yan and its English version by Howard Goldblatt as the research object and makes a descriptive and comparative analysis on cultural elements in terms of Nida’s five subcategories of the culture. The finding shows that the translator adopts different translation strategies in translating the cultural elements in accordance with his translation purpose. At the same time, the translator faithfully introduces the Chinese culture to his readers and keeps the original literary style to achieve an expected effect, which has proved to be such a success translation of his Big Breasts and Wide Hips. This research contributes to a further understanding of the Skopos Theory in providing feasible translation strategies for cultural translation. The findings would enlighten the promotion of Chinese literature into "globalization".This thesis is composed of six chapters. Chapter one is an introduction, which presents research background, research significance, research methods and outline of the thesis. Chapter two is the literature review, which puts forward the necessity of this study based on the reviews of the contents related to this study. Chapter three presents the theoretical framework. This part details the development of the Skopos Theory including its rules. Meanwhile, it illustrates two translation strategies of the Skopos Theory:documentary translation and instrumental translation. Chapter four analyzes the factors influencing translation strategies adopted by the translator in Big Breasts and Wide Hips based on the Skopos Theory. Chapter five makes a comparative analysis and research on the cultural elements in Feng Ru Fei Tun and its English version. By adopting the Skopos Theory, the author has found out the translators’ strategies in his cultural translation. Chapter six draws a conclusion. Based on the above analysis, it summarizes the findings of the thesis, and also points out suggestions for further study and the limitations of the thesis.