An Analysis Of Graham Sanders English Version Of Fu Sheng Liu Ji From The Perspective Of Skopos Theory

In the l970 s, some German scholars put forward a new translation theory named Skopos theory. Being different from the traditional translation theory, this theory thinks that the main element that determines translation is the purpose of translation and different translation strategies should be chose according to different purposes. It ends the heated debate between domestication and foreignization, and gives us a new perspective in translation.As a Chinese classic, Fu Sheng Liu Ji has been translated into many languages and enjoys deep appreciations from readers around the word. It is an autobiography of Shen Fu, a scholar and painter in the Qing Dynasty, who boldly put down his life experience into six parts, that is, Delights of Marriage, Charms of Idleness, Sorrows of Hardship, Pleasures of Roaming, Experiences of Zhongshan, and Methods of Living which narrates his marriage, ordinary family life, the art of decorating and living, literary and art criticism, and many travels and sightseeing around China. The latest version of Fu Sheng Liu Ji was retranslated by Canadian sinologist Graham Sanders. It was published in 2011. In the acknowledge part of this version, the translator Sanders expressed his four purposes of translating this book:(1) Correcting previous errors;(2) Providing expanded annotations;(3) Rendering Shen Fu’s intimate account into a more colloquial and flowing style;(4) Producing every facet of this book.Within the theoretical framework of Skopos theory, this thesis will study Graham Sanders English version of Fu Sheng Liu Ji. Firstly, it will discuss translation purposes of translator. Then, this thesis shall try to screen on translation methods of this version based on the four purposes of Graham Sanders, the translator. Finally, through comprehensive analysis on this version and large sum of examples, this thesis reveals that Graham Sanders version fully achieves four purposes of translator. This thesis hopes to prove that in the process of translating, translators do not need to be tangled in making hard decision between free translation and literal translation, or between foreignization and domestication. The most important thing for translator to do is setting translation purposes before translating and doing translation and choosing translation strategies according to translation purposes that have been put forward at the beginning.This thesis mainly includes four chapters. The first chapter is an introduction, mainly about the significance and objectives and structure of the thesis and an introduction to Fu Sheng Liu Ji and its four English versions. The second chapter is a literature review, mainly about previous studies on Fu Sheng Liu Ji and its four English versions. The third chapter introduces theoretical basis of this thesis: Skopos theory, including its definition, representatives, three rules and contribution. The fourth chapter analyzes Graham Sanders version from the perspective of Skopos theory. In this chapter, there are three parts: first part discusses translation purpose; the second part analyzes the Graham Sanders’ translation purposes; the third part is an evaluation of Graham Sanders English version.