A Comparative Study Of Two English Translations Of Medicine, Kong Yiji And Storm In A Teacup ByLu Hs(u|")n From The Perspective Of Functional Equivalence

This thesis is a descriptive research comparing the translation strategies of Julia Lovell and Yang Hsien-yi & Gladys Yang on what each translator wanted to convey in the translated works of Medicine, Kong Yiji and Storm in a Teacup. This research is conducted under the framework of Functional Equivalence. Despite having the same subject, the strategies they used were quite different.Through a quantitative and qualitative exhaustive research at the levels of culture, grammar and figure of speech, it is found that the functions of translation would be different as a result of different purposes of translators. In order to achieve the equivalence of different functions, translators would adopt different translation strategies. It has been found in this research that Lovell adopted domestication strategy because the function of her translation was to arouse ordinary TT readers’ interest in Chinese literature. Yang Hsien-yi & Gladys Yang adopted foreignization strategy because the function of their translation was to spread Chinese culture, tradition, spirit and literature overseas. Thus literal translation method was the main method adopted by Yang Hsien-yi & Gladys Yang.To be specific, the following results are found according to the quantitative research at three levels. At the cultural level, foreignization accounts for 82% of Yang’s translation while domestication occupies 87% of Lovell’s translation in the translation of culture-specific items. At the grammatical level, Yang adopted literal translation as the translation method and foreignization accounted for 100%. Lovell, on the other hand, adopted 77% of domestication and changed the sentence order of many sentences in the ST and created longer and more complicated sentences with many adverbials. At the rhetorical level, foreignization accounted for 80% in Yang’s translation. Lovell, on the other hand, adopted 60% of domestication and 40% of foreignization because she knew that she could use either strategy as long as her translation could be understood by most ordinary TT readers. After the data research, a qualitative analysis of the translations is conducted in the form of case studies. Based on the case studies discussed in the quantitative analysis, it is found that because of the different purposes of the translators, their translations had different functions. This was the reason why different strategies were adopted by Yang and Lovell.All in all, both translators did excellent work in translating the three stories. Although they chose different strategies to translate the ST, they all achieved equivalence of functions with their own translations. Thus, before translators choose their translation strategy or method, they should think of the function of their translations and how to achieve the equivalence of the function. Only by understanding the function of the translation according to their own translation purposes, can these translators choose an appropriate translation method and strategy.